1. Install the proper operating system and name the new server with the same name as the lost server. Recovery won’t succeed if the server on which recovery is being performed doesn’t have the same name as the lost server.

2. Join the server to the same domain as the lost server.

3. Install the following 2008 R2 HotFixes

The following hotfixes are required for the Client Access server for Windows Server 2008 R2:

• Install the update described in Knowledge Base article 979099, An update is available to remove the application manifest expiry feature from AD RMS clients. Without this update, the AD RMS features may stop working.
• Install the hotfix described in Knowledge Base article 982867, WCF services that are hosted by computers together with a NLB fail in .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. For more information, see these MSDN Code Gallery pages:
  • For additional background information, see KB982867 – WCF: Enable WebHeader settings on the RST/SCT.
  • For the available downloads, see KB982867 – WCF: Enable WebHeader settings on the RST/SCT.
• Install the update described in Knowledge Base article 979744, A .NET Framework 2.0-based Multi-AppDomain application stops responding when you run the application.
• Install the update described in Knowledge Base article 983440, An ASP.NET 2.0 hotfix rollup package is available for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information, see these MSDN Code Gallery pages:
  • For additional background information, see KB983440 – Win7 rollup package (PR for QFE 810219).
  • For the available downloads, see KB983440 – Win7 rollup package (PR for QFE 810219).
• Install the update described in Knowledge Base article 977020, FIX: An application that is based on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2 and that invokes a Web service call asynchronously throws an exception on a computer that is running Windows 7.

4. Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

5. RUN –> E:\Setup.com /m:recoverserver /InstallWindowsComponents

Outlook 2003 Service Pack 3 Clients
Issue:
During normal working hours users randomly was unable to access their mailboxes when they launched their Outlook client.

The users were receiving the following Outlook message:

“Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The Microsoft Exchange Server computer is not available. Either there are network problems or the Microsoft Exchange Server computer is down for maintenance.”
It was also reported that some users had issues expanding additional mailboxes. (Delegate Mailboxes )
The following Outlook message appeared.

Or users have issues opening Shared Calendars.

Solution:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2299468

With Get-ThrottlingPolicy you can see the value of RCAMaxConcurrency

(Exchange 2010 RTM default value 20) (Exchange 2010 SP1 default value 214748364)

I changed RCAMaxConcurrency to 214748364 and the problem is fixt:

Get-ThrottlingPolicy | set-ThrottlingPolicy -RCAMaxConcurrency 214748364

The List with fixes:
972186 Some functions do not work if you install Security Configuration Wizard on a Windows Server 2008 SP2-based Exchange Server 2007

979046 Attachments are empty when you save them by using OWA after you have applied the update of KB 958881 on an Exchange Server 2007

980038 The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service crashes intermittently in the Oabgen.dll module on an Exchange Server 2007 server

981602 Event ID: 4999 is frequently generated in a mixed Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2003 environment

982476 The Imap4.exe process crashes intermittently on an Exchange Server 2007 server

982478 Notes URL links in a plain text message are not clickable when you open this message by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2028675 The MSExchangeFDS.exe process occupies lots of memory if there are thousands of OABs created on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2029086 Some characters of an email message are displayed in an incorrect text size when you access your mailbox by using OWA in Exchange Server 2007

2032216 The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service crashes on an Exchange Server 2007 server when you start it or try to mount certain databases

2121536 Exchange Server 2007 cannot index a message

2201236 The "All Day" field is marked with "No" when you access a meeting request that has a duration time that is more than 24 hours by using a mobile client through ActiveSync in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2203212 Certain mailboxes cannot be moved from an Exchange Server 2007 server to an Exchange Server 2010 server

2210042 A sub contact folder is still visible after you set the "PR_ATTR_HIDDEN" attribute to "True" in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2230824 The Microsoft.Exchange.POP3.exe process or the Microsoft.Exchange.Imap4.exe process may crash after you enable protocol logging for POP3 or IMAP4 on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2249814 You receive misleading information when you run the "New-TestCasConnectivityUser.ps1" script on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2263342 "The operation failed" error message in Outlook client when a user sends a recurring meeting request with an email message attachment in an Exchange Server 2007 SP2 environment

2276439 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2276439/ ) The Microsoft.Exchange.IMAP4.exe process crashes when an IMAP4 client retrieves a meeting request that includes exception attachments in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2280234 "Your POP3 server has not responded in 60 seconds." error message when a POP3 client connects to an Exchange Server 2007 Client Access server to access an Exchange Server 2003 mailbox

2282570 "550 5.1.3" NDR message when an Exchange Server 2007 user sends an email message to a recipient

2265306 The Exchange Information Store service stops responding when you perform a search operation on an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox in Outlook

