Tags:
Hyper-V · Windows Infrastructure
This weekend I got this message from Dell:
Not the first time Equallogic has troubles with their firmware....
Dear Customer,
Do Not Install Dell EqualLogic PS Series Firmware Versions 5.0.0 or 5.0.1
According to Dell’s records, you have recently downloaded v5.0.0 or v5.0.1 of the Dell EqualLogicTM firmware. Dell has become aware of potential issues with the installation and operation of these versions of the firmware. Under certain conditions, any or all of the following might occur:
• Volumes might not come online properly immediately after the install.
• Replication might not occur properly.
• VMware V4.1 Zero offload performance might be affected.
If you have not yet installed the V5.0.0 or V5.0.1 firmware updates, Dell recommends that you do not install at this time. Dell is working to resolve these issues in future releases.
If you have either of these firmware updates installed and are experiencing any issues with your
array(s), please contact your local Dell EqualLogicTM technical support team for assistance.
Sincerely,
Dell EqualLogic
July, 2010
August 2, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments
Tags:
Hyper-V · Windows Infrastructure
During the World Partner Conference Microsoft announced the public beta of Service Pack 1 for Windows 2008R2 and Windows 7. Actually this release was supposed to be available in a couple of weeks so the announcement surprised me. The final version is supposed to be out somewhere next year but now the beta is out earlier than expected, who knows?
Besides fixing bugs SP1 introduces two new exciting technologies.
Dynamic memory gives Hyper-V admins a pool available memory on a physical host and dynamically distribute the memory to any virtual guest running on that host. An interesting concept that will make Hyper-V even more flexible to use.
RemoteFX will enhance the MS Desktop virtualization. It will deliver a better user experience for users of desktop virtualization solutions (RDS, VDI). It will allow users to use full motion video, 3D-Applications and rich Silverlight content. And because the power of the server is being utilized these experiences will be available to a wide array of devices. Another feature that will be welcomed by a lot is the ability to forward USB ports of the local client to the virtual machine just like you are using client based printers now.
As you see, a lot of new technologies that will provide new opportunities. So go out and download SP1 here.
July 12, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments
Tags:
Windows Infrastructure
This is my first blogpost from my brand new iPad. Not sure if this toy will help me in my professional life but that's what I'm gonna find out. I'll keep you posted.
June 25, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments
Tags:
Windows Infrastructure · Hyper-V
Last week Microsoft issued a press release that had a lot of new statements on the MS front. In the press release a lot of changes were announced, especially for the VDI licensing. But there were also some technical statements.
One of these was not a surprise as this feature was supposed to have made it to the RTM of Windows 2008R2 but just didn't do so. The upcoming SP1 for Windows 2008R2 will bring memory over commitment to Hyper-V. Off course Microsoft has given this feature another name but Dynamic Memory is basically the same as Memory over commitment. So it is possible to reserve more memory for your guest than you physically have in your hosts.
Besides the announcement of Dynamic memory another new technology was announced. The RemoteFX also was supposed to be in the RTM but also was delayed until SP1. This will enable users of virtual desktops (either VDI or RDS) to use the graphic power of the clients to create a rich 3D and multimedia experience.
One other announcement was a little surprise for me. XP mode will no longer require CPU Assisted virtualization. This will make it more accessible to many more older PC's and therefore this feature will be more used in small and medium businesses.
The last technical announcement was HDX technology that will enhance and extend the RemoteFX platform in Citrix Xendesktop. This will give citrix again an edge (at a price) over standard 2008R2 RDS.
March 25, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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11 Comments
Tags:
Hyper-V · Windows Infrastructure
Ever since the release of Windows 2008R2 we have been waiting for this new release of DPM. After testing severals Beta's I think it is great news that DPM 2010 now has the release candidate status.
now you get better performance, possibilities to backup to the cloud and expecially CSV support! So we can backup out Hyper-V Clusters in an efficient manner.
February 9, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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11 Comments
Tags:
Active Directory · Hyper-V · Windows Infrastructure
With Hyper-V becoming widely used the question in a lot of designs is weather to virtualize your AD infrastructure as well. The answer isn't always as easy and clear as it looks.
First let's see what Microsoft has to say about virtualizing your ADDS Servers. In article KB888794 you can read that it is indeed possible to run your ADDS server in a virtual environment when you follow the guidelines about pausing, snapshotting, backupping and performance, you should have no problems at all.
Now let's see what would happen if you're using a Hyper-V cluster and because you want to take advantage of your High Availabily features of your Hyper-V Cluster, all of your ADDS Servers are running virtualized. As long as your cluster is up and running everything is looking good. But what is for whatever reason your cluster needs to be restarted after a shutdown? You have a problem. The cluster service isn't starting, telling you it cannot contact a domain controller. So you have a cluster that isn't starting because there is no ADDS server available and you have a ADDS Server that isn't starting because the cluster it is running on cannot be started. This is a major problem. To fix this problem take a while, you have to build a standalone Hyper-V machine and manually copy the VHD of the Cluster-LUN. Now you can start the ADDS server and start your cluster.
So when using a Hyper-V cluster it is really important to keep at least one of your ADDS server running on a physical machine or if you want on a standalone Hyper-V server.
February 6, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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9 Comments
Tags:
Windows Infrastructure · Performance
Last year Microsoft released a SCOM Management Pack for monitoring and managing the power consumption of Windows 2008R2 servers. This management pack gives you some insight into the power consumption of the servers and, even more interesting, gives you the ability to control the power savings and therefore reducing the total consumption of a server. And keep in mind that every Watt you can save with your servers is another Watt saved in you cooling.
