Wikipedia defines Bricolage as :
“…from the verb bricoler – the core meaning in French being, "fiddle, tinker" and, by extension, "make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand (regardless of their original purpose)."
That’s a good characterization of this blog.
Karl Weick’s attributes for successful bricolage include:
As a bricoleur* of technical content from Microsoft, I work hard every day on the first three. I need your help on the last bullet. Please leave feedback and let me know what needs correction/improvement.
Thanks in advance .
* According to Lévi-Strauss (1962), bricoleur describes
… a type of thinking and symbolization; the opposite of "engineer". The engineer creates specialized tools for specialized purposes. The bricoleur is a "jack-of-all-trades", who uses few, non-specialized tools for a wide variety of purposes.
The Hyper-V: Step-by-Step Guide to Using Live Migration in Windows Server 2008 R2 details the steps required to perform a live migration of Hyper-V virtual machines from one node in a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to another node.
Check out the Edge demo video Hyper-V Server and Live Migration.
You can find the list of supported iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage arrays at:
http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/results.aspx?&bCatID=1511&cpID=0&avc=10&ava=0&avq=0&OR=1&PGS=25&ready=0
http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/results.aspx?&bCatID=1354&cpID=0&avc=10&ava=0&avq=0&OR=1&PGS=25&ready=0
You can try some free download iSCSI target software for Windows server at:
http://www.doubletake.com/english/products/sanFly/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.rocketdivision.com/download_starwind.html
http://www.nimbusdata.com/products/mysan.php
Read more about Windows Storage Server (normally available as part of an OEM storage device), you can also download a free eval version (select WUDSS to get access to the iSCSI Target components).
See also Microsoft Storage Technologies: Deploying iSCSI SANs and
http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/c/2/3c2dedce-c934-4d75-a5a0-6f01eccb33a9/FC0054604-00A.pdf.
There are some partner docs for additional info on NPIV at:
James has published a New and improved PowerShell Library for Hyper-V. Now with more functions and... documentation!
Look for Pshyperv.pdf and send thanks to James.
Did I mention it is free-as-in-beer?
Tore's blog details the Hyper-V Monitor Gadget for Windows Sidebar he posted for free download.
http://mindre.net/post/Hyper-V-Monitor-Gadget-for-Windows-Sidebar.aspx
Linux Integration Components for Microsoft Hyper-V is available publicly.
To get it, please the following steps:
1. Login to https://connect.microsoft.com with a Live ID.
2. Click “CONNECTION DIRECTORY” on the top of the page
3. Click Category: Server, and scroll to find the “Linux Integration Components for Microsoft Hyper-V” in the middle of the page.
4. Click “Apply Now” to apply for access.
I have learned that the age-old question “Is the glass half-empty, or half-full?” is a false one intended to prime your thinking.
The glass is completely full: half with water, and half with air.
In this picture, do you see an attractive young woman or “witchy” woman? Or can you see both in turns?
Watch The Ascent of Money online to get some perspective, because things are out of whack.
Watch full program: THE ASCENT OF MONEY | The Ascent of Money | PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/video/watch-full-program-the-ascent-of-money/24/
For those colleagues affected by yesterday’s layoff, my best wishes. Former “blue badgers” may find the Microsoft Alumni Network (MSA) useful:
Brier Dudley’s blog post also lists local “Pink Slip Specials" including:
http://www.rtc.edu/CommunityResources/SBDC
Blue Box Group hosting specials
StartPad.org's "Pink Slip Special"
There is a new worm in the wild that should be top of IT Pros worry-list. If you have not been working on Conficker defense, heads up.
The NY Times today says “If you’re looking for a digital Pearl Harbor, we now have the Japanese ships steaming toward us on the horizon,” said Rick Wesson, chief executive of Support Intelligence, a computer security consulting firm based in San Francisco.”
KB 962007 on Jan 15, 2009 had the virus alert info and manual removal steps. The Malware Protection Center article is here.
Did all your machines install secbull MS08-067 back in October? Go check. No, really, go check right now. It was updated on 1/13/09 – did all your machines get the update?
Go check.
We use the free-as-in-beer Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS) internally at Microsoft. Works a treat:
A recent Forrester page said: “Enterprise Web 2.0 features to make video viral. YouTube has taught us the power of ranking, tagging, and commenting in making video viral. Google Video for business and Microsoft’s Podcasting Kit for SharePoint provide this capability as part of their solution.”
