- Windows PowerShell is Powerful Automation
-
PowerShell is a Windows management technology designed for ease-of-use by both system administrators and application developers. PowerShell Version 2 (V2) is available with both Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 as well as previous Windows releases via an optional update.
For Developers specifically, Windows PowerShell in combination with the Windows Management Infrastructure (WinRM, WS-Management, WMI) provides a great way to automate server hosted solutions. For example, if you implement all your administration logic via PowerShell, then layer the MMC GUI over the top (i.e. MMC calls PowerShell to get the work done) - you will have given your Enterprise customers the absolute best of all worlds; GUIs, scripting, and delegated, remote automation.
PowerShell V2 introduces many new features including remote sessions, an integrated script environment, debugging tools, and much more.
- Windows Server Top 5 Benefits for Today's Workforce
-
I've pubbed often on the feature benefits of Windows Server
2008 R2. But geek talk aside, what are the other benefits that the Windows
Server platform provides to businesses? Some think time brings out my Top 5
reasons listed below.
1.
A pervasive
and open server platform. Currently, of the Fortune
Top 100 Companies in 2009, 98% are using Windows Server products. With a
presence like that, companies looking to connect with
customers and partners via back-end applications, like e-commerce and
supply-chain apps, have a much easier time building such solutions. Such a
large presence also necessitates Windows Server be a platform that supports industry
standards for software development and hardware manufacture. Microsoft utilizes
these characteristics of Windows Server to provide useful tools for building
custom applications, including tight interoperablity with Microsoft SQL Server,
Internet Information Services and a rich
suite of development
tools. Again, an easier time for customers looking to customize their IT
investments.
2.
Windows Server
means mission-critical. According
to IDC, Windows Server 2008 is the number 1 server operating system
deployed for mission-critical workloads, and to keep that trend going, Windows
Server 2008 R2 includes a host of new reliability features that make it a solid
platform for your mission-critical applications. R2 supports up to 256 logical
processors and 2TB of RAM as well as full support for the latest server CPUs, including
the almost-here Intel Nehalem EX. R2 also adds reliability features,
including improved multi-site clustering and Live Migration (for moving virtual
server between physical hosts with no perceived end-user downtime). That
engineering is allowing R2 to set new performance records such as a recent
world-record 2,012 tpsE score*, a #1 ranking, on the TPC-E online transaction
processing benchmark in conjunction with Unisys hardware. All this adds up to a server platform
that can support powerful and redundant hardware configurations to keep your
mission-critical applications running smoothly.
*(Transaction Processing
Performance Council (www.tpc.org). Results as of
2/3/10. Unisys ES7000 Model 7600R Enterprise Server, 2012 tpsE, 958
$/tpsE, available 5/6/10.)
3.
On a nittier grittier level, Windows Server 2008 R2 is the most power-efficient Windows Server to date,
leveraging both new power management capabilities in our operating system as
well as support for the latest power efficient CPUs and hardware from our
hardware partners. Leveraging capabilities like Power-Process Management, Core
Parking, Power Monitoring and Metering helps lower power consumption for your
company.
4.
Windows Server 2008 R2 also gives you a complete virtualization platform out of
the box. Move to Windows Server 2008 R2 and you'll get the next generation
of our Hypervisor, Hyper-V R2, which now includes advanced business continuity
scenarios like the above-mentioned Live Migration. The new Hyper-V is also a
faster performer than its predecessor with support for the latest CPU
technologies as well as new network optimization features. Virtualization isn't
just server virtualization either. The new Remote
Desktop Services and the Virtual
Desktop Infrastructure allow organizations to provide virtualized desktops
and applications to end-users with performance and rich-media support that can
make them indistinguishable from locally-run applications.
5.
Easy
customized and automated management with PowerShell and System Center. PowerShell
2.0 comes with Windows Server 2008 R2 and is significantly richer and more
pervasive than the well-received PowerShell in Windows Server 2008. Over 600
new cmdlets come in the box along with a new development environment for
building your own. For enterprises with large data center management needs or
small businesses with limited IT support, the System Center
product suite offers powerful management tools in a variety of packages.
I'm only scratching the surface of benefits that Windows
Server has for your business, but you can view the above as my marquee
headliners. In my opinion, another key benefit, though less easily defined and
certainly not called out as often, is tomorrow's innovation. With Windows
Server playing a key role in both Microsoft's public and private cloud
computing scenarios, for example, customers will be in a great position to
leverage these new computing benefits as they become available. Keeping
yourself future-safe was always a key consideration during my IT pro days.
