Archive for microsoft

Microsoft Windows Powershell

November 30, 2012 Command Line, PowerShell No comments

What is PowerShell?

Windows PowerShell is Microsoft’s task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of .NET Framework. PowerShell provides full access to COM and WMI, enabling administrators to perform administrative tasks on both local and remote Windows systems.

In PowerShell, administrative tasks are generally performed by cmdlets (pronounced command-lets), specialized .NET classes implementing a particular operation. Sets of cmdlets may be combined together in scripts, executables (which are standalone applications), or by instantiating regular .NET classes (or WMI/COM Objects) These work by accessing data in different data stores, like the filesystem or registry, which are made available to the PowerShell runtime via Windows PowerShell providers.

Windows PowerShell also provides a hosting API with which the Windows PowerShell runtime can be embedded inside other applications. These applications can then use Windows PowerShell functionality to implement certain operations, including those exposed via the graphical interface. This capability has been used by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007  to expose its management functionality as PowerShell cmdlets and providers and implement the graphical management tools as PowerShell hosts which invoke the necessary cmdlets. Other Microsoft applications including Microsoft SQL Server 2008 also expose their management interface via PowerShell cmdlets. With PowerShell, graphical interface-based management applications on Windows are layered on top of Windows PowerShell. A PowerShell scripting interface for Windows products is mandated by the Common Engineering Criteria.

Windows PowerShell includes its own extensive, console-based help, similar to man pages in Unix shells, via the Get-Help cmdlet.

Microsoft Page for PowerShell

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978526.aspx

5 Introductory Videos

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/dd742419.aspx

Hey Scripting Guy WebPage

http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/

Technet Virtual Lab – PowerShell

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventId=1032314395

Script Resources for IT Professionals

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter

System Volume Information Folder

November 26, 2012 microsoft, System Volume Information No comments

What is the System Information Volume folder?

The System Information Volume folder contains information that shouldn’t necessarily be interfered with however there are situations where this folder can become extremely large and unmanageable. Below are several bulleted points of possible data which may exist in this folder

  • System Restore points. You can disable System Restore from the “System” control panel.
  • Distributed Link Tracking Service databases for repairing your shortcuts and linked documents.
  • Content Indexing Service databases for fast file searches. This is also the source of the cidaemon.exe process: That is the content indexer itself, busy scanning your files and building its database so you can search for them quickly.
  • Information used by the Volume Snapshot Service (also known as “Volume Shadow Copy”) so you can back up files on a live system.
  • Longhorn systems keep WinFS databases here

The Problem with System Information Folder

We encountered an issue where on checking this folder on a drive showed it was taking up nearly 80GB space! We opened Folder and Search Options and selected to Show Hidden Files, Folders and Drives and un-ticked Hide Protected Operating System Files to see this folder. Unfortunately you generally cannot access this folder unless you do the following

  • Open cmd.exe
  • Type icacls “d:\System Volume Information” /t /c /grant Administrators:f to take ownership of the folder

  • /t = Traverse all folders
  • /c = Continue on file errors (access denied) Error messages are still displayed

Commands to check the space

Here are some commands that you could use in the Command Prompt console in administrator mode in order to view and resize the space allocated for the System Volume Information Folder.

  • To View the Storage Space allocated for this folder: Open Command Prompt with “Run as Administrator” option and type the following – vssadmin list shadownstorage

  • To see the restore information stored there: Open Command Prompt with “Run as Administrator” option and type the following – vssadmin list shadows

  • To resize the maximum allocated space: Open Command Prompt with “Run as Administrator” option and type the following – vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=[here add the drive letter]: /For=[here add the drive letter]: /Maxsize=[here add the maximum size]
  •  E.g. vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=D: /For=D: /Maxsize=4GB

Notes

If the System Information Folder is very large,you may want to check the following

  • Install and Run Treesize which will give you a good insight into what folders you have
  • Check System Restores
  • Check in Disk Management if any of your disks are enabled for Shadow Copies and reduce the amount of disk space these are allowed to take
  • Check DFS Folders
  • Check what your backup software is doing. A high volume of data can sometimes be due to VSS shadow copies not being cleaned up after a VSS capable backup program backs up data on the drive in question.
  • Stop the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
  • Stop the Volume Shadow Copy Service

Understanding FSMO Roles in Server 2008

November 21, 2012 Active Directory No comments

There are five of these FSMO roles in every forest. They are:

  • Schema Master
  • Domain Naming Master
  • Infrastructure Master
  • Relative ID (RID) Master
  • Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Emulator

Two of them are only assigned once in the forest, in the domain at the forest root.