2282746 The "Private" sensitivity status of an occurrence of a recurring meeting request is lost when you edit the occurrence in OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2286782 The response details are still included in the response email message when you set the "EnableResponseDetails" property to "False" in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2290105 A shared document cannot be open by using OWA after you install Exchange Server 2007 SP3 on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2290159 The POP3 service crashes on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2344372  You cannot move mailboxes to an Exchange Server 2007 server

2362371 You receive a "Success" response when using the Test-Mailflow command on an invalid or nonexistent external email address in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2384754 "Unable to identify local server row in Replication state table for this FID" error message when you run the Information Store Integrity Checker tool on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2387915 The ESEBack component does not support ETL tracing on an Exchange Server 2007 server

2388057 The Exchange Transport service crashes on Exchange Server 2007 servers in a mixed Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 environment

2394731 An HTML attachment of a shared mailbox cannot be saved when you set the "BypassOwaHTMLAttachmentFiltering" setting to "True" in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

2424499 Exchange Server 2007 does not support to assign a mailbox with the "Send on behalf" permission of a security group in the EMC or in the EMS

2427297 The created time and the modified time of an attachment are incorrect when you save an email message on an Exchange Server 2007 mailbox

2430674 The "Leave message intact" method in a Folder Assistant rule does not work when you post an item by using OWA in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

Download the hotfix HERE

In two years time a get al lot of visitors.

Some stats till now in totally:

Hits 556.775
Unique visits 308636

Hits (bots) Hits 164201
Unique visits 93724

This year a get al lot of new visitors:

Hits (+282069) 2009: 137353 2010: 419422 still growing

Unique visits (+190172) 2009: 59232 2010: 249404 still growing

I’m very pleased with this numbers. I means for me that I do a good job.

I blogging.

Still writing nice about nice Stuff. I have not enough time to write every thing.
Next week have some days off. I will write some nice articles. Please if you have Questions let me now.

With kings regards,

Ward Vissers

Microsoft released a nice manual for monitoring and managing DPM servers and tape libraries, and protected computers that are running Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft Virtual Server, or the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. This guide also provides instructions for setting up protection of data on desktop computers that are connected to the network, and portable computers that are connected to the network intermittently, and for setting up disaster recovery.

Download the Manual

Some of the hotfixes would have been rolled up in a Windows update or service pack. Given that the Exchange team released SP1 earlier than what was planned and announced earlier, it did not align with some of the work with the Windows platform. As a result, some hotfixes are available from MSDN/Connect, and some require that you request them online using the links in the corresponding KBs. All these updates may become available on the Download Center, and also through Windows Update.

These hotfixes have been tested extensively as part of Exchange 2010 SP1 deployments within Microsoft and by our TAP customers. They are fully supported by Microsoft.

The TechNet article Exchange 2010 Prerequisites is updated with the hotfixes and install the prerequisites required for your server version (the hotfixes are linked to in the above table).

You can use the Install the Windows Server 2008 SP2 operating system prerequisites on a Windows 2008 R2 server. Only you have to run the following powershell command: Import-Module ServerManager

Installed Exchange 2010 SP1 on a Windows 2008 R2 Server with problems. I feels that the MMC is faster. Tomorrow upgrading a DAG/NLB cluster to Exchange 2010 SP1.

Eventlog:

Exchange ActiveSync doesn’t have sufficient permissions to create the "CN=ward,OU=Users,DC=wardvissers,DC=local" container under Active Directory user "Active Directory operation failed on DC2008-03.ad.local. This error is not retriable. Additional information: Access is denied.
Active directory response: 00000005: SecErr: DSID-031521D0, problem 4003 (INSUFF_ACCESS_RIGHTS), data 0
".
Make sure the user has inherited permission granted to domain\Exchange Servers to allow List, Create child, Delete child of object type "msExchangeActiveSyncDevices" and doesn’t have any deny permissions that block such operations.

Because my account has domain admins rights the security settings will be reset every hour by
AdminSDHolder

Each Active Directory domain has an object called AdminSDHolder, which resides in the System container of the domain. The Admin-SDHolder object has a unique Access Control List (ACL), which is used to control the permissions of security principals that are members of built-in privileged Active Directory groups (what I like to call “protected” groups). Every hour, a background process called SDPROP runs on the domain controller that holds the PDC Emulator operations master role. It compares the ACL on all security principals (users, groups and computer accounts) that belong to protected groups against the ACL on the AdminSDHolder object. If the ACL lists aren’t the same, the ACL on the security principal is overwritten with the ACL from the Admin–SDHolder object. In addition, inheritance is disabled on the security principal.

Temporally Solution:

1. Active Directory Users and Computers

2. Enable Advanced Features

3. Search the User and go to the Security tab.

4. Advanced

5. Include Inheritable permissions from the Object’s parent

Source: Blog

To Download: Click on the picture.

- Use de VMXNET 3 Adapter
- Use per Disk a SCSI Controller
- Store the Log & Database files on physical Lun on a SAN
- Use the LSI LOGIC SAS controller for Windows 2008 & 2008 R2
- Use the VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) Controller for Every physical Raw Device Mapping (RDM).

