hotfix that improves the performance of the "AlwaysOn Availability Group"

A hotfix that improves the performance of the "AlwaysOn Availability Group" feature in SQL Server 2012 is available for Windows Server 2008 R2

Hotfix Download Available
View and request hotfix downloads

 

Assume that you enable the AlwaysOn Availability Group feature in Microsoft SQL Server 2012 on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster. However, when you use local and remote Availability Group database replicas, the failover time to the local replica takes longer than expected.
Note This issue occurs because of inter-node communication within the cluster.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012

Visit the Microsoft Download Center to download MDT 2012 now! 

Download the latest release to stay up-to-date on your deployment needs. New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever!

Key Benefits:

· Support for Configuration Manager 2012

· Customizable deployment questions

· Ease Lite Touch installation

· Secure deployments

· Reliability and flexibility

· Support for Windows 8

Support for Configuration Manager 2012:This update provides support for Configuration Manager 2012 RC2 releases. MDT 2012 fully leverages the capabilities provided by Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. The latest version of MDT offers new User-Driven Installation components and extensibility for Configuration Manager 2007 and 2012. Users now also have the ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012.

Customize deployment questions:For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions.

Ease Lite Touch installation:The Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) is now integrated with Lite Touch Installation, providing remote control and diagnostics. New monitoring capabilities are available to check on the status of currently running deployments. LTI now has an improved deployment wizard user experience. Enhanced partitioning support ensures that deployments work regardless of the current structure.

Secure Deployments:MDT 2012 offers integration with the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows deployment from the start.

Reliability and flexibility:Existing MDT users will find more reliability and flexibility with the many small enhancements and bug fixes and a smooth and simple upgrade process.

Support for Windows 8:MDT 2012 provides support for deploying Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows Server “8” Beta in a lab environment.

Learn more

Visit the MDT home page:www.microsoft.com/MDT

What’s Been Removed from This Release?

This release of MDT does not include the following features that existed in previous versions of MDT:

· Support for prerelease versions of Configuration Manager 2012

· Support for installation of MDT on Windows Server 2003

· Support for installation of MDT on Windows Vista

· Support for installation of MDT on Windows XP

· Support for Windows Deployment Services running on Windows Server 2003

· Original equipment manufacturer task sequence templates from ZTI (Instead, use the prestaged media capabilities in Configuration Manager 2012 and Configuration Manager 2007 R3.)

Operating system	LTI	ZTI	UDI
Windows 8 Consumer Preview	˜
Windows Server 8 Beta	˜
Windows 7	˜	˜	˜
Window Server 2008 R2	˜	˜
Windows PE version 3.1	˜	˜	˜
Windows PE version 3.0	˜	˜	˜
Windows Vista (with SP1 and later)	˜	˜
Windows Server 2008 (all service pack levels)	˜	˜
Windows XP (with SP3)	˜	˜
Windows Server 2003 R2	˜	˜

˜ = supported

How to: Change the Network Binding order for SQL 2012 Windows Server 8 Failover Cluster (Setup)

During the SQL 2012 Setup there is a warning that my binding order is not correct. It looks ok but it is not. there are a couple of KB items on technet. this is on Windows 8 server

 

Why this is appearing did I make a mistake ?  lets see mm my lan nic is on top. this looks ok so why this error. lets look at the SQL log

 

Ok here it is the SQL setup log file is it wrong ? local area connection* 11 is on top ? what is this ? lets lookit up .

 

NetworkBindingFacet: Looking up network binding order.

(05) 2012-03-18 14:03:04 Slp: NetworkBindingFacet: Network: ‘Local Area Connection* 11’ Device: ‘\Device\{2E9E3899-BB35-4E91-98D4-BF56F4ADE4F6}’ Domain: ” Adapter Id: ‘{2E9E3899-BB35-4E91-98D4-BF56F4ADE4F6}’

(05) 2012-03-18 14:03:04 Slp: NetworkBindingFacet: Network: ‘LAN’ Device: ‘\Device\{734667C2-FCC9-4874-B3E0-EDC3BA72F6AB}’ Domain: ‘mvp.local’ Adapter Id: ‘{734667C2-FCC9-4874-B3E0-EDC3BA72F6AB}’

(05) 2012-03-18 14:03:04 Slp: NetworkBindingFacet: Network: ‘ISCSI’ Device: ‘\Device\{1F016AE2-DD00-4B0F-B80B-57173AF2F36E}’ Domain: ” Adapter Id: ‘{1F016AE2-DD00-4B0F-B80B-57173AF2F36E}’

(05) 2012-03-18 14:03:04 Slp: NetworkBindingFacet: Network: ‘Cluster’ Device: ‘\Device\{BA1F99C0-0D58-44AA-85E0-ADFB1EF2C422}’ Domain: ” Adapter Id: ‘{BA1F99C0-0D58-44AA-85E0-ADFB1EF2C422}’

I know what it is it is the hidden cluster adapter which needed to be moved in the binding order, and that had to be done in the registry.

I opened up regedit and drilled down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Linkage and opened up the Bind value:

 

 

\Device\{2E9E3899-BB35-4E91-98D4-BF56F4ADE4F6}

\Device\{734667C2-FCC9-4874-B3E0-EDC3BA72F6AB}

Flip the registry keys and you are ready to go.

This is hard to find eh yes but you can use powershell 

wmic nicconfig get Description,SettingID

More info about this is on MSDN

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189910(v=sql.110).aspx

changing-the-network-binding-order-in-windows-server-2008

and it you want to change this by powershell the get-itemproperty is the way.

Get-ItemProperty Registry::HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Linkage\bind\*

After the NIC binding order change the SQL setup marked all as passed.