  • Schema Master
  • Domain Naming Master

Three of those FSMO roles are needed once in every domain in the forest:

  • Infrastructure Master
  • Relative ID (RID) Master
  • Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Emulator

Schema Master

Whenever the schema is modified at all, those updates are always completed by the domain controller with the schema master role.  Schema is updated during the normal replication, and the schema updates are replicated throughout all the domains in the forest. It’s advisable to place the schema master role on the same domain controller (DC) as the primary domain controller (PDC) emulator.

Domain Naming Master

This role is not used very often, only when you add/remove any domain controllers. This role ensures that there is a unique name of domain controllers in environments as domains join or leave the forest, the domain naming master makes the updates into active directory.  Only this DC actually commits those changes into the directory.  The domain naming master also commits the changes to application partitions.

Infrastructure Master

This role checks domain for changes to any objects. If any changes are found then it will replicate to another domain controller. The infrastructure master is a translator, between globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), security identifiers (SIDs), and distinguished names (DNs) for foreign domain objects.  If you’ve ever looked at group memberships of a domain local group which has members from other domains, you can sometimes see those users and groups from the other domain listed only by their SID.  The infrastructure master of the domain of which those accounts are in is responsible for translating those from a SID into their name

Usually, you do not put the infrastructure master role on a domain that holds the global catalog.  However, if you’re in a single domain forest, the infrastructure master has no work to do, since there is no translation of foreign principals

Relative ID (RID) Master

This role is responsible for making sure each security principle has a different identifier. The relative ID master, or RID master, hands out batches of relative IDs to individual domain controllers, then each domain controller can use their allotment to create new users, groups, and computers.  When domain controllers need more relative IDs in reserve, they request them from, and are assigned by, the domain controller with the RID master FSMO role.

It is recommended that the RID master FSMO role be assigned to whichever domain controller has the PDC emulator FSMO role

PDC Emulator

The domain controller that has the PDC emulator FSMO role assigned to it has many duties and responsibilities in the domain.  For example, the DC with the PDC emulator role is the DC that updates passwords for users and computers.  When a user attempts to login, and enters a bad password, it’s the DC with the PDC emulator FSMO role that is consulted to determine if the password has been changed without the replica DC’s knowledge. The PDC emulator is also the default domain controller for many administrative tools, and is likewise the default DC used when Group Policies are updated.

Additionally, it’s the PDC emulator which maintains the accurate time that the domain is regulated by.  It’s the time on the PDC emulator which identifies when the last write time for an object was (to resolve conflicts, for example.)  If it’s a forest with multiple domains, then the forest root PDC is the authoritative time source for all domains in the forest.

Each domain in the forest needs its own PDC emulator. Ideally, you put the PDC emulator on the domain controller with the best hardware available.

Seizing of Roles

In case of failures of any server you need to seize the roles. Administrators should use extreme caution in seizing FSMO roles. This operation, in most cases, should be performed only if the original FSMO role owner will not be brought back into the environment.

It is recommended that you log on to the domain controller that you are assigning FSMO roles to. The logged-on user should be a member of the Enterprise Administrators group to transfer schema or domain naming master roles, or a member of the Domain Administrators group of the domain where the PDC emulator, RID master and the Infrastructure master roles are being transferred.

For Schema Master:

  1. Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil
  2. Type roles and press enter to enter fsmo maintenance.
  3. To see a list of available commands at any one of the prompts in the Ntdsutil utility, type ? and then press Enter
  4. Type connections to enter server connections.
  5. Type connect to server “Servername” and then press ENTER, where “Servername” is the name of the domain controller you want to assign the FSMO role to
  6. Type quit
  7. Type seize schema master. For a list of roles that you can seize, type ? at the fsmo maintenance prompt, and then press ENTER, or see the list of roles at the start of this article

After you have seized the role, type quit to exit NTDSUtil.