Another TIP.  Exchange 2007 & Exchange 2010 needs a lots of Memory. When choosing the size for the OS partition, swap file need also al lot of space.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 has some nice improvements to handle drivers. I will describe how I like to manage drivers in MDT 2010.

Some time I wrote i article about how to get the Name & Model from a computer. This is very important when you want to import only the right drivers automatically.

First we have to build the ‘Out-of-Box Drivers’ folder structure and import drivers. I have subdirectories for each architecture, brand and model.  This is what my folder tree looks like:

However, you can build your own structure, as long as you respect the proper model & brand (make) name of the vendors.

Build Out-of-Box Drivers tree

To build up the folder structure you have to know the model name of your hardware. To retrieve the proper computer name execute at powershell command prompt: ‘Get-WmiObject -Class win32_computersystemproduct | fl Name,Model,UUID,Identifyingnumber,Vendor’, to get the exact name WMI queries to determine the computer model. In my case the computer name is “Latitude D830”.

Now that we have drivers imported in our Deployment Share, it’s time to move on.

1. DriverGroups

DriverGroups existed in MDT 2008 already, although the MDT Team added subdirectory support in MDT 2010.

At deployment phase MDT uses WMI to query the proper computer model and only the current model drivers will be injected. In order to get this working properly, you have to use the EXACT model name in your Out-of-Box Driver tree.

Inject the correct drivers in your Task Sequence

Add a new step in your Task Sequence to inject the correct drivers. MDT will query the computer name and inject the drivers which corresponds with the computer name from the Out-of-Box folder structure, right before applying the image at deployment.

I use ‘DriverGroup_001’ as Task Sequence Variable, and Win7×64\%Make%\%Model% as value for my Windows 7 x64. You have to adapt this to your Out-of-Box tree.

As I use a DriverGroup I’ve disabled the ‘Inject Drivers’ task.

Customsettings.ini

As my Task Sequence handles everything, there isn’t anything needed here.

If you don’t like to use a new Task in your TS, you can add DriverGroup variables in customsettings.ini like this:

DriverGroup_001=%Make%\%Model%

DriverGroup_002=Printers

2. Selection Profiles

New in MDT 2010 are DriverSelectionProfiles. These are easy for new MDT admins, very straight forward and easy to use.

Overview:

First you have to create a Profile (or use one of the default profiles):

You can even select Packages and Applications, use it for “bad drivers” aka driver setup packs.

Select what drivers you want to add to the profile;

After making the profiles you can use them in your Task Sequences. The default ‘Inject Drivers’ settings are on the left, the customized one on the right:

You can add  Selection Profiles for drivers/packages or whatever you want. Just add an extra step in your task sequence like above.

Customsettings.ini

As with DriverGroups you can choose to handle the DriverSelectionProfile in customsettings.ini or in your TS.

Example:

DriverSelectionProfile=Dell Latitude D520 x64

Installation and Deployment

• VMware ESX. VMware vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases are the last releases to include both ESX and ESXi hypervisor architectures. Future major releases of VMware vSphere will include only the VMware ESXi architecture.
  • VMware recommends that customers start transitioning to the ESXi architecture when deploying VMware vSphere 4.1.
  • VMware will continue to provide technical support for VMware ESX according to the VMware vSphere support policy.
  • To learn more about the ESXi architecture and how to migrate from ESX to ESXi, go to the VMware ESX to ESXi Upgrade Center.
• Scripted Install for ESXi. Scripted installation of ESXi to local and remote disks allows rapid deployment of ESXi to many machines. You can start the scripted installation with a CD-ROM drive or over the network by using PXE booting. You cannot use scripted installation to install ESXi to a USB device. See the ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide, the ESXi Installable and vCenter Server Setup Guide, and the ESXi Embedded and vCenter Server Setup Guide.
• vSphere Client Removal from ESX/ESXi Builds. For ESX and ESXi, the vSphere Client is available for download from the VMware Web site. It is no longer packaged with builds of ESX and ESXi. After installing ESX and ESXi, users are directed to the download page on the VMware Web site to get the compatible vSphere Client for that release. The vSphere Client is still packaged with builds of vCenter Server. See the ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide, the ESXi Installable and vCenter Server Setup Guide, and the ESXi Embedded and vCenter Server Setup Guide.

