Microsoft Windows Cluster Services For Windows 2003 & Windows 2008
Posted by themsguru on Jun 8, 2008
I thought its highly desirable to assemble a list of interesting links on the Microsoft Clustering services and often seek information regarding MS Clustering Services as they tend to hide when you need them the most.I hope these links will help you find out all the info you need about Microsoft Clustering Services. These links point to papers covering all versions of the MS Cluster Server (MSCS) Services.
For those who do not know what I am talking about, Cluster, is a service that offers “High Availability” to services. Ooops, not to be confused with Fault Tolerant, that is another entirely different concept. Raid 1array is a good example of Fault Tolerant, if a harddisk in Raid one Configuration break the system keep operating on the other one without any interruption. High Availability instead is a service that is responsible for giving the highest uptime of an application or service. In case the first node fail there will be a court of service but is minimal since it is the time it takes to initiate such application or service in a second server. Below is my Magical MS Cluster Services Information Links list
Server Clusters: Architecture Overview (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Rolling Upgrades (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Storage Area Networks (Windows 2000 and 2003)
MSCS Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide (NT 4.0)
Troubleshooting Windows Server Clusters (Windows 2003)
Server Cluster Frequently Asked Questions (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Majority Node Set Quorum (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Geographically Dispersed Clusters (Windows 2003)
Quorums in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Clusters
Server Clusters: Cluster Configuration Best Practices (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Network Configuration Best Practices (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Storage Best Practices (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Backup and Recovery Best Practices (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Security Best Practices (Windows 2003)
Server Clusters: Quorum Options (Windows 2003)
How to turn on cluster logging in Microsoft Cluster Server
What’s New in Failover Clusters in Windows Server 2008 (Windows 2008)
Validating Hardware for a Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008: Step-by-Step (Windows 2008)
Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008 (Windows 2008)
Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-Node Print Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008 (Windows 2008)
Failover Cluster Quorum Configuration Step-by-Step Guide (Windows 2008)
Failover Clustering and Active Directory Configuration Step-by-Step Guide (Windows 2008)
Network Load Balancing Deployment Guide (Windows 2008)
Microsoft High Availability Strategy White Paper (Windows 2008)
Overview of Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2008 (Windows 2008)
Quick Migration with Hyper-V (Windows 2008)
Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering Architecture Overview (Windows 2008)
WS2008 Failover Clustering Datasheet (Windows 2008)
WS2008 Multi Site Clustering (Windows 2008) Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering
Those links were based on documents and links to Technet with relevant information about the service or Cluster Failover Cluster depending on the version of Windows. Now I would like to make some links with tools or utilities that may serve to work with Microsoft Cluster service.
Cluster Server Recovery Utility (ClusterRecovery.exe) Cluster Diagnostics and Verification Tool (ClusDiag.exe)
Microsoft Cluster Configuration Validation Wizard (ClusPrep) Microsoft Product Support’s Reporting Tools (MPSReport) for Cluster
If a link does not work please leave me a comment so that I can solve the problem. I hope these links will be helpful for someone who wants to set up a Cluster or supporting it. I was served a lot by these links and would like to share it. If you have another good link and would like to share it please post it in the comment as well. Thanks
Embarrassing Limitations for Windows 2008 Server Core
Posted by themsblogger on Jun 8, 2008
Windows 2008 Server Core has some truly embarrassing Limitations. In this Article I will try to cover few of them.
For example I read that a core installation can be used to run a web server with IIS 7 but then:
“As Internet Explorer being a prerequisite for. NET Framework, you can not use Powershell or run any managed Application (note: nothing. NET), although IIS is supported it can not be used to publish web applications based on ASP.NET, but Only html based sites. ”
How? Only sites based on HTML? Both true, I say nothing web server.
And nothing Powershell? But for the peppa, I have only the line of command and I also take away the Powershell?
It is not over, continuing with quotes:
You can not upgrade from an earlier version of Windows Server.
Right! Better format. : o (
“You can not upgrade mode Server Core mode from full graphical interface, but you will need a new installation.”
Great! OK! Choose well immediately otherwise: zak! formats the distribution if you want Explorer.
I understand, vai installation standards as before.
I need to say I find very good the idea that they offer a minimal installation, although undoubtedly it need to be improved (who said the service pack?). Maybe for the moment will be mainly used in embedded devices.
The point of this article. Before deciding to go all the way with your infrastructure on Windows 2008 Server Core, Please test rigidly as it has a lot more limitation than Windows 2008 with Graphical interface.
I hope this would help and warn many new comers to Windows 2008.
SEO Glossary - Seo Common Terms Definitions
Posted by themsblogger on Jun 3, 2008
These days SEO Buzz words are floating on the web. To help new joiner to digest these I have compiled the following list of SEO Buzz words and tried to explain it with as much simplicity as I can. I have even thrown related tips.
AdWords
See Sponsored Links on most sites (Featured Links on the left side of this one).
