Month: December 2013

And So Ends 2013

It’s been a year when we were surprised to get Windows Server and System Center 2012 R2, as well as a free Windows 8.1.  Storage got interesting with the emergence of Storage Spaces and CiB hardware.  We had a quarter where VMware market share actually fell while Hyper-V continued to make up ground.  And we now know what the Microsoft hybrid cloud vision is.

Personally, 2013 was a year of more-of-the-same nose-to-the-grindstone, work giving me some interesting stuff to do, an amazing opportunity in the media with Petri, and dreadful time for my family. However the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 contrasts with that bitter time, with me being the happiest I’ve ever been.

I hope you enjoyed whatever holiday you’ve been celebrating, be it Christmas or something else, and I hope 2014 is good to you.

Happy new year!

My Most Popular Articles In 2013

I like to have a look at what people are reading on my blog from time to time.  It gives me an idea of what is working, and sometimes, what is not – for example, I still get lots of hits on out-dated articles.  Here are the 5 most viewed articles of the last year, from 5 to 1.

5) Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Replica … In Detail

An oldie kicks off the charts … this trend continues throughout the top 5.  At least this one is a good subject that is based on WS2012 and is still somewhat relevant to WS2012 R2.  Replica is one, if not the, most popular features in WS2012 (and later) Hyper-V.

4) Rough Guide To Setting Up A Hyper-V Cluster

I wrote this article in 2010 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and it’s still one of my top draws.  I really doubt you folks still are deploying W2008 R2 Hyper-V; I really hope you folks are not still deploying W2008R2 Hyper-V!!!!  Join us in this decade with a much better product version.

Please note that the networking has change significantly (see converged networks/fabrics).  The quorum stuff has changed a bit too (much simpler).

3) Windows Server 2012 Licensing In Detail

Licensing!!! Gah!

2) Comparison of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Versus vSphere 5.1

There’s nothing like kicking a hornets nest to generate some web hits Smile  We saw VMware’s market share slide in 2013 (IDC) while Hyper-V continued the march forward.  More and more people want to see how these products compare.

And at number one we have … drumroll please …

1) Windows Server 2012 Virtualisation Licensing Scenarios

Wow! I still cannot believe that people don’t understand how easy the licensing of Windows Server on VMware, Xen, Hyper-V, etc, actually is.  Everyone wants to overthink this subject.  It’s really simple: It’s 2 or unlimited created Window Server VMs per assigned license to a host people!!!  This page accounted for 2.8% of all views in the last 12 months.

Sadly, not a single post from the last year makes it into the top 10.  I guess that folks aren’t reading about WS2012 R2.  Does this indicate that there is upgrade fatigue?

Disk2VHD Version 2.0 AKA Disk2VHDX!

Version 2.0 of the ultra-handy Disk2VHD has been released under the Windows Sysinternals banner.  This means that the tool is free and unsupported.  But damn, it is useful for P2V conversions.

The new version has added support for VHDX format virtual hard disks.  It also:

… now supports WinRE volumes, can capture removable media, and includes an option to capture live volumes instead of relying on volume shadow copy (VSS).

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Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 For Hyper-V Is Released

Microsoft has released version 3.5 of the Hyper-V integration components for Linux.  This download is intended for versions of Linux that do not have the Linux Integration Services (LIS) for Hyper-V already installed in the kernel.

Version 3.5 of the LIS supports:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.5-5.8, 6.0-6.3 x86 and x64
  • CentOS 5.5-5.8, 6.0-6.3 x86 and x64

Hyper-V from 2008 R2 onwards is supported, including Windows 8 and 8.1.