Again, however, this is just my two
cents. For those who want to drill deeper into Windows Server's innards and
strategy, the February issue of Windows
IT Pro magazine includes a broad set of interviews with Bill Laing (who
heads the Windows Server team) and Ward Ralston (group product manager on the
Windows Server team) on some of the deep dive details on the product. The
Windows IT Pro Q&A with Michael
Otey and Ward can be accessed here, Windows IT Pro subscribers can access
all the articles online, or you can find them in the February hard copy issue
of the magazine as well. Additionally, there's a short video of Ward on the evolution of
server computing over the years and some of the benefits of virtualization.
- Nothing RISCy About SQL Server on Windows!
-
Buck Woody has a post this week about sensational combinations like peanut butter with chocolate (taste sensation) and SQL Server with Windows (processing sensation).
It reminded me of another recent post out on Intel’s “The Server Room” blog by Eoin McConnell urging people to get ready for the big train a-coming. Eoin wasn’t referring to one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, he was talking about the upcoming release of Intel’s Nehalem-EX processor line for high-end computing. You should start to see new systems on the market shortly based on this CPU that will feature up to EIGHT cores per chip, Hyper Threading, a 
whopping 24MB of cache, and up to 9X the memory bandwidth of the previous generation of Xeon processors. Early high-end Nehalem-EX systems will ship with as many as 8 physical processors, meaning that they will appear to have as many as 128 logical processors!
The point of Eoin’s blog is that Nehalem-EX Xeon processor line is a scale up, big iron series of chips (he by the way is a RISC Segment Manager). There should be no doubt that these 128LP systems with (say) 2TB of RAM can scale up to handle some of the largest and most challenging database workloads around, but what about reliability? What may not be as well know about the Nehalem-EX line is that it includes many of the “RAS” (that’s Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability) features traditionally found in “big iron” RISC systems. “MCA Recovery” (a RAS feature included in the Nehalem-EX) detects CPU, memory, and I/O errors and works with the operating system to recover from otherwise fatal system errors. Windows has had MCA support since Windows XP (since there was a version of Windows XP for Itanium!).
So what could be better than the combination of Windows Server 2009 R2 and SQL Server 2 008 R2? How about a giant technology trifle with layers of Scalability, Reliability, Availability, Supportability, Windows, AND SQL! The great news is it won’t increase your waistline!
-John
- Because It's Everybody's Business is Just That - For EVERYBODY
-
Our
Customers want to see the best benefit for their IT dollars. Whether they are a
large organization with thousands of servers, or a small home based business
with just a few, they need to be agile in responding to their business needs,
which means they need the flexibility virtualization provides.
But, as Tom
Bittman, a VP & Analyst with the Gartner Group, said, "Virtualization without good
management is more dangerous than not using virtualization in the first
place." This is a key point in that to truly gain the benefits of
virtualization, you not only have to have good management tools, you have to
actually be able to implement and use them. Large organizations seem to have a
leg up here as they have many different outside influences forcing them to
creating extensive compliance and controls. For smaller organizations, this is
much more difficult. They may not have the management infrastructure in place
today, and when they virtualize their environments, they may see extensive "virtual server sprawl". This may
add both costs and instability to their operations.
When you
couple the Dynamic Foundation of Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V with the
Automation, Optimization, and Simplification of the System Center suite of
tools, you can control your virtualized envrionments. But what do you do if you
are a smaller organization? Our Customers with this type of need can use System Center Essentials 2010 (which is
currently in RC stage). Essentials 2010 RC allows you to manage both your
physical and virtualized environments as well as your desktops.
Essentials 2010 -
- Delivers
single console monitoring and management with summary information, common
tasks, alerts and reports, allowing you to quickly see and manage your IT
environment.
- Provides
rapid provisioning, importation, management and live migration of virtual
servers.
- Simplifies
complex management tasks like packaging and deploying software, and
configuring Microsoft and third-party updates.
- Helps
quickly solve problems using integrated alerting, expert knowledge and
troubleshooting for servers, PCs and IT services running in your IT
environment.
Virtualization
is key for being agile and responding to the changing business needs, and
Essentials 2010 gives you the management capabilities to take full advantage of
it.