Storage

• Boot from SAN. vSphere 4.1 enables ESXi boot from SAN (BFN). iSCSI, FCoE, and Fibre Channel boot are supported. Refer to the Hardware Compatibility Guide for the latest list of NICs and Converged Adapters that are supported with iSCSI boot. See the iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide and the Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide.
• Hardware Acceleration with vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI). ESX can offload specific storage operations to compliant storage hardware. With storage hardware assistance, ESX performs these operations faster and consumes less CPU, memory, and storage fabric bandwidth. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• Storage Performance Statistics. vSphere 4.1 offers enhanced visibility into storage throughput and latency of hosts and virtual machines, and aids in troubleshooting storage performance issues. NFS statistics are now available in vCenter Server performance charts, as well as esxtop. New VMDK and datastore statistics are included. All statistics are available through the vSphere SDK. See the vSphere Datacenter Administration Guide.
• Storage I/O Control. This feature provides quality-of-service capabilities for storage I/O in the form of I/O shares and limits that are enforced across all virtual machines accessing a datastore, regardless of which host they are running on. Using Storage I/O Control, vSphere administrators can ensure that the most important virtual machines get adequate I/O resources even in times of congestion. See the vSphere Resource Management Guide.
• iSCSI Hardware Offloads. vSphere 4.1 enables 10Gb iSCSI hardware offloads (Broadcom 57711) and 1Gb iSCSI hardware offloads (Broadcom 5709). See the ESX Configuration Guide, the ESXi Configuration Guide, and the iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide.
• NFS Performance Enhancements. Networking performance for NFS has been optimized to improve throughput and reduce CPU usage. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.

Network

• Network I/O Control. Traffic-management controls allow flexible partitioning of physical NIC bandwidth between different traffic types, including virtual machine, vMotion, FT, and IP storage traffic (vNetwork Distributed Switch only). See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• IPv6 Enhancements. IPv6 in ESX supports Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) with manual keying. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• Load-Based Teaming. vSphere 4.1 allows dynamic adjustment of the teaming algorithm so that the load is always balanced across a team of physical adapters on a vNetwork Distributed Switch. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• E1000 vNIC Enhancements. E1000 vNIC supports jumbo frames in vSphere 4.1. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.

Availability

• Windows Failover Clustering with VMware HA. Clustered Virtual Machines that utilize Windows Failover Clustering/Microsoft Cluster Service are now fully supported in conjunction with VMware HA. See Setup for Failover Clustering and Microsoft Cluster Service.
• VMware HA Scalability Improvements. VMware HA has the same limits for virtual machines per host, hosts per cluster, and virtual machines per cluster as vSphere. See Configuration Maximums for VMware vSphere 4.1 for details about the limitations for this release.
• VMware HA Healthcheck and Operational Status. The VMware HA dashboard in the vSphere Client provides a new detailed window called Cluster Operational Status. This window displays more information about the current VMware HA operational status, including the specific status and errors for each host in the VMware HA cluster. See the vSphere Availability Guide.
• VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) Enhancements. vSphere 4.1 introduces an FT-specific versioning-control mechanism that allows the Primary and Secondary VMs to run on FT-compatible hosts at different but compatible patch levels. vSphere 4.1 differentiates between events that are logged for a Primary VM and those that are logged for its Secondary VM, and reports why a host might not support FT. In addition, you can disable VMware HA when FT-enabled virtual machines are deployed in a cluster, allowing for cluster maintenance operations without turning off FT. See the vSphere Availability Guide.
• DRS Interoperability for VMware HA and Fault Tolerance (FT). FT-enabled virtual machines can take advantage of DRS functionality for load balancing and initial placement. In addition, VMware HA and DRS are tightly integrated, which allows VMware HA to restart virtual machines in more situations. See the vSphere Availability Guide.
• Enhanced Network Logging Performance. Fault Tolerance (FT) network logging performance allows improved throughput and reduced CPU usage. In addition, you can use vmxnet3 vNICs in FT-enabled virtual machines. See the vSphere Availability Guide.
• Concurrent VMware Data Recovery Sessions. vSphere 4.1 provides the ability to concurrently manage multiple VMware Data Recovery appliances. See the VMware Data Recovery Administration Guide.
• vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) Enhancements. VADP now offers VSS quiescing support for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 servers. This enables application-consistent backup and restore operations for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 applications.