The below matrix describes which Hyper-V features are supported in which version of the LIS and distro/version of Linux:

image image

Notes

  1. Static IP injection might not work if Network Manager has been configured for a given HyperV-specific network adapter on the virtual machine. To ensure smooth functioning of static IP injection, ensure that either Network Manager is turned off completely, or has been turned off for a specific network adapter through its Ifcfg-ethX file.
  2. When you use Virtual Fibre Channel devices, ensure that logical unit number 0 (LUN 0) has been populated. If LUN 0 has not been populated, a Linux virtual machine might not be able to mount Virtual Fibre Channel devices natively.
  3. If there are open file handles during a live virtual machine backup operation, the backed-up virtual hard disks (VHDs) might have to undergo a file system consistency check (fsck) when restored.
  4. Live backup operations can fail silently if the virtual machine has an attached iSCSI device or a physical disk that is directly attached to a virtual machine (“pass-through disk”).
  5. LIS 3.5 only provides Dynamic Memory ballooning support—it does not provide hot-add support. In such a scenario, the Dynamic Memory feature can be used by setting the Startup memory parameter to a value which is equal to the Maximum memory parameter. This results in all the requisite memory being allocated to the virtual machine at boot time—and then later, depending upon the memory requirements of the host, Hyper-V can freely reclaim any memory from the guest. Also, ensure that Startup Memory and Minimum Memory are not configured below distribution recommended values.

The following features are not available in this version of LIS:

  • Dynamic Memory hot-add support
  • TRIM support
  • TCP offload
  • vRSS

First Impressions: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga S1

I ordered this Ultrabook from Lenovo to replace my 2-year-old (how time flies!) Asus UX31E.  The machine arrived in the office yesterday and I got my mitts on it this morning.

The major trick of the Yoga is that it is a touch-enabled Ultrabook first, with the normally great ThinkPad keyboard.  But push that screen back and the stiff double hinges allow it to go back into “stand mode” for drawing/touching on a table, “tent mode” for watching video, or “tablet mode” where you can hand hold the device.  The keyboard rises up to avoid accidental touch when the screen reaches a certain point.  I will probably use this machine as a laptop 99.99% of the time.  The Yoga just so happened to offer the best mix of features that I required in my next Ultrabook.

No, this device is not a tablet.  Anyone who reviews the Yoga Ultrabook as a tablet is a moron.  It’s a laptop that happens to offer some use options.  My Windows laptop is a Toshiba Encore and my Android machine for long distance entertainment is a Lenovo Yoga 8.  They are tablets and only a moron would review them as laptops.

The custom spec I went with is:

  • Intel Core i5-4200U Processor (3MB Cache, up to 2.60GHz)
  • Windows 8.1 64
  • Touch & Pen, FHD (1920 x 1080)
  • Intel HD Graphics 4400
  • 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3L on MB
  • ClickPad without NFC antenna & module
  • 720p HD Camera
  • 1TB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
  • 16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Double
  • Battery (LiPolymer 47Wh)
  • Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0

I wanted a digitizer pen.  In early tests, it works well with the Shared Whiteboard app.  That’s my alternative to using whiteboards or flipcharts, and it’s handy in OneNote for grabbing diagrams where a photo just won’t do.  The pen is one of the thin ones, allowing it to dock in the front-right corner of the Ultrabook’s base.  You hear that Surface, Sony, Toshiba, and a hell of a lot of others?

I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB so I could run Photoshop reliably.  That’s also why I switched from SSD to a 1 TB HDD with 16 GB SSD cache.  Now I have room to store photos while on a vacation, meaning that a USB 3.0 drive is there only as backup.

Port-wise, there is an SD card reader (nice for photography), Mini-HDMI (more reliable than micro-HDMI), and a pair of USB 3.0 ports.  There is also a Lenovo OneLink port for the OneLink dock.  There is no VGA port.  I have a USB – VGA adapter so that will continue to be used when connecting to projectors.

The power and volume buttons are on the side, cleverly placed if you go into “tablet mode”.  You’ll also find a Windows button on the base of the screen.

Touch works and works smoothly.  The build quality is solid.  I deliberately went with ThinkPad to get build quality to last for years.  The screen is nice and stuff, something that other touch Ultrabooks have gotten badly wrong by having too much wobble after being touched.

There’s not too much crapware onboard.  Some Lenovo stuff and Norton 30-day trial.  I was sad to see that the system update tool requires Adobe Air.  That is a mortal sin in my books.  I guess the Chinese military still wants easy access to everyone’s computers.

No review yet – I’ll need some time with the machine, and I’ll probably post something on the Petri IT Knowledgebase in the new year.

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Corrupted Memory Dump When You Obtain Full Memory Dump From A VM On WS2012 Or W2008R2 Cluster

Microsoft have released a KB article for when you get a corrupted memory dump file when you try to obtain a full memory dump file from a virtual machine that is running in a cluster environment.

Symptoms

You have a virtual machine that is running in a cluster environment in Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2. When you try to obtain a full memory dump file from the virtual machine, a corrupted memory dump file is generated. While the memory dump file is loading, you may receive the following message:

**************************************************************************
THIS DUMP FILE IS PARTIALLY CORRUPT.
KdDebuggerDataBlock is not present or unreadable.
**************************************************************************
GetContextState failed, 0xD0000147
Unable to get program counter
GetContextState failed, 0xD0000147
Unable to get current machine context, NTSTATUS 0xC0000147

Additionally, you may notice that writing a full memory dump file does not finish and that the virtual machine is restarted on another node in the cluster.

Cause

This issue occurs because the Enable heartbeat monitoring for the virtual machine option is selected for the virtual machine. This option resets the clustered virtual machine after one minute (the default value), and the clustered virtual machine requires longer that one minute to finish writing the memory dump.

Note Heartbeats between the virtual machine and Virtual Machine Manager occur every few seconds. It can require up to one minute to detect that the virtual machine is down because the virtual machine resource checks the heartbeat status from Virtual Machine Manager in its isAlive entry-point function. By default, isAlive occurs one time every minute. However, the heartbeats may stop 30 seconds before the one-minute interval. In this case, the cluster can restart the virtual machine on the same server or fail it over to another node.

There are two options for resolving this issue.

Option 1: Change the settings from the GUI
  1. Open Failover Cluster Manager.
  2. Click Roles, and then find the virtual machine resource. 
  3. On the Resources tab, right-click the virtual machine. 
  4. Click Properties, and then click the Settings tab.
  5. In Heartbeat Setting, click to clear the Enable automatic recovery for application health monitoring check box.
  6. Click to clear the Enable heartbeat monitoring for the virtual machine check box, and then click OK.
Option 2: Change the settings by using Windows PowerShell
  1. Start Windows PowerShell.
  2. Check the virtual machine name. To do this, type the following Windows PowerShell command:

    PS C:> Get-ClusterResource

  3. Check whether the Enable heartbeat monitoring for the virtual machine and Enable automatic recovery for application health monitoring options are selected. To do this, type the following Windows PowerShell command:

    PS C:> Get-ClusterResource <VirtualMachineName> | Get-ClusterParameter CheckHeartbeat

  4. When the CheckHeartbeat value is 1, both options are selected. To cancel both options, change this value to 0. To do this, type the following Windows PowerShell command:

    PS C:> Get-ClusterResource <VirtualMachineName> | Set-ClusterParameter CheckHeartbeat 0

    NoteIf you want to cancel only the Enable automatic recovery for application health monitoring option, you should run the following Windows PowerShell command:
    PS C:> (Get-ClusterResource <Object>).EmbeddedFailureAction = 1

Continued Thanks To Altaro For Sponsoring My Blog

Altaro have been a sponsor of mine for a while now, ever since they released Altaro Hyper-V Backup back in 2011 and I’m delighted they’ve decided to continue supporting my blog.

If you hadn’t heard the news yet, the guys at Altaro added support for WS2012 R2 in October so if you’ve made the switch, have a look at their Hyper-V backup software.

Hyper-V-235x235-DIAGRAM-RED[1]

I’ve always found the folks at Altaro to be a pleasure to deal with.  A number of my customers have installed their products and had the same experience.  Repeatedly I’ve heard “we’ve tried out the product after seeing the ad on your site, it worked well, and we got great help from them”.

Thank you again, Altaro.

Virtual Machine Migration Fails With Error 21502 Caused By Jumbo Frames Settings

Hyper-V MVP Didier Van Hoye (@WorkinghardinIT) has written a nice blog post on how to solve when you get failed Live Migrations with Event ID 21502 Planned virtual machine creation failed for virtual machine ‘VM Name’: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0×80072746) Caused By Wrong Jumbo Frame Settings.

