Tag: Windows Server 2008 R2

KB2698666 – Can’t Open Hyper-V Settings On W2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V

Microsoft has released a hotfix for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V for when you cannot open the Hyper-V Settings dialog box on a Hyper-V host.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

  • You enable Microsoft RemoteFX on a Hyper-V server that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
  • You create a long logon banner on the server by changing the Group Policy settings.
  • You connect to the server by using a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection.
  • You try to open the Hyper-V Settings dialog box.

In this scenario, you cannot open the Hyper-V Settings dialog box.

Cause

This issue occurs because a worker session cannot display or dismiss long logon banners when RemoteFX is enabled.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft

KB2786376 – EventID 412 and EventID 257 Logged After install Of W2008 R2 In A WS2012 Hyper-V VM With VHDX

I was sure I had blogged this article; I know I read it and noted it, but I can’t find it in my blog.  I’m getting old!

Anyway, this one deals with a scenario where Application log entries EventID 412 and EventID 257 are logged following install of Windows Server 2008 R2 as guest OS on a VHDx Hard Disk.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

Using Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Manager, you create a Virtual Machine with a VHDx hard disk using the New Virtual Machine wizard.

You install Windows Server 2008 R2 as guest OS on the newly created Virtual Machine. Following the install, EventID 412 and EventID 257 are logged in the Application Event Log of the guest OS.

Cause

Like physical disks, virtual disks have the same concepts of physical and logical sector sizes.

Certain applications and components, especially database and catalog, are aware of the physical sector size of the disk that they reside on. When these are moved to or installed on a physical disk that doesn’t have the same sector size as the one that they were initialized on, they will choose to do the appropriate action which may include logging an event to communicate the impact. Windows Server 2008 R2 has internal database and catalog components that will generate an error installing on an Advanced Format drive because Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM install media was prepared using a system that had a physical sector size of 512 bytes.

The VHDx hard disk created by the New Virtual Machine Wizard on Windows Server 2012 will be Advanced Format and will have a 4 KB physical sector size and a 512 byte logical sector size.

Resolution

In order for Windows Server 2008 R2 to be supported as a guest OS installed on a physical or VHDx based Advanced Format drive, the install media must contain the hotfix from KB982018 or the install media must contain SP1 or later. For more information regarding the compatibility of Windows Server 2008 R2 with Advanced Format Disks see the following KB982018.

If Windows Server 2008 R2 install media with the hotfix from KB982018 or with SP1 is not available, use the New Virtual Hard Disk Wizard to create a VHD and manually attach it to the virtual machine. It is also possible to use the use the New-VHD Hyper-V Cmdlet in Windows PowerShell to create a VHDx with a virtual hard disk with a physical sector size of 512 bytes as shown in the following example:

new-vhd -path D:VHDvhdx512.vhdx -sizeBytes 100GB -PhysicalsectorSize 512 -dynamic

If a VHDx was created with a physical sector size of 512, it would not be considered Advanced Format and installing Windows Server 2008 R2 without the hotfix from KB982018 or SP1 would be supported. When creating a VHDx with a physical sector size of 512 bytes that is greater than 2TB, the same NTFS file system limitations that apply to a similar physical hard disk would apply to the VHDx virtual hard disk.

In other words, if you get this alert then deploy either SP1 for W2008 R2 or install the update (here’s the reason why).  If you cannot do either of those, then install the OS and app into a custom VHDX as with the above cmdlet (that example creates a 100 GB Dynamic VHDX).

KB2814923 – “0x0000009E” Stop Error & Volumes Can’t Be Brought Online On W2008 R2 Cluster

This KB article affects W2008 R2 only.

Assume that you try to bring a disk online on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster. Additionally, the Update Sequence Number (USN) journal is increased to a large size (such as 4 gigabytes) on the disk volumes. In this situation, it takes a long time to mount the volumes. Additionally, you receive a Stop error message that resembles the following:

Stop 0x0000009E (Parameter1, Parameter2, Parameter3, Parameter4)


Notes

  • This Stop error describes a USER_MODE_HEALTH_MONITOR issue.
  • The parameters in this Stop error message vary, depending on the configuration of the computer.
  • Not all "Stop 0x0000009E" errors are caused by this issue.