- The Magic of Virtualization
-
When I work with virtualization technologies and the ability to do testing, screen casts and heck even my job to work with new software, I am always reminded of my favorite quote:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke in 1961
It amazes me how applicable that quote is still today, and virtualization technology is going to keep that quote alive for me many years to come.
Think about virtualization for just second, you can create an entire server environment(Active Directory, Exchange, SQL, IIS…etc) with some RAM and hard drive space. How great is that. Yeah I know there are all kinds of other components that go into making virtualization happening. There are so many other virtualization workloads to consider, from VDI, Application Virtualization, Remote Desktop Services….etc. There is a nice article written by Michael Otey of Windows IT Pro Magazine which talks about the many Microsoft virtualization offerings, check it out here:
Understanding Microsoft’s Virtualization Technologies
So what is the next wave of magic for me? It is cloud computing. What makes cloud computing on platforms like Azure fantastic? For me and from an IT perspective, it is the sheer scalability power the cloud can deliver. More importantly, the cloud is rooted in virtualization technologies. The ability to have 10 or 10,000 servers as an IT Pro is simply amazing and that is delivered via virtualization. So how does it all work, in the diagram you can see and example of the physical implementation of Azure.
Hardware actually at first does a PXE boot that loads and boots WinPE in order to then download the base OS which is actually being deployed as a VHD. (Boot to VHD)- OS in the VHD is the Windows Server 2008 “Parent Partition” running Hyper-V. (actually a modified version of Hyper-V tuned just for the specific hardware we’re running)
- And now when you want to run an application. It adds a base .vhd and runs a guest partition with Windows Server 2008 running on each.
That’s your application! You have an affinity to your own processor. Azure makes sure that your server will not be sharing processor core with any other applications from other Azure customers, in order to guarantee more reliable and consistent performance. So Azure offers a truly remarkable platform for your applications and could be a nice compliment to your infrastructure.
When you dig deeper under the hood of Azure, how does it help seamlessly spread the workload of your application across multiple virtual machines? The answers lies in the flux capacitor (sorry could not resist love the 80’s) for Azure called the Fabric Controller. The Fabric Controllers is the “Brains” behind it all. Essentially it is the “Kernel” behind Azure and by the way happens to be just another application running on Azure. So how does the Fabric Controller work:
After you load your application which contains two files the service package and model configuration:
- The Fabric Controller reads the model configuration which describes how to deploy our service. Let’s say that in this case we are deploying our service to 3 machines.
- The Fabric Controller determines which 3 machines to deploy to, copies the service package to the 3 machines, and fires up the services.
- The Fabric Controller then configures the DNS so you have an endpoint exposed for your services for the outside world to communicate with your services.
- From there, it configures the load balancers and routers.
That’s it. It’s completely automated. Amazing! As you can see we have some magical computing in our future!
If you want to come out and hear more about Azure and Virtualization, my teammates and myself are delivering live events across the country. These are free events and you can come out and learn more about Azure and Virtualization, check out www.technetevents.com for more information and to register.
Also one of my teammates, Dan Stolts is doing a dedicated event on virtualization on Friday, February 12, 2010, to learn more check out his post here:
Virtualization Event Coming Soon to EVERYWHERE!
- Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) V1 SP1 User Experience
-
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, or MED-V, is a desktop virtualization solution providing a self-contained computing environment including the OS, intended applications, and customized settings, if any. Desktop virtualization allows an application to run in a specific OS environment different from the OS running the hosting computer. MED-V uses Virtual PC 2007 to provide a virtualized and customizable computing environment required by an intended application, yet incompatible or conflicting with that in the hosting computer.
One focus of MED-V V1 SP1 is to expand support platforms to include Windows 7 (x86 and x64) as a host. This screencast demonstrates running a MED-V workspace using a V1 SP1 client in the Windows 7 environment.
In V1 SP1, MED-V continues to employ Virtual PC 2007 as the virtualization vehicle to run a MED-V workspace, and it does not require hardware-assisted virtualization. Namely, a MED-V V1 SP1 host does not require Intel VT or an AMD-V processor in the hardware.