For Domain Naming Master:

Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil

  1. Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil
  2. Type roles and press enter to enter fsmo maintenance.
  3. To see a list of available commands at any one of the prompts in the Ntdsutil utility, type ? and then press Enter
  4. Type connections to enter server connections.
  5. Type connect to server “Servername” and then press ENTER, where “Servername” is the name of the domain controller you want to assign the FSMO role to
  6. Type quit
  7. Type seize domain naming master.

After you have Seize the role, type quit to exit NTDSUtil.

For Infrastructure Master Role:

Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil

  1. Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil
  2. Type roles and press enter to enter fsmo maintenance.
  3. To see a list of available commands at any one of the prompts in the Ntdsutil utility, type ? and then press Enter
  4. Type connections to enter server connections.
  5. Type connect to server “Servername” and then press ENTER, where “Servername” is the name of the domain controller you want to assign the FSMO role to
  6. Type quit
  7. Type seize infrastructure master.

After you have Seize the role, type quit to exit NTDSUtil.

For RID Master Role:

Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil

  1. Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil
  2. Type roles and press enter to enter fsmo maintenance.
  3. To see a list of available commands at any one of the prompts in the Ntdsutil utility, type ? and then press Enter
  4. Type connections to enter server connections.
  5. Type connect to server “Servername” and then press ENTER, where “Servername” is the name of the domain controller you want to assign the FSMO role to
  6. Type quit
  7. Type seize RID master.

After you have Seize the role, type quit to exit NTDSUtil.

For PDC Emulator Role:

Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil

  1. Go to cmd prompt and type ntdsutil
  2. Type roles and press enter to enter fsmo maintenance.
  3. To see a list of available commands at any one of the prompts in the Ntdsutil utility, type ? and then press Enter
  4. Type connections to enter server connections.
  5. Type connect to server “Servername” and then press ENTER, where “Servername” is the name of the domain controller you want to assign the FSMO role to
  6. Type quit
  7. Type seize PDC.

After you have Seize the role, type quit to exit NTDSUtil

How can I determine who are the current FSMO Roles holders in my domain/forest?

  • On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of some of the AD snap-ins. Use this table to see which tool can be used for what FSMO role:

Active Directory Time Synchronisation

November 19, 2012 Time Synchronisation No comments

What is Time Synchronisation?

Time synchronization is an important feature for all computers on the network. By default, the clients computers get their time from a Domain Controller and the Domain Controller gets his time from the domain’s PDC Operation Master. The PDC must synchronize their time from a reliable external time source.

Windows Server includes W32Time, the Time Service tool that is required by the Kerberos authentication protocol. The Windows Time service makes sure that all computers in an organization that are running the Microsoft Windows Server operating system or later versions use a common time.

Basic Operation of the Windows Time Service

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224799

Pre Requisites

You will need to open the default UDP 123 port (inbound and outbound) on your corporate firewall to allow time synchronisation

What external time servers can I use?

http://www.pool.ntp.org/en/use.html

Instructions

  • First you need to find your PDC Server. Open the Command Prompt and type netdom /query fsmo. Our servers have been blanked out below but you will see your servers listed

  • Log on to your PDC and stop the W32Time Service. Type net stop w32time
  • Configure the external time source

  • Make your PDC a reliable time source for the clients. Type w32tm /config /reliable:yes
  • Type w32tm /config update
  • Type w32tm /config resync
  • Type net start w32time
  • The Windows Time Service should begin synchronizing the time. You can check the external NTP servers in the time configuration by typing the following commands

w32tm /query /configuration

w32tm /query /peers

w32tm /query /status

  • Check the Event Viewer for any errors.

SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations in Windows Clustering

November 15, 2012 Clustering, Clustering, VMware No comments

What is a “Persistent Reservation” (PR)?

A PR is a SCSI command, which clustering uses to protect LUN’s. When a LUN is reserved, no other computers on the SAN can access the disk, except the ones cluster controls. This is important to protect other machines from accessing the disk and corrupting the data on the disk.

Validate a Cluster Configuration is a functional test tool that verifies that your storage supports all the necessary SCSI commands that clustering requires. It is critical that Validate tests pass, for your cluster to work correctly. The Storage tests are by far the most important, they should not be dismissed!

