Archive for the ‘Windows Server 2012’ Category

3 node Cluster in Azure contains “weak event was created” in FCM after install of KB2750149 #azure #templates #winserv #SQL   3 comments

Just created a 3 node SQL cluster in windows Azure and used Templates with windows 2012 with SQL and find a nasty bug. All fixed with a update but still annoying.  I was hoping to get a full patched system. With atleast all the hoxfixes in them. But even in Azure keep your patching up to date!

Building Windows 2012 Clusters in Azure needs patching !

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Build my Azure Cluster with AV Set on a 3 node cluster with a fileshare witness.  But even in Azure keep your patching up to date!

As you can see little bugs are still there and if you don’t know about this you could run into trouble.

Below is all the hoxfix information you need.

When installing this update to a Windows 2012 Cluster Server, you will receive the below error when you select Roles or Nodes from within Failover Cluster Manager.

A weak event was created and it lives on the wrong object, there is a very high chance this will fail, please review and make changes on your code to prevent this issue

You can still manage your Cluster from a node that does not have this fix or through Powershell.  The recommendation at this time is to remove and not install this fix.

This issue has been resolved.  After installing the KB2750149 patch for .NET Framework, please also install the below patch.

KB2803748
Failover Cluster Management snap-in crashes after you install update 2750149 on a Windows Server 2012-based failover cluster
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2803748

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But how cool is that SQL availability groups in azure and even a Cluster in Azure ! And the deployment was really fast.

More about this later My Azure credit is gone ;-(

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Posted February 24, 2014 by Robert Smit [MVP] in Windows Server 2012

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Windows Server 2012 R2 Best Practices Analyzer #BPA #winserv   4 comments

Did you know that the BPA is build-in in windows server 2012. In the old days you need to download al the BPA

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15556

But now in 2012 the BPA is build-in this is a great feature but did you know this I see al lot of items and some IT admins did not know the BPA feature.

You can check the BPA in powershell or in the GUI

The gui verson :

Go to the service manager and check local server  ( this is my test demo server so plenty of errors here )

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Click on task ans click the BPA scan. and the output will be a nic listing of config items.

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But there is more did you know you can do this with powershell .

Find the BPA Models are available

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Get-BpaModel | Select Id

Id
—
Microsoft/Windows/ADRMS
Microsoft/Windows/CertificateServices
Microsoft/Windows/DHCPServer
Microsoft/Windows/DirectoryServices
Microsoft/Windows/DNSServer
Microsoft/Windows/FederationServices
Microsoft/Windows/FileServices
Microsoft/Windows/Hyper-V
Microsoft/Windows/LightweightDirectoryServices
Microsoft/Windows/NPAS
Microsoft/Windows/RemoteAccessServer
Microsoft/Windows/TerminalServices
Microsoft/Windows/UpdateServices
Microsoft/Windows/VolumeActivation
Microsoft/Windows/WebServer

 

SO all these models can be run on your server build-in easy and quick some scans are quick and some take a little time.

Invoke-BpaModel Microsoft/Windows/WebServer

 

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View a summary of the BPA results by Severity

Get-BpaResult Microsoft/Windows/DNSServer| Group Severity

imageYou will see a list with all the items in the console.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View the details for all results with “Warning” severity level :

Get-BpaResult Microsoft/Windows/DNSServer| ? Severity -eq "Warning"

 

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and if you want to exclude items

Set-BPAResult -IdSpecified Model Id-Exclude $true

 

these are just samples on how to start more options are available

yes easy if you know all the Command lets.

it is not that hard to start

get-comand *bpa*

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these are all the commands you can use for BPA.

Cmdlet          Get-BpaModel                                      BestPractices
Cmdlet          Get-BpaResult                                      BestPractices
Cmdlet          Invoke-BpaModel                                 BestPractices
Cmdlet          Set-BpaResult                                      BestPractices

 

But what about remote computer ?

easy enter :

Enter-PSSession Yourcomputer -Credential administrator

the line is change now and will start with the server you used.

[mvpdc01]: PS C:\Users\Administrator.000\Documents> Get-BpaModel

Posted October 31, 2013 by Robert Smit [MVP] in Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

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The Cloud OS: It’s Time! Today is the date that Windows Server 2012 R2 is GA (General Availability) #winserv #hyperv   1 comment

You could already download windows server 2012 R2 from teched or msdn but now the R2 product is general availability

At the heart of the Microsoft Cloud OS vision, Windows Server 2012 R2 brings Microsoft’s experience delivering global-scale cloud services into your infrastructure. Windows Server 2012 R2 offers exciting new features and enhancements across virtualization, storage, networking, virtual desktop infrastructure, access and information protection, and more.

These are new Posters for Windows Server 2012 R2 including Hyper-v 3.0

 

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster and Hyper-V Mini-Posters

 

  • Generation 2 Virtual Machines GA
  • Hyper-V and Failover Clustering GA
  • Session Modes GA
  • Upgrading Your Private Cloud GA
  • Live Migration GA
  • Hyper-V Storage GA
  • Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk Sharing GA
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Component Architecture GA

 

Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product that contains the hypervisor, Windows Server driver model, virtualization capabilities, and supporting components such as failover clustering, but does not contain the robust set of features and roles as the Windows Server operating system. As a result, Hyper-V Server produces a small footprint and requires minimal overhead. Organizations consolidating servers where no new Windows Server licenses are required or where the servers being consolidated are running an alternative OS may want to consider Hyper-V Server.

