Month: February 2010

TechNet Wiki

There’s no doubt of a few things:

  • Some people have found Microsoft documentation to be a bit lacking, and sometimes a bit late.  For example, we only recently got clear guidance on networking configuration for Live Migration. I’ve had people contact me who were very confused on different subjects because they’ve only had closely related blog posts to work on, not specific ones.  And that’s just with one “small” subject.
  • The power of the community on the Internet is impressive.  Wikipedia has become a huge source of information, even if that information has to be verified against other sources.  The same goes for blogs.
  • Microsoft TechNet should be one of the first port of calls for IT pros when referencing technical articles on Microsoft infrastructure.  But lets face it, it isn’t.  That might be because of poor searchability, poor/confusing writing or incomplete/missing articles.

So Microsoft is going to try something.  It is a bit of a leap of faith.  Microsoft TechNet is going to launch a wiki.  I think there’s some excitement about this dabbling with the community in Redmond.  The idea is that you, me, or anyone else, can contribute or edit content on this wiki.  It should be documentation about products, solutions, fixes, architecture, etc.  It will be up to the community at large to maintain the content for the community.  I’m not saying MS might not edit it for legal reasons, etc, but in the end it will be down to ordinary people to manage.

Obviously some MVP’s and other assorted nutters will be big writers (not me … doing this blog, my day job and a few projects that are starting up will keep me busy).  But there’s nothing to stop you from adding content and editing.

As it is community content you cannot rely on it solely.  I would recommend trying to verify any statements made on it against other sources.  However, it should quickly become a huge repository of information, making it a great jumping off point on any search.

Microsoft’s Keith Combs talks about the new TechNet Wiki on his blog.  Keith says that it will launch later this year.  As he says at the end, the success or failure of this service will depend on the community, not Microsoft.  Will it succeed?  I don’t know, but I’m sure that people in Redmond are taking it seriously.  It’s a subject worth keeping an eye on.

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Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V VHD Performance White Paper

Microsoft has published a whitepaper on VHD performance.  It talks about raw disk, pass through, fixed and dynamic.  It’s must reading if you’re in a Hyper-V engineering/design role.

To be honest, it is more than just a Hyper-V document.  It does talk about VHD in general.  Windows Server 2008 is also included.

Exchange 2010 Support For Virtualisation

I hadn’t really read this one too much because I don’t deal with Exchange very often.  But it came up on the Minasi Forum over the last few days and Jetze Mellema (Exchange MVP) posted a link to the official support article.

Does Exchange 2010 support virtualisation?  Yes … barely.  There’s so many notes associated with the support statement from the Exchange teams that you really want to sit back and go Hmmm!

Obviously it supports Hyper-V and other hardware virtualisation solutions in the Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program.

Microsoft goes on to say:

  • The Unified Messaging server role is not supported in VM’s.
  • Virtual disks that dynamically expand aren’t supported by Exchange.
  • Virtual disks that use differencing or delta mechanisms (such as Hyper-V’s differencing VHDs or snapshots) aren’t supported.

Other notes from this site are:

  • You cannot run a DAG on a clustered host, e,g. a VMware cluster with VMotion or a Hyper-V cluster with Live/Quick Migration.
  • Snapshots of the VM are not supported.
  • The Exchange team supports no more than 2 virtual processors per logical processor on the host.  For example, you cannot have more than 16 virtual processors on a dual, quad core host (8 logical processors).  Normally, Hyper-V has a max of 8:1 ratio.
  • Like with SQL, snapshots are not supported.

Not that these restrictions don’t just apply to Hyper-V.  They apply to all virtualisation solutions.

Live Migration Network Configuration Guide

Microsoft has released a configuration guide on how to set up networking cards in a Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster with Live Migration.  There’s been a bit of confusion on this topic for those who are new to Hyper-V and failover clustering.  It hasn’t been helped with various failover clustering posts making recommendations that don’t take account of CSV or Live Migration.  Once you get to know this stuff, it is actually not too bad at all.

Windows Deployment Workshop with Deployment MVP/Expert Rhonda Layfield

Deployment MVP, speaker, journalist, consultant, and author, Rhonda Layfield is running a deployment workshop in Las Vegas on March 17th-19th.  It’s 2 and a half days with a person who knows this stuff inside-out.  If you’re a techie getting ready for a desktop deployment, a consultant who’ll probably do Windows 7 deployments this year, or an engagements manager with staff who should know this stuff then this is the best way to kept them up to speed with the MS technologies and approved ways to do this work. 

Rhonda doesn’t stop there.  She always goes on to explain the “edge scenarios”, e.g. what happens when drivers aren’t there, WDS deployments are slow, etc. Rhonda has done deployment projects for some huge organisations in the USA so she knows what she’s talking about.  This will be totally unlike attending some MOC course or a MS partner training day.  This is real at-the-coalface teaching from someone who has been there and done that.

