Nirmal

System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0 SP1 Beta

System Center Team has release a new beta service pack for System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self Service Manager Portal 2.0. This is now available via connect as a Public Beta. You can use below mentioned link to download this beta version of the service pack

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1044/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=5055&InvitationID=DIT-DKPH-BWTH

there are few notable changes which gets added with this services pack. Before evaluating this service pack in my test lab, I thought of providing a general overview of new features which gets added

1) Set Expiry of Virtual Machine -> this is a new capability which gets added after applying SP1 Beta. This feature will allow administrators to set expiry on a virtual machine, and the virtual machine will automatically get deleted after a specified time period.

2) Notifications for Administrators -> it’s now possible to notify Business Unit Administrator or Datacenter Administrators regarding various events

3) Move Infrastructure between different business units -> this features provides capability to move infrastructure from one business unit to another

4) Import Virtual Machines -> Datacenter Administrators can import machines which were created using VMM and also re-import machines which were removed from self-service portal

I will be evaluating this beta and hoping to provide more details in my future blog posts.

References:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2011/03/05/system-center-virtual-machine-manager-2-0-sp1-beta-is-now-available.aspx

Step by Step Guide to Implementing a TWO NODE Failover Cluster – Part 02

As I have demonstrated how we prepare Cluster nodes for a two node failover cluster, in this post let’s have a look at how we can use Cluster Validation Tool to generate a report. I will be using Windows Server 2008 for this demonstration and before moving any further let’s have a look at what tests are performed using Cluster Validation Tool.

Cluster Validation tool is a wizard found on Failover Cluster Management Console. Following tests are carried out when you perform cluster Validation Tool

· Inventory Validation

· Network Validation

· Storage Validation

· System Configuration

We will look at what are exact components or sub-tests that takes place during validation testing in another post.

First we need to go to administrative tools and then open Failover Cluster Management Console

After selecting Failover Cluster Management option, it will open Failover Cluster Management Console

We can right click on Failover Cluster Management and then select “Validate a configuration” option to initiate Cluster validation wizard

As you can see below, first screen provides us with a description relating to Cluster validation wizard.

Next we need to add what are the NODEs which we need to validate.

I will add my Cluster NODE01 and Cluster NODE02

After I select both NODEs, it gets added to my Cluster validation wizard

Next, we need to decide, whether are running all tests, or whether we are going to run a selective test. For this demonstration, I will be running all tests to validate NODE01 and NODE02

Next we have a confirmation summary screen. We can review what are the tests which will be performed against NODE01 and NODE02

After I select next, validation wizard will start validation my cluster configuration

once this is completed, it’s possible for us to view a report

We can open this report as a web page and we can see results.

In my next post, we will create a cluster and let’s see how we can configure it

Step by Step Guide to Implementing a TWO NODE Failover Cluster – Part 01

In this blog post I will be demonstrating how we can create a TWO NODE failover cluster using Windows Server 2008 Failover cluster capabilities. First part of my blog post will contain information on how we can prepare both nodes before creating a cluster.

First we need to look at basic requirements which need to prepare a Failover Cluster.

• Make storage available to all nodes
• Configure Network adapters on all nodes
• Cluster components to be “Certified for Windows Server 2008”

I have configured two networks for Public network and also Private Network.

Let’s look at Public and Private network configuration

Public Adapter -> we configure with IP Address, Subnet Mask ,Default Gateway and DNS

Public Adapter -> I will only provide IP Address and Subnet Mask

Next let’s proceed and configure Storage Connectivity. I will be connecting to my storage using the build-in iSCSI initiator

After selecting iSCSI Initiator, first it will prompt you to start iSCSI service, which is set to start manually by default on Windows Server 2008 / Windows Server 2008 R2.

After that we need to allow iSCSI to communicate through Windows Firewall. This will be automatically configured for you when you select Yes

After this step, you will find iSCSI initiator properties.

Navigate to discovery tab and select “Add Portal” option for us to connect with our shared storage

We need to provide with an IP Address or DNS name for iSCSI target

Once we enter required information, we can proceed

Next we need to navigate to Targets TAB which will allow us to connect with the storage. Select Log on option

We need to allow following options when connecting with the storage

- Automatically restore this connection the computer starts

After completing this step, we have now successfully configured our storage connectivity.

Let’s go ahead and prepare disks using DISK Management utility

After accessing DISK management console, we can notice that there’s a new DISK added .