Management

• vCLI Enhancements. vCLI adds options for SCSI, VAAI, network, and virtual machine control, including the ability to terminate an unresponsive virtual machine. In addition, vSphere 4.1 provides controls that allow you to log vCLI activity. See the vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Scripting Guide and the vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.
• Lockdown Mode Enhancements. VMware ESXi 4.1 lockdown mode allows the administrator to tightly restrict access to the ESXi Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) and Tech Support Mode (TSM). When lockdown mode is enabled, DCUI access is restricted to the root user, while access to Tech Support Mode is completely disabled for all users. With lockdown mode enabled, access to the host for management or monitoring using CIM is possible only through vCenter Server. Direct access to the host using the vSphere Client is not permitted. See the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• Access Virtual Machine Serial Ports Over the Network. You can redirect virtual machine serial ports over a standard network link in vSphere 4.1. This enables solutions such as third-party virtual serial port concentrators for virtual machine serial console management or monitoring. See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.
• vCenter Converter Hyper-V Import. vCenter Converter allows users to point to a Hyper-V machine. Converter displays the virtual machines running on the Hyper-V system, and users can select a powered-off virtual machine to import to a VMware destination. See the vCenter Converter Installation and Administration Guide.
• Enhancements to Host Profiles. You can use Host Profiles to roll out administrator password changes in vSphere 4.1. Enhancements also include improved Cisco Nexus 1000V support and PCI device ordering configuration. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• Unattended Authentication in vSphere Management Assistant (vMA). vMA 4.1 offers improved authentication capability, including integration with Active Directory and commands to configure the connection. See VMware vSphere Management Assistant.
• Updated Deployment Environment in vSphere Management Assistant (vMA). The updated deployment environment in vMA 4.1 is fully compatible with vMA 4.0. A significant change is the transition from RHEL to CentOS. See VMware vSphere Management Assistant.
• vCenter Orchestrator 64-bit Support. vCenter Orchestrator 4.1 provides a client and server for 64-bit installations, with an optional 32-bit client. The performance of the Orchestrator server on 64-bit installations is greatly enhanced, as compared to running the server on a 32-bit machine. See the vCenter Orchestrator Installation and Configuration Guide.
• Improved Support for Handling Recalled Patches in vCenter Update Manager. Update Manager 4.1 immediately sends critical notifications about recalled ESX and related patches. In addition, Update Manager prevents you from installing a recalled patch that you might have already downloaded. This feature also helps you identify hosts where recalled patches might already be installed. See the vCenter Update Manager Installation and Administration Guide.
• License Reporting Manager. The License Reporting Manager provides a centralized interface for all license keys for vSphere 4.1 products in a virtual IT infrastructure and their respective usage. You can view and generate reports on license keys and usage for different time periods with the License Reporting Manager. A historical record of the utilization per license key is maintained in the vCenter Server database. See the vSphere Datacenter Administration Guide.
• Power Management Improvements. ESX 4.1 takes advantage of deep sleep states to further reduce power consumption during idle periods. The vSphere Client has a simple user interface that allows you to choose one of four host power management policies. In addition, you can view the history of host power consumption and power cap information on the vSphere Client Performance tab on newer platforms with integrated power meters. See the vSphere Datacenter Administration Guide.

Platform Enhancements

• Performance and Scalability Improvements. vSphere 4.1 includes numerous enhancements that increase performance and scalability.
  • vCenter Server 4.1 can support three times more virtual machines and hosts per system, as well as more concurrent instances of the vSphere Client and a larger number of virtual machines per cluster than vCenter Server 4.0. The scalability limits of Linked Mode, vMotion, and vNetwork Distributed Switch have also increased.
  • New optimizations have been implemented for AMD-V and Intel VT-x architectures, while memory utilization efficiency has been improved still further using Memory Compression. Storage enhancements have led to significant performance improvements in NFS environments. VDI operations, virtual machine provisioning and power operations, and vMotion have enhanced performance as well.

  See Configuration Maximums for VMware vSphere 4.1.

• Reduced Overhead Memory. vSphere 4.1 reduces the amount of overhead memory required, especially when running large virtual machines on systems with CPUs that provide hardware MMU support (AMD RVI or Intel EPT).
• DRS Virtual Machine Host Affinity Rules. DRS provides the ability to set constraints that restrict placement of a virtual machine to a subset of hosts in a cluster. This feature is useful for enforcing host-based ISV licensing models, as well as keeping sets of virtual machines on different racks or blade systems for availability reasons. See the vSphere Resource Management Guide.
• Memory Compression. Compressed memory is a new level of the memory hierarchy, between RAM and disk. Slower than memory, but much faster than disk, compressed memory improves the performance of virtual machines when memory is under contention, because less virtual memory is swapped to disk. See the vSphere Resource Management Guide.
• vMotion Enhancements. In vSphere 4.1, vMotion enhancements significantly reduce the overall time for host evacuations, with support for more simultaneous virtual machine migrations and faster individual virtual machine migrations. The result is a performance improvement of up to 8x for an individual virtual machine migration, and support for four to eight simultaneous vMotion migrations per host, depending on the vMotion network adapter (1GbE or 10GbE respectively). See the vSphere Datacenter Administration Guide.
• ESX/ESXi Active Directory Integration. Integration with Microsoft Active Directory allows seamless user authentication for ESX/ESXi. You can maintain users and groups in Active Directory for centralized user management and you can assign privileges to users or groups on ESX/ESXi hosts. In vSphere 4.1, integration with Active Directory allows you to roll out permission rules to hosts by using Host Profiles. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide.
• Configuring USB Device Passthrough from an ESX/ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine. You can configure a virtual machine to use USB devices that are connected to an ESX/ESXi host where the virtual machine is running. The connection is maintained even if you migrate the virtual machine using vMotion. See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.
• Improvements in Enhanced vMotion Compatibility. vSphere 4.1 includes an AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!™) EVC mode that prepares clusters for vMotion compatibility with future AMD processors. EVC also provides numerous usability improvements, including the display of EVC modes for virtual machines, more timely error detection, better error messages, and the reduced need to restart virtual machines. See the vSphere Datacenter Administration Guide.