Algorithm
A complex mathematical formula used by search engines to assess the relevance and importance of websites and rank them accordingly in their search results. These algorithms are kept tightly under wraps as they are the key to the objectivity of search engines (ie the algorithm ensures relevant results, and relevant results bring more users, which in turn brings more advertising revenue).
Article PR
The submitting of free reprint articles to many article submission sites and article distribution lists in order to increase your website’s search engine ranking and Google PageRank. (In this sense, the “PR” stands for PageRank.) Like traditional public relations, PR article also conveys a sense of authority because your articles are widely published. And because you’re proving your expertise and freely dispensing knowledge, your readers will trust you and will be more likely to remain loyal to you. (In this sense, the “PR” stands for Public Relations.)
Article Submission Sites
Websites which act as repositories of free reprint articles. These are sites where authors can submit their articles free of charge, and where webmasters can find articles to use on their websites free of charge. Article submission sites generate revenue by selling advertising space on their websites. See also article PR.
Backlink
A text link to your website from another website. See also link.
Copy
The words used on your website.
Copywriter
A professional writer who specializes in the writing of advertising copy (compelling, engaging words promoting a particular product or service). See also SEO copywriter and web copywriter.
Crawl
Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ’spiders’ or’ robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links. To a spider, a text link is like a door.
Domain Name
The virtual address of your website (normally in the form
www.mecarz.com). This is what people will type when they want to visit your site. It is also what you will use as the address in any text links back to your site.
Ezine
An electronic journal. Most publishers of ezines are desperate for content and gladly publish well written, helpful articles and give you full credit as author, including a link to your website.
Flash
A technology used to create animated web pages (and page elements).
Free Reprint Article
An article written by you and made freely available to other webmasters to publish on their websites. See also article PR.
The search engine with the greatest coverage of the World Wide Web, and which is responsible for most search engine-referred traffic. Of approximately 11.5 billion pages on the World Wide Web, it is estimated that Google has indexed around 8.8 billion. This is one reason why it takes so long to increase your ranking!
Google AdWords
See Sponsored Links on most sites (Featured Links on the left side of this one).
Google PageRank
How Google scores a website’s importance. It gives all sites a mark out of 10. By downloading the Google Toolbar, you can view the PR of any site you visit.
Toolbar
A free tool you can download. It becomes part of your browser toolbar. It’s most useful features are it’s PageRank display (which allows you to view the PR of any site you visit) and it’s AutoFill function (when you’re filling out an online form, you can click the AutoFill, and it enters all the standard information automatically , Including Name, Address, Zip code / Postcode, Phone Number, Email Address, Business Name, Credit Card Number (password protected), etc..) Once you’ve downloaded and installed the toolbar, you may need to set up how you ‘ d like it to look and work by clicking Options (setup is very easy). NOTE: Google does record some information (mostly regarding sites visited).
HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the coding language used to create much of the information on the World Wide Web. Web browsers read the HTML code and display the page as described by the code.
Internet
An interconnected network of computers around the world.
JavaScript
A programming language used to create dynamic website pages (eg interactivity).
Keyword
A word which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches. This use known as targeting a keyword. In fact most websites usually target ‘keyword phrases’ because single keywords are too generic and it is very difficult to rank highly for them.
keyword Density
A measure of the frequency of your keyword in relation to the total wordcount of the page. So if your page has 200 words, and your keyword phrase appears 10 times, its density is 5%.
Keyword Phrase
A phrase which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches.
Link
A word or image on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. There are normally visual cues to indicate to the reader that the word or image has a link.
Linking Path
Using text links to connect a series of page (ie connects page 1 to page 2, page 2 connects to page 3, page 3 connects to page 4, and so on). Search engine ’spiders’ and’ robots’ use text links to jump from page to page as they gather information about it, so it’s a good idea to allow them traverse your entire site via text links.
Link Partners
A webmaster who is willing to put a link to your website on their website. Quite often link partners engage in reciprocal linking.
Link Popularity
The number of links to The number of connections
Your website. Link popularity is the single most important factor in a high search engine ranking. Webmasters use a number of methods to increase their site’s link popularity including article PR, link exchange (link partners / reciprocal linking), buying links, and link directories.
Link Text
The part of a text link that is visible to the reader. When generating links to your own site, they are most effective (in terms of ranking) if they include your keyword.
Meta Tags
A brief note with a header in the HTML of your web page describing some aspects of that page. These meta tags are read by search engines and serve to assess the relevance of a site for a particular search.
Natural Search Results
The ‘real’ search results. The results that most users are looking for and which take up most of the window. For most searches, the search engine displays a long list of links to sites with content which is related to the word you searched for. These results are ranked according to how relevant and important they are.
Organic Search Results
See Natural Search Results (as its equivalent to it).
PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising)
See Sponsored Links on most sites (Featured Links on the left side of this one).
PageRank
See Google PageRank.
Rank
Your position in the search results that display when someone searches for a particular word at a search engine.
Reciprocal Links
A mutual agreement between two webmasters to exchange links (ie they both add a link to the other’s website on their own website). Most search engines (Google certainly) are sophisticated enough to detect reciprocal linking and they do not view it very favorably because it is clearly a manufactured method of generating links. Websites with reciprocal links risk being penalized.