Samples :

 

Get-Item -Path Registry::HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Linkage\bind\* | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Property

Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Filter "IPenabled = $true" | select Description, IPAddress, index, SettingID

gwmi Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration | where-object {$_.IPEnabled -eq "True"} | ft Description, SettingID -auto

How to: Create a New SQL 2012 Server Failover Cluster (Setup) multiple instances on windows server 2012 #ws2012

Now that windows 2012 is in beta we can talk almost about anything and it is time to create my demo SQL 2012 machine. In this case I uses the Windows server 8 cluster from the other blog item to create a SQL 2012 cluster with 3 instances. All of the instances are created on different ways , Instance 3 is a ZTI   #WS2012 #TEE #TEE13 #MVP13

For starters build a 2 node cluster or more nodes if you want and use the SQL 2012 Media. I use the Enterprise version.

Remember that I create the Server Group and my cluster I already added the disk to my cluster mounted the SQL 2012 ISO file to the node. Ready for the Setup.

again I use a lot of pictures in this blog and I do almost everything twice just to show you how you can configure your cluster.

the disk listing in the cluster. eh no we do not use the basic setup. Installation should be fun and not follow the wizard ok we have to use the wizard in this part. We use the advanced cluster preparation setup this will setup your SQL cluster in two parts.

 

 

 

Fill in your SQL product key or use a evaluation , accept the agreement.

  

Mm a warning it looks OK yes it is I create a new blog post on this ignore it for now.

 

Yes I corrected the binding order and we continue the setup.

 

I choose to install all the options This cluster will be used for the System center products.

 

 

I use a basic account but for more security you should use different accounts. And I will also configure my report server by hand later.

 

 

Now that the first step is ready we can do the second step but first I want to create a second instance preparation. as a basic I use the setup .ini file that you can save during the setup.

The second instance I use this ini file to create the instance preparation. Open the ini file and I changed the SQL01 in SQL02. easy

in the setup screen I use the install based on a Ini file setup. this is not an unattended setup. But all the screens are already filled in.  So this is like a practice unattended setup like in SQL03  

… import ini file As you can see the installation of a second instance is the same as installing one instance on a node or installing a third instance but you can install less or more options in the instances. they don’t have to be the same.

 

 

 

 

 

Easy just press next and finish almost unattended. You can also use the ini file of this installation if you want to rebuild this instance during a disaster.

Advanced Cluster Completion

Now that the Instance SQL01 and SQL02 are installed but not jet completed in my cluster we need to do the next step Cluster completion. This step we need to do this also twice , and yes one time I do this in the GUI and save the INI file and One I use the Ini file for the SQL02 setup just to see how it can be done.

 

Here we create the Cluster name and the SQL instance As you can see. And You see also the SQL02 instance. but remember you can only do one instance installation at the time

 

 

We choose the Disks and the IP address for this SQL cluster instance.

I use here only two disks but you can use more disk, DB ,Logs, and Temp DB and Analysis all on different disks. if you want more performance. this is if it runs on multiple SAN disks.

for System center the Collation is most important If you choose the wrong one you are in trouble it is hard to reconfigure this.

If you continue Setup using the default collation (SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS), you will not be able to support multiple languages in Service Manager. In the future, if you decide you want to support multiple languages, you will have to re-install SQL Server.

Service Manager doesn’t like the default collation method (SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS). If your SCSM SQL server is running with that collation mode you will get a warning when you install SCSM.

Further down in the error the Exhange 2010 MP was referenced with regards to “Microsoft.Exchange.2010.Reports.Dataset.Ten

After doing some investigation discovered that nager is only supported with a collation of “SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS” hange 2010 management pack relies on the collation being “SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS” to place certain data into the Data Warehouse.

Here is the bad news!!! The only way to resolve is it re-install SQL. So make sure if you are installing Operatons Manager your SQL collation is correct.

This error message is because we installed SQL Server in the default SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS collation. This collation is the only one that is supported by SCOM2012 and so this is necessary when we want to install SCOM2012 and want to connect SCSM with SCOM2012.

When installing SCSM 2012 it’s important to use a supported language.

If you use the default collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

multilanguage support will not be available in Service Manager.

Instead you should use a supported collation like eg.: Latin1_General_100_CI_AS

 

More info about this you can find here :

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh495583.aspx

 

If you use system accounts you don’t want to add the domain administrator but in my demo It is ok

 

 

Ready. the one thing that I did not install is a DTC because it is so easy to install on a cluster we do this in just a few steps.  go to the failover cluster manager and add a cluster role

 

 

pick the msdtc and give the role a IP and I always use a own disk for the DTC but you can share this if you want. my advice use a own disk for a more flexible cluster

 

 

as you can see my cluster is ready to use

the second cluster completion I do this with a INI file all the steps are the same as without the ini file only the items are filled in.

..import ini file

 

 

I skiped the other screens

 

Done Now I have two SQL instances and 2 sets of ini files. these file I’m gonna use it for an unattended setup. SQL installation in just 10 minutes

the first step SQL cluster preperation

setup.exe /Q /CONFIGURATIONFILE=”C:\SQLSetup\ConfigurationFile.ini”

/SQLSVCPASSWORD=”<StrongPassword>” /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS/INDICATEPROGRESS

because I use a account for my SQL server I need to fill in my password.

 

 

 

  this will kick in the cluster completion.

For this unattended setup I created the following file I use the following account for all the services : sql2012 and the password is also sql2012 Remember this is a lap use strong passwords in real life !!!