To better understand desktop virtualization and MED-V, additional information is available below:
- Hyper-V and Open Source: A Powerful (PowerShell) Combination
-
In a post last week, I highlighted a number of ways to harness the power of virtualization with little or no costs. One tool I mentioned was the open source PowerShell Hyper-V Management library written by James O’Neill available on CodePlex. This library of PowerShell commandlets can enable you to automate and monitor all sorts of Hyper-V related tasks. I install and use the library on all of my Hyper-V hosts because it provides me with a simple, consistent command line user interface to access and report on my virtual environment. There is some documentation available on how to load and use the library online, but I go into more detail in two chapters of our book about Hyper-V. We’re revising the book right now to cover enhancements in Windows Server 2008 R2 – one of which is the inclusion of PowerShell V2. The new version of PowerShell includes some cool enhancements you may not know about, like Out-GridView. I use it with the Hyper-V library to filterable / sortable reports of my virtual environment. Here are a few quick examples.
Tough Reporting is Easy!
Data gathering across multiple physical systems can be hard, and sometimes the best way to collect information seems like laborious “cut and paste” torture. How might you (for example) gather all the MAC addresses from your VM’s virtual network cards for a network audit? You could access the setting for each VM using Hyper-V Manager one at a time… but there’s an easier way!
I can generate a report of all the MAC addresses for virtual machine in my environment by creating a list of my Hyper-V hosts (in a text file called Serverlist.txt) and typing the following command line:
get-vmnic -server (get-content .\serverlist.txt) | select * | out-gridview
Being able to create reports like this on the fly is super useful, and I can’t imagine how I would be able to gather information as easily with out the library (other than using System Center Virtual Machine Manager!).
The truth is, I’m not a scripting or a PowerShell expert. I don’t use it every day and often forget how to use the library. I’ve used Out-Gridview to create a report of all the functions in the library that I keep in Excel using the following command line:
get-command -module HyperV | get-help | select-object -property name, synopsis | out-gridview
Simplified Management
I perform all sorts of management task too, like creating new VMs or starting /saving the state of all VMs on a host – those things are a piece of cake to automate. One super useful thing I do with the library is to Live Migrate all the VMs from cluster node to another with one simple command line. Say for example I wanted to move all the VMs from one node (HPDL380T) to another (HPDL380B), I could just use the following:
Get-VM -server HPDL380T | move-vm -Destination HPDL380B
These are just a few examples of how I use the library (lots more in the update to our book!). If you would like to see examples of other ways to automate tasks with the library, leave me 
a comment. For other great ideas on automation, checkout the TechNet Script Center. It’s packed full of scripting examples, tutorials, witty repartee – all at the same low low price!
-John
- Give Me Direct Access!
-
To paraphrase a statement by Arthur C. Clarke “the way to find the limits of what is possible is to push in to the realm of the impossible.” In the world of networks there are things that have formerly been impossible but are now in the realm of reality. Streaming HD video content delivery on an internetwork. 
That’s a big deal! What would we do without TV. Composite IP network protocol that natively understands both IPV4 and IPV6. Think of the possibilities! While both of these advances are spectacular if we take the next step we get to something truly amazing! Secure Direct Intra-network access using internal network credentials (held in Active Directory) from anywhere with an internet connection. You read that correctly. That means secure connectivity to your internal corporate network even if your connecting from Starbucks. I know what you’re thinking. How?
We stood on the shoulders of giants and took the next step.
IPV6 from the composite IP protocol provides the base functionality. Then we add the functionality of Active Directory, Network Access Protection and a Direct Access server. Bingo. The nirvana of network access. You will notice that at no time during that description did I mention the 3 letter acronym VPN. I didn’t mention it because we don’t use it. VPN offered a connection that had to be turned on and validated and then disconnected when we were finished using it. That is just not really effective. Especially in light of the current environment in which our portable machines operate. The last thing we want is to have a mode of operations where the security policies of our network don’t apply.
One of the best things about Direct Access is that the connection is always on. That means that the security policies (GPO’s) of the network apply to the machine all the time. We can provide a degree of protection and control to our portable machines and users that has hitherto been “Impossible.” If you haven’t tried Direct Access its time to pull out the white papers and step by step guides and take this technology out for a spin. Take my word for it, You will love it!
Here’s a great intro video to get you started. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd572177.aspx
Here’s the Direct Access Step by Step guide for Lab testing. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8D47ED5F-D217-4D84-B698-F39360D82FAC&displaylang=en
Here’s to Arthur C. Clarke and to doing the things that we consider impossible.
- Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 User Experience
-
The main delivery of App-V 4.6 is 64-bit supportability. The rest product features and functions are much the same, if not identical, with those of App-V 5.1 SP1.The following shows App-V 4.6 Windows Desktop Client and App-V 4.6 Client for Remote Desktop Services (or Terminal Services) installed in a 64-bit operating system.
Notice this 21-minute screencast is not a tutorial of App-V 4.6. The viewers are expected to be already experienced with App-V and familiar with App-V infrastructure. The presented App-V user experience is based on a server-based deployment scenario with a full App-V infrastructure with packages streamed in RTSPS over port 332. Using RTSPS provides high security since the communication between App-V Servers and Clients is signed and encrypted. The following table depicts the methods for deploying virtual application packages to terminal servers and Windows desktops. In the screencast, I employed an App-V Management Server with local SQL Server 2008. The demo environment consists of virtual machines running within my laptop which is a Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V role added.
Source: Application Virtualization 4.5 for Terminal Services
The configurations of the demo environment is highlighted in the topology diagram shown below. Here contoso.corp is an Active Directory domain with an App-V infrastructure of the following components.
- An App-V Management Server is responsible for publishing the shortcuts and file-type associations and streaming application packages to App-V clients. The App-V Data Store is in a SQL database and retains information related to the App-V infrastructure.
- An App-V Management Console is a MMC 3.0 snap-in management utility for App-V Management Server administration. An App-V Management Console can be installed with an App-V Server as configured in the demos here or on a separate workstation that has MMC 3.0 and .NET 2.0 installed.
- An App-V Client provides the virtual environment for running virtualized applications by managing and streaming App-V packages into cache, publishing refresh, and interacting with designated App-V Servers. Both App-V Desktop Client and App-V/TS Client are available and demonstrated in the screencast.
To minimize the number of virtual machines needed, I installed App-V Management Server, App-V Admin Console, and SQL Server 2008 in the domain controller, dc.contoso.corp. While App-V 4.6 Terminal Services (App-V/TS) Client was installed in the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH), app.contoso.corp. And App-V 4.6 Windows Desktop Client was installed in a managed Windows 7 desktop, w7ent.contoso.corp. The domain, contoso.corp was configured with DirectAccess with w7ent as a DirectAccess client.
In the demos, I first talked about how the demo evironemnt is configured. And with the App-V default applicaiton which is the test application installed with App-V Management Console, I added domain admins as the aithorized users to verify the readiness and correctness of the App-V infrastrcuture. Later I used a test account, alice, to test the streamed App-V applications. Notice the demo environment was constructed to mainly present the user experience of App-V 4.6 with minimal complexity. No attempt was made to optimize the performance, server placement, or user profile management.
Additional resources on App-V:
For those who woudl like to try and get famililar with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, follow the following links to download, install, and test it out. Here I also include the download information of Forefront and System Center which are essential for securing and managing enterprise infrastructure.
(This is a cross-posting from http://blogs.technet.com/yungchou/.)
- Hyper-V: CSV not Required for Live Migration
-
I received a great question about something I said in my post on the great value of Hyper-V backup - that CSV is not required for Live Migration. One reader (thanks Dan), called me on this, because all of the documentation he had seen spoke of them together - including this article: “Hyper-V: Using Live Migration with Cluster Shared Volumes in Windows Server 2008 R2” .
Most of the documentation that I’ve seen covers CSV and Live Migration together because they both required increased network bandwidth between cluster nodes (and are new to R2). The guidance I’ve seen isn’t wrong, it’s just not clear. Mike Sterling and I are addressing some of this in the upcoming R2 update to our Hyper-V book. I posted this information already on my other blog, but wanted to “ping back” here as well.
You do not need CSVs to use Live Migration!
What you do need if you are not using CSVs is to dedicated each VM to a separate LUN 
or cluster file system (like Sanbolic’s Melio FS). For Live Migration to work, the VM must be able to move to a new node without being associated to another virtual machine (as it would be if more than one VM were hosted on a LUN with out CSV or a CFS). For demonstration purposes, I setup a small LUN in my lab and but a single VM on it. It’s show as Drive W: in the picture top the right (there are a few other LUNs as well, including a 512GB LUN used for CSV).