Robot
See Spider.
Robots.txt File
A file which is used to inform the search engine spiders which pages on a site should not be indexed. This file sits in your site’s root directory on the web server. (Alternatively, you can do a similar thing by placing tags in the header section of your HTML for search engine robots/spiders to read.
Sandbox
Many SEO experts believe that Google ’sandboxes’ new websites. Whenever it detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking for a period while it determines whether your site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the ranking of some other site). Likewise, if Google detects a sudden increase (ie many hundreds or thousands) in the number of links back to your site, it may sandbox them for a period (or in fact penalize you by lowering your ranking or blacklisting your site altogether).
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. The art of making your website relevant and important so that it ranks high in the search results for a particular word.
SEO Copywriter
A ‘copywriter’ who is not only proficient at web copy, but also experienced in writing copy which is optimized for search engines (and will therefore help you achieve a better search engine ranking for your website).
Search Engine
A search engine is an online tool which allows you to search for websites which contain a particular word or phrase. The most well known search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
Sitemap
A single page which contains a list of text links to every page in the site (and every page contains a text link back to the site map). Think of your site map as being at the center of a spider-web.
SPAM
Generally refers to unwanted and unrequested email sent en-masse to private email addresses. Also used to refer to websites which appear high in search results without having any useful content. The creators of these sites set them up simply to cash in on their high ranking by selling advertising space, links to other sites, or by linking to other sites of their own and thereby increasing the ranking of those sites. The search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and already have very efficient ways to detect SPAM websites and penalize them.
Spider
Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ’spiders’ or’ robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links.
Sponsored Links
Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. Customers can click on the ad to visit the advertiser’s website. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers set their ads up to display whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled “Sponsored Links”, and normally take up a smaller portion of the window. These ads work on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis (ie the advertiser pays only when someone clicks on their ad).
Submit
You can submit your domain name to the search engines so that their ’spiders’ or’ robots’ will crawl your site. You can also submit articles to ‘article submission sites’ in order to have them published on the Internet.
Link Text
A word on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. Text links are normally blue and underlined. Text links are what ’spiders’ or’ robots’ use to jump from page to page and website to website.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a particular page published on the Internet. The address of a particular page published on the Internet. Normally in the form http://www.mecarz.com/0-index.html
Web Copy
See copy.
Web Copywriter
A ‘copywriter’ who understands the unique requirements of writing for an online medium.
Webmaster
A person responsible for the management of a particular website.
Wordcount
The number of words on a particular web page. The number of words on a particular web page.
World Wide Web (WWW)
The vast array of documents published on the Internet. It is estimated that the World Wide Web now consists of approximately 11.5 billion pages.
Please post in the comment if you think I have missed a good one.
Please post in the comment if you are confused about any one I had explained.
I hope it was useful for everyone.
How to Move Microsoft WSUS services to another server
Posted by themsblogger on Jun 2, 2008
Hi,
Most companies who use Microsoft WSUS Services will hit the time when they will need to move the WSUS service to a new server due to capacity constrain on the old one or just to decomission an old hardware that is out of warrenty & avoid the high maintenance cost. no matter what is the reason is all will need to look for the easiest and most reliable approach to do so. As I just have been through this last week and I had to cut and paste procedure from many places I decided to compile my own and share it on here.
Moving Microsoft WSUS Services to a new one server consist of five major steps as below:
- Step 1: Install WSUS on the new Server just as you would in a new Vanilla Installation check here for reference
- Step 2: Matching Advanced Options on the old WSUS Server & the new WSUS Server
- Step 3: Copying Updates from File System of the old WSUS Server to the new WSUS server
- Step 4: Copying Metadata from Database on the old WSUS Server to the new WSUS Server
- Step 5: Point your Clients to the new WSUS Server.
Below is the details of each step:
Step 1: Install WSUS on the new Server just as you would in Vanilla new Installation check here for reference
Step 2: Matching Advanced Options on the old WSUS Server & the new WSUS Server
Ensure that the advanced synchronization options for express installation files and languages on the old Microsoft Windows Server Update Services server match the settings on the new Windows Server Update Services server following the below steps.
To ensure that advanced synchronization options on the old WSUS server match settings on new WSUS server.
1. In the WSUS console of the old WSUS server, click the Options tab, and then click Advanced in the Update Files and Languages section.
2. In the Advanced Synchronization Settings dialog box, check the status of the settings for Download express installation files and Languages options.
3. In the WSUS console of the new server, click the Options tab, and then click Advanced in the Update Files and Languages section.
4. In the Advanced Synchronization Settings dialog box, make sure the settings for Download express installation files and Languages options match the selections on the old server.
Step 3: Copying Updates from File System of the old WSUS Server to the new WSUS server
Copy updates from the file system of the old WSUS server to the file system of the new WSUS server. These procedures use the Windows Backup or Restore Wizard, but you can use any utility you like. The object is to copy updates from the file system on the old WSUS server to the files system of the new WSUS server.