Rhonda is the sort of person you want to teach you because she personally invests herself in each and every session she does.  I’ve seen how much work she invests in sessions the days leading up to them … even if they are repeat sessions, Rhonda will be constantly looking for ways to tune them, give better explanations, more information, etc.

The costs are actually pretty low.  The 2.5 days cost $835 which is around the cost of a MS partner training course in Ireland when you take the exchange rate into account.  Flights to Vegas are economic (Delta via Atlanta), and the Bellagio hotel will cost €150 a night.  Lunch and unlimited coffee are free for 2 days.  There will also be a cocktail hour.  Mark Minasi and Paul Thurrott will be attending so that’s 3 of the biggest brains around to bounce questions off of which is a unique opportunity.  I’ve never met Paul but if he’s like Mark and Rhonda, you’ll get your questions answered by someone approachable and friendly – and knowledgeable.

It also happens to be St. Patricks weekend and the bar to be at in Vegas will be in New York, New York, just a short stroll away.  Their rooms can be cheap if you book ahead.  I can’t remember the name of the older hotel just diagonally across from NY, NY on that junction but it’s decent and very cheap.

So go check out the Deployment Workshop.  I personally think it’s a great looking course, full of info and with a great teacher.  Rhonda did one session at TechEd Europe last year … and then was asked to repeat it due to popular demand later in the week.  That, I promise you, does not happen by accident.  So imagine what you’d get out of 2.5 days of material!

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Crazy Idea – Use VMware for Hyper-V P2V of Linux

I posted a while back about how to P2V convert a physical Linux machine to a Hyper-V virtual machine.  I really only looked at nasty complicated solutions that required knowing Linux.  You can P2V Windows machines using Virtual Machine Manager but not Linux machines.

Some conversations last week at the summit revealed an alternative that I really should have thought of.  It’s not NDA stuff.

You can use the free VMware vCenter Converter to P2V a Linux VM.  That creates a VMware VM with a VMDK disk file.  The downside is that it appears that the target must be VMware ESX, ESXi, Workstation or Player (See below comment).

Now, you can use a tool to convert the VMDK to a Microsoft VHD disk file, e.g. VMDK2VHD.  Now you have a disk you can attach to a Hyper-V VM and boot from.  You can then install your integration components which are supported on RHEL and SLES.  They’ll install on other distros but are not MS supported.

At least, that’s the theory.  I’ve not tried this.  It feels like it’ll work.

It’s a shame that a Linux tool has to be used for this.  It’ll look bad for a MS partner consultant who has sold a client on the idea of Microsoft virtualisation to break out a VMware tool for a P2V of Linux VM’s.  Sure, they’ll be the majority of VM’s but there’s still a good number of them out there.

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Child Protection on the Internet

When you think about this subject it’s easy to think only of the headline grabbing stories that a Oprah, Geraldo or Jeremy Kyle would be drawn to.  We’ve all heard about “child grooming”.  It’s a problem because social media is all about meeting new people.  An even worse problem is cyber-bullying.  20% are bullied by text/SMS.  I’ve seen a crazy stat that says 77% of kids have been bullied online.  30% of US kids in grades 6 to 10 say they bully online.  There’s lots more of that here.

I’ve briefly tried to play online games with a headset.  I’m no sensitive daisy nor am I politically correct (as you’ll soon see if you keep reading) but I was stunned by the level of racism from the other players.  It was pretty sickening.  Between that and me sucking at the games I had enough.

Last October I attended the UK & Ireland MVP mini-summit in the Microsoft UK office in Reading.  MS UK had started running a campaign in schools and parental organisations to educate parents on how to protect their children on the Internet.  They talked about the impact and played a couple of videos.  The videos really brought home the subject matter.

I don’t have any kids.  If you know me well, then you know I prefer the Spartan approach to parenting: send them away to somewhere remote and isolated, and only let them into society at 18 years old if they are socially acceptable.  Airplanes, restaurants, closed spaces, open spaces, etc, should all be kid free zones where high pitched squealing is punishable using a chain, a block of concrete and a river.

Now there’s the political incorrectness!

MS UK did the session to get feedback from the local MVP’s.  It was a good idea because lots of the parents got involved.  I learned something interesting, e.g. “if I POS type this” or “if I ty9pe this” when chatting to you on IM then you’d know a parent or teacher was standing over my shoulder and watching my screen.  POS = 9 = Parent Over Shoulder.

