Plumbing & Wiring in a Microsoft World : Windows Server 2008

Upgrading Active Directory to Windows Server 2008

infoz — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:11:00 GMT

There's a whole host of information out there for people looking to upgrade their AD environments to Windows 2008 from Windows 2003 or even 2000. Rather than do the hard work of pulling this guidance together myself, I'd like to point out the following Technet blog posting as a great place to start. Courtesy of Joey Snow:

http://blogs.technet.com/jsnow/archive/2008/03/27/upgrading-active-directory-to-windows-server-2008.aspx [RH]

Windows Server 08 Failover Clustering Guide

infoz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:35:59 GMT

A lot of people have been asking me for some quick guidance on how to build failover clusters with Windows Server 2008, especially as this is one of the key technologies for enabling high availability for mission-critical services. Both hardware and software considerations are summed up quite nicely in this 22-page document: Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008. [RH]

Hyper-V goes RTM!

infoz — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:36:00 GMT

Well, we've been waiting for this one for a little while, and here it is...KB950050. Get the details from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/virtualization-consolidation.aspx

and download from here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F3AB3D4B-63C8-4424-A738-BADED34D24ED&displaylang=en

[RH]

Which way to go with Windows Server 2008? Use the MAP!

infoz — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:03:45 GMT

Just a quick note to highlight some of the great work done by the Solution Accelerator team, with the delivery of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit. This free of charge, downloadable utility provides customers and partners with a quick and easy way to assess their existing IT assets and advises on their suitability for a range of potential infrastructure upgrades including:

Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 - reports detailing hardware suitability and main server roles
Server utilisation reports with advice on how to consolidate and place workloads with our server technologies (Virtual Server 2005 R2 with Hyper-V to follow)
Assessment of the technology environment for the implementation of Microsoft Application Virtualisation (SoftGrid)
Upgrade of desktop systems to Windows Vista SP1 and / or Office 2007

The three phase process involves a hardware inventory, compatibility analysis and readiness reporting, delivering a series of business-ready proposals as well as more comprehensive reports should you wish to dig a little deeper into the underlying data.

So, to find out more, download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit today and get stared by analysing the suitability of your environment for upgrade to the latest and greatest server, desktop and virtualisation technologies.

NB - please note that this tool will not run on an X64 instance of Windows, as I have found out to my cost :-( ...but hey, that's what x86 VMs are for, no? [RH]

Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing

infoz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:10:00 GMT

Monday, 04 Feb 2008 - Microsoft released to manufacturing the following products:

Windows Server 2008 - This long awaited product will be generally available on 01 March 2008. Check out the launch coming to a city near you in February and March.

Check out the Australian Windows Server 2008 site for all the information you would want - http://www.microsoft.com/australia/servers/ws2008/

Windows Vista SP 1 - Addresses many of the key issues that our customers have identified with Windows Vista of the last year, both directly and through programs like the Customer Experience Improvement program. With SP1, we have made great progress in performance, reliability and compatibility. [CM]

Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for Server 2008 Terminal Services and AD Domain Services

infoz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:57:00 GMT

Beta Announcement:
Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for
Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

January 2008..

Are you evaluating server technologies in your quest toward a dynamic IT infrastructure? Use the Infrastructure Planning and Design Series guides to make the right decisions about planning infrastructure architecture.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. This series aims to clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, each addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario. All guides share a common structure including:

· Definition of the technical decision flow through the planning process.

· Listing of decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

· Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

· Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

These guides complement product documentation by exposing and focusing on infrastructure design options.

Accelerator Description

Infrastructure Planning and Design: Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services

This guide leads the reader step by step through the process of planning a Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services infrastructure. The guide addresses the fundamental decisions and tasks involved in:

· Deciding what applications are to be delivered by Terminal Services, and whether or not Terminal Services is the right approach to use.

· Determining the resources needed to employ Terminal Services to serve the selected applications.

· Designing the components, layout, security, and connectivity of the Terminal Services infrastructure.

Infrastructure Planning and Design: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

Active Directory® controls the core security of the Microsoft Windows® network environment. The directory service is responsible for authenticating user and computer accounts within the Active Directory infrastructure. In addition, the directory service provides a mechanism for centralized, delegated administration of resources within the forest.