***Important:
The initial settings for access control lists differ between Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003. If you are copying content from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003, you have to manually add the Network Service group to the access control list for the folder where updates are stored. Give the Network Service group Full Control.
To back up updates from file system of old WSUS server to a file:
1. On your old WSUS server, click Start, and then click Run
2. In the Run dialog box, type ntbackup. The Backup or Restore Wizard starts by default, unless it is disabled. You can use this wizard or click the link to work in Advanced Mode and use the following steps.
3. Click the Backup tab, and then specify the folder where updates are stored on the old WSUS server. By default, WSUS stores updates at WSUSInstallationDrive:\WSUS\WSUSContent\.
4. In Backup media or file name, type a path and file name for the backup (.bkf) file.
5. Click Start Backup. The Backup Job Information dialog box appears.
6. Click Advanced. Under Backup Type, click Incremental.
7. From the Backup Job Information dialog box, click Start Backup to start the backup operation.
8. Move the backup file you just created to the new WSUS server.
To restore updates from a file to the file system of the new server
1. On your new WSUS server, click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Run dialog box, type ntbackup. The Backup or Restore Wizard starts by default, unless it is disabled. You can use this wizard or click the link to work in Advanced Mode and use the following steps.
3. Click the Restore and Manage Media tab, and select the backup file you created on the old WSUS server. If the file does not appear, right-click File, and then click Catalog File to add the location of the file.
4. In Restore files to, click Alternate location. This option preserves the folder structure of the updates; all folders and subfolders will appear in the folder you designate. You must maintain the directory structure for all folders under \WSUSContent.
5. Under Alternate location, specify the folder where updates are stored on the new WSUS server. By default, WSUS stores updates at WSUSInstallationDrive:\WSUS\WSUSContent\. Updates must appear in the folder on the new WSUS server designated to hold updates; this is typically done during installation.
6. Click Start Restore. When the Confirm Restore dialog box appears, click OK to start the restore operation.
Step 4: Copying Metadata from Database on the old WSUS Server to the new WSUS Server
Export update metadata from the database on the old WSUS server, and import it into the database on the new WSUS server. The WSUS Setup program copies WSUSutil.exe to the file system of the WSUS server during installation. You must be a member of the local Administrators group on the WSUS server to export or import metadata; both operations can only be run from the WSUS server itself.
Important:
Never import exported data from a source that you do not trust. Importing content from a source you do not trust might compromise the security of your WSUS server.
Note:
During the import or export process, the Update Service, the Windows NT service that underpins the WSUS application, is shut down.
To export metadata from the database of the old Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Server
1. At the command prompt on the old Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Server server, navigate to the folder that contains WSUSutil.exe.
2. Type the following:
wsusutil.exe export packagename logfile
For example:
wsusutil.exe export export.cab export.log
That is, WSUSutil.exe followed by the export command, the name of an export .cab file, a space, and the name of a log file.
The package (.cab file) and log file name must be unique. WSUSutil.exe creates these two files as it exports metadata from the WSUS database.
3. Move the export package you just created to the new Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Server.
To import metadata to the database of the new Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Server.
Note:
It can take from 3 to 4 hours for the database to validate content that has just been imported. Please be patient.
1. At the command prompt on the new WSUS server, navigate to the directory that contains WSUSutil.exe.
2. Type the following:
wsusutil.exe import packagename logfile
For example:
wsusutil.exe import export.cab import.log
That is, WSUSutil.exe followed by the import command, the name of export .cab file created during the export operation, a space, and the name of a log file.
WSUSutil.exe imports the metadata from the old WSUS server and creates a log file of the operation.
Step 5: Point your Clients to the new WSUS Server.
Are not you glad its over??? I was when I finished mine 
I bet its about time to GO HOME !!!!!
The News Of The New Windows 2008 Kernel
Posted by whatavm on May 31, 2008
Find out what coming up with the new kernel of Windows Server 2008 by reading below:
* To begin with, WS2008 is the last version of windows that will supports 32 bits. The R2 version of Windows Server 2008 will only be compatible with 64-bit hardware, so get ready!!!! So this is the first time for Microsoft, where it forces the transition to a new architecture abandoning the older one.
* Second the technology of HotPlug PCI Express adopted in the new kernel will allow the addition and replacement of hot swap graphics card, memory and processor while the system is up and running.
* WHEA (Windows Hardware Error Architecture) is the new reporting system error standardized equipment, WS2008 implemented it in order for MS to spend more hours to find out who is involved in a crash of the machine in cases of hardware problems.
* The big novelty of Windows 2008 is the hypervisor Hyper-V. A hypervisor is a system that allows virtualization to host multiple virtual operating systems per host. You may be familiar with VMWare ESX, and the difference is that Microsoft Hyper-V contains no driver, trying to make it more secure, more stable…
* Without going into too much technical detail in Windows Server 2003, the distribution of quantums time for threads was very poorly managed, in WS2008, the time calculations are made more with the time switch threads but over CPU time. This improvement will be present in WS2008 and Windows Vista SP1.