Microsoft UK started going out to schools to talk to kids and parents about Internet Safety.  They also recruited people like MVP’s to get involved in their communities.  It’s way more than just some Windows sale.  The Internet is much more than just Microsoft software and Microsoft gets that message across.  They show how to use the free Live software on your PC, e.g. to restrict access to things or to make reporting things to authorities easier.

Microsoft UK has a page full of useful information here.  I’d say you’ll probably be able to get them or a representative to visit if you contact them.  MS UK was taking this subject very seriously.  Microsoft Ireland did things in a visibly smaller way with an Internet Safety Day.  They might be doing something under the radar; I don’t have kids (phew) so I wouldn’t know if there’s a school tour.  There appears to have been something done in Northern Ireland; probably done in cooperation with MS UK (there’s a grey area between MS Ireland and MS UK for the North because of accessibility and the border).  Barnardos (Irish child protection charity) also has a page on the subject.

Troubleshooting Windows Server Backup and Hyper-V

I’ll be honest, this is something I’ve never attempted.  I just backup VM’s at the guest level mainly because you need to do this very often to get the complete results that you need.  Things like non-VSS aware applications and granular recovery require in-VM backup/recovery.  There’s a few other architectural reasons I don’t do host level backup but there’s one or two other people out there who have done this and are more qualified to blog about it.

However, MS Virtualisation Program Manager Ben Armstrong has done it at home and blogged about the process he had to go through to resolve different issues.  It’s a good read, even if you aren’t going to use WSB for your back process.

It’ll Be A Few Days Before I’m Back To Blogging Strength

I was in the general Seattle area for the last 8 days for the MVP summit.  I have trouble adjusting to the 1 hour clock change in the Spring/Autumn so you can imagine what an 8 hour time zone shift does to me!!!  I hung out with fellow MVP (Exchange) Nathan Winters for a few days after the summit.  We rented a Chevy Camero and went southeast into the Cascade mountains, taking in Mount Rainier, etc.  The car is rubbish but it looks nice.  I swear the woman attending the rental garage was flirting with me when we left cos I was driving it.  A word of warning: don’t go looking for lodging without booking it when there’s a gun show in the region.  I had plenty of “we have no rooms left but I like your accent” comments from hotel and motel receptionists.  Still, I did get a few photos.

North West Trek 307

North West Trek 416

I had a 4am PST rise on Sunday to catch my flight home from Seattle.  A 5 hour changeover in Chicago was then followed by an 08:30 (00:30 PST) arrival in Dublin.  I have probably slept a total of about 6 or 7 hours in the last 2 nights, with an average of 3.5 hours sleep per night over the previous week.  My batteries are drained.

One thing I’m left wondering about is United Airlines.  I checked in 3 hours before my flight but they couldn’t assign me a seat until 5 minutes before the gate was shut down.  How awful is that?  In Chicago I was really lucky that the woman who checked my passport warned me of a failing in Terminal 5.  It has no restaurants or services.  I turned around and parked myself nearby on the Boingo network.  My Dell Latitude E6500 battery worked its usual magic to keep me entertained.

This blog will probably be quiet this week as I catch up on sleep.  I’ve also got something new on the boil.  I’ll hopefully be able to talk about that soon.

EDIT

I was using my Canon EF 100-400L IS on a 40D.  When we’ve shot birds of prey in flight together, Nathan has cursed his Sigma 150-500 lens.  It has reach on a “budget” but the focus is slower.  On that day, the reach would have been ideal.  It was possible to get great up close portraits of the eagles at 500mm with just a small crop.  Hopefully Nathan will edit the shots and post them soon!

Oh yeah: I’m still a mess from jetlag.  I woke this morning wondering why it was light out, realising that I had slept late … BADLY.  It’s been non-stop since I arrived in Dublin airport yesterday morning.  My phone which had a full charge at 09:00 has drained its battery at 16:00.

Deploy a Virtualized Session-Based Remote Desktop Services Solution

Microsoft has released guidance on how to deploy a virtualised Remote Desktop Services (aka Terminal Services) Session Host (aka Terminal Server) on a machine/hardware virtualisation platform.

“This document provides guidance on deploying Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) and other Remote Desktop Services role services in a virtualized environment with minimal hardware resources. The document also provides scalability information for a virtualized Remote Desktop Services role configuration by using the Knowledge Worker scenario to help size hardware for similar workloads”.

If this subject interests you then you should check out an independent white paper by The Virtual Reality Check that compares the performance of Terminal Services on VMware vSphere 4.0, Citrix XenServer 5.5 and Microsoft’s Hyper-V 2.0 (Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V).

I’ve deployed fairly small solutions on Hyper-V and they worked fine.  One of the nice things about virtualising them is that you can control your resources nicely: start out small and grow as required in a very rapid manner.