Step one is the Cluster preperation

d:\setup.exe /q /CONFIGURATIONFILE=”C:\SQLSetup\SQL03-1.ini”

/AGTSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/ASSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/SQLSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/ISSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/RSSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″ /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS /INDICATEPROGRESS

Step Two is the Cluster Completion

d:\setup.exe /q /CONFIGURATIONFILE=”C:\SQLSetup\SQL03-2.ini”

/AGTSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/ASSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/SQLSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/ISSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″

/RSSVCPASSWORD=”sql2012″ /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS /INDICATEPROGRESS

 

 

You can do this also in one ini file but if something fails you don’t have to do it all again.

Happy clustering !!

How To Create a Windows Server 8 Cluster Windows Server 2012 Cluster

The way We build a cluster in windows 2008R2 is almost the same in windows 8

In windows 8 You can do more with PowerShell. In this blog post I will create a cluster old style first. Then PowerShell one-liner

 

My first node and the windows server 8 cluster group. just create a cluster group for easy handling the servers.

And as you can see the selected server is on the right top of your screen.

Now in this gui we add the Failover cluster Role and the tools. I did select the server and proceed with the wizard.

Just follow the wizard and add the Feature.

Now there is a new thing you don’t have to wait till the install is done. close the window and if you want to see the progress you can. by opening the installation progress task.

 

Now I added the Failover cluster feature almost 4 windows  

The PowerShell way : Trouble with the Commands ? just use the *

Go to the powershell <> it is already in admin mode <>

Get-WindowsFeature *

you will see a list of all Features. I will use only the Failover-clustering

Get-WindowsFeature Failover-Clustering

The installation kicks in and does the installation with out any questions.

  

This will save time or when you do a unattended OSD. As you can see in the PowerShell I opened a PoSH to the other node just right click on the node.

But sure you can use the GUI.

But what about the Creation of a cluster. ? Gui or PoSH Well first the PowerShell line.

New-Cluster -Name "My-first-Cluster" -Node mvpwin8-n1 -NoStorage -StaticAddress "11.222.222.33"

Cluster name is :My-first-Cluster

Nodes in my cluster is 1 <> and yes you can create a one node cluster.

I did not add any storage to the cluster.

And I used a static IP : 11.222.222.33

Or Gui <> This time I add both nodes, open the FCM and select create new Cluster and add both nodes.

   

Run the validation reports. And the validation reports are also contains new items

 

Give the Cluster a name and an IP and my cluster is ready.

 

Now that my basic cluster is ready We add some disks to the cluster.

The PowerShell Way :

This shows a list of all available disks

Get-ClusterAvailableDisk -Cluster Clustername

the add-cluster disks adds the disks to the cluster

Get-ClusterAvailableDisk -Cluster Clustername |Add-ClusterDisk

 

or in the FCM right click on storage

 

Now that we have disk in our cluster we can add witness disk to the cluster.

under more actions we can select the Quorum settings

Disk and node majority is the choice for a two node cluster on a three node you don’t need the disk. the Third node is the Vote.

 

Choose a disk for the Quorum, and as you can see I do have a drive letter but if you want more security. Skip the Drive letter you do not need it.

 

Next Step add Roles to the cluster.

Create Windows Server 8 Server Groups

In windows server 8 you can create server groups this is handy for management , deployment and all other things you want to do with the servers.

How does is work. First go to the dashboard :

and choose option 4 Create server group.

 

  

Give the group a name this name will show up in the left of your dashboard

Add the servers that are part of this group, select and add.

 

Now that we have a server group we can deploy roles to this server with out going to this server.

just click and install Windows 8 Rocks

 

from here install a server role or feature.

More in the following blog posts.

Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure Customer Technology Preview

Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure provides the ability to include an antimalware protection agent in each Windows Azure virtual machine running your Windows Azure service. It extends the Windows Azure SDK by providing an antimalware import which provides antimalware configuration and deployment capabilities.

 

Deploying Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure.docx
Download

eppplugin.msi
Download

Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure Privacy Statement – Final.rtf
Download

Monitoring Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure.docx
Download

Prerequisites

Before you get started, you should already have a Windows Azure account configured and have an understanding of how to deploy your service in the Windows Azure environment. You will also need Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. If you have Visual Studio 2010, the Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio, and have written and deployed Windows Azure services, you’re ready to go.

If not, do the following:

1. Sign up for a Windows Azure account
http://windows.azure.com

2. Install Visual Studio 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio

3. Install Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ff687127.aspx

Windows Server 8 Beta Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster

The link for this poster is: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29189

 

Provides a visual reference for understanding key Hyper-V technologies in Windows Server 8  Beta and focuses on Hyper-V Replica, networking, virtual machine mobility (live migration), storage, failover clustering, and scalability.

Here are links to previous posters:

1. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-v Component Architecture with Service Pack 1
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=2688

2. Hyper-v Component Architecture
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=3501

3. Windows Server 2008 R2 component posters
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=7002

4. Windows Server 2008 Component Posters
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17881

Technorati Tags: Windows,Server,Beta,Hyper,Component,Architecture,Poster,details,Provides,Replica,machine,Here,posters,Service,Pack,microsoft,download,aspx,displaylang
Windows Live Tags: Windows,Server,Beta,Hyper,Component,Architecture,Poster,details,Provides,Replica,machine,Here,posters,Service,Pack,microsoft,download,aspx,displaylang
WordPress Tags: Windows,Server,Beta,Hyper,Component,Architecture,Poster,details,Provides,Replica,machine,Here,posters,Service,Pack,microsoft,download,aspx,displaylang

List of Cluster Hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2

Hotfixes that were rolled-up to 976932 — Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2  Service Pack 1 ( SP1 )