* Another large improvement, is the level of control for users quotas. Now, administrators can set quotas for resources for each user, for example, a quota for CPU utilization. Attention, quotas are not well documented by Microsoft.
* In order to avoid the sudden reboots of servers, Microsoft has implemented a background service who performs an audit of hard disk (command chdsk) when a file or folder is reported as corrupt. It will run auto-repair for that NTFS partitions.
* The protocol SMB (Server Message Block) undergoes a small face-lift on Vista SP1 and WS2008 and released as SMB2. On the menu of news, the possibility of creating symbolic links NTFS client side, then the exchange of packets between the client and server is now a lot better to reduce the number of going back. Finally, it is also possible to enlarge the size of the buffer which was predetermined before.
* Windows 2008 New Kernel introduces a new random core addressing system (ASLR Address Space Load Randomization), which no longer allows to have the DLLs to the same addresses remembered for all computers which can reduce the risk of viruses or worms that use it addresses Fixed to load the computer malware that could spread throughout a network.
* KTM (Kernel Transaction Manager) allows transactional access to the registry and other resources of the machine. This avoids the corruption of a part of the registry during a program crash. This is the same transaction system on databases like SQL Server.
There are still plenty of news that we can not discuss here because of its complexity for this article.
A trial version of Windows Server 2008 is available on the Microsoft site. So try it out your self.
How-To: mount Windows Share under VMware ESX Service Console
Posted by mrvirtualization on May 23, 2008
Hi,
Ever wanted to mount windows share under VMware ESX. Do you believe it would make it easier for you to move files and packages you want to install into your service console if you have your windows shares accessible by your service console. Ever wanted to copy your ISOs images from your Windows machine to a volume or a mount on VMware ESX. This all can be eased out by mapping your windows share in the ESX console service. To move any file to your mount all you have to do is put it in your share in windows then copy it in the service console. OK, now you are wondering how to map the windows share under the VMware ESX service console. Below is the step by step on how to do so:
- Login as
root tothe ESX service Console - The ESX internal firewall must be configured to allow the smbClient by running the following command at the service console:
"esxcfg-firewall-enableService smbClient" Create a local mountpoint using: “mkdir /mnt/myshare”- The windows shares mapped to the local mountpoint using the following command: ”mount -t smbfs -o username=<user>/<domain-name>,password=<password> //<server-name>/<share> /mnt/myshare”
- After you are done you can disconnect the mapping using the following command: “umount /mnt/myshare”
- To delete the local map point after you had unmapped the share you can use the following command: “rmdir /mnt/myshare”
I hope this was helpfull to everyone.
Enjoy,
Mrvirtualizaiton.
VMware ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 Update 1 released
Posted by mrvirtualization on May 23, 2008
Hi VMware lovers,
If you are like me, you would have been waiting VMware 3.5 Update 1 release patiently, I am glad to inform you its finally here.
yes, yes, yes, it has fixed the MS Cluster support problem that many of us were suprised of it in VMware ESX 3.5 before Update 1.
Many Many Many other good enhancement as well were included few examples below:
- Support for Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) Support
- Extends support for VMware High Availability (HA) to ESX Server 3i hosts
- 10 Gigabit Ethernet – Support for the Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
- Newly supported guest operating systems RHEL 5.1, RHEL 4U6, SLES 9 SP4, & Ubuntu 7.10
The above four were the most looked for additions, but many others and more information can be found at the details below:
=================================================
The VMware newly (re) built ESX and Virtual Center 3.5 Update 1 can be downloaded at
Download VMware ESX & Virtual Center 3.5 Update1 …
VMware ESX 3.5 Update 1
Latest Version: 3.5 Update 1 | 4/10/2008 | Build: 82663 | Release Notes
VMware ESXi 3.5 Installable Update 1
Latest Version: 3.5 Update 1 | 4/10/2008 | Build: 82664 | Release Notes
VMware Converter 3.0.3 (Standalone Enterprise Edition)
Latest Version: 3.0.3 | 5/6/2008 | Build: 89816 | Release Notes
================================================
You might want to start testing ESX 3.5 Update 1 now, before you enrol it in your infrastructure as it got many enhancment that you might desire.
Enjoy,
MrVirtualizaiton
From a Citrix Session Broker for Hyper-V
Posted by whatavm on May 22, 2008
To date, Microsoft has its own Session Broker, but it has an agreement for close cooperation on this front (as on many others) with Citrix.
Yesterday Citrix has released XenDesktop v2.0 (do not be mislead by the numbers: you have not lost anything it is the first version), which offers one Session Broker able to use as a server virtualization XenServer, VMWare ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V (once available).
XenDesktop can be installed on Windows Server 2003 and will supports virtual desktops Windows XP and Windows Vista.