This test validates that the cluster storage uses the more recent (SCSI-3 standard) Persistent Reserve commands (which are different from the older SCSI-2 standard reserve/release commands). The Persistent Reserve commands avoid SCSI bus resets, which means they are much less disruptive than the older reserve/release commands. Therefore, a failover cluster can be more responsive in a variety of situations, as compared to a cluster running an earlier version of the operating system. In addition, disks are never left in an unprotected state, which lowers the risk of volume corruption

SQL Server 2008 Clustering

November 13, 2012 SQL Failover Clustering, SQL Server No comments

This post follows on from the previous post regarding the setup of Microsoft Windows Clusters which will be required before you can set up Microsoft SQL Clustering

Pre Requisites

  • You must have installed Microsoft .NET Framework on both nodes in the cluster – On the Windows Server, you can go to Add Features and select Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1
  • Create all necessary SQL Server Active Directory Groups for the relevant SQL Server Services (SQL Agent, DB Agent, Analysis Services) Note that Reporting Services/Integration Services are not cluster aware but you can install it to be used with just this server
  • Make sure all patching and software updates are current
  • You must be running Microsoft Enterprise/Datacenter edition
  • Please see the table below for an example of the amount of NICs and different subnets required for a 2 Node Windows/SQL Cluster

Number of Nodes supported by SQL Server versions

Instructions for Node 1

  • On Node 1, connect the SQL Server 2005/2008 ISO or installer
  • Click Setup and choose New SQL Server Failover Cluster Installation

  • Select to Install Setup Support Rules

  • If you get a Network Binding error and your bindings all look correct with the LAN NIC at the top correctly then please try modifying the registry. It looks like sometimes the system takes the Virtual Cluster adapter to be the top binding but this is not visible from Network Connections Window when you go into Advanced settings
  • Drill down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Linkage and open up the Bind value and move the LAN ID to the top

  • Setup Support Files
  • Select Product Key
  • On Feature, Select Database Engine Services, Replication Services and Analysis Services
  • Note that Reporting Services/Integration Services are not cluster aware but you can install it to be used with just this server
  • On Instance Configuration, you need to enter a SQL Server Network Name like SQLCLUSTER
  • Keep the default instance or choose a new instance
  • You can change the Instance Root Directory if you wish also *NEED TO CHECK THIS
  • Click Next
  • On the Cluster Resource Group, you can keep the settings
  • In the Cluster Disk Selection, Select the disks you want to use for SQL DB and SQL Logs (Make sure both are ticked!!!)
  • Next the Cluster Network Configuration

  • Untick DHCP and provide a new IP Address and Subnet
  • On Cluster Security Policy, keep Use Service SSIDs

  • On Service Accounts, please fill in the AD accounts you previously created for SQL Server Agent and SQL Server DB Engine
  • Check Collation is as you want it – Usually Latin1_General_C1_AS
  • In Database Engine Configuration, select Mixed mode and add a password for sa and add the current user
  • Click the Data Directories Tab and configure these paths as appropriate

  • Enable Filestream if you want
  • On Error and Usage Configuration
  • Next
  • Next
  • Install

Instructions for Node 2

  • Choose Add Node to a SQL Server Failover Cluster

  • Next
  • Put in Product Key
  • Accept Licensing
  • Install Setup Support Files
  • Check Setup Support Rules
  • On the Cluster Node Configuration, check this is all correct

  • Enter password for SQL Server Engine and SQL Server Agent account
  • Click Next on Error Reporting
  • Click Next on Add Node Rules
  • Click Install
  • Complete and Close

Testing Failover

  • Log into the SQL Server and open SQL Management Studio. Test a query against your DB
  • Open Failover Cluster Manager
  • Go to Services and Applications
  • Click on SQL Server (Cluster Name)

  • Select Move this Application or Service to another node.
  • Once this has transferred, do the same query test on the second server and make sure everything works as expected.
  • If so then Failover is working correctly
  • Go to vCenter and create a new HA rule keeping these DB Servers running on separate hosts for the ultimate in failover 🙂

Note: If you find you want to clear the Event Logs post Installation and have a fresh start, then you will need to clear the logs from both servers then close Failover Cluster Manager and restart it.