• 974930 — An application or service that queries information about a failover cluster by using the WMI provider may experience low performance or a time-out exception
• 976571 — Stability update for Windows Server 2008 R2 Failover Print Clusters
• 978001 — Cluster resources do not automatically fail over to another node when you disconnect the private and public network interfaces in a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster or in a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster
• 978562 — The "Validate Multiple Arbitration" test on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster may incorrectly fail
• 979782 — An update rollup package for the Validate a Configuration Wizard of the Failover Clustering feature is available for Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2277439 — The Cluster service stops responding if you run backup applications in parallel in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2294255 — MS10-086: Vulnerability in Windows shared cluster disks could allow tampering
• 2353832 — Authentication requests between nodes in the same failover cluster may be unable to use the Kerberos protocol if the Negotiate SSP is specified in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2353808 — The WINS replication operation fails on a failover cluster node that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 

Hotfixes that were released after Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (applicable to both SP0 and SP1 systems)

• 2446607 — You cannot enable BitLocker on a disk volume in Windows Server 2008 R2 if the computer is a failover cluster node
• 2462576 — The NFS share cannot be brought online in Windows Server 2008 R2 when you try to create the NFS share as a cluster resource on a third-party storage disk
• 2485543 — You cannot access or mount a Windows Server 2008 R2-based NFS share after a failover if the NFS share uses Krb5 or Krb5i authentication
• 2494016 — Stop error 0x0000007a occurs on a virtual machine that is running on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster with a cluster shared volume, and the state of the CSV is switched to redirected access
• 2494036 — A hotfix is available to let you configure a cluster node that does not have quorum votes in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2494162 — The Cluster service stops unexpectedly on a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster node when you perform multiple backup operations in parallel on a cluster shared volume
• 2496034 — Cluster service stops when an error occurs in the registry replication process of a failover cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows Server 2008
• 2512715 — Validate Operating System Installation Option test may identify Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core installation type incorrectly in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2520235 — "0x0000009E" Stop error when you add an extra storage disk to a failover cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2531907 — Validate SCSI Device Vital Product Data (VPD) test fails after you install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
• 2549448 — Cluster service still uses the default time-out value after you configure the regroup time-out setting in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2549472 — Cluster node cannot rejoin the cluster after the node is restarted or removed from the cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2550886 — A transient communication failure causes a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to stop working
• 2550894 — Cluster service leaks memory when the service handles state change notifications in Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008
• 2552040 — A Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster loses quorum when an asymmetric communication failure occurs
• 2575625 — Cluster service initiates a failover after a delay of about 80 seconds when you shutdown the active node in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2578113 — The Cluster service takes about 30 seconds to fail over IPv6 IP addresses in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2579052 — New registration entries are added to the Persistent Reservation table when the physical disk resource that is associated with the CSV is taken offline on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based Failover Cluster
• 2580360 — A heap memory leak occurs when an application or service queries the MSCluster_Resource WMI class in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2606025 — "0x000000D5" Stop error on a failover cluster node that has special pool enabled and that is running Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2648385 — You cannot use WMI to manage CSV resources in Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2637197 — CSV LUNs fail if you use a VSS hardware provider to back up virtual machines on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based cluster
• 2616514 — Cluster service sends unnecessary registry key change notifications among cluster nodes in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

 

Technorati Tags: List,Cluster,Hotfixes,Server,Service,Pack,provider,performance,exception,Failover,Print,node,Validate,Multiple,Arbitration,Configuration,Wizard,backup,Authentication,requests,Kerberos,protocol,Negotiate,replication,operation,BitLocker,disk,computer,resource,storage,Stop,error,machine,System,Installation,Option,SCSI,Device,Vital,Product,Data,communication,failure,memory,shutdown,registration,Persistent,Reservation,MSCluster_Resource,LUNs,machines,interfaces,disks,systems,operations,notifications,nodes,quorum,registry
Windows Live Tags: List,Cluster,Hotfixes,Server,Service,Pack,provider,performance,exception,Failover,Print,node,Validate,Multiple,Arbitration,Configuration,Wizard,backup,Authentication,requests,Kerberos,protocol,Negotiate,replication,operation,BitLocker,disk,computer,resource,storage,Stop,error,machine,System,Installation,Option,SCSI,Device,Vital,Product,Data,communication,failure,memory,shutdown,registration,Persistent,Reservation,MSCluster_Resource,LUNs,machines,interfaces,disks,systems,operations,notifications,nodes,quorum,registry
WordPress Tags: List,Cluster,Hotfixes,Server,Service,Pack,provider,performance,exception,Failover,Print,node,Validate,Multiple,Arbitration,Configuration,Wizard,backup,Authentication,requests,Kerberos,protocol,Negotiate,replication,operation,BitLocker,disk,computer,resource,storage,Stop,error,machine,System,Installation,Option,SCSI,Device,Vital,Product,Data,communication,failure,memory,shutdown,registration,Persistent,Reservation,MSCluster_Resource,LUNs,machines,interfaces,disks,systems,operations,notifications,nodes,quorum,registry

MVP summit 2012

It was a great week, seen a lot of new things and done some testing in the microsoft LAB.

And yes there is a lot off windows Server 8. so much new stuff that it will take time to blog al of this and some of it is still NDA so it have to wait till the time is there to blog about it.

The interaction with the product teams is great and it is nice to see the early things in windows 8

This week I’ll will create some new Items on windows 8 and See where the limits are form this beta, the feel and touch is way different. In all parts it is great to see new stuff in windows 8.The best part is in the consumer build that there is now hyper-v 3.0 support, So I don’t have to run Windows enterprise 2008R2 as desktop any more  

Below is a great list on windows 8 Items.