An interesting aspect of the product is its complete integration with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. XenDesktop is made up of several elements that combined in different ways building the different packages available:
* Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC or, in beta called Desktop Server)
* XenServer as backend virtualization
* Provisioning for the streaming servers
* XenApp for applications virtualization
* AccessGateway which work as SSL VPN gateway
* The suite of control EdgeSight
* The QoS engine WANScaler
* The remote operator GoToAssist
* The VoIP Gateway EasyCall
These elements combine to give the following different editions:
- Standard Edition: contains XenServer, Desktop Delivery Controller, Access Gateway
- Advanced Edition: everything in the Standard Edition plus the Provisioning Server
- Enterprise Edition: everything the Advanced Edition plus XenApp
- Platinum Edition: everything in the Enterprise Edition plus EdgeSight, WANScaler, GoToAssist, and EasyCall
Also there’s an Express version, which is free. Its equal in functionality to the Standard edition, but limited to 10 concurrent users. You can also download the trial version of the other Editions.
Install SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP1 & Component Integration for Linux on Hyper-V
Posted by whatavm on May 20, 2008
In this article, I am planning to cover how to Install SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 on Hyper-V, but what make it different than other articles that I will try to cover how to install the Hyper-V Component Integration for Linux as well Inject the Xen Hyper-Visor into the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 which is running as a guest OS to try to show how to unleash the claimed performance of Linux on Hyper-V. The reason behind me writing this article is that I came across many articles who show you how to install Hyper-V. Then many others which show how to install Linux as a guest OS on hyper-V, but I have not seen any that show you how to do the full install of Linux on hyper-V to include the Linux Component Integration for Hyper-V and Xen Hypervisor. In addition, I have came across many other articles which mention that being not easy such as Fedore Core 8 on Hyper-V not so easy as it seems and MS Hyper-V vs VMware VI3 , but they still have not mention how to do it to let us figure out how hard its. So I decided to try it out and post my experience and try to prove the opposite if possible, but If you want to head to the last few lines to find out the conclusion before going over the full article “yes, its not as easy as I thought Microsoft product would run.” At start I decided to install SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 in a child partition of Hyper-V Beta1 (found in RC1 of Windows Server 2008) and then to try Linux Integration Components for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V (Beta1) - now IC. Then try to inject Xen kernel trying to meet the planned MS installation path for acceptable performance of a Linux Virtual machine on Hyper-V. For this excersize I decided to use a small server that my company had at its lab (shhhhhhh!!!):
· Intel Xeon 2 Core
· 4GB RAM
· HD 1TB
· Ethernet 2X1GB network cards
This seemed to be a good testing to install Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V and try to run some virtual machines on it. For my testing I had to suffer with the x64 version of SUSE as that the only DVD I had, and did not have the time neither the bandwidth needed to get the 32-bit version of SUSE (Though most of the steps illustrated held the same for 32-bit version of SUSE). In Hyper-V manager, I created a virtual machine with 512 MB RAM, 1 CPU with the only special setting is that I used a network adapter type emulated (Legacy Network Adapter) and not to assign SCSI controller. I have assigned the ISO of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP1 to the DVD virtual and initiated the virtual machine. The installation was spun smooth: the installation program has correctly recognized the network card emulated (DEC 21140), the graphics card emulated (S3 Trio 64) and the rest of the hardware. I only had to move the switch linux vga = 0×314 “auitare” during Setup to set the proper video mode (this is a preventive technique). After that I had available a SUSE server fully functional, capable of accessing the network and also with its beautiful graphical user interface: although GNOME is Not brilliant when it come to performance, it still acceptable. And here I had felt the first signs of satisfaction. At this point I have moved to install the IC (downloadable from here) to have greater integration between the Linux machine and Hyper-V and to verify the improvement of performance. The IC mainly provide two things: · Support for synthetic devices and in particular for network cards and SCSI controller. In this way Hyper-V can exploit the vmbus for dialogue with the parent partition and thus increase performance · Hypercall adapter. This is a thin layer software that position “under” the Xen amended kernel that translates Xen Virtualization calls to functions that understandable to Hyper-V (hypercall) Warning: Linux Integration Components for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V At the current versions only support the following Linux verisons:
· SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (x86)
· SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (x64)
The support is provided only through this newsgroup: microsoft.bet.windowsserver.hyper-v.linux Before installing the IC for Linux we exported (special menu item in Hyper-V Manager) VM in order to have a “rescue copy” in case something goes wrong and also to have two virtual machines that diverge “only” the presence or absence of IC.
(Menu Export in Hyper-V Manager)
The first step of the IC is to … read the attached document (Integration Components for Linux Read Me.docx) that contains a description of all the steps to be done. I know, I know … most systems administrators prefers starting by inserting the CD directly - virtual or not - and see how everything crashes, but I decided to save my self the headache and read : the first read me. I assure you that in this case a prior reading of readme helps …
Choosing the X64 version operating system has been proven to be the most problematic: In fact, the Xen Kernel included in x64-based version of SUSE LE 10 SP1 does not start after the installation of the hypercall adapter x2v (the component that translates Xen calls into into Hyper-V calls).
Then you must run patching for the kernel. The special patches are available on the ISO containing the IC.