One of the interesting features of windows 2008R2 that will reduce your power consumption is the use of Core Parking. Modern servers are using multiple multicore processors, giving you a lot of horsepower. But this horsepower is not always needed. When the system is not using all of the cores Windows 2008R2 actually put these unused cores in a park mode. If necessary, Windows will wake these cores when needed. This feature, combined with reducing the speed of the processors can significantly lower the power consumption.
If you want to see the 2008R2 Core Parking in action, you can use the performance monitor of Windows 2008R2, this will give information about the usage of the different cores.
So, Microsoft is getting serious with their power savings tooling. After the announcement of SCCM 2007R3, which is very useful to reduce the power consumption of your workstations, the use of the power management pack for SCOM can really save a lot of energy, and thus a lot of money.
February 2, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments
Tags:
UAG · Windows Infrastructure
Most of you are familiar with the Infrastructure Planning and Design guides that Microsoft produces. In these guides you can find a lot of information you will need when designing your new Windows infrastructure.
The newly released IPD guide for Forefront Unified Access Gateway (Forefront UAG) takes you through the logical three-step planning and design process of selecting the Forefront UAG features required, determining the number of instances, and designing the infrastructure.
Download this UAG guidance
January 26, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments
Tags:
Hyper-V · Windows Infrastructure
Yesterday I attended an internal License training where the whole Microsoft licensing was explained. And although the licensing thing is not really my cup of tea there were some interesting cases that covered several real-world scenarios. Before we go any further I must say that I'm not a licensing expert and everything I'll write on my blog is my understanding of the licensing structure of Microsoft. If you are in doubt about your own questions please contact Microsoft directly and ask for one of their licensing gurus. Furthermore I must say al prices used in these cases are based on average prices and in real life are different, depending on your contract with Microsoft
Let's start with the most interesting case, the licensing of a virtual environment. As you'll probably know Windows 2008(R2) is available in several editions. Apart from the technical differences I'll explain the licensing differences:
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Windows Server Standard: around 395 Euro
This version is licensed per server. A physical deployment will give you the right to run one virtual instance.
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Windows Server Enterprise: around 1270 euro
This version is licensed per server. A physical deployment will give you the right to run up to four virtual instances.
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Windows Server Datacenter: around 1290 euro
This version is licensed per physical processor. A physical deployment will give you the right to run unlimited virtual instances.
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So if you are using a single host, with dual quadcore processors and we would like to run on that host a total of 4 virtual machines the cheapest way to do so is using Windows Server enterprise. (you would need 4*standard; 1*enterprise or 2* Datacenter). |
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Now we have 8 VM's running on the same host. This means you would need either 8*Standard, 2*enterprise or 2*Datacenter. |
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With nine VM's or more it is obvious that datacenter is the way to go. In that case you would need 9*Standard or 3*Enterprise or 2* Datacenter. |
This is really clear in my opinion, but how about clustering, live/quick migration, or if you're using VMWare, how about vMotion ?
In these conditions each host requires the correct license. Now that's interesting. For example, let's take a two node Hyper-V 2008R2 cluster with both nodes running a single quadcore Processor. Both nodes are hosting 4 VM's.
As we have seen in the previous example Windows standard is not really an option so I'll exclude it in this example. When running under normal conditions we would need either 2*Enterprise or 2*Datacenter, both are comparably priced. But what If one of the nodes (Let's say Node B) is down (for maintenance) and the VM's are failed over to the other Node (A)? All of sudden we would need 3 * Enterprise to comply while 2*Datacenter would still be enough. Even more interesting, what happens if the Node A needs maintenance and the VM's are running on Node B. Now we need to have 4*Enterprise vs 2* Datacenter.
This is the reason that when building a high available virtual environment you almost always need the datacenter license. Also keep in mind that the underlying virtualization technology has no influence on the licensing. So his example would still be the same If we would use VMWare or Xen.
Later this week I will write a blogpost about the licensing in a VDI scenario.
January 13, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments
Tags:
Performance · Windows Infrastructure
One of the cool new features of Windows 2008 R2 is the possibility to add a windows failover cluster as a member of a DFS-r replication group. This possibility creates a highly available replication service.
A useful scenario for a failover clustered DFS-r service is the clustering of a central DFSR-Node in a multi-site replication group. The data of the branch offices is replicated to the central site, where it is safely stored, archived and backupped.
As you can see above, in the central site we have created a two-node failover cluster. Both nodes are connected to a shared storage medium. This can be a shared SCSI or SAS solution but also a FC or iSCSI SAN solution. In event of a failure of the priamary node, the windows failover clustering service will delegate the DFS-R related roles to the secondary node without having to reconfigure the DFS-R service.
But how do we create a DFSR replication group that is using a cluster instead of a fileserver. With the Windows 2008R2 management tools this is really not that hard to do.
- Built your central File-server failover cluster using the built in wizard. Building a cluster has become really easy nowadays.
- Add a file server application/service to your cluster. Again using the builtin wizard. During this process a Client Access Point is created.
- Now we can create a replication group. Remember that the cluster should be running 2008R2. The branch office servers (non clustered) can be running Windows 2003R2 of Windows 2008.
- When we need to add the cluster to the replication group we are using the previously created Client Access Point as the replication member.
That's it for building a highly available DFS-r replication solution.
A more complete guide can be found at the blog of the Windows Storage Team: http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/archive/2009/06/29/deploying-dfs-replication-on-a-windows-failover-cluster-part-i.aspx
January 12, 2010
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Posted by Erik den Burger
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0 Comments