Dario IT Solutions Blog

Only SQL 2008 SP1 is supported on Windows 2008 R2.

If you tried installing SQL 2008 from its DVD\ISO you surely got this error message:

In order to install SQL 2008 together with SP1, follow these Steps:

1. Install the prerequisites of SQL 2008:
   • .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (from Server Manager –> Features –> .Net Framework 3.5.1 Features)
   • Windows Installer 4.5
2. Extract the service pack to a folder on the server using the following command:
   • SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe /x:C:\SQL2008SP1
3. Run the service pack to install the Setup files
   • C:\SQL2008SP1\x64\setup\1033\sqlsupport.msi
4. Run the Setup.exe file from the SQL 2008 source media by specifying the /PCUSource parameter:
   • Setup.exe /PCUSource=C:\SQL2008SP1

Hi guys,

We held two open houses this week, one on February 22nd at MediaTech Haifa and the other on February 24th at Microsoft Raanana.

I would like to thank the large number of people who attended, it was great hearing your comments and questions.

Attached below are all the PowerPoint decks from the events:

A bit of an Israeli pride..

Core Configurator 2.0 is now available to download from: http://coreconfig.codeplex.com/

If you are unfamiliar with this tool – it is a graphical tool that allows you to configure a whole bunch of system settings on a Windows Server Core installation:

Core Configuration tasks include:

• Product Licensing
• Networking Features
• DCPromo Tool
• ISCSI Settings
• Server Roles and Features
• User and Group Permissions
• Share Creation and Deletion
• Dynamic Firewall settings
• Display | Screensaver Settings
• Add & Remove Drivers
• Proxy settings
• Windows Updates (Including WSUS)
• Multipath I/O
• Hyper-V including virtual machine thumbnails
• JoinDomain and Computer rename
• Add/remove programs
• Services
• WinRM
• Complete logging of all commands executed

Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) is a new feature that was introduced in Windows 2008 R2.

If you want to read more about it, how it works, and how you can enable it. There is a lot of material out there that you can refer to:

• Windows 2008 R2 NLB & Failover Clustering
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd759255.aspx
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630633(WS.10).aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/clustering/archive/2009/03/02/9453288.aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/clustering/archive/2009/02/19/9433146.aspx

Well, after you’ve setup your cluster, enabled CSV, and added clustered disks to CSV, it is now time to copy your VHD files to those CSV disk. The big question is, which cluster node should you perform this operation on?

We’ll, to make a long story short – Copy it to the node that owns the CSV disk!

The reason this is important is that if you are running the copy on the coordinator node (the node which owns the CSV volume of interest), the writes are all local writes. If you are running the copy on any other node, the writes are actually redirected over the network (because they are extending writes to the file) and not done directly to the volume.

Hope this will save you some much needed time

You may have experienced an issue with a Remote Desktop connection to a Server 2008 in which you see black/white grid lines on all or on part of the screen.

This may look something like this:

It appears that this issue is linked to this update : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958470/en-us

Changing the setting of the RD connection (bitrate, colors etc) doesn’t seem to help.

This issue will be resolved when upgrading the client’s RDP version to 6.0 or newer.

When trying to Live Migrate a virtual machine, the process might fail and inform you that your virtual machine is not compatible with the target node.

If you try to Move (instead of Live Migrate) the virtual machine to another node, the process will again fail and you the following event will be logged:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering
Event ID:      1205

The Cluster service failed to bring clustered service or application ‘xxxxx’ completely online or offline. One or more resources may be in a failed state. This may impact the availability of the clustered service or application.

This situation is indeed caused, as the error indicated, by different processor capabilities. Check the exact processor version of your Nodes. You can use msinfo32 to get a detailed view. Here’s, for example, the types of CPUs I see:

Node1

Node2

What happens is that when the virtual machine starts, the hypervisor exposes certain CPU capabilities to the virtual machine. When