The seceret behind the Xen kernel with hyper-V is that one of the main objectives of Hyper-V is to be a virtualization platform that is “open” as much as possible, and able to perform at best for the different operating systems.
You can run Linux on Hyper-V without any modification (the list of versions of Linux supported by Microsoft in production will be made public with the RTM of Hyper-V). This will however use the device emulated (basically the same as Virtual Server 2005 R2) and performances are not particularly bright. This method is what unfortunetly most documented on the web for being so easy and most administrators being not aware of the required modification to boast the performance which is the aim of this article. To improve the performance of virtual machines run in Linux partitions child of Hyper-V, Microsoft and XenSource (now Citrix) are working together to develop device drivers synthetic the vmbus and a hypercall adapter for use with Linux kernel Xen-enabled (child) . In particular hypercall adapter is a thin layer of software that arises under the Xen kernel (child) and translates calls to Xen virtualization subsystem into calls understandable by Hyper-V.
(Architecture of Integration Component for Linux with Hypercall Adapter)
Let me briefly cover the procedure that I followed to install the IC in SUSE LE 10 SP1 x64 (For full descriptions look at the documentation included with the IC):
1. Copying the contents of the ISO file with the IC for Linux into a directory on your system. Using Hyper-V Manager assign the ISO file to a virtual DVD. Then run the following on your SUSE virtual machine to mount the virtual DVD to SUSE (eg: mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom). Copy at this point the content of ISO file in the /opt/linux_ic (which you have to create)
$ mkdir /opt/linux_ic
$cp /mnt/cdrom/* /opt/linux_ic –R
2. Find the development tools and kernel sources in your SUSE packages which have the rpm format and then you can install these development tools and kernel sources using the command rpm or if you prefer Yast2
3. To Instal the Xen kernel using command line. For the x64 platform use the following command (assuming that the ISO for your SUSE is mounted in /mnt/cdrom):
$ rpm -ivh /mnt/cdrom/suse/x86_64/kernel-xen-2.6.16.46-0.12.x86_64.rpm
4. To apply the required patches to the Xen kernel which for Xen X64 are present in the IC ISO and at this point we already had copied to the file system of SUSE. Run the following commands.
$ cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.16.46-0.12
$ cp /opt/linux_ic/patch/x2v-x64-sles.patch .
$ patch -l -p1 < x2v-x64-sles.patch
5. Rebuilding the Xen kernel and “install” it in place of the existing kernel
$ cp /boot/config-2.6.16.46-0.12-xen ./.config
$ make oldconfig
$ make vmlinuz
6. Install the hypercall adapter
At this point, you can install the hypercall adapter with the following commands
$ cd /opt/linux_ic
$ perl setup.pl x2v /boot/grub/menu.lst
It is necessary at this point to restart the virtual machine and SUSE will load the amended Xen kernel
7. Installing the device driver synthetic (VSC) and the vmbus
The last operation is the installation of synthetic device drivers (VSC):
During the installation of VSC I received three warnings and two errors in the script startup vmbus(/etc/init.d/vmbus). You can safely ignore both the warning and the errors showing on the startup of vmbus which are the “problems of youth” script (it’s still a Beta1), but not in any way it jeopardize the success of the installation. A final restart to the SUSE VM close the phase of the IC Installation.
(Warning and error messages)
I believe error messages caused by vmbus are linked to the fact that the startup script is written for RedHat and not for SUSE.
Indeed in the script the row /etc/init.d/functions for SUSE should be /etc/rc.status. Similarly, instead of calling success, as fixed in RedHat, should be called, SUSE, rc_status -v.
If someone wants to try to make these changes to the script before you run it and put in a comment to this post the results, that would be grateful.
8. Reconfiguration of Graphics:
The installation of IC causes the loss of Server X configuration that can be restored by running SaX2.
At this point we shut down the virtual machine SUSE, and then from the Hyper-V Manager:
I removed the VM network adapter emulated (Legacy Network Adapter) from the hardware configuration and we added a network card-type synthetic (Network Adapter) instead of it
As well, I added a SCSI controller and connected it to the virtual hard disk
Re-starting the virtual machine with SUSE we found the new hardware (based on synthetic devices) to be fully functional.
(Output of ifconfig: seth0 is the card which based on device synthetic)
(SCSI Devices summary: Note the vendor MSFT)
The configuration of the Integration Component for Linux is “all here,” and remember that we are only at Beta.
After the test we had run few load stress tests on both virtual machines the one with IC & Xen Kernel installed & the unmodified VM. The Performance of the one with IC & Xen Kernel seemed to perform 25 - 35% better than the non modified one. Its a great improvement. Though the stress tool that we had are too basic to conclude the result. Though you really can feel the difference. If hyper-V end up to be your choice it worth considering IC & Xen Kernel injection if you are using Linux VMs.
Yes As I said in the begining getting IC & Xen Kernel correctly working inside the Virtual Machines on Hyper-V is not as easy as I expected. Though if Hyper-V is going to be your virtualization platform & you plan for Linux VMs you better be ready to put up with it.
