Category: Windows Server

Do you smell that?  There’s RTM fever in the air!

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0 is available now to help you plan you deployment of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

“Version 4.0 of this toolkit has the following new features:

• Windows 7 Hardware and Device Compatibility Assessment
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Hardware and Device Compatibility Assessment
• Virtualization Candidates Assessment for Hyper-V R2 Server Consolidation
• Integration with the Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Calculator
• Inventory of VMware Server Hosts and Guests
• User Interface and Proposal Customization for Partner co-branding
• Enhanced Usability and Improved Inventory Performance

Additional Features

• Virtualization Candidates Assessment for Hyper-V Server Consolidation
• Windows Vista Hardware and Device Compatibility Assessment
• Windows Server 2008 Hardware and Device Compatibility Assessment
• 2007 Microsoft Office Readiness Assessment
• SQL Server Instance Discovery
• Desktop Security Assessment for Anti-virus and Anti-malware Programs Installation
• Forefront Client Security/NAP Readiness Assessment
• App-V Infrastructure Readiness Assessment
• Power Savings “Green IT” Calculator”

I’ve put the bits in bold that you Hyper-V administrators will be interested in.

Back in April at a user group event, a few of us put together ideas and came up with the Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 announcement being today at the WPC09 conference in New Orleans.

It’s rumoured that the code for the OS was locked and compiled last week and that it has already RTM’d.

Keep an eye on your usual news sources.  The keynote at the event is being streamed live on the net by the looks of it.  It starts at 08:30 CDT or 14:30 GMT.

EDIT #1:

Steve Ballmer is scheduled to speak on the 14th.  I’m wondering if they’ll hold back on the RTM announcements until then?

EDIT #2:

Silly time zone conversion tool had me thinking it was at 13:30.  It’s really at 14:30.

EDIT #3:

The RTM is definitely tomorrow on the 14th with Ballmer.

I’ve spent this weekend writing a book chapter about installing and configuring Windows Server 2008 R2.  A year and a half ago I wrote about Server Manager in Windows Server 2008.  Part of that document was detailed instructions on how to user SERVERMANAGERCMD.EXE.  That command is being deprecated by Microsoft in Windows Server 2008 R2.  You’re advised to learn the PowerShell cmdlet alternatives.  There’s 4 commands you need to know:

• Import-Module ServerManager: That will add the following 3 cmdlets.
• Get-WindowsFeature: List the available roles, role services and features and identify the installed ones.
• Add-WindowsFeature: Install roles, role services and features.
• Remove-WindowsFeature: Uninstall roles, role services and features.

You can use the following arguments in the Add and Remove cmdlets:

cmdlet <object1>,<object2>,<objectN> –restart –whatif

• Use commas to specify many roles, role services and features in a single command.
• Use –Restart to automatically reboot if required.
• -Whatif: to simulate the cmdlet and not really make changes.

For example:

Add-WindowsFeature File-Services, Web-Server -restart

Other changes:

• You can connect to a remote Windows Server 2008 R2 server to manage it – if it is configured to allow that.  It’s off by default.  Turning it on is possible within the Server Manager GUI.  Turning it off will disable remote management using PowerShell so be careful.
• There are Best Practice Analysers built in for some of the roles, e.g. AD Services, AD Certificate Services and IIS.

Jose Barreto has blogged about the FSCT RC.  This pre-production tool is aimed at identifying performance bottlenecks on W2008/R2 file servers.  I’ve not had time to read more but it looks like it’s aimed at BIG environments.

Used Windows Server 2008 Core Installation?  You can install Standard, Enterprise or DataCenter without the GUI.  That means knowing the command line alternatives which is a great challenge.  Throw in the 3rd party stuff and it’s often impossible, hence I use the Full Installation (with Windows) instead.

Used Hyper-V Server 2008?  That’s a variation of Windows Server 2008 Standard Core Installation that only allows you to run Hyper-V.  It has no GUI but it has a character based configuration tool that runs kind of like a green screen menu interface.  That was called HVCONFIG.

Windows Server 2008 R2 includes SCONFIG after many requests from the public – including me.  This is the same style of character based GUI and will allow you to open the gates on your Core Install server:

Credit: Windows Virtualization Blog.

Johan Arwidmark, another Minasi forum poster, has posted about the latest beta (2) build of the MDT 2010 (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit).  It is available now to download on Connect.  MDT is the free toolkit from MS that you can use to optimise your Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 deployments.  Johan, a deployment MVP, is one of the gurus on this stuff and a regular source of answers on the trickier side of deployment; I think he has some training media coming out soon so watch out for that.

Bink is reporting that July13th will be when Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is RTM’d.  As I’d previously said, that ties in perfectly with the WPC09 conference (MS partners); it’s starts on the 13th in New Orleans.

It’s official and bang on what I had expected.  W7 and W2008 R2 will RTM in mid July, right around the timeframe for the Worldwide Partner Conference or WPC09.  They will be available on MSDN, TechNet and EOpen not long after that.  Retail sales will start in October.

Hopefully VMM 2008 R2 will RTM not long after that so I can get cracking with our Hyper-V upgrade.

Tim Berk brought our attention to a couple of hotfixes for SP2 on Windows 2008 that will be relevant if you are using MPIO (dual path attached storage) for Windows Server 2008 servers.

KB967752: A Windows Server 2008-based computer that is connected to a storage device over MPIO paths does not restart

• Consider the following scenario:
• You are running a Windows Server 2008-based computer that is connected to a storage device over some Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) paths.
• A Microsoft MPIO Device Specific Module is enabled for these MPIO paths.
• The storage device is configured as an iSCSI boot device or a Storage Area Network (SAN) boot device.
• You install and then uninstall Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2.
• You have installed hotfix 957316 on the Windows Server 2008-based computer.

In this scenario, the computer does not restart if the storage device is a boot device, or you lose access to the device if the device is a data volume.

KB957316: Disk I/O errors occur after you restore a failed MPIO path on a Windows Server 2008-based computer

Consider the following scenario:

• You are running a Windows Server 2008-based computer that is connected to a storage device over some Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) paths.
• A Microsoft MPIO Device Specific Module is enabled for these MPIO paths.
• A heavy load occurs on the storage device.
• One of the MPIO paths fails. Therefore, some logical unit numbers (LUNs) fail over to another MPIO path.
• You restore the failed MPIO path.
• The computer tries to access the storage device.

In this scenario, disk I/O errors occur. This problem is more likely to occur when there are many LUNs.

Booting from and storing data on MPIO attached storage is becoming more and more common, e.g. blade servers and SAN.  Make sure you are covered in these scenarios, especially if using something like WSUS or Configuration Manager to deploy service packs.

Credit: Tim Berk.

HP released a support pack (8.16) that includes support for W2008 R2 beta.  The Support Pack includes all the drivers, management tools and management agents for optimal performance and manageability of HP Proliant servers.  I’ve seem sites that never use the Support Pack and they couldn’t manage their servers.  In fact, those sites tended to be pretty poor.  The software is free.  Heck, it’s part of the price of your server so use it!

“Windows Server 2008 R2 is being released in beta form by Microsoft. For HP customers who participate in the beta program for this product, download the white paper below for help on implementing the beta operating system on ProLiant servers. Official HP customer support for Windows Server 2008 R2 will be available when Microsoft releases the official version. 

• Implementing Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta on HP servers
• ProLiant Support Pack 8.16 for Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta
• Implementing Microsoft(r) Windows(r) Server 2008 R2 pre-release build on HP servers”

Credit: Dan Taylor