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot BitLocker in Windows Server "8"

Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29032&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Servicing in Windows Server "8"

Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29030&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Test Lab Guide: Demonstrate Remote Desktop Services Desktop Virtualization in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29028&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29018&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot AD DS Simplified Administration in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29019&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Test Lab Guide: Demonstrate IP Address Management (IPAM) in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29020&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Dynamic Access Control in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29023&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Hyper-V Replica in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29016&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Cluster-Aware Updating_(CAU) in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29015&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot IP Address Management (IPAM) in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29012&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Activation Technologies in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29014&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot High Availability Printing in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29013&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Test Lab Guide: Demonstrate Windows Server "8" Beta Print and Document Services – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29021&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Test Lab Guide: Demonstrate Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29011&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Remote Desktop Services Desktop Virtualization in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29022&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Microsoft Online Backup Service in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29005&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Test Lab Guide: Base Test Lab Guide for Windows Server "8"

Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29010&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Test Lab Guide: Demonstrate DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29007&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Virtualized Domain Controller

(VDC) in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download

Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29001&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Storage Spaces in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29002&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot DHCP Failover in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29008&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29006&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Remote Access in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29004&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Printing in Windows Server "8"

Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29003&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Understand and Troubleshoot Scale-out File Servers in Windows Server "8" Beta – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29009&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Task-based Asynchronous Pattern – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=19957&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Windows ADK for Windows 8 Consumer Preview – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28997&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Windows and Windows Server Compatibility Cookbook – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27416&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3a+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+(Microsoft+Download+Center)

Download: Background Networking – Microsoft Download Center – Download

Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28999&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Download: Background Tasks – Microsoft Download Center – Download Details:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27411&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

Windows Client 8 Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel vs Windows Server 8 Hyper-V Synthetic Fiber Channel HBA’s is not supported on a client SKU that is on a windows 8 client

Overview of Windows Server 8 Hyper-V 3.0 features What it is and what you can not do.

The Windows 8 client hyper-v 3.0 role is not the same as the Windows Server 8 Hyper-V Role. If you look at one item in particular the File channel than there is a change first it was not in windows 2008 R2 ! you can now do npiv this is great mount direct FC Lun’s to your VM.  But first a preview of the fiber channel.

Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Technical Preview

You need your virtualized workloads to connect easily and reliably to your existing storage arrays. Windows Server “8” Beta provides Fibre Channel ports within the guest operating system, which allows you to connect to Fibre Channel directly from within virtual machines. This feature protects your investments in Fibre Channel, enables you to virtualize workloads that use direct access to Fibre Channel storage, allows you to cluster guest operating systems over Fibre Channel, and provides an important new storage option for servers hosted in your virtualization infrastructure.

The virtual Fibre Channel feature in Hyper-V requires the following:

• One or more installations of Windows Server “8” Beta with the Hyper-V role installed. Hyper-V requires a computer with processor support for hardware virtualization.
• A computer with one or more Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) that have an updated HBA driver that supports Virtual Fibre Channel. Updated HBA drivers are included with the in-box HBA drivers for some models, as listed in the following table.

• Virtual machines configured to use a virtual Fibre Channel adapter, which must use Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server “8” Beta as the guest operating system.
• Connection only to data logical unit numbers (LUNs). Storage accessed through a virtual Fibre Channel connected to a LUN cannot be used as boot media.

NPIV support

---

Virtual Fibre Channel for Hyper-V guests uses the existing N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) T11 standard to map multiple virtual N_Port IDs to a single physical Fibre Channel N_port. A new NPIV port is created on the host each time you start a virtual machine that is configured with a virtual HBA. When the virtual machine stops running on the host, the NPIV port is removed.

Virtual SAN support

---

Hyper-V allows you to define virtual SANs on the host to accommodate scenarios where a single Hyper-V host is connected to different SANs through multiple Fibre Channel ports. A virtual SAN defines a named group of physical Fibre Channel ports that are connected to the same physical SAN. For example, assume that a Hyper-V host is connected to two SANs—a production SAN and a test SAN. The host is connected to each SAN through two physical Fibre Channel ports. In this example, you might configure two virtual SANs—one named “Production SAN” that has the two physical Fibre Channel ports connected to the production SAN and one named “Test SAN” that has two physical Fibre Channel ports connected to the test SAN. You can use the same technique to name two separate paths to a single storage target.

You can configure as many as four virtual Fibre Channel adapters on a virtual machine and associate each one with a virtual SAN. Each virtual Fibre Channel adapter connects with one WWN address or two WWN addresses to support live migration. You can set each WWN address automatically or manually.

 

Now that we know what it does lets see how it works.

First in the settings you can add a fiber channel switch

You can also edit the adresses ( WWN )World Wide Node Names and World Wide Port Name ( WWPN) as known as port address, you can copy them to the clipboard with the copy command.

 

But what if you do this on a client ? You easily would miss this and you can wonder if you need this on a client, this is most used for demo’s etc but what if you copy the machine from a server and then run it on your client. Well You get this

Synthetic Fiber Channel HBA’s is not supported on a client SKU that is on a windows 8 client. So I do not need support on my client eh no it won’t run ! So think about this if you want to show this you need server. But remember is it a beta and it can be changed during the beta.

Why this is is unclear what else is different on the client lets find out in the next blogs. Well I run now Datacenter as hyper-v server

Well for starters you can’t upgrade a VHD that is running windows 2008R2 that is boot from VHD !

Upgrading an operating system in a virtual disk is not supported.

Think your plan ! rebuild your new machines is better than an upgrade is the microsoft message to avoid problems. and I must say it is much faster also.