I hope this article was helpfull for everyone and people will leave comment on things I missed or things they would like to add to it. Share the knowledge!!!!!!!!
WhataVM,
Highly inspired by
Giorgio e Article
Time Synchronization & NTP on ESX Server
Posted by mrvirtualization on May 11, 2008
How can you configure the NTP setting on the Service Console
Time and virtual machines are not always a good marriage. The time in a virtual machine (VM) can fall behind, because the CPU cycles are divided over the VMs running on an ESX server.
You may have several ways to ensure that the time within a VM keeps running pretty well: using the VMware tools, or using a different timing mechanism. This article is about the first option: timing using the VMware tools.
If you use VMware tools timing, it is important that the time in the Service Console is accurate. This can be achieved by configuring NTP. Additionally, you have to ensure the timing option within the VMware tools is set to on (Checked). As well, it is important to only have one synchronization mechanism per VM to configure, more on this shortly.
Setting timing within the Service Console (+ VMs) consists of five steps:
- Configure the correct time zone within the Service Console
- Configure NTP daemon
- Firewall disabling (Only ESX3)
- Start NTP daemon
- Time synchronization for the VMs
These five steps will be described in detail below:
Step 1: Configure the correct time zone within the Service Console
If you have setup the timezone correctly when setting up your VMware ESX then you can safely skip this step. If you are not sure you can confirm by checking the content of /etc/sysconfig/clock and make sure it contains the following lines with your correct zone:
Zone=”Europe/Amsterdam”
UTC=true
ARC=false
If that mach then you can safely skip this step else you have to proceed with it.
Setting the time zone is as follows:
cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam /etc/localtime
This ensures that the correct time zone is set.
After that make sure the contents of /etc/sysconfig/clock contains the following lines:
Zone=”Europe/Amsterdam”
UTC=true
ARC=false
Note: This assumed that the hardware clock UTC used, if this is not the case then use UTC = false. As well It assumes that Amsterdam is the desired time Zone.
Step 2: NTP daemon configure
Please note in the following configuration we assummed your Time servers are as follow. Please replace these where ever founded with your NTP Server IPs or name (in many cases its the same as of your domain controllers):
0.pool.ntp.org
1.pool.ntp.org
2.pool.ntp.org
The NTP daemon can be configured as follows:
Ensure the contents of /etc/ntp.conf should contain the following lines:
restrict default kod nomodify notrap
restrict 127.0.0.1
server 0.pool.ntp.org
server 1.pool.ntp.org
server 2.pool.ntp.org
driftfile /var/lib/ntp/drift
The following images show an image of the ntp.conf file after the lines inserted in it. Please note the inserted lines in red.
The contents of /etc/ntp/step-tickers should look like this:
0.pool.ntp.org
1.pool.ntp.org
2.pool.ntp.org
This step-tickers file is used by the program ntpdate. This synchronizes the time for the first time as the ntpd is started or restarted.
Also for NTP servers fill your own choosing.
Step 3: Firewall disabling (ESX 3.x)
Open the NTP Port through the firewall, so the NTP server can be reached:
esxcfg-firewall –e ntpClient
By default, the outgoing port for ntp is blocked. You may also open this port through the graphical interface.
Step 4: NTP daemon start
The NTP daemon can be started now, in addition we should also establish that the NTP daemon will be started automaticly after reboots:
Start NTP daemon:
service ntpd start
Ensure that the next time the server boot up the NTP service will start automatically:
chkconfig –-level 345 ntpd on
If the clock in the Service Consile not synchronized with a time server. Now the Service console clock can be synchronized with the hardwareclock:
hwclock –-systohc
The time on the ESX server runs now!
If all is well, the time on the ESX server is correctly running and aswell the time is adjusted.
In addition, its a good idea that you check the time and get it to sync with the command “ntpq -p” and “ntpdate -q ntpserver.org” after you have been done.
Step 5: Synchronise time on the VMs
The timing of the VMs can be controller by putting the check for timing within VMware tools on. Plus, you must ensure that there is only one synchronisation mechanism active per VM! This means windows machines time service should be stopped if you are going to use VMware tools timing.
In the case of a Domain Controller time service can not be stopped, you would for the next option to choose:
It is possible to use third-party software to synchronize with an external source outside of a forest, and still use W32Time to securely distribute time within the forest. You can do this by disabling synchronization while leaving W32Time active on the server. To do this, stop W32Time and install the third-party software on the PDC emulator in the forest root. Then disable the third-party software’s ability to serve time by setting the value for the Type entry to “NoSync” in the registry, and then restart W32Time. (HKEY LOCAL MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersType) The domain will be securely synchronized to the PDC emulator’s clock, while the PDC emulator’s clock will be using the third-party software to synchronize with an accurate source outside of the forest. .
(Source: microsoft.com)
This way you can make a successful DC sync with VMware Tools. If you prefer for member servers to automatically synchronize with these DCs.
Enjoy the correct timing on your VMs :).
Please leave me comments on here if you need any further help, or if you have something to add.