To develop and implement a successful design of Active Directory, numerous questions must be answered and many decisions and strategies must be determined. Considerations for performance, security, manageability, scalability, and many other criteria must be addressed if the design is to be successful.

The purpose of this guide is to assist designers in the decision-making process by providing a clear and concise path for designing the Active Directory infrastructure, given the relative context. This guide relies on best practices and real-world experience to offer considerations and alternatives at each point in the design.

Infrastructure Planning & Design Beta Releases

The Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta Release for Windows Deployment Services is available as an open beta download.

To join the Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta program, click here. If you can’t use this link, go to connect.microsoft.com, click on “Invitations” and enter invitation ID
IPDM-QX6H-7TTV.

If you are already in the Beta, click here to download the latest Beta guide.

If you have not previously registered with Microsoft Connect, you might be required to do so before you continue to the Beta page.

Related Resources

Windows Server 2008 on Microsoft TechNet

Windows Server System Reference Architecture for Windows Server 2003 on Microsoft TechNet

Solution Accelerators on Microsoft TechNet

Please send your comments and feedback to satfdbk@microsoft.com.

Project Team:

Mary Anne Blake (PDM)

Charles Denny (TPM)

Laurie Dunham (UE,RM)

Mike Kaczmarek (GPM)

Lex Liao (Test Mgr)

Robin Maher (PM)

Fergus Stewart (TPM)

Contributing Partners:

Studio B Productions

Find More Solution Accelerators

You can see our full catalog of released Solution Accelerators, including the Windows Server System Reference Architecture (WSSRA), here.

Additional Solution Accelerator Beta Content

Get an advance look at other Solution Accelerator beta content, including:

Microsoft Assessment and Planning

Windows Server 2008 Security Guide

Content provided by Jeff Newfeld

[CM]

Partner Business Briefings on Microsoft Virtualisation

infoz — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:35:53 GMT

Running across cities in 5 Australian states, these briefings are designed to help Microsoft Partners understand the business opportunity that the new wave of server technologies will present. The first ones are running in November and December and will cover Microsoft Virtualisation and Management [RH]

REGISTER NOW:

· Brisbane November 30^th: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359092&Culture=en-AU

· Sydney December 6^th : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359090&Culture=en-AU

· Melbourne December 7^th : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359091&Culture=en-AU

· Adelaide December 14^th: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359093&Culture=en-AU

· Perth December 13^th: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359094&Culture=en-AU

Aussie Partner Training and Readiness Update

infoz — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:53:00 GMT

Just a quick update on the partner-only training schedule for the next quarter - the following courses are running across a number of locations, including some or all of the following (varies by course): Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney

Windows Server 2008: Developer - a 2 day event designed to introduce developers to the new features of Windows Server 2008

Vista: BDD - 2 days dedicated to the technology, technologies and best practices for deploying Windows Vista through our Business Desktop Deployment methodology

Unified Communications & Exchange 2007 - 2 days focusing on building a unified communications platform to combine e-mail, instant messaging, voice and video

[RH]

Longhorn officially named Windows Server 2008

infoz — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 06:25:00 GMT

OK, so I'm a bit late on posting on this one - my excuse is that I've been on holiday for the last month, and it's hardly earth-shattering news anyway, but there has been a little speculation on whether Longhorn would be Windows Server 2007 or 2008. Windows Server 2008 is the choice and this makes good sense (assuming the projected launch dates are met), as the majority of launch activities will be early in 2008 - it also means the graphic designers will have an easier job converting the 3 to an 8 on the logos! With launch momentum beginning to build, today saw the arrival of the "Face of Windows Server 2008" portal - a new campaign site with loads of information for IT Pros, customers and partners.

As a side note, the creative idea for the campaign originated here in Australia - you can even join the community and upload your own photo which will be morphed together with the other community mugshots to deliver a composite image that is truly the "Face of Windows Server 2008"! By popular demand I won't be uploading my photo, as colleagues tell me I have a "face for radio"....