This issue occurs because of the large size of the disk volumes. The USN journal file is read in 4-kilobyte chunks when you mount the volumes. When the file is very large, it takes a very long time to mount the volumes.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft.

KB2776366 – “0x0000000A” Stop Error On W2008 R2 Or WS2012 Hyper-V Host That Has Many Passthrough Disks

This KB article originally only mentioned Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.  It was updated in June 2013 to include Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.

Two points:

  1. Consider kicking the person responsible for the use of passthrough disks that are smaller than 2040 GB (I’ll allow that 1 qualifier for W2008 R2) in the family jewels.  Once for every found passthrough disk.  With this apparent genetic disposition, they shouldn’t be allowed to breed anyway … in my opinion.
  2. There is a KB article on this scenario.

Consider the following scenario:

  • You have the Hyper-V role installed on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012.
  • You have a virtual machine stored on the computer.
  • There are many pass-through disks assigned to the virtual machine.
  • Heavy I/O operations occur over the pass-through disks.

In this scenario, the system may crash. Additionally, you receive a stop error message that resembles the following:

Stop 0x0000000A (Parameter1, Parameter2, Parameter3, Parameter4)

Notes

  • This Stop error describes an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL issue.
  • The parameters in this Stop error message vary, depending on the configuration of the computer.
  • Not all “0x0000000A” Stop errors are caused by this issue.

This issue occurs because a stale thread object is dereferenced in memory.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft.

Huge Patch Rollup (KB2775511) Released For Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

I just saw a post on the Dude where’s my PFE? blog that mentions a new hotfix rollup for for Windows 7 SP1 and W2008 R2 SP1 that:

  • Includes lots of patches
  • It could, according to the post, shave a minute from the boot time and improve performance for some customers.

You can out more information about the rollup on the Support site.  You can find the download here.

– Improves the Windows Client Remote File System components. These components include the following: Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV), DFSN client, Folder Redirection, Offline Files and Folders (CSC), SMB client, Redirected Drive Buffering Subsystem (RDB), Multiple UNC Provider (MUP)

– Improves the SMB Service and TCP protocol components. These improvements work together with other improvements to help improve the overall networking performance on Windows 7 SP1-based and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1-based computers.

– Improves the processing of Group Policies and Group Policy preferences. The performance of computers is improved after you install this rollup update on Windows 7-based computers that have several Group Policy preferences configured. Additionally, the network load and the domain controller usage may be reduced. We recommend that you install this hotfix rollup on every Windows 7 computer that has Group Policy preferences configured.

– Improves the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) components to reduce the CPU usage and to improve the repository verification performance.

On the the SMB and TCP improvements:

– To take full advantage of this improvement for Windows 7 clients that log on to Windows Server 2008 R2 servers, install this rollup update on Windows 7 clients. Additionally, install this rollup update on the Windows Server 2008 R2 servers that clients authenticate and retrieve user profiles, policies and script data from during the startup and logon process. You can update your environment by installing this hotfix rollup on both clients and servers in no particular order.

– Network improvements can be installed on the client or server. You may not notice any changes in performance until this update is installed on both client and server computers

Two of the hotfixes are not enabled by default:

  • KB2581608: Logon scripts take a long time to run in Windows Vista, in Windows Server 2008, in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2
  • KB2752259: An update that improves the performance of the Printbrm.exe command-line tool in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available

According to KB2775511 you can enable them via the registry:

– To enable update KB2581608, configure a REG_DWORD type registry key named RunLogonScriptsNormally under the following path, and set the value to a decimal value of 1:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon
– To enable update KB2752259, configure a REG_DWORD type registry key named BrmDisableOpc under the following path, and set the value to a decimal value of 1:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrint

You might create a custom GPO template or use a startup script to deploy those settings.

EDIT#1:

Microsoft’s Michael Griswold has posted an article on how to deploy this rollup using System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM/ConfigMgr).

System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool

I recently blogged about the big changes In WS2012 Cluster Shared Volume (CSV).  The biggest changes are related to backup:

  • Single coordinated VSS snapshot
  • No more redirected IO

In Windows Server 2008 R2 CSV backup, we tried to use a hardware VSS provider to reduce the impacts of redirected IO.  But as it turns out, the multiple-snapshot-per-backup process of the past could cause problems for the hardware VSS provider and the SAN snapshot functionality.  In extreme cases, those problems could even lead to a CSV LUN “disappearing”.

