John Howard - Senior Program Manager in the Hyper-V team at Microsoft : Whitepapers

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host Clustering Instructions

jhoward — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:01:00 GMT

If you're a regular reader, you'll know that Virtual Server 2005 R2 (previously known as Virtual Server 2005 SP1 when in beta) is going to launch soon. Very soon actually - more to follow when as it's announced. Along with a name change from SP1 to R2, there are numerous other improvements. One really significant ability of Virtual Server 2005 R2 is full support to cluster Virtual Server Hosts for fault tolerance - if you're familiar with VMotion from a competitor product suite ;), it's similar, but better, and doesn't cost anything.

Host Clustering caters for two scenarios - planned and unplanned downtime, both of which are hopefully fairly obvious. Host Clustering requires Microsoft Clustering Services to be running on each of the Virtual Server hosts and some form of SAN connectivity between them (iSCSI, NAS etc).

So how do you set something like this up? Easy, follow this link to a great document which has literally just been published explaining it all.

BTW - did I mention, it's free too!

Windows Server 2003 R2 - Printer Management Console

jhoward — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:07:00 GMT

The PMC (Printer Management Console) is another huge improvement in Windows Server 2003 R2. Tali Roth will be presenting a session on printer management at IT Forum this coming November (details below), but there's also a step-by-step whitepaper guide available to download here.

Subject to change, here's the details for Tali's session at IT Forum:

Printing with Windows Server 2003 R2

Huge improvements have been made to printing and print management in Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2. This session goes end to end with a technical drill down covering tips, tricks and the latest features. Learn how to deal with 64-bit print drivers, cluster improvements and advice for handling printing in branch offices. The Print Management Console (PMC) is new to Windows Server 2003 R2, bringing about significant improvements by allowing you for the first time to manage multiple print servers from a single interface. Through demonstration, find out how to make the most effective use of the PMC by building filters and sending notifications when printers or servers are unavailable. You will also learn how to use the PMC to deploy printer connections to your users through Group Policy.

Deploying WSUS on Small Business Server 2003

jhoward — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:02:00 GMT

WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) is a great way to manage patching machines in environments, both big and small. However (and I myself and just as guilty as everyone else), often a lot of information you find on microsoft.com is geared towards the larger enterprise environments. Hence, it's great to see that there's a whitepaper geared towards small businesses running SBS 2003 who want to learn through a step-by-step guide on where to being deploying WSUS in that environment.

ADFS in Windows Server 2003 R2

jhoward — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:46:00 GMT

ADFS is "Active Directory Federation Services". ADFS is just one part of the R2 release coming at the end of this year. If you want to find out more, one place is IT Forum in Barcelona, November 15th to 17th, with a pre-conference day on 14th November. As well as plenty of breakouts covering all aspects of R2 during the main conference, if you choose to attend the pre-conf day, there is a full days material available dedicated entirely to R2. More information can be found online - click the banner below, and now that we're almost there on wrapping up the final content list, I'll be posting more information up very soon.

However, if you want a step-by-step guide to deploying ADFS using Windows Server 2003 R2 Beta 2 now, take a look at this whitepaper.

Virtual Server 2005 usage by Microsoft IT

jhoward — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 22:53:00 GMT

This really interesting white paper was published just over a week ago. It describes how Virtual Server 2005 is being used by Microsoft IT almost in a "commodity" capacity. Virtual Server 2005 provided Microsoft with the means to take consolidation to the logical level. The Virtual Server Utility team assumed responsibility for deployment. Internal customers were recruited for the pilot, with aggressive SLA metrics as compelling incentives. I saw a much earlier draft of this document with outlining some of the expectation settings, but I'm staggered to see the end results which are quite astonishing. Rather than giving you the result directly, read for yourself here.

File Server Migration Toolkit

jhoward — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:29:00 GMT

Virtualisation for migration and consolidation isn't always the best answer. I'm not saying it isn't appropriate always, but there are alternatives. One great example which I was asked by a customer last week about was for migrating and consolidating older file servers. The answer could be the Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit which provides tools and information to simplify the process.

Take a look at the FSMT homepage, the overview whitepaper or the Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating File and Print Servers

Rebel or Safe? (aka NT4 vs Windows 2000). Your opinion counts

jhoward — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:47:00 GMT

So right now, I'm somewhat in a quandry. "Why John", I hear you ask. "Well readers", I respond: At TechEd Europe this year, I'm going to present a couple of sessions. One will be around the contents of the Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating LOB (Line of Business) Applications. Here's the official summary of the SA:

This Solution Accelerator package provides technical information and recommendations, processes, build notes, job aids, test scripts, and documented test validation of the processes. The objective of the documentation set is to enable partners and enterprise customers to efficiently consolidate and migrate their existing Windows NT 4.0 based line-of-business (LOB) applications to Windows Server 2003-based technologies, including .NET Framework 1.1, WSRM, and Virtual Server 2005.

Now as it happens, the Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) has a big part to play in this in terms of the migration to Virtual Server 2005 solution part. Naturally, I'll be doing a demonstration of a migration live - it's a pretty impressive demo to see live and I always get some great feedback when people see it for real. However, note the particular part of the summary above "...their existing Windows NT 4.0 based". The SA is equally applicable to Windows 2000 (and Windows Server 2003), but doesn't go to town mentioning this. Now, do I (as a Microsoft Employee, remember) stand up and show a Windows NT4 based machine being migrated, which is now "end of life" for want of a better term, or do I bend the rules slightly and show a Windows 2000 Server being migrated. At the UK Technical roadshows over the past few weeks, I've been doing a similar demonstration using Windows 2000 as the server being migrated, simply on account of the "end of life"-ness of NT4.