Partner Ecosystem

• vCenter Update Manager Support for Provisioning, Patching, and Upgrading EMC’s ESX PowerPath Module. vCenter Update Manager can provision, patch, and upgrade third-party modules that you can install on ESX, such as EMC’s PowerPath multipathing software. Using the capability of Update Manager to set policies using the Baseline construct and the comprehensive Compliance Dashboard, you can simplify provisioning, patching, and upgrade of the PowerPath module at scale. See the vCenter Update Manager Installation and Administration Guide.
• User-configurable Number of Virtual CPUs per Virtual Socket. You can configure virtual machines to have multiple virtual CPUs reside in a single virtual socket, with each virtual CPU appearing to the guest operating system as a single core. Previously, virtual machines were restricted to having only one virtual CPU per virtual socket. See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.
• Expanded List of Supported Processors. The list of supported processors has been expanded for ESX 4.1. To determine which processors are compatible with this release, use the Hardware Compatibility Guide. Among the supported processors is the Intel Xeon 7500 Series processor, code-named Nehalem-EX (up to 8 sockets).

You can download VMware vSphere 4.1 HERE

Windows Server 2008 R2 Support

Exchange Server 2007 SP3 supports all Exchange 2007 roles on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system.

Windows 7 Support

Exchange 2007 SP3 supports the installation of the Exchange 2007 management tools on a computer that is running Windows 7. Additionally, Exchange 2007 SP3 provides support for the installation of the Exchange 2007 Management Tools together with the Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools on the same Windows 7-based computer.

Improved Password Reset Functionality

Exchange 2007 SP3 introduces password reset functionality for Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.

To enable the password reset feature

1. Log on to the Exchange server that is running the CAS role by using an account that has local administrator rights.

2. Start Registry Editor, and then locate the following registry subkey:

   HLKM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange OWA

3. Create the following DWORD value if it does not already exist:

   Value name: ChangeExpiredPasswordEnabledValue type: REG_DWORDValue data: 1

4. Exit Registry Editor.

 Updated Search Functionality

Exchange 2007 SP3 includes updates to the Exchange Search (MSSearch) component. MSSearch provides support for creating full text indexes for Exchange stores. Exchange 2007 SP3 updates the MSSearch binary files to MSSearch 3.1.

Schema Changes

Exchange 2007 SP3 includes Active Directory schema changes for certain Unified Messaging (UM) mailbox attributes. For more information, see Active Directory Schema Changes (SP3).

Support for Right-to-Left Disclaimer Text

Exchange 2007 SP3 includes support for Right-to-Left text in e-mail message disclaimers in a right-to-left language, such as Arabic. In earlier versions of Exchange, when you use a transport rule to create a disclaimer in a right-to-left language on an Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server, the text appears incorrectly when you view it from Outlook 2007.

Exchange 2007 SP3 adds functionality to the transport rule setting to fully support right-to-left text in disclaimers.

Download here SP3 for Exchange 2007

Configuration:

Server 1 – HYPERVDC-01
OS: Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Standard x64
IP: 192.168.150.90
Roles: Active Directory / Hyper-V

Server 2 – CHEK10-01
OS: Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Standard x64
IP: 192.168.150.91
Roles: Exchange 2010 HT / CAS

Server 3 – CHEK10-02
OS: Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Standard x64
IP: 192.168.150.92
Roles: Exchange 2010 HT / CAS

Server 4 – DAGEK10-01
OS: Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise x64
IP: 192.168.150.93
Roles: Exchange 2010 MBX

Server 5 – DAGEK10-02
OS: Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise x64
IP: 192.168.150.94
Roles: Exchange 2010 MBX

Creating the DAG

Groupname: DAG01
Witness Server: CHKEK10-01 (Microsoft says use one of the CAS or Hub Servers. You cannot use a DAG Server! If you want use a non Exchange 2010 server you must at the Exchange Trusted Subsystem group at the local administrators group.
Witness Directory: C:\DAG01

Add a MB server to a DAG

Setting a IP address on a Database Availability Group

With the following command you can set the DAG Database Availability Group an IP address. Set-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Identity DAG01 -DatabaseAvailabilityGroupIpAddresses 192.168.150.96

You need two or more Exchange 2010 servers (each with two NICs) with the CAS role installed have been deployed, you are ready to start configuring NLB to provide high availability and load balancing.  First, you must allocate a dedicated private IP address and create an associated A record in DNS for the NLB cluster. 