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview enables IT administrators to manage roles and features that are installed on computers that are running Windows Server "8" Beta from a remote computer that is running Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Download locations for RSAT

Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 8 Consumer Preview
RRemote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 7 with SP1 (both x86 and x64)
Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Vista 32-bit (x86)
Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Vista 64-bit (x64)

 

Overview

Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview includes Server Manager, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, consoles, Windows PowerShell cmdlets and providers, and command-line tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server "8" Beta. In limited cases, the tools can be used to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008. Some of the tools work for managing roles and features on Windows Server 2003.

**Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview can be installed ONLY on computers that are running Windows 8 Consumer Preview.** Remote Server Administration Tools cannot be installed on computers with an Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) architecture, or other system-on-chip devices.
Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview runs on both x86- and x64-based editions of Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Download and install the version that matches the architecture of the computer on which you plan to install the administration tools. If you are not sure whether your computer is x86- or x64-based, see How to determine whether a computer is running a 32-bit version or 64-bit version of the Windows operating system.
IMPORTANT: Remove all older versions of Administration Tools Pack or Remote Server Administration Tools—including earlier prerelease versions, and releases of the tools for different languages or locales—from the computer before you install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Only one copy at a time of Remote Server Administration Tools can be installed on a computer.
Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview includes support for remote management of computers that are running the Server Core installation option or the Minimal Server Graphical Interface configuration of Windows Server “8” Beta, and in limited cases, the Server Core installation options of Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008. However, Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview cannot be installed on any versions of the Windows Server operating system.
Server Manager is included with Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview; GUI-based tools that are part of this release of Remote Server Administration Tools can be opened by using commands on the Tools menu of the Server Manager console. To use Server Manager to access and manage remote servers that are running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you must install several updates on the older operating systems. For more information about requirements for using Server Manager to manage remote servers, see Manage multiple, remote servers with Server Manager.

RSAT Platform and Tools Support Matrix

Remote Server Administration Tools technology	Description	Manages technology on Windows Server 2003	Manages technology on Windows Server 2008	Manages technology on Windows Server "8" Beta
Active Directory Certificate Services Tools	Active Directory Certificate Services Tools includes the Certification Authority, Certificate Templates, Enterprise PKI, and Online Responder Management snap-ins.	√, except Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)	√	√
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools	Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools includes Active Directory Administrative Center; Active Directory Domains and Trusts; Active Directory Sites and Services; Active Directory Users and Computers; ADSI Edit; DCPromo.exe; LDP.exe; NetDom.exe; NTDSUtil.exe; RepAdmin.exe; Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell; DCDiag.exe; DSACLs.exe; DSAdd.exe; DSDBUtil.exe; DSMgmt.exe; DSMod.exe; DSMove.exe; DSQuery.exe; DSRm.exe; GPFixup.exe; KSetup.exe; KtPass.exe; NlTest.exe; NSLookup.exe; W32tm.exe. – Server for NIS Tools includes an extension to the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, and the Ypclear.exe command-line tool.	√, Windows PowerShell and ADAC remote management require the Active Directory Web Service download package.	√, Windows PowerShell and ADAC remote management require the Active Directory Web Service download package.	√
Best Practices Analyzer	Best Practices Analyzer cmdlets for Windows PowerShell	Not available; no BPA models run on WS03	Can run on WS08 R2 when the Windows Management Framework 3.0 package is installed on WS08 R2.  No BPA models are available for WS08.	√
BitLocker Drive Encryption Administration Utilities	Manage-bde; Windows PowerShell cmdlets for BitLocker; BitLocker Recovery Password Viewer for Active Directory; BitLocker Network Unlock Provider	Not available	Not available	√
Cluster-Aware Updating	Cluster-Aware Updating management console, Cluster-Aware Updating cmdlets for Windows PowerShell	Not available	Not available	√
DHCP Server Tools	DHCP Server Tools includes the DHCP Management Console, the DHCP Server cmdlet module for Windows Powershell, and the Netsh command-line tool.	√ Windows PowerShell module does not run on WS03	√ Windows PowerShell module does not run on WS08 and WS08 R2	√
DirectAccess, Routing and Remote Access	Routing and Remote Access management console; Connection Manager Administration Kit console; Remote Access provider for Windows PowerShell	Not available	Not available	√
DNS Server Tools	DNS Server Tools include the DNS Manager snap-in, the DNS module for Windows PowerShell and the Ddnscmd.exe command-line tool.	√	√	√
Failover Clustering Tools	Failover Clustering Tools include Failover Cluster Manager, Failover Clusters (Windows PowerShell Cmdlets), MSClus, Cluster.exe	Not available	√ Failover Cluster Manager runs only on Windows Server "8".  The Windows PowerShell cmdlet set supports Windows Server "8" and WS08R2.  MSClus and Cluster.EXE support Windows Server "8", WS08R2 and WS08.	√
File and Storage Services Tools	File Services Tools include the following: Share and Storage Management Tools; Distributed File System Tools; File Server Resource Manager Tools; Services for NFS Administration Tools; iSCSI management cmdlets for Windows PowerShell – Distributed File System Tools include the DFS Management snap-in, and the Dfsradmin.exe, Dfsrdiag.exe, Dfscmd.exe, Dfsdiag.exe, and Dfsutil.exe command-line tools. – File Server Resource Manager tools include the File Server Resource Manager snap-in, and the Dirquota.exe, Filescrn.exe, and Storrept.exe command line tools. – Share and Storage Management Tools include the Share and Storage Management snap-in.	Not available	√ iSCSI cmdlets for Windows PowerShell can be used to manage iSCSI on Windows Server "8" only.	√
Group Policy Management Tools	Group Policy Management Tools include Group Policy Management Console, Group Policy Management Editor, and Group Policy Starter GPO Editor.	√	√	√
Hyper-V Tools	Hyper-V Tools include the Hyper-V Manager snap-in and the Virtual Machine Connection remote access tool.	Not available	√	Hyper-V tools are not part of Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview. These tools are available as part of Windows 8 Consumer Preview; there is no need to install RSAT to use them.
IP Address Management (IPAM) Management Tools	IP Address Management client console	Not available	Not available	√
Network Adapter Teaming, or NIC Teaming	Network Adapter Teaming management console	Not available	Not available	√
Network Load Balancing Tools	Network Load Balancing Tools include the Network Load Balancing Manager; Network Load Balancing Windows PowerShell Cmdlets; and the NLB.exe and WLBS.exe Command Line Tools.	√	√	√
Remote Desktop Services Tools	Remote Desktop Services Tools include the Remote Desktop Services Manager and Remote Desktop snap-ins; RD Gateway Manager, tsgateway.msc; RD Licensing Manager, licmgr.exe; RD Licensing Diagnoser, lsdiag.msc;	√	√	√
Server Manager	Server Manager includes the Server Manager console. Remote management with Server Manager is available in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server "8".	Not available	Available for WS08 R2 and forward, not WS08	√
SMTP Server Tools	SMTP Server Tools include the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) snap-in.	√	√	The tools are not available in RSAT for Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Storage Explorer Tools	Storage Explorer Tools include the Storage Explorer snap-in.	Not available	√	The tools are not available in RSAT for Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Storage Manager for Storage Area Networks (SANs) Tools	Storage Manager for SANs Tools include the Storage Manager for SANs snap-in and the Provisionstorage.exe command-line tool.	√ Storage Manager for SANs is available in Windows Server 2003 R2 and later versions.	√	The tools are not available in RSAT for Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Volume Activation	Manage Volume Activation, vmw.exe	Not available	The tool can be used to manage volume activation on remote servers running WS08 or WS08 R2, but cannot run on those operating systems.	√
Windows System Resource Manager Tools	Windows System Resource Manager Tools include the Windows System Resource Manager snap-in and the Wsrmc.exe command-line tool.	Not available	√	√
Windows Server Update Services Tools	Windows Server Update Services Tools include the Windows Server Update Services snap-in, WSUS.msc	Not available	√	√