I'd appreciate a quick comment with your thoughts - play it safe, or be a rebel? FWIW - I'm swaying towards Rebel, but if you were in the audience and saw something which wasn't explicit in the material being talked about, would you mark the session down?
Thanks!

Virtual Server 2005 comparison with Virtual PC 2004 - definitive statement

jhoward — Wed, 25 May 2005 23:37:00 GMT

Now this is worth a read having just found about it internally. Megans whitepaper which I blogged about recently is now available in its completed from on microsoft.com. The whitepaper discusses in detail the differences between Virtual PC 2004 and Virtual Server 2005. I know from my own experiences that this is something which many people do not fully understand, not just be those outside of Microsoft, but more often from internal people (who I won't mention my name just to be on the safe side :-)). This paper provides you with all the information you need and can be downloaded here.

Virtual Server 2005 comparison with Virtual PC 2004

jhoward — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 09:10:00 GMT

I am currently updating my slidedeck for the webcast I'm doing this Friday on Virtual Server bringing it up to date in terms of the recent MMS (Microsoft Management Summit) announcements. I got to the slides comparing the differences between the Virtual Server and PC products. Unfortunately, there is precious little documentation on microsoft.com about this, but Megan posted an excellent draft whitepaper which will ultimately hit microsoft.com on her blog a couple of weeks ago. Take a look here for more information. So then Megan, can I include this link in my slide-deck please :-)

Blogcast on Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) - Part 1

jhoward — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:17:00 GMT

Blogcast, podcast, mini-webcast.... What's in a name - well quite a lot judging by some of the reactions I've had.

Leaving the name issue to one side, I've recorded a series of eight clips which walk through the process of migrating an NT4 server into Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 using the VSMT (Virtual Server Migration Toolkit). Each of these clips is only a few minutes long, with the longest one only 10 minutes. Please feel free to delve in as you want. These clips essentially run through the steps described in a fabulous white paper available on microsoft.com

You will be able to see demo live in Birmingham on January 13th where you can ask me questions in-person.

The first blogcast is an introduction to the environment I'm using to perform the migration and can be viewed by clicking here.

The second blogcast is using the gatherhw tool to generate an XML manifest cataloguing the hardware in my NT4 Server. This can be viewed by clicking here

Hope you enjoy these - I'll blog about the other recordings over the next few days. Also, if you want to see more of these type of recordings relating to Windows Server environments or Virtual Server, drop me a mail or add a comment.

--------------------------------

...added 28th January 2005: Now that they're published, here's the links to the other parts to save you searching.
Part two can be viewed here
Part three can be viewed here
Part four can be viewed here
Part five can be viewed here

Edited by John: 3rd Nov 2005 - Rehosted WMV files

VSMT (Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit) demo - see it live in Edinburgh

jhoward — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 05:49:00 GMT

VSMT is a piece of cake! VSMT stands for "Virtual Server (2005) Migration Tookit" and is the P2V (Physical to Virtual) toolset for Virtual Server 2005. VSMT allows you to migrate a physical server running NT4 SP6A, Windows 2000 SP4 or later, or Windows 2003 Standard/Enterprise edition to a virtual machine running under Virtual Server 2005. The hard part is preparing a demonstration on a single laptop to show the steps involved.

I'm going to be presenting a Technet Evening on December 15th in Edinburgh for a technical overview of Virtual Server 2005. While at the IT Forum in Copenhagen last month, I saw Allen Stewart do a live demo moving an NT4 server onto Virtual Server using VSMT and bits of ADS (Automated Deployment Services). Cool, and it worked (not that I doubted it for a minute). While VSMT wasn't planned to be in there next week for my event, it will be now. For simplicity (and the fact that I can't reasonably take two machines up to Edinburgh), I'm going to migrate an NT4 Server running under Virtual PC to Virtual Server, all on a single laptop. If you want to see what this technology is all about, register here. By the way, Technet evening events are free!

ADS is a free addition to Windows Server 2003 and can be downloaded here.
VSMT whitepapers, FAQ and other information and be found here.

Update 7th December: Just had word that this is now postponed until February next year. All is not lost though, I'll be presenting a session on this in Birmingham on January 13th at a UK IT Forum highlights event - stay tuned for a future blog entry...

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) - Presentation & White Paper

jhoward — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 00:45:00 GMT

I'm blogging while sitting listening to John Craddock and Sally Storey presenting one of the all-day pre-conference seminars "Stretching Directory Boundaries Cross Platform Identity Management, Authentication and Security" at the Microsoft IT Forum in Copenhagen. On screen as I write is a fantastic demonstration of ADFS (Active Directory Federation Services) which is due to be included in the R2 release of Windows 2003 server some time next year.

This is a fantastically powerful mechanism to allow cross-organisation information sharing. This type of federation is still way in its infancy. However. for a good overview, see the White Paper Active Directory Federation Services: A Path to Federated Identity and Access Management on the Microsoft web-site.