We need to right click on the DISK and bring it ONLINE

After we bring this DISK online, we can then go ahead and initialize this disk

We need to select which disk, we need to initialize so that it can be access by Logical Disk Manager. We will configure this disk as a MBR style partition disk

Now that we can access this disk, we will go ahead and create a volume

In this window, we will be specifying the size of the disk

Next we need to select a drive letter

Next, we need to change the volume label, and also select “Perform a quick format” option

Now that we have already configured, it’s possible for us to view this disk from Disk Management console

Now let’s move to NODE 02, on NODE 02 we need to bring DISK 1 online, which we have already configured on NODE 01

After refreshing disk management console, we can see that it’s no more in unallocated state, so we only need to bring it online now

Since we have completed configuring both disks, Next we will proceed and run validation using Failover Cluster Management console. Before proceeding, we need to go to Server Manager on both servers and install Failover Clustering which is located under features section.

In my next blog post I will publish how we can run Failover Cluster Validation Tool and validate configuration.

Windows 7 SP1 / Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1–General Availability

Microsoft recently released a new Service pack for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It was released on 16th for TECHNET/MSDN subscribers and I was lucky enough to get it downloaded on the same day for evaluation. Now that I’m already on SP1 I would like to share my experience before General Availability which is on 22nd. Apart from updated Hotfixes are no major changes if you apply SP1 on Windows 7, but there are two new features added with SP1 when you apply it on top of Windows Server 2008 R2. My post will be an introduction to these changes which is applicable for Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1.

First Feature, that has been added is called Dynamic Memory.This feature allows  you to pool all memory available on a physical host between virtual machines as required depending on the workload.

Other feature which was introduced is called Remote FX which allows a virtualized Graphical Processing Unit on the server side to deliver rich media and 3D user experience for VDI Solutions. Users will be able to experience Windows Aero desktop environments and also watch videos within a Virtual Machine environment.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1/Windows 7 SP1 will be available on Windows Update today (22-02-2011). I will post more on Dynamic Memory as well as Remote FX in my future posts.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit New release V5.5

Microsoft recently released the next version of MAP Toolkit and it has following new features

• Windows Azure Platform assessment for easier migration the cloud
• Heterogeneous database discovery for accelerated migration to SQL Server
• Microsoft Internet Explorer migration assessment for migration to Windows 7 compatible versions
• Enhanced server consolidation capabilities help save time and effort when creating virtualization assessments and proposals

If you have not heard about MAP Toolkit before, it has also following assessment capabilities apart from what is mentioned above

• Migration to Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft Office 2010
• Migration to Windows 7 compatible versions of Internet Explorer
• Migration to cloud-based services
• Server virtualization with Hyper-V
• SQL Server consolidation and migration to SQL Server 2008 R2
• Assessment of current software usage and client access history for simplified software asset management
• PC security assessment and migration to Microsoft Forefront Client Security

For more information please visit

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb977556.aspx

Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=158988

Download Software Usage tracker Guide for MAP

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=195445

Training kit for MAP

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=196614

source – Microsoft Technet – Solution Accelerators

Installing Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010

After researching about Endpoint Protection, I thought of downloading and evaluating the product. first of all, size of the ISO is only 76MB and that didn’t take a long time for me to download it

after downloading, I managed to mount it using my image mounting tool and since I’m not having SCCM in my environment I navigated to “Client” folder and run “FEPInstall.exe”

I select Next option to proceed with the installation wizard which gave me a brief introduction about Forefront Endpoint Protection.

Next I need to accept Software License Terms

Next, I decided that I wont be participating for the customer experience improvement program and proceed with the installation

after above step, I was provided with an option to select, whether I want to enable my firewall(which is recommended), but I decided that I will leave my firewall in it’s current state and proceed

next we will proceed and install the product

below you will see a screen capture of the installation progress

after awhile you will notice that the installation has completed successfully

first time when you run the application, it will say that the computer is at risk, that is because we don’t have current definitions.First thing which I did was to up date endpoint protection with latest definitions

after completing definition update it’s possible for us to see information relating to definitions version and the date.Also you will notice that the color theme has now changed to GREEN from RED

as the application is now up to date I thought of initiating a scan

after completing the scan we can see statistics

next, I thought of using an infected pen drive to evaluate my detection capabilities. as soon as the pen drive was plugged in to the system, I was given a notification to take an action against a potential threat. looking at the alert level which is “Severe” I decided to go ahead and remove it.

after applying actions which I selected, cleaning process began

after few seconds, Endpoint Protection was successful in removing a severe infection

this is now visible in the history tab

this is a quick overview on installation of Endpoint Security and basic set of features and capabilities of the product.

Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 RTM Now Available

Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 was released recently with many new improvements. Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 build on System Center Configurations Manager 2007 R2 and R3 will enable customers to use their own existing SCCM infrastructure for deployment and management of Endpoint Protection.

Forefront Endpoint Protection also includes a Management Pack which we could import to Operations Manager for real time monitoring of the security of your infrastructure. this Management pack will provide alerts for Virus activity, Firewall downtime or update failures. This management pack also has automated response capabilities for Security related issues.

Awards and Certifications for Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010

• Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 antimalware engine received the August 2010 VB100 awards
• Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 antimalware engine received its third consecutive Advanced+rating for protection & detection from AV-Comparatives

for more information on Awards and Certifications please visit (http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/endpoint-protection/en/us/awards-certification.aspx)

Highlighted Key benefits of Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010

Simplify

• Similar administrative experience for both managing Clients/Servers using Configurations Manager and providing necessary security for Clients/Servers
• Alerting and automated response capabilities for Servers and Clients

Integrate

• Total Cost of Ownership has been reduced with the use of Configurations Manager to secure endpoints
• Ease of forefront agent deployment using current Configurations Manager product

Protect

• With many success stories and awards forefront endpoint protection will provide a high level of detection for known and unknown malware
• Windows Firewall configurations can be managed to provide security against network level attacks

For more additional information please visit below mentioned links

Try it – (http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/endpoint-protection/en/us/try-it.aspx)

Overview – (http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/endpoint-protection/en/us/product-overview.aspx)

Features – (http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/endpoint-protection/en/us/features.aspx)

it’s now time to do a test drive on the product and evaluate features and capabilities

Microsoft Lync(OCS 14) Announced

I’m happy to write about the latest product announcement by Microsoft. Microsoft Lync successor of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 was announced by Microsoft yesterday(13-09-2010).this product is now in the RC (Release Candidate) stage and the product is supposed to be out in the market soon(RTM stage). Please find below few links which you can read to gather some more information relating to the next release of Microsoft Lync

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/sep10/LyncPR.mspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/uc/archive/2010/09/13/introducing-microsoft-lync-the-next-ocs.aspx

Exchange 2010 SP1 Released

Microsoft released first service pack for Exchange 2010 on the 24th August adding new capabilities to Exchange 2010. please use below link to download Exchange 2010 SP1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b32685-4356-49cc-8b37-d9c9d4ea3f5b&displaylang=en

please find below FAQ, known issues with Exchange 2010 SP1

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/09/01/456094.aspx

Windows Server 2008 R2/Windows 7 SP1 Beta Split package

as per the Microsoft Server division Weblog they were receiving a lot of feedback on the size of the package which needs to be downloaded to evaluate Windows Server 2008 R2/Windows 7 SP1 Beta as the package contains both X64 and X86 versions. due to this reason they have now published a split package which contains x86 version separate and the X64 package separate. please find below link to download the new split package

http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx

Installing Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1(Beta)–Forefront Error

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta & Windows 7 SP1 Beta was announced at the Worldwide Partner conference which was held in Washington D.C. since there were two new exciting features added on to the Services Pack, I thought of applying it to my laptop which was running on Windows Server 2008 R2. I went to TechNet and located SP1 beta for windows server 2008 R2. you may use below url to obtain the service pack incase if your unable to locate it

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx?ITPID=mscomsl

once I finished downloading the service pack I closed all my running applications and executed sp1.

after selecting next I was given license terms page which I accepted and selected next

everything seems to be ready for SP1 when I got the confirmation window and I selected “Install” option along with the reboot option

installation process initiated instantly

unfortunately my installation did not complete successfully. installation ended with an error  relating to Forefront Client Security/Security Essentials

after further research I noticed that it’s not possible to install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta on a computer running Forefront client security. you will also face the same problem if your running Microsoft Security Essentials. however for Security Essentials Product there’s a hotfix which you can apply to resolve this matter.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2254596

since I was using Forefront there was no update which was released and I had to uninstall Forefront Client Security to install SP1 Beta. after uninstalling I was successfully able to install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta without any further interruptions.

since I managed to deploy SP1 now it’s time to explore more on Dynamic Memory and also RemoteFX. I shall post on both these new components added with SP1 soon.