A hotfix is available to let you configure a cluster node that does not have quorum votes in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Server 2008 R2

Get the hotfix

Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) uses a majority of votes to establish a quorum for determining cluster membership. Votes are assigned to nodes in the cluster or to a witness that is either a disk or a file share witness. You can use the Configure Cluster Quorum Wizard to configure the clusters quorum model. When you configure a Node Majority, Node and Disk Majority, or Node and File Share Majority quorum model, all nodes in the cluster are each assigned one vote. WSFC does not let you select the cluster nodes that vote for determining quorum.
After you apply this hotfix, you can configure a cluster node that does not have quorum votes.

 

After you apply the following hotfix, you can select which nodes vote. This functionality improves multi-site clusters. For example, you may want one site to have more votes than other sites in a disaster recovery. Without the following hotfix, you have to plan the numbers physical servers that are deployed to distribute the number of votes that you want for each site.
By default, all nodes in the cluster have one vote. After you apply the following hotfix, administrators can change the vote functionality in the quorum model by configuring a node to have 0 votes.
This hotfix adds the following functionality:

• The NodeWeight common property for nodes
  This property can be configured by using either the Get-ClusterNode Windows PowerShell cmdlet or the Cluster.exe command. For example, you run the following command at a command prompt:

  Cluster.exe . node <NodeName> /prop NodeWeight=0

  To query the NodeWeight common property, you can use the following PowerShell cmdlet command:

  Get-ClusterNode “NodeName” | fl *

  To modify the NodeWeight property, you can use the following PowerShell cmdlet command:

  (Get-ClusterNode “NodeName”).NodeWeight = 0

  A new NodeWeight property is added to the MSCluster_Node WMI class to let you manage node weights by using WMI.

• The PreventQuorum (PQ) switch
  This switch starts the Cluster service (ClusSvc) and prevents a node from reaching quorum. The Cluster service can be started by using the PQ switch. For example, you can run the following command at a command prompt:

  NET START ClusSvc /PQ

  The PQ switch can be used to enforce the cluster owner and to maintain consistency in the Cluster database.
  For example, you have a partitioned 2-node cluster in which NodeA has one vote and NodeB has zero votes. By default, NodeB cannot reach quorum and cannot start the cluster. However, the Cluster database may be updated when the ForceQuorum switch is used to start NodeB even if it does not have quorum. Therefore, NodeB has a newer Cluster database, and NodeB can prevents NodeA from starting and from incorrectly overwriting the updated Cluster database by using its one vote to reach quorum. The PQ switch can be used to prevent NodeA from reaching quorum. Therefore, NodeA waits until it can communicate with the existing cluster and until it can join the existing cluster that has NodeB to obtain the updated Cluster database and to maintain consistency.
  The PQ switch performs the opposite action of the ForceQuorum switch. The ForceQuorum switch allows the Cluster service to form a cluster even if it has not received a majority of votes. The PQ switch does not allow the Cluster service to form a cluster even if it has received a majority of votes.

  get more on the source : MS

It’s a window… not a flag

Source : Redesigning the Windows Logo 

In some ways you can trace the evolution of the Windows logo in parallel with the advancements of the technology used to create logos. From the simple two color version in Windows 1.0 to the intricate and detailed renderings in Windows Vista and Windows 7, each change makes sense in the context in which it was created. As computing capabilities increased, so did the use of that horse power to render more colors, better fonts, and more detailed and life-like 3D visual effects like depth, shadows, and materiality. We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems. And what started as a simple “window” to compliment the product name became a flying or waving flag.