This IP address and name are what clients will connect to and against which the ClientAccessArray will be created.  In this blog post, I will use 192.168.150.95 and casarray.hyper-v.local
To simplify the management of your NLB cluster members, I recommend that you name each NIC’s network connection so that it is easy to understand what function the NIC serves.  For example, as depicted below, I have named the connections “LAN” (used for communication with clients and servers on the network) and “NLB” (used for internal NLB heartbeat).  This process should be repeated on all NLB cluster members.

IP configuration:
Server 1:
LAN:
IP: 192.168.150.90
Subnetmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.150.254
DNS: 192.168.150.1

Server 2:
LAN:
IP: 192.168.150.91
Subnetmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.150.254
DNS: 192.168.150.1

Configuring NLB – First Member

On each NLB cluster member, NLB must be installed.  With Windows 2008 R2, this can be completed simply by running the command “ServerManagerCmd -i NLB” via a command prompt.  Once NLB has been installed, launch the Network Load Balancing Manager to continue the configuration process.

To create your new cluster, you can right-click Network Load Balancing Clusters or simply click Cluster, New.  In the New Cluster wizard, enter the name of the first server in the NLB cluster (for example, CHEK10-01) and click Connect.  This will display the available NICs on the server, at which point the NLB NIC should be chosen before clicking Next.

Since this is the first member of the NLB cluster, you can leave the all of the Host Parameters at their default values, as depicted below.  Please note that the Priority value should be configured as 1 for the first member.

Next we must configure the IP address and subnet mask of the NLB cluster, which is the IP address for which we created a DNS A record at the very beginning of this process.  In this example, this would be 192.168.150.95 and 255.255.255.0, respectively.

For the Cluster Parameters, we want to enter the FQDN of the DNS A record we created at the very beginning of this process (casarray.hyper-v.local).  In addition, Unicast should be selected as the desired clustered operation mode.

I lieve the Port Rules how they are and end with Finish

Let the NLB cluster converge with its first member and you should eventually see the cluster report success.

Now you can proceed with adding your second cluster member.

Configuring NLB – Second/Subsequent Member

After the configuration of the NLB cluster itself and the first NLB cluster member has been completed, you are ready to add additional members.  Provided that NLB has been installed, you can simply right-click on your NLB cluster in the Network Load Balancing Manager and click Add Host To Cluster.

Enter the name of the second NLB cluster member, for example CHEK10-02, and click Connect.  Be sure to choose the NLB LAN NIC and click Next.

On the Host Parameters screen, ensure that the Priority is set to 2 (or as appropriate, depending on how many cluster members you have) and click Next.

Confirm that your port rules are accurate and, if they are, click Finish to add your second NLB cluster member.

Let the NLB cluster converge with the new member and, eventually, it should report success.

At this point, you have an NLB cluster with two members!

Next configure CASARRAY.

The poster provides details on the inner workings of things like:

• Virtual Networking
• Virtual Storage
• Live Migration
• Virtual Machine Snapshots
• Virtual Machine File Management

What’s New in VMware Workstation 7.1

The KMS host that is used is very probably a Windows Server 2008 KMS host that cannot standard activate Windows 7 and 2008 R2 machines.

When you do not have Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS host key have then you must have a Volume License agreement so that your request your Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 kms keys.

Resolution

Step 1:
-If the KMS host a Windows Server 2003 SP2 machine is you have the update from the KB article KB968915 install and restart the machine.
-If the KMS host a Windows Server 2008 SP2 machine is you have the update from the KB article KB968912 install and start the new machine.
-If the KMS host one Windows Server 2008 R2 machine is you have to install any further update.

Step 2:
You the new KMS host key import now. The commands are as follows:

1. Uninstall KMS license Key on host – slmgr.vbs /upk

2. Install Windows Server 2008 R2 KMS license key – slmgr.vbs /ipk <Your Key>

3. Activate KMS server online: slmgr.vbs /ato

4. Net Stop slsvc

5. Net Start slsvc

The clients can now activate

Once install process completes you can open Active Directory Users and Computers and right click on domain level. You should now see »Find BitLocker Recovery Password…«

1. Installing latest DFS Hotfix on servers where Distributed File System (DFS) technologies is installed
2. Dfsutil root export \\domain\namespace path\filename.xml
3. Remove all Namespace Servers
4. Dfsutil root remove \\domain\namespace
5. Dfsutil root adddom \\server\namespace v2
6. Dfsutil root import merge path\filename.xml \\domain\namespace
7. Add all Namespace servers
8. Tuning replication performance in DFSR (especially on Win2008 R2)

Download the beta now at https://connect.microsoft.com/site14/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=8689

MDT 2010 Update 1 provides new capabilities, such as:

· Support for Microsoft Office 2010.

· A new User-driven Installation (UDI) deployment method (formerly known as “Modena”) for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. UDI gives information technology (IT) staff control over the deployment experience while empowering users to interact with and customize their operating system deployment through an easy-to-use wizard.

