Tag: Server 2008

Database Availability Group (DAG) in Exchange 2010

One of the new features of Exchange 2010 is DAG Database Availability Group. The Customer were i work now wants Exchange 2010 in a dag cluster because they have a datacenter for failback.
Because i going to implement Exchange 2010 at the customer i created a test setup.

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

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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
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Add a MB server to a DAG

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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

Configuring NLB for Exchange 2010 for CAS Load Balancing

Exchange’s dependence on the Client Access Server (CAS) role has increased dramatically in Exchange 2010.  This is because, in Exchange 2010, on-network Outlook MAPI connectivity now connects to a mailbox through the CAS role via the RPC Client Access Service.  As a result, high availability of the CAS role is crucial since any failure of CAS could affect Outlook client connectivity.  For smaller implementations or those where the limitations of native Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) are not a major problem

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
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I lieve the Port Rules how they are and end with Finish
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Let the NLB cluster converge with its first member and you should eventually see the cluster report success.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

Next configure CASARRAY.

Windows Server 2008 R2: Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster

The Hyper V documentation team has done a great job of putting together a detailed Windows Server 2008 R2: Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster.  Download the .PDFimage

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

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

VMware Workstation 7.1 is available

VMWare has released VMware Workstation 7.1.

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What’s New in VMware Workstation 7.1

  • Support for 8 virtual processors (or 8 virtual cores) and 2 TB virtual disks.
  • Support for OpenGL 2.1 for Windows Vista and Windows 7 guests.
  • Greatly improved DirectX 9.0 graphics performance for Windows Vista and Windows 7 guests. Up to 2x faster than Workstation 7.
  • Launch virtualized applications directly from the Windows 7 taskbar to create a seamless experience between applications in your virtual machines and the desktop.
  • Optimized performance for Intel’s Core i3, i5, i7 processor family for faster virtual machine encryption and decryption.
  • Support for more Host and Guest Operating Systems, including: Hosts: Windows 2008 R2, Ubuntu 10.04, RHEL 5.4, and more Guests: Fedora 12, Ubuntu 10.04, RHEL 5.4, SEL 11 SP1, and more.
  • Now includes built in Automatic Updates feature to check, download, and install VMware Workstation updates.
  • Ability to import and export Open Virtualization Format (OVF 1.0) packaged virtual machines and upload directly to VMware vSphere, the industry’s best platform for building cloud infrastructures.

    Download VMware Workstation HERE. You need a valid VMware Account to download.

    • When trying to activate you get 0xC004F074 with description "The Key Management Server (KMS) is unavailable"

    Error:
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    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

    BitLocker Active Directory Recovery Password Viewer on Windows Server 2008 R2

    You can find BitLocker Password Recovery tool on Windows Server 2008 R2 under Features. You can install the tool by opening Server Manager and under »Add Features« look for »Remote Server Administration Tools« »Feature Administration Tools«. Here select »BitLocker Diver Encryption Administration Utilities« and follow the wizard.

    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…«

    Migrate a DFS Namespace to Windows Server 2008 Mode

    When you plan to use to upgrade your DFS domain namespace to 2008 Mode there are some requirements:
    – The forest uses the Windows Server 2003 or higher forest functional level
    – The domain uses the Windows Server 2008 or higher domain functional level
    – All namespace servers are running Windows Server 2008 or (2008 R2)

    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)

    MDT 2010 Update 1 Beta Released

    The Solution Accelerators Team have released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Update 1 Beta and would like your feedback.

    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.

    BitLocker to Go & Save the Recovery key in Active Directory

    Before you start wit Bitlocker to Go your domain controllers must be 2008 R2. You must upgrade your Schema.

    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

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    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.

    Best Practices Analyzer Updates for Server 2008 R2

    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

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