I created a Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition VM on one of the cluster nodes on the new dedicated LUN as show in the Hyper-V Manager VM “Settings” screen to the Left. I then make the VM “highly available by adding the LUN to the cluster and running through the “High Availability Wizard”. Once the VM was started and running on the cluster, I was all set – as you can se
e in the Failover Clustering console image on the right.
OK, so now what. Demonstrating that you don’t need CSV is as simple as right clicking on the VM in “Services and applications and seeing what options you have… like… like LIVE MIGRATION!
Pretty cool, right? So if you can use Live Migration without a 
CSV, why would you bother with setting up CSVs? Because using CSVs reduces the hassles associated with storage provisioning. You don’t have to setup a separate LUN for each VM if you put all your VMs on a big CSV (or multiple CSVs). CSVs also reduce the potential disconnect period at the end of the migration, since the CSV doesn’t have to be unmounted from one host and remounted on another. THIS IS A BIG DEAL if you have a less than optimal networking setup (like in my lab). I only have two NICs on each of the hosts in this cluster – on for VMs and the other for cluster / iSCSI (a real no no! – Not enough
bandwidth!). On this cluster, the time out to mount / unmount a VM on a dedicated LUN is just a bit too long, and my non-CSV Live Migrations often fail as a result! I just got a new, enterprise-class HP ProCurve switch for my lab that supports 10GB (as well as link aggregation) which will certainly improve my situation.
If CSVs make using Live Migration easier, why not use them all the time? In a post on my other blog, I mentioned the challenges with host-based backup of VMs using CSVs (DPM 2010 does a great job with this, by the way!).
You can use CSVs or dedicated LUNs for your clustered virtual machines, you just have to be aware of the trade offs.
-John
- Are SQL Servers good candidates for Virtualization...YES!
-
With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, we went back to our SQL team and asked them if we could get some guidance on virtualizing SQL Server. They have posted a video on the benefits of SQL Server consolidation as well as a great whitepaper on SQL Server consolidation. I posted a blog about this, earlier this week regarding some new content that has been released by the SQL Team and Vipul Shah a Senior Product Manager with the Virtualization Team. This information really shows the power of Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and how good a platform we provide for Business Critical applications. Not only can you run SQL in a VM, but other applications like Exchange and SharePoint are also great applications to run virtualized.
Check out Vipul's post, and let me know what other apps you are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.
Kenon
- John Weston Introduction
-
Hello, my name is John Weston and I am really excited to be part of Microsoft’s new initiative – Because It’s Everybody’s Business (BIEB).
As my backgrounder, I have been in Technology for over 20 years
- For the last seven years I have been at Microsoft, driving IT Professionals Satisfaction as an ITE the teams may have changed but basically that whole time working with IT professionals. I love helping build communities, User Groups, influentials, MVPs and creating other people that are as passionate as I am about our technology.
- Before Microsoft, I was a contract trainer for Microsoft, colleges and several training companies for 7 years
- For 10 years during the 80’s and 90’s I built and ran a consulting company with my brother, Weston Brothers Software based in Dallas, TX we were both Microsoft and IBM partners.
- And along the way, I was an MCSE, MCT, MCITP, and many other certifications too many to remember..
During my time at Microsoft I have had the privilege of being on stage for many of our product launches. I always get asked what my favorite product is. It would have to be Unified Communications, or Office Communications Server 2007 R2 as the current build. This allows me to Instant Message, Voice, Video conference all from my laptop, my laptop is my desk phone, I can even share my desktop with others over my Instant Messenger client what fun! And this isn’t a brand new product.
I love showing of the amazing features of our innovation. Lately I have been showing some of the videos from our www.officelabs.com team. They have some futuristic products we may see 5-10 years out. Amazing that these things are actual functioning prototypes. They may not be commercially available yet, but you can only image what is coming.
Thanks for reading – and I look forward to visiting with you in the near future.
- Virtualization on a Shoestring
-
Server virtualization promises huge costs savings through consolidating underutilized physical servers to fewer systems. Microsoft, VMware, and other virtualization vendors provide tools and guidance on how to virtualize existing systems. In fact, just today, ReadWriteWeb ran an article on the subject entitled "Getting Started With Virtualization: What You Can Do On a Shoestring" The post, which mentions Microsoft's new partnership with HP, concludes that "Microsoft is a logical leader in this space and can't be considered out of the race. The partnerships and investments in the channel will likely pay off. Hyper-V is growing features and has a distinct advantage in reaching customers through the natural relationships Microsoft has in the enterprise." I wish Mike would have included Hyper-V in the comparision chart, because a Hyper-V solution would have had A LOT of check marks for those "free" features!