Useful Articles

capture

 

 

Testing Microsoft Failover Clustering on VMware Workstation 8 or ESXi4/5 Standalone

November 12, 2012 Clustering, Microsoft Failover Clustering, VMware No comments

VMware Workstation and vSphere ESXi (Free Version) are the ultimate flexible tools for testing out solutions such as Microsoft Failover Clustering. I wanted to test this out myself before implementing this on a live VMware environment so I have posted some instructions on how to set this up step by step.

Pre-Requisites

Note: This test environment should not be what you use in a Production environment. It is to give you a way of being able to work and play with Windows Clustering

Note: Failover Clustering feature is available with Windows Server 2008/R2 Enterprise/Data Center editions. You don’t have this feature with the Standard edition of Windows Server 2008/R2.

Note: You also need a form of Shared Storage (FC or iSCSI) There are very good free solutions by Solarwinds and Freenas as per the links below you can download and use for testing

Note: To use the native disk support included in failover clustering, use basic disks, not dynamic disks and format as NTFS

  • VMware Workstation 8 (If you are a VCP 4 or 5, you will have a free VMware Workstation license)
  • Setup 1 Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller Virtual Machine with Active Directory Services and a Domain
  • Setup 1 x Windows Server 2008 R2 Virtual Machine for Node 1 of the Windows Cluster with 2 NICs
  • Setup 1 x Windows Server 2008 R2 Virtual Machine for Node 2 of the Windows Cluster with 2 NICs
  • 1 x Freenas Virtual Machine (Free Storage Virtual Machine in ISO format) We will not be using this in this demo but it is also a very good free solution for creating Shared Storage for Testing
  • http://www.freenas.org/
  • 1 x Free Starwind ISCSI SAN edition (Requires a corporate email registration) This is what we will be using in this demo (Version 6.0.4837)
  • http://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-free

Instructions

  • Make sure all Virtual Machine are joined to the domain
  • Make sure all Virtual Machines are fully updated and patched with the latest S/W updates
  • On the first network adapter rename this as Public and on the second adapter, rename this as Private or MSCS Heartbeat
  • On the first network adapter, add the static IP address, Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS
  • On the second network adapter, just add the IP Address and Subnet Mask
  • Go back to the original screen and untick the following boxes
  • Clear the Client for Microsoft Networks
  • Clear the File and Printer Sharing
  • Clear QOS Packet Scheduler
  • Clear Link Layer Toplogy checkboxes

Link Layer

  • Click Properties on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

  • Click the DNS tab and clear the Register this Connection’s Addresses in DNS

DNS

  • Select the WINS tab and clear the Enable LMHOSTS Lookup checkbox

LMHOSTS

  • After you configured the IP addresses on every network adapter verify the order in which they are accessed. Go to Network Connections click Advanced > Advanced Settings and make sure that your LAN connection is the first one. If not click the up or down arrow to move the connection on top of the list. This is the network clients will use to connect to the services offered by the cluster.

BINDING

  • Make sure you note down all IP Addresses as you go along. This is always handy
  • Disable the Domain Firewall on both Windows Servers
  • At this point, you can choose whether to use Freenas or Starwind. I will be continuing with Starwind but you can follow the Freenas instructions as per below link if you are more familiar with this
  • http://www.sysprobs.com/nas-vmware-workstation-iscsi-target
  • Install the Starwind Software on your Domain Controller
  • Highlight Starwind Server and select Add Host which will be the DC
  • Click General and Connect
  • Put in root and the Password is starwind
  • Go to Registration – Load License which you should have saved from your download
  • Select Devices in the left and Pane, right click and Add a new device to the target. The wizard opens as below. Select Virtual Hard Disk

  • Click Next and Select Image File Device

  • Click Next and Create new Virtual Disk

  • Select the radio button at the end of the New Virtual Disk Location

  • The below window will open

  • Create a new folder called StarwindStorage

  • Type in the first name quorum.img so it all looks like the bottom

  • Edit the size to what you want

  • Next

  • Next

  • Next, type an alias name > Next

  • Next

  • Finish

  • Do the exact procedure above for SQLData
  • Do the exact procedure above for SQLLogs
  • Do the exact procedure above for MSDTC
  • You need to add MSDTC to every Windows Cluster you build. It ensures operations requiring enlisting resources such as COM+ can work in a cluster. It is recommended that you configure MSDTC on a different disk to everything
  • The Quorum Database contains all the configuration information for the cluster
  • Go on to your first Windows Server
  • Click Start > Administration Tools > iSCSI Initiator. If you get the message below, just click Yes