 

What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2

This content focuses on changes that will potentially have the greatest impact on your use of this release.

Posted October 16, 2013 by Robert Smit [MVP] in Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

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Deploy an Active Directory Detached Cluster OR DNS Cluster OR non domain joined Windows Server 2012R2 Cluster one way ticket #winserv   10 comments

In Windows Server 2012 R2 , you can deploy a failover cluster without dependencies in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for network names. This is referred to as an Active Directory-detached cluster. Using this deployment method enables you to create a failover cluster without the previously required permissions for creating computer objects in AD DS or the need to request that computer objects are prestaged in AD DS.

When you create an Active Directory-detached cluster, the cluster network name (also known as the administrative access point) and network names for any clustered roles with client access points are registered in Domain Name System (DNS). However, no computer objects are created for the cluster in AD DS. This includes the computer object for the cluster (also known as the cluster name object or CNO) and computer objects for any clustered roles that would typically have client access points in AD DS (also known as virtual computer objects or VCOs).

To deploy an Active Directory-detached cluster, you must use Windows PowerShell. You cannot use Failover Cluster Manager. To create the failover cluster, start Windows PowerShell as an administrator, and then use the New-Cluster cmdlet with the –AdministrativeAccessPoint parameter set to a value of Dns.

But how to create such a cluster

New-Cluster SQLCL02 –Node mvpsql021,mvpsql022 –StaticAddress 10.255.255.12 -NoStorage –AdministrativeAccessPoint Dns

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New-Cluster SQLCL02 –Node mvpsql021,mvpsql022 –StaticAddress 10.255.255.12 -NoStorage –AdministrativeAccessPoint Dns

the key is in the –AdministrativeAccessPoint

The option gives you the cluster you want.

PARAMETERS
    -AdministrativeAccessPoint <AdminAccessPoint>
        Specifies the type of administrative access point that the cmdlet creates for the cluster. The acceptable
        values for this parameter are:

        — ActiveDirectoryAndDns. The cmdlet creates an administrative access point for the cluster. The
        administrative access point is registered in DNS and enabled in Active Directory Domain Services.
        — Dns. The cmdlet creates an administrative access point for the cluster. The administrative access point is
        registered in DNS but is not enabled in Active Directory Domain Services.
       — None. The cmdlet does not create an administrative access point for the cluster. Some clustered roles and
        functionality might not be available for a cluster that does not have an administrative access point. Also,
        you cannot use Failover Cluster Manager to manage a cluster that does not have an administrative access point.

       

There is only one way to show the state of the cluster

(Get-Cluster).AdministrativeAccessPoint

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But is a non domain joined CNO any usefull ?

Well I see no good reasons why you would do this.

You can set the type of administrative access point only when you create the cluster. You cannot change it after the cluster is deployed.

SO If you build a SQL cluster and later you think oh I need Kerberos there is NO PowerShell option

set-cluster –AdministrativeAccessPoint ActiveDirectoryAndDns

You will have to rebuild your cluster !

 

Cluster Workload Supported/Not Supported More Information

SQL Server

Supported

We recommend that you use SQL Server Authentication for an Active Directory-detached cluster deployment.

File server

Supported, but not recommended

Kerberos authentication is the preferred authentication protocol for Server Message Block (SMB) traffic.

Hyper-V

Supported, but not recommended

Live migration is not supported because it has a dependency on Kerberos authentication.

Quick migration is supported.

Message Queuing (also known as MSMQ)

Not supported

Message Queuing stores properties in AD DS.

In addition, be aware of the following issues for this type of cluster deployment:

  • BitLocker Drive Encryption is not supported.
  • Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) in self-updating mode is not supported.

Posted October 2, 2013 by Robert Smit [MVP] in Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

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Windows Server 2012 R2 update thoughts hyper-v virtual Ethernet adapter network cable unplugged   4 comments

If you update a windows server 2012 to the R2 version and you have teamed the Network card you could end in trouble. Especially if you run hyper-v.

You could find this in your device manager. No way to uninstall the network adapter and even with show hidden devices. you will see the Vnics but are unable to uninstall them.

hyper-v virtual Ethernet adapter network cable unplugged

Cleaning the register is also no option you don’t have the rights to do this only the trusted installer has rights. yes you could change this but is this the best decision ? I don’t thinks so

hyper-v virtual Ethernet adapter network cable unplugged

So here you are with several vnic’s and stuck in your system, uninstalling hyper-v is the best option but you will need to import all the virtual machines. yes you can us PowerShell and scripts to do this but if you have this situation the wmi objects are also stuck and most scripts won’t work.

Create a new switch and new networks next to the old stuff and leaf the old nics disabled is an option but not the best method. ( IMHO )

Fix it and see if the networks are gone and working well to avoid feature problems is the best approach.

there is one line to fix this :

netcfg –u vms_pp 

Remember after running this all the Virtual Machines on this machine are lost their network card. you will need to add the new network card to the VM and assign it to the new switch. this can be done by PowerShell quick and easy.

after this you have one healthy Hyper-v Server or Cluster

Posted September 28, 2013 by Robert Smit [MVP] in Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

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