But if you look back to the origins of the logo you see that it really was meant to be a window. "Windows" really is a beautiful metaphor for computing and with the new logo we wanted to celebrate the idea of a window, in perspective. Microsoft and Windows are all about putting technology in people’s hands to empower them to find their own perspectives. And that is what the new logo was meant to be. We did less of a re-design and more to return it to its original meaning and bringing Windows back to its roots – reimagining the Windows logo as just that – a window.

Let’s look back at a few of the versions along the way.

Windows 1.0

Few remember the original Windows logo, yet we found it both refreshing and inspiring in relation to the work we have been doing on the Metro style design visuals. Using simple lines and clear straight forward concept, this logo reminded us of what a great and evocative name we have with “windows”.

Windows 3.1

For many of us this was the image in our mind when we think of past Windows logos. The now classic window shape and the introduction of the four colors were hallmarks of the Windows brand for many years to come. The introduction of the “waving effect” gives the logo a sense of motion. This logo would be the basis of the Windows versions throughout the 1990s.

Windows XP

The next major incarnation of the logo came with the release of Windows XP. What has come to be known as the “Windows flag” is a cleaner more sophisticated mark than its predecessors. The version that populated the lower left hand corner of Windows PCs next to the word “Start” also gained a sense of materiality (plastic?) and a 3D effect from the rich gradients and shadows.

Windows Vista

The Windows Vista release marked the beginning of the AERO design aesthetic in Windows with a key component of the interface being the “AERO glass” effect. Replacing the green Start button was the round glass-like button with a now flattened version of the “flag” from Windows XP. Internally, this icon became known as the “pearl”. You can see the intricate lighting effects of the faux glass. In many ways signaling just how powerful of a rendering engine the PC had become. This version of the logo was largely unchanged for Windows 7.

Windows 8

With Windows 8, we approached the logo redesign with a few key goals on mind.

1. We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on our Metro style design philosophy. Using bold flat colors and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-finding design systems seen in airports and subways.

2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion – aligning with the fast and fluid style you’ll find throughout Windows 8.

3. Our final goal was for the new logo to be humble, yet confident. Welcoming you in with a slight tilt in perspective and when you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you. It is a “Personal” Computer after all.

Windows Live Tags: Source,Windows,Logo,From,Vista,context,compliment,product,back,Microsoft,hands,design,Metro,concept,image,brand,effect,hand,Start,AERO,component,interface,goals,International,Typographic,Style,Swiss,flat,Digital,goal,Personal,Computer,flag,ways,technology,logos,simple,color,version,intricate,change,sense,colors,effects,shadows,resolution,rich,systems,became,meant,perspective,find,original,just,versions,both,lines,great,many,mind,classic,introduction,come,motion,throughout,release,known,plastic,glass,button,faux,characteristics
WordPress Tags: Source,Windows,Logo,From,Vista,context,compliment,product,back,Microsoft,hands,design,Metro,concept,image,brand,effect,hand,Start,AERO,component,interface,goals,International,Typographic,Style,Swiss,flat,Digital,goal,Personal,Computer,flag,ways,technology,logos,simple,color,version,intricate,change,sense,colors,effects,shadows,resolution,rich,systems,became,meant,perspective,find,original,just,versions,both,lines,great,many,mind,classic,introduction,come,motion,throughout,release,known,plastic,glass,button,faux,characteristics

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Beta 2

MDT’s new features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever! Beta 2 of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 is now available for download! New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever! For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 Beta 2 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions. MDT 2012 makes full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. MDT 2012 integrates with configuration templates from the Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows installation from the beginning of the deployment. Download the latest version of MDT and improve your deployment experience. Existing MDT users will find more reliability and flexibility with the many small enhancements and bug fixes and a smooth and simple upgrade process. Join the beta program and text drive MDT 2012. Check out the team video and learn what MDT can do for you! Learn more about the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. Key Benefits: Fully leverages the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. Improved Lite Touch user experience and functionality. A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users. IsOnBattery. This will be set to true if the machine is currently running using a battery with no AC power. This can be useful in any deployment – you really don’t want a computer to turn off because the battery went dead during a deployment. VMHost. When a virtual machine is running on a Hyper-V server and has the Hyper-V integration components installed, we can determine the name of the Hyper-V server (the VM host) that the VM is running on. VMName. This also comes from the Hyper-V integration components, telling us the name of the virtual machine in Hyper-V, which might be different than the “computer name” (the name given to the OS) of the VM. We also made a few other related changes: The “Make” property now detects Xen, in addition to the the other platforms that could be detected in MDT 2010 Update 1 (Hyper-V, VMWare, VirtualBox). We fixed the “SMSDP” property, so it should now always return a valid server name for the ConfigMgr distribution point that the boot image associated with the task sequence came from. (The task sequence doesn’t have a distribution point, so we had to pick a package that each task sequence should have.) We changed the “OSVersion” property so that it doesn’t generate an error on unknown OSes (e.g. Windows 8). We don’t plan to add new OSes to the list set by this function, so consider this variable to be “functionally stabilized” and “obsolete”. It would be better to use OSCurrentVersion or OSCurrentBuild (maybe combined with IsServerOS) instead. We added progress reporting (which works with Lite Touch and ConfigMgr deployments) so that you can see what ZTIGather is doing during the process. This will be especially useful when you are doing database queries: you’ll be able to see which ones are taking too long