  • Click the Discovery Tab > Add Portal
  • Add the Domain Controller as a Target Portal
  • Click the Targets Tab and you will see the 4 disks there
  • Login to each disk clicking Automatically Restore this Connection
  • Go to Computer Management > Click Disk Management
  • Make all 4 disks online and initialized
  • Right click on each select create Simple Volume
  • Go to the second Windows Server
  • Click Start > Administration Tools > iSCSI Initiator
  • Click the Discovery Tab > Add Portal
  • Add the Domain Controller as a Target Portal
  • Click the Targets Tab and you will see the 4 disks there
  • Login to each disk clicking Automatically Restore this Connection
  • Go to Computer Management > Click Disk Management
  • Don’t bring the disks online, don’t do anything else to the disks on the second server
  • Go back to the first Windows Server
  • Select Server Manager > Add Features > Failover Clustering
  • Go back to the second Windows Server
  • Select Server Manager > Add Features > Failover Clustering

  • Once installed on the second server, go back to the first Windows Server
  • To open Failover Clustering, click on Start > Administrative Tools > Failover Cluster Manager

  •  Click on Validate a configuration under management.
  • When you click on Validate a Configuration, you will need to browse and add the Cluster nodes, these are the 2 Windows servers that will be part of the cluster, then click Next
  • Select Run all tests and click Next

  • Click Next
  • Review the validation report, as your configuration might have few issues with it and needs to be addresses before setting up your cluster

  • Your  configuration is now validated and you are ready to setup your cluster.
  • Click on the second option, Create a Cluster, the wizard will launch, read it and then click Next

  • You need to add the names of the servers you want to have in the cluster

  • After the servers are selected, you need to type a Cluster name and IP for your Cluster
  • Put this cluster name and IP in your DNS server

  •  Next
  • Next
  • Finish
  • Open Failover Cluster Manager and you will see your nodes and setting inside the MMC. Here you can configure your cluster, add new nodes, remove nodes, add more disk storage and any other administration
  • If you want to install SQL Server clustering, we will need to install a MSDTC Service
  • Go to Services and Applications – right click and select “Configure a service or application

  • Select the DTC and click next
  • On the Client Access Point page, enter a Name and an IP address to be used by the DTC, and then click Next.
  • Put the DTC Name and IP Address in your DNS Server

  • If you find that it has taken the wrong disk for your Quorum Disk, you will need to do the following
  • Right click on the cluster and select More Actions
  • Configure Cluster Quorum Settings
  • Click Next
  • On the next Page – Select Quorum Configuration
  • Keep Node and Disk Majority

  • On Configure the Storage Witness, select the drive that should have been the Quorum drive
  • Now you should be completely set up for Windows Clustering. Have a look through all the settings to familiarise yourself with everything.

Next Post

My next post will contain Instructions on on how to setup SQL Server clustering. You should have this environment set up first before following on with installing SQL Server.

YouTube Videos

These videos are extremely useful as quidance to this process

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7onR2BjTVr8&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJy-OBHtMZE&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJp_Npt7UM&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a27bp_Hvz7U&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2u2l-3jO7M&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPtcdbbnGFA&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNihwqv8SwE&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i4YGr0QxKg&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xsKvSTaVgA&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erx1esoTNfc&feature=relmfu

Windows XP Mode

October 19, 2012 microsoft, XP Mode No comments

What is it?

Windows XP Mode is a downloadable compatibility Mode option that is available for

  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows XP Mode allows you to use the latest version of Microsoft Virtual PC to allow you to run an installation of XP virtually under Windows 7. All the applications you install on the Windows XP Mode client will be available automatically on the Windows 7 computer. It looks like it is executing directly on the Win7 machine

Windows XP Mode provides an x86 version of Windows XP Professional SP3 and does not support x64 virtual clients so you cannot use this for 64bit apps. Almost all programs compatible with Windows Vista, and the majority of Windows XP programs, run well in Windows 7. If a program doesn’t, first try the Program Compatibility troubleshooter. It can fix several problems and is included in all versions of Windows 7.