Download PKS here: http://www.CodePlex.com/PKS
Read more about PKS here: http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/06/10/announcing-open-source-podcasting-kit-for-sharepoint-the-power-of-social-media-for-the-enterprise.aspx
Join the conversation here: http://www.codeplex.com/pks/Thread/List.aspx
Startups just got another Angel: Microsoft’s BizSpark. BizSpark helps Startups by providing access to Microsoft software* when they most need it and can least afford it, and by supporting the network of organizations - startup incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies - that are equally involved and invested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship.
* including:
Now, where is the BizSpark for non-profits? If you know, leave comments here.
**Thanks to Ben: looks like NFPs want http://www.techsoup.org/
A fundamental security precept is “patch up all machines before brining into production.” This advice applies to VMs and hosts, and is included in the Planning for Hyper-V Security content in the Hyper-V Planning and Deployment Guide.
OK, so how are you supposed to know what updates apply? For Hyper-V, you can bookmark http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd430893.aspx. This page has the cumulative updates list for Hyper-V.
Using the Community Content feature of this page (and most MSDN/TN pages) we can also list for you the updates you may need for Windows, VMM, VPC and VSC.
Click the “Annotations” RSS Feed button to subscribe (this feed is for ALL annotations, not just annotations to the Hyper-V update list).
You asked, we listened. One URL to bookmark where you can find the current list of patches.
We’d love to hear your feedback on this, leave comments here.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 is the free virtualization server OS from Microsoft. It is NOT Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. To understand the (important) differences, see http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/default.mspx.
That being said, the Beta of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is now available at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e464e255-cdd5-44b2-84e6-3233eae3f356
What’s new?
1. Failover Clustering and Live Migration
2. Processor and memory upgrades: up to 32-cores and 1TB of RAM
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/Windowsserver2008/en/us/R2-Beta.aspx for the bits, reviewer's guide, relnotes and other info.
What’s in it for virtualization?
1. Live migration of Virtual machines
2. Hardware enhancements: Nested Page Tables (NPT) and Extended Page tables (EPT)
3. Hot add VHDs
4. Networking upgrades: TCP offload engines, Virtual machine device queues (VMDq), and Jumbo Frames.
5. Better power management
6. VDI Connection Broker
Tony Voellm’s blog posts bring you up to speed:
If you are a TN/MSDN subscriber, download the beta bits here today: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/default.aspx
Available to Levels: TechNet Plus SA Media; TechNet Plus (Retail); TechNet Direct (Retail); TechNet Plus (VL); TechNet Plus Direct (VL); TechNet Cert Partner; TechNet Gold Cert Partner;
Here’s my list of blogs to read on virtualization, Hyper-V, VMM and related technologies:
http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/default.aspx - Windows Virtualization Product Group
http://blogs.msdn.com/taylorb/ - Taylor Brown (Test Lead)
http://blogs.technet.com/jonjor/default.aspx - Jonathan Jordan
http://blogs.technet.com/blogms/pages/directory-of-microsoft-team-blogs.aspx (OPML)
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/ - Ben Armstrong's Blog (Senior Virtualization PM)
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/ - John Howard's Hyper-V Blog (Senior Virtualization PM)
http://blogs.technet.com/roblarson/ - Rob Larson’s Virtualization Blog (Architect)
http://blogs.msdn.com/tvoellm/ - Tony Voellm (Principal SDET)
http://blogs.msdn.com/mikekol/default.aspx - Mike Kolitz (SDET)
http://blogs.technet.com/chengw/default.aspx - Cheng Wei- Senior Program Manager VMM
http://blogs.technet.com/rakeshm/ - Rakesh Malhotra – Group Program Manager VMM
http://blogs.technet.com/jonjor/default.aspx - Jonathan Jordan - CSS Subject Matter Expert for VMM
http://blogs.technet.com/m2/default.aspx - Michael Michael - Senior SDE VMM
http://blogs.msdn.com/mikester/
http://blogs.technet.com/davidzi
http://blogs.technet.com/m2/
http://blogs.technet.com/rakeshm/
http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/ - SoftGrid/App-V Team blogT
http://blogs.technet.com/smsandmom/ - SMS & MOM Team blog
http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld/
http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/
http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog/
http://blogs.technet.com/stbnewsbytes/
http://www.mikedipetrillo.com/mikedvirtualization/
http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/
http://blog.scottlowe.org
http://servervirtualization.blogs.techtarget.com
http://www.virtualization.info/home.html
http://www.virtualizationfeed.com/
http://virtualization.alltop.com
http://www.virtualization.info/
http://hypervoria.com/