· Improvements to the Deployment Workbench driver import process, detecting each driver’s true supported platforms.

· Many bug fixes and other small improvements.

This release supports the deployment of the Windows® 7; Windows Vista®; Windows XP; Windows Server® 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008; and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. See the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Documentation Library, which is included with MDT 2010 Update 1, for the complete documentation for this release.

After done that I made a group policy named Bitlocker to Go.
You can find the Bitlocker Policy under: Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates: Policy Definitions | Windows Components | BitLocker Drive Encryption | Removable Data Drives.

I enabled the following policies:

Choose How BitLocker Removable Drives Can Be Recovered

At first you must select the Allow Data Recovery Agent option. This option should be selected by default, but since this option is what makes the entire key recovery process possible, it is important to verify that the option is enabled.

Next, you will enable the Omit Recovery Option From The BitLocker Setup Wizard option. This prevents users from saving or printing their own copies of the recovery key.

Next, you will have to select the Save BitLocker Recovery Information to AD DS for Removable Data Drives. This is the option that actually saves the BitLocker recovery keys to the Active Directory.

Finally, you should select the Do Not Enable BitLocker Until Recovery Information Is Stored To AD DS For Removable Data Drives option. This option forces Windows to confirm that the recovery has been written to the Active Directory before BitLocker is allowed to encrypt the drive. That way, you do not have to worry about a power failure wiping out the recovery key half way through the encryption process.

Windows XP SP2 & SP3 can only read the bitlocker usb stick.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for HYPER-V for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB977238) You can use Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the Hyper-V role, and help identify configurations that do not comply with the best practices of Microsoft for this role.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for DHCP Server for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB977236) You can use DHCP Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the DHCP role and help identify configurations that do not comply with the best practices from Microsoft for this role.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for Network Policy and Access Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (NPAS) (KB977239) You can use the Network Policy and Access Services update for Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running one or more of following the role services: Network Policy Server, Health Registration Authority, and Routing and Remote Access Service.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for File Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB981111) You can use File Services Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the File Services role and one or more of following role services: DFS Namespaces, DFS Replication, File Server, File Server Resource Manager, Services for Network File System.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for Active Directory Rights Management Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB981391) You can use Active Directory Rights Management Services Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the AD RMS role and help identify configurations that do not comply with the best practices of Microsoft for this role.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for Windows Server Update Services for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB981390) You can use the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) update for Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running WSUS.

Update for Best Practices Analyzer for Application Server for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB981392) You can use the Application Server update for Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server

• Verify an application’s compatibility with a new version of the Windows operating system, or a Windows Update, including determining your risk assessment.
• Become involved in the ACT Community, including sharing your risk assessment with other ACT users.
• Test your Web applications and Web sites for compatibility with new releases and security updates to the Windows® Internet Explorer® Internet browser.

Software Requirements:

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The ultimate virtualization guide for IT professionals and decision makers.

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Knowledge Base Article

Name

Date

Required?

KB974598

“You receive a "Stop 0x0000007E" error on the first restart after you enable Hyper-V on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer”

10/1/2009

Yes, if you encounter this error and your server uses a “C-state” (lower power state) that is supported by the processor, but is not supported by Hyper-V.

KB974909

“The network connection of a running Hyper-V virtual machine is lost under heavy outgoing network traffic on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer”

10/21/2009

No.

KB975354

“A Hyper-V update rollup package is available for a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2”

11/10/2009

Yes, if you are running a backup or restore solution.

KB975530

“Stop error message on an Intel Xeon 5500 series processor-based computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and that has the Hyper-V role installed: "0×00000101 – CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT"

11/20/2009

Yes, if you are running Hyper-V on the affected hardware.

KB974672

“Virtual machines stop responding (hang) during startup and the Vmms.exe process crashes on a Windows Server 2008 R2 computer that has the Hyper-V role installed“

10/14/2009

No.

KB977894

“MS10-010: Vulnerability in Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V could allow denial of service”

2/9/2010

Yes.

KB980856

“Stop error in Windows Server 2008 R2: "0x000000CA PNP_DETECTED_FATAL_ERROR"”

3/12/2010

Yes, if you store VHDs on non-PNP disks.

KB981618

“The computer stops responding or restarts during the Hyper-V Live Migration process in Windows Server 2008 R2” (relates to AMD Errata 383)

3/27/2010

Yes, if you are running Hyper-V on AMD processors.

KB 981836

“Network connectivity for a Windows Server 2003-based Hyper-V virtual machine is lost temporarily in Windows Server 2008 R2”

4/28/2010

Yes, if the server running Hyper-V has a virtual machine that is running Windows Server 2003.

KB981791

“"STOP: 0x0000001a" error message on a computer that has an Intel Westmere processor together with the Hyper-V role installed on Windows Server 2008 or on Windows Server 2008 R2”

5/5/2010

Yes, if you are running Hyper-V on Intel Westmere processors.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff394763(WS.10).aspx