Requirements

  • A processor which supports hardware virtualisation using either the AMD-V or Intel VT Option
  • Minimum 2GB RAM

Installation of software

  • Download and Install Windows XP Mode
  • Download and Install Windows Virtual PC
  • Start Windows XP Mode client from the Virtual PC folder of the start menu
  • Install the application you want
  • You can then start it from the Virtual Windows XP Applications folder of the Start Menu
  • You can also copy work between the 2 sessions
  • You can place the program on the taskbar if required
  • Install a version of antivirus as you are not covered even if your Win 7 machine has AV

Link

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

User Profiles and configuring Roaming Profiles

October 18, 2012 microsoft, Roaming Profiles No comments

Introduction:

This blog post contains a high-level overview of different types of profiles, considerations for choosing a profile solution for your deployment, highlights of new profile features in Windows Server 2008 R2, and a best practices recommendation for deploying roaming user profiles with folder redirection in a Remote Desktop Services environment.

Terminology

Below are some basic definitions for background understanding of different types of profiles and folder redirection.

Local user profiles

A local user profile is created the first time a user logs on to a computer. The profile is stored on the computer’s local hard disk. Changes made to the local user profile are specific to the user and to the computer on which the changes are made.

Roaming user profiles

A roaming user profile is a copy of the local profile that is copied to, and stored on, a server share. This profile is downloaded to each computer a user logs onto on a network. Changes made to a roaming user profile are synchronized with the server copy of the profile when the user logs off. The advantage of roaming user profiles is that users do not need to create a profile on each computer they use on a network.

Mandatory user profiles

A mandatory user profile is a type of profile that administrators can use to specify settings for users. Only system administrators can make changes to mandatory user profiles. Changes made by users to desktop settings are lost when the user logs off. Mandatory profiles can be created from roaming or local profiles.

Temporary User Profiles

A temporary user profile is issued each time an error condition prevents the user’s profile from loading. Temporary profiles are deleted at the end of each session, and changes made by the user to desktop settings and files are lost when the user logs off. Temporary profiles are only available on computers running Windows 2000 and later.

Folder Redirection

Folder redirection is a client-side technology that provides the ability to change the target location of predetermined folders found within the user profile. This redirection is transparent to the user and gives the user a consistent way of saving their data, regardless of its storage location. Folder redirection provides a way for administrators to divide user data from profile data. This division of user data decreases user logon times because Windows downloads less data. Windows redirects the local folder to a central location, giving the user immediate access to their data when they save it, regardless of the computer they are using. This immediate access removes the need to update the user profile.

There are two primary benefits to Folder Redirection as it applies to profile data:

  1. When used with roaming profiles, it can significantly reduce the size of the portable profile data carried around by users for logon/logoff. Since these folders are redirected to network shares, you trade local I/O impact for network/remote I/O impact. This can be very helpful on disk-constrained deployments.
  2. Using Folder Redirection with mandatory profiles allows users to have some control/persistence of customization such as application configuration settings (AppData) or IE Favorites.

Useful Links

  • Managing Roaming User Data Deployment Guide

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73760

  • User Profiles on Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2009/06/02/user-profiles-on-windows-server-2008-r2-remote-desktop-services.aspx

 

Shrinking a Windows Server 2008 R2 Partition Using Disk Management

October 18, 2012 microsoft, Shrinking Drives No comments

The partitions on a Windows disk may be shrunk to a smaller size using the Disk Management snap-in or from the command prompt using the diskpart tool.

The snap-in can be accessed either from

  • The Server Manager or Computer Management tools. To launch the Server Manager open the Start menu and click on the Server Manager option, or click on the Server Manager icon in the task bar.
  • Alternatively launch Computer Management from Start -> All Programs -> Administration Tools -> Computer Management or run compmgmt.csc.
Within Disk Management right click on the volume to that needs to be resized and select Shrink Volume… from the popup menu to invoke the Shrink dialog as shown below:
If the “Shrink Volume” menu option is disabled it is likely that the volume is formatted with a FAT based file system and, as such, cannot be reduced in size using these techniques.Specify the amount by which the volume is to shrink and click on the Shrink button to initiate the resize
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