No need for me to say more; go check out Didier’s post.

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How Do I Plan And Size A Hyper-V Deployment – MAP 9.0

You measure and assess.  And Microsoft gives you a tool to do that called MAP.  They’ve been giving us this tool for many years, and it’s now on version 9.0 (just released).

When planning a traditional Hyper-V conversion (not a new bare-metal cloud) you can run MAP to identify the physical or virtual (VMware) servers that you want to convert to Hyper-V, measure their resource utilization, enter in potential Hyper-V host specifications, and then MAP will produce reports that size your environment.  It’s something you kick off, let it measure, and run the reports after (maybe – you choose) a week while you’ve been doing something else.

There’s some new stuff in MAP 9.0:

    • New Server and Cloud Enrollment scenario helps to simplify adoption: Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) is a new offering under the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that enables subscribers to standardize broadly on one or more Microsoft Server and Cloud technologies.  The MAP Toolkit 9.0 features an assessment scenario to identify and inventory SCE supported products within an enterprise and help streamline enrollment.
    • New Remote Desktop Services Licensing Usage Tracking scenario creates a single view for enterprise wide licensing: With an increase in enterprises deploying Remote Desktop Services (RDS) across wider channels, RDS license management has become a focus point for organizations.  With the new RDS Licensing scenario, the MAP Toolkit rolls up license information enterprise-wide into a single report, providing a simple alternative for assessing your RDS licensing position.
    • Support for software inventory via Software ID tags now available: As part of the Microsoft effort to support ISO 19770-2, the MAP Toolkit now supports inventory of Microsoft products by Software ID (SWID) tag.  SWID enhanced reports will provide greater accuracy and assist large, complex environments to better manage their software compliance efforts by simplifying the software identification process and lowering the cost of managing software assets.
    • Improved Usage Tracking data collection for SQL Server Usage Tracking scenario: As part of our ongoing improvement initiatives, Usage Tracking for SQL Server 2012 has been enhanced to use User Access Logging (UAL).  UAL is a standard protocol in Windows Server 2012 that collects User Access information in near real time and stores the information in a local database, eliminating the need for log parsing to perform Usage Tracking assessments.  UAL vastly improves the speed and helps to eliminate long lead times for environment preparation associated with running Usage Tracking assessments.

If you want to plan and size desktop deployment, Office deployment, RDS, Azure, Hyper-V, SQL Server, and more, then you need to be checking out the FREE (yes FREE!!!!) MAP 9.0.

PowerShell Deployment Toolkit (PDT) For System Center

It takes time to deploy System Center.  It takes a long time to deploy the entire suite.  So you can imagine that I only ever (if that) have bits of System Center deployed.  That’s why it was great to see that Microsoft’s Rob Willis had written a “hydration” kit to deploy a complete System Center demo environment using PowerShell scripts and XML metadata files called the PowerShell Deployment Toolkit.

I want to stress that word: DEMO.  This kit is not to be used for deploying a production system.  Out of the so-called-box (a zip file really) it deploys an architecture that should never ever be used in production.  It’s designed to be able to run on a laptop (a large one) and it does things that any System Center expert would choke at.  But it will deploy, with very little effort, an environment that is fit for performing demonstrations.

In the zip you’ll find a few files:

  • Variable.xml: This file describes the System Center installation.  You can customize this as required (time zones, domains, passwords, etc) – and that’s probably a good idea after you’ve done a test install to see what the PDT does.
  • Downloader.ps1: This script will download all the some of the required pieces to deploy your System Center suite.  All of them!  The newest version even pulls down the new Windows Azure Pack! You’re going to be manually downloading System Center and Windows Server 2012 R2 as pointed out by Reidar Johansen here.
  • VMCreator.ps1: This script will create the Hyper-V VMs required for your demo environment.
  • Installer.ps1: This script will deploy and configure System Center from your downloads.

Before you ask, yes, the kit does download/install WS2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2, and all of the dependencies (about 11,000 MB at the time of writing).  It’s a monumental piece of work that should be a time saver for those wanting to quickly build new demo environments.

I’m running this kit for the first time right now.  I’ll blog about my experience as time goes by.