Ready-to-use tools and solutions for virtualization are great because they can save time and the headaches of a "free" do it yourself approach, but they can be more expensive than doing it yourself.
As much as I like packaged tools, I’m sort of a DIY kind of guy, and I want to point out some DIY / low cost approaches and tools.
Virtualization Infrastructure: Hyper-V Server
Hyper-V is an installable server role that’s included in most editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 – so many customers already own Hyper-V. If they don’t own Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Hyper-V Server R2 is a "free", downloadable product that includes Hyper-V. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 can be used in a failover cluster for Hyper-V based, VMs, and supports Quick Migration and / or Live Migration, as well as the use of Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) for easy storage provisioning. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 does not come with the same virtualization license entitlements as Windows Server 2008 R2, but it’s a great option to start-of-the art virtualization technology if you already own the licenses you would like to use as VMs.
Virtualizing An Existing Server: Disk2VHD
There are lots of tools to perform a Physical to Virtual (P2V) migration – capturing the configuration of a system and converting it to a virtual image. One no-cost tool I use for this is from the Windows Sysinternals Team called Disk2VHD. Disk2VHD is an image capture tool which captures a system configuration and saves it directly into a VHD formatted file (used by Hyper-
V, Virtual PC, and even some VMware products). While it was not originally intended to be a P2V tool it works well for this purpose in many situations, allowing you to capture and convert a Windows XP or newer (Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2) while the physical system is up and running! The downside of using Disk2VHD (or just about any “free” imaging tool) for P2V migrations is that it doesn’t adjust the system configuration to match it’s new “hardware”. You may need to (for example) alter the disk configuration, network configuration, and other system components manually. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 also does on the fly P2V, as well as much much more (image and ISO management using a library, deployment management, monitoring,….).
Operations and Management
I very often manage my virtualization host from home on my Windows 7 laptop using the Hyper-V Manager downloaded and installed as part of the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7. You can use the Hyper-V Manager to control not only Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 and R2, but also the free Hyper-V Server. For automation tasks, WMI is the API layer used to control Hyper-V, so scripting is doable with some knowledge of common tools. I however am a scripting cheater, so I use a PowerShell library created by James O’Neill that you can download from CodePlex, an Open Source community hosted by Microsoft. James’ 'PowerShell Hyper-V Management library lets you automate and monitor all sorts of Hyper-V related work. The monitoring is not as comprehensive (or easy) as using System Center Operations Manager, and the automation takes more effort than using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, but you can’t really beat the price!
Backup and Recovery
I’ve covered nearly free backup and covered in an earlier post, which appears to have received more comments and questions than any other post to date! Virtual backup “on the cheap” is a hot topic (why I wanted to cover a few other areas in this post!).
Let me know if you would like me to go deep into any of these topics with a comment back.
-John
- Application Compatibility Resources for R2
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Windows Server 2008 R2 includes changes to the kernel and user-mode API’s to support virtualization, scalability, performance, power-management, and networking enhancements. As a result, your existing application may require modifications or design changes, particularly if the application includes kernel drivers.
Microsoft provides free test tools and other resources to help you. Benefits include participation in logo programs and global application marketing exposure.
See the application readiness portal for more detailed information.
- Extreme Web Services
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Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces the Windows Web Services API (WWSAPI).
WWSAPI is a new and extremely efficient Web Services endpoint implementation library. It is available with both Windows 7 (client) and Windows Server 2008 R2 (server), and is an implementation of the WS-* family of protocols for SOAP based web services.
With the Windows Web Services API, you can now easily integrate your C/C++ client-side applications with existing web services as well as implement server-side C/C++ web services. WWSAPI enables several solution scenarios including:
· Build web services in native-code C/C++ on both client and server.
· Achieve interoperability with web services implemented using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), ASP.NET XML Web Services, and even services implemented using non-Microsoft implementations of WS-* protocols.
· Design web services with minimal service startup time and minimal working-set dependencies.
· Use web services in resource-constrained deployment environments.
· Avoid costly managed-code “interop” scenarios.
· Achieve custom, high performance, web service end-point implementations.
· WWSAPI is also supported on legacy Windows client and server releases.
