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Shijaz Abdulla on 16.04.2008 at 10:04
I came across some excellent posts by Jeff on the Windows Server Virtualization blog that explains how high availability for virtual machines is achieved in Hyper-V and VMWare.
Virtualization is a wonderful technology – running more workloads on fewer boxes is a great idea – especially when it comes to cutting costs on rackspace, floorspace, power, cooling, hardware maintenance and improving resource utilization. However, IT Managers usually balk at the decision to virtualize because of one major reason – putting all eggs in one basket!
Believe it or not, this is one of the most common arguments that I get when I talk about virtualization. At the recent Microsoft Technology Day at Kuwait, I was asked the same question by the attendees during my session on System Center Virtual Machine Manager.
If you have 10 workloads running on 10 different boxes – even if one box dies, it just affects the workload running on that box. But if you run 10 workloads on one box, and if that box dies, will it bring down all 10 workloads?
The solution to this dilemma is Failover Clustering for virtual machines. Hyper-V integrates with Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering and in an unplanned downtime scenario, when one server crashes, the virtual machines automatically failover to the passive node and each of the guest machines restart on its own – without any user intervention.
Fussy about the restart? Well, as of today that’s the best it gets – even if you have High Availability configured on VMWare, the guest machines WILL restart if a failover occurs.
So what’s the difference? Well – if you buy Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or Datacenter edition, Hyper-V and failover clustering is available to you at no additional cost!
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Shijaz Abdulla on 12.04.2008 at 12:13
An AdminPak (a.k.a AdminPack, Admin Pack) for Windows Server 2008 has been released. Windows Server 200x administrators are familiar with the “Administration Tools” or adminpak.msi that they used to install on their management workstations for connecting remotely via MMC to servers instead of having to login them via RDP.
Windows Server 2008 did not have the adminpak built in to the RTM media. These are called the “Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)” and were released separately on March 24. The RSAT are available as a free download at Download Center.
RSAT contains the following tools:
Role Administration Tools:
- Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
- Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
- DHCP Server Tools
- DNS Server Tools
- File Services Tools
- Network Policy and Access Services Tools
- Terminal Services Tools
- Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
Feature Administration Tools:
- BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools
- Failover Clustering Tools
- Group Policy Management Tools
- Network Load Balancing Tools
- SMTP Server Tools
- Storage Manager for SANs Tools
- Windows System Resource Manager Tools
The following tools are fully supported for managing computers running Windows Server 2003:
- Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
- Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
- DHCP Server Tools
- DNS Server Tools
- Terminal Services Tools
- Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
- Group Policy Management Tools
- Network Load Balancing Tools
An immediate thought: Managing computers running Windows Server 2008 Server Core is now easier. Once the server has been set up and configured to allow remote MMC connections, all you need to do is install RSAT on your workstation and connect to your Server Core machine using the RSAT tools. Your non-GUI Windows Server now has a remote GUI 
Note that you can install the RSAT tools only on a computer running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. Read more about it on the Windows Server blog.
Update (December 2009): If you need the RSAT tools for Windows 7, read this post.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 11.03.2008 at 13:52
Windows Server 2008 Server Core has no GUI. So how do you do the Product Activation for Server Core? How do you check if activation was successful? This post tells all.
To activate Windows:
cscript C:\Windows\System32\slmgr.vbs -ato
To get lots of useful information about the activation:
cscript C:\Windows\System32\slmgr.vbs -dlv
To find out how much time you’ve got (to activate, of course):
cscript C:\Windows\System32\slmgr.vbs -xpr
Output displayed will tell you when the grace period will end.
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Initial grace period ends 4/20/2008 11:23:28 PM
If you are already activated, -xpr switch will tell you that, too
Welcome to the dark side.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 09.03.2008 at 19:23
Microsoft Technology Day is being conducted by the Microsoft Experts Community (MSExperts.net) at Kuwait on March 30, 2008.
The event will consist of a total of 42 sessions by 20 speakers. Keynote speakers from Microsoft Gulf will be Vimal Sethi, Group Manager – Developer & Platform and Amr El Garhy, Developer Evangelist & MVP TechLead.
The speakers for this event will consist of MVPs from across Middle East and Africa, Microsoft consultants, and MCTs. The event will be held at Infocenter – Duwalia, Kuwait.