Install an Additional Domain Controller on Server Core R2

with the recent release of Windows Server 2008 R2, i wanted to see how i can utilize server core to install an additional domain controller, by providing better security and utilizing maximum resources. First thing that came to my mind is that to see the possibility of promoting a Server Core as a Domain Controller, yes its possible, but promoting requires an answer file. In Windows Server 2008 Server core you need to feed necessary information relating to domain promotion using an answer file. creating an answer file is also not so difficult but i thought i will do it in a more simple and easy method by using the “Core Configurator” tool which was also recently released supporting Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core.

as the first step i downloaded Core Configurator 2.0 tool from codeplex(http://coreconfig.codeplex.com) which can be obtained for FREE as an ISO file.

after downloading the Core Configurator i mounted on to my Server Core virtual machine.  next what we need to do is to type the following command to initialize Core Configurator

Start_CoreConfig.wsf

as soon as you run above mentioned command it will install Powershell on to your server core as this tool is based on Powershell commands.

for initial server configuration you may use network settings. also you may find computer rename option under Computer Settings.

after renaming the computer you need to restart the server.

now we are ready to promote this workstation as an additional domain controller

under computer settings you may find an option called “Domain Settings” click on the DCPromo button

after clicking DCPromo we have 3 options to select.

1)Add a domain controller to an existing domain

2)Create a new Read Only Domain Controller in an existing domain

3)Remove Domain Controller from an existing domain

i’m going to select “Add a domain controller to an existing domain” option

after we click next we need to specify existing domain name and an user account which has necessary permissions

after you click next you will find default locations where the Active directory domain services related files are saved

next step is the specify domain services restore password, also you could set the option to restart after completion in this window

if you click on the review answerfile you will notice that the answer file has already been generated to you based on information you have provided

now we are almost done and you need to click on Start DCPromo then it will prompt for the administrator password. once the necessary password is provided and accepted by the system it will start promoting as a domain controller. once everything is over machine will automatically reboot.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Released to TECHNET/MSDN

After releasing Windows 7 RTM to Technet/MSDN subscribers on the 6th August, Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 to Technet/MSDN subscribers on the 14th August.

All Technet/MSDN subscribers can now download by accessing the subscriber downloads page

Windows 7 RTM released to TECHNET/MSDN

Microsoft released Windows 7 to all TECHNET/MSDN subscribers on the 6th August. Downloads were available around 11PM Sri Lankan time, and i made a choice to download Windows 7 Enterprise X64 Edition. According to the comparisons online, there were no feature differences between Windows 7 Enterprise Edition compared to the Ultimate Edition. only difference is that the Enterprise Edition is available for Software Assurance customers and the Ultimate Edition is a retail edition.

i was using the previous RC1 edition (Build 7100) at that time, and decided to format the computer and to install a fresh copy of Windows 7 Enterprise. but the downloading was slow as expected due to the high number of downloads. so it took me two days to download the iso image. Finally managed to burn it to a DVD and installed it on my HP Pavilion DV6775TX laptop.

i was earlier under the wrong impression that both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will get released on the same day, but Microsoft blogs confirms that they will be releasing Windows Server 2008 R2 on the 14th of August.

Now it’s time for me to install all my applications and fine tune my system…

Recover deleted IE8 RSS Feeds

I wanted to reinstall my operating system, and I was thinking for awhile whether to install Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. I was comparing advantages and disadvantages and then I finally decided to install Windows Server 2008 R2 so that I will be able to use Hyper-V as an added advantage over installing Windows 7

On previous occasions I used "Windows Easy Transfer" tool which easily backed up my profile and I was able to restore it back on the new operating system without any hazel

But this time I thought, I will backup my self :). Without using Easy Transfer, since I was anyway not sure how compatible it will be from Windows 7 to Windows Server 2008 R2. I backed up everything on to my D: drive after creating a folder called laptopbackup.

After that I took the next big step of inserting the windows server 2008 R2 build 7100 DVD on to my DVD rom and rebooted my pc. I booted from the DVD and did a clean installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 on to my laptop.

First time I logged in I noticed that most of my hardware devices were not detected. so I thought of doing a "Windows Update" and then while doing that I started coping files from my backup

After awhile I managed to install almost all drivers except for my bluetooth driver. Bluetooth on my HP Pavilion DV6775TX doesn’t seems to support. But this was not the only problem that I was facing :)

I opened my IE8 and noticed that I don’t have any of my RSS Feeds. I had a collection of RSS feeds which I collected for almost 3,4 years and these feeds helped me a lot to be up to date of most of the new activities relating to IT. And now they are all gone :(

But I'm lucky I took a copy of my entire profile before I formatted.

I managed to find the path where IE saves all Feeds by default

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Feeds

I copied all content located in the feeds folder and pasted back in to my new profile. Closed IE and opened again. It worked !!!!