If you had these problems and couldn’t get a better hardware VSS provider then you would switch to using the system VSS provider (using the VSS functionality that is built into Windows Server and does not use SAN snapshot features).  You’d be forced to use the system VSS provider if your SAN did not have support or licensing for a hardware (physical SAN) or software (software SAN) VSS provider.

If you were using the system VSS provider to backup W2008 R2 CSV then Microsoft recommended you to do something called serialization of your CSV backup (see here for DPM 2010 instructions).  This process creates (using PowerShell) and uses an XML file that is read by DPM.  Nice and simple if you have one DPM server for every W2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster.  But what if you had lots of clusters backed up by a single DPM server?  It meant you had to manually merge the XML files, and that would be a nightmare in a cloud where there is nothing but change.

Microsoft has released the System Center Data Protection Manager CSV Serialization Tool to help you in this scenario.  This tool is intended to be used when backing up Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V clusters with one or more CSVs using DPM 2010 with QFE 3 and above or DPM 2012.

You do not need to use this tool with WS2012 CSV.

The downloads include the PS1 PowerShell script to create an XML file for each cluster and a tool to consolidate those XML files for DPM to use. 

Why release this tool?  Lots of people will have W2008 R2 clusters and won’t be in a position to upgrade them now or ever:

  • Change to production systems can be restricted, e.g. pharmaceuticals.
  • They might have licensed without Software Assurance and can’t upgrade their hosts until there is licensing budget.
  • They might build new clusters/hosts using WS2012 and have to leave existing VMs where they are until there is a suitable maintenance window.  For a public cloud, this could have to be scheduled well in advance.

This free tool will allow those sorts of environments to reduce DPM administrative effort.

KB2804678–Cannot Exceed 256 Dynamic MAC Addresses By Default On Hyper-V Host

This is not a scenario I’ve encountered … not too many of us will ever have more than 256 virtual NICs on a single host.  Microsoft has posted a support article on this scenario:

Windows Hyper-V server has a default limit of 256 dynamic MAC addresses.  You have a Windows Server 2012 (WS2012) host which is configured with the Hyper-V role. The Hyper-V server is configured to provide dynamic MAC addresses to the guest machines:

When you start a guest virtual machine, you may encounter the following error message:

The application encountered an error while attempting to change the state of ‘<Virtual machine name>’

Synthetic Ethernet Port (Instance ID CCE417C5-BDD9-4216-85CA-248620EE75C6): Failed to power on with Error ‘Attempt to access invalid address’.

On a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V host, an Event ID 12565 from source “Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker” is logged.

Here’s how this issue is caused.  Each host has a default dynamic pool of MAC addresses.  This pool is generated as follows:

  1. The first three octets of the MAC address pool are 00:15:5D.  This is unique to all Microsoft “devices”, complying with IEEE standards.
  2. The next two octets (4 and 5) in the MAC address pool are derived from the IP address of the host (the last 2 octets of the IP address to be precise).  This gives the pool some uniqueness in your server farm.  We now have 5 of the 6 required octets for a MAC address.
  3. Finally, the last octet in the MAC address pool is the range 0x0-0xFF.  Each instance of this range is used once per virtual NIC (assuming that it’s using a dynamic MAC) on this host

Octets 1 to 3 are unique to Microsoft “devices”.  Octets 4 and 5 are for giving the MAC address pool uniqueness for the pool range.  And octet number 6 is used to make each dynamic MAC address unique on the network.

If you want to break out a scientific calculator or if you know your computer science, the clue to the cause is in that last piece of the puzzle.  We only have octet 6 for each dynamic MAC address instance that can be allocated.  An octet is 8 bits, from 00000000 to 11111111.  That is 00 to FF in hex.  Which is 0 to 255, or 256 numbers.  And that means each host can have 256 MAC addresses, by default.

There are workarounds to this, if you are in the very rare situation where you need more than 256 MAC addresses on a single host.

Use Static MAC Addresses

Turn off (shut down) the VM and assign static MAC addresses.  System Center VMM makes this easy with centrally human managed pool of MAC addresses, something like with DHCP.