I will be presenting at the event on the following topics:
10:15 to 11:15 – System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007
I will be giving an overview of the core virtualization technologies available today, the DSI initiative, virtualization management, and a live demo of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007.
11:30 to 12:30 – Windows Server 2008 Server Core
I will be explaining what server core is all about and intend to do a live demo on how to set up a DHCP server using Windows Server 2008 Server Core.
13:15 to 14:15 – Top 10 mistakes while configuring ISA Server
I will be taking you to a tour on some of the most common mistakes committed by administrators while configuring ISA Server 2004/2006.
14:30 to 15:30 – Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007
I will be explaining the key concepts of Identity Lifecycle Management and what it can do for your organization.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 03.03.2008 at 18:18
Here’s what the media has to say about it
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Shijaz Abdulla on 21.02.2008 at 07:55
After a week of preparation, I put a DHCP server running on Server Core in production last night! Server Core is Windows Server 2008′s non-GUI installation mode.
I am told by Microsoft that we are one of the first to put the Windows Server 2008 Server Core RTM code into production and that they are proud of me. I’m inspired!
As for the DHCP server, it’s working merrily now, giving away IP addresses to anything that has a NIC and needs an IP – on two of our Active directory sites. I will soon be publishing an article on this topic.
My next Windows Server 2008 plaything would be NAP. It’s amazing how the new Server Core architecture runs on so less resources, at the same time improving performance and security.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 17.02.2008 at 12:38
It’s been some time since I’ve written new articles on shijaz.com
I have added two new articles on Remote Desktop:
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Shijaz Abdulla on 15.02.2008 at 16:50
Microsoft conducted a presentation on Windows Server 2008 for business decision makers, IT staff, faculty and students at Higher Colleges of Technology. The event was held on 14th February, 2007 at Abu Dhabi Men’s College.
Desmond Lee presented an interesting view of Windows Server 2008, with live demos and shared some exciting information about the new features. Through his humorous, yet effective, mode of presentation he was an instant hit with the students
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Shijaz Abdulla on 14.02.2008 at 18:38
Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 are launching in the Middle East on the following dates:
10th March – Abu Dhabi
12th March – Kuwait
17th March – Bahrain
19th March – Doha
23rd March – Oman
27th March – Dubai
Mark your calendars and join the excitement. Microsoft is giving away RTM evaluation copies of these products at the events.
Click here to register.
Launching in Abu Dhabi on 10th March 2008 at the Intercontinental. See you there.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 08.01.2008 at 08:51
Thats’ right. No more /console switch on the Windows Remote Desktop Connection tool, MSTSC.exe, starting from Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008.
This is because of the design enhancements in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, by virtue of which you cannot connect to Session 0, which is the default session. Running services and user applications together in Session 0 poses a security risk because services in Session 0 run at elevated privileges and therefore can be targeted by malware that attack by attempting and exploiting a privilege escalation.
The new generation of the Windows operating system mitigates this security risk by isolating services in Session 0 and making Session 0 non-interactive to the user. In Windows Vista (and Windows Server 2008), only system processes and services run in Session 0. The first user logs on to Session 1. Subsequent users log on to subsequent sessions (Session 2, Session 3 etc). This means that services (like printer drivers loaded by spooler service, UMDF drivers, user/window interactive services, etc) never run in the same session as users’ applications and are therefore protected from attacks that originate in application code. [More info]
Session Zero in Windows XP/Windows Server 2003: The first user logs in to Session Zero itself.
Session Zero Isolation in Windows XP SP3/Windows Vista SP1/Windows Server 2008: First user’s Session is not within Session Zero, a separate session is created, thereby improving security.
Since there is no longer the ability to connect to Session 0, the /console switch is no longer required. But, what if I want to connect to Session 0 on a Windows Server 2003/XP or earlier machine using RDP 6.1? Let’s find out.
When I typed “mstsc /?” on my Windows Server 2008 machine, these are the options that are available to me:
Notice that the /console option is not available, but there is a /admin option. The /admin option lets you connect to Session 0 on a remote computer that doesn’t have Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 or Windows Server 2008 or later installed.
However, if you try to pull the /console switch on a Windows Server 2008 or Vista SP1 machine, you get an error “An unknown parameter was specified in the computer name field“.
I hope you found this post interesting – subscribe to my blog to get instant updates on new posts!
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