Manually Modify The Per-Host Dynamic MAC Address Pool

Be very careful with this!  You don’t want to create overlapping pools of MAC addresses to confuse ARP on your network.  The MAC address range is defined by two registry values in HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionVirtualization:

  • MinimumMacAddress
  • MaximumMacAddress

image

In my example (above), you can see the range runs from 00:15:5d:01:86:ff.  00:15:5d is the manufacturer unique 3 octets for Microsoft “devices”.  01:86 is unique to the range on this host.  And 00 to ff is the default range that limits us to 256 MAC addresses.

An interesting thought that came to me after posting this: you might want to be careful if using DHCP for your hosts – seriously, you should not do this!  I can imagine how two hosts could end up accidentally with the same default range if HostA has Address1 when it is initialised, and then Address1 is allocated to HostB when it is initialised.

Microsoft says that you can modify this range … but as I warned before: be careful not to overlap over ranges or devices on your network!  You can do this by modifying the fifth and or sixth octet of the default calculated dynamic MAC address range.  Changing the fifth octet is the risky one … remember that the 4th and 5th octets are unique per host.

—

If you don’t have this massive environment then don’t touch these dynamic MAC address ranges unless you have to.  If you do have to, then (in my opinion) you should be using System Center.  A SQL whiz might be able to run a query in ConfigMgr to report on existing MAC addresses from physical devices.  PowerShell will come in handy if you want to get the details exiting MAC ranges on your Hyper-V hosts.  Stack Overflow has a script example to query lots of servers that you could tweak.  4sysops has another script example.  I haven’t tested them, but you can play to your heart’s content Smile

KB2754704 – DSM Notifies MPIO On W2008 And W2008 R2 That A Path Is Back Online

Not a Hyper-V fix per se, but it is one that a number of you will care about.  The article by Microsoft describes a hotfix that provides a mechanism for Microsoft Device Specific Module (DSM) to notify Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) that a particular path is back online. This hotfix adds a new notification type to the existing DsmNotification interface.

KB2710870–No DHCPv4 Address After Restarting Hyper-V VM with Vista, Win7, W2008 or W2008 R2

Microsoft has posted a support article that deals with a situation where a DHCPv4 IP address cannot be obtained after you restart a Hyper-V virtual machine that is running Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

The description is:

The time zone on the virtual machine is set to a time zone other than Pacific Standard Time (PST). In this situation, you may experience a DHCP IP address acquisition issue in the following scenarios:

  • The guest operating system and the host operating system are set to use the same time zone other than PST, such as Eastern Standard Time (EST). The Hyper-V time synchronization service is enabled. In this situation, the DHCPv4 IP address cannot be obtained after you restart the guest operating system for the first time.
    Note This issue only occurs after you restart the virtual machine for the first time.
  • The guest operating system and the host operating system are set to use different time zones. For example, the guest operating system uses the PST time zone, and the host operating system uses the EST time zone. The Hyper-V time synchronization service is enabled. In this scenario, the DHCPv4 IP address cannot be obtained after you restart the guest operating system.
    Note This issue occurs every time that you restart the virtual machine.

A hotfix is available from Microsoft to fix the issue.

KB2781512 – WinRM “PUT” operations to Hyper-V fail on a W2008R2 With WMF 3.0 Installed

WMF 3.0 is appearing a lot online, and not in good ways.  Another KB article has been posted related this this release where WinRM "PUT" operations to Hyper-V fail on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has Windows Management Framework 3.0 installed.

Consider the following scenario:

  • You install the Hyper-V role on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer.
  • You install Windows Management Framework (WMF) 3.0 on the computer.
  • You install one or more virtual machines on the computer.
  • You use Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) to manage the computer and the virtual machines.

In this scenario, "PUT" operations between Windows Remote Management (WinRM) and Hyper-V fail. Therefore, SCVMM cannot manage updates to the computer or to the virtual machines. When this issue occurs, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Error number: -2147024882 0x8007000E
Not enough storage is available to complete this operation.

Note This issue also occurs in Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1). However, the hotfix that this article describes resolves the issue in RTM versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 only. The hotfix for Windows Server 2008 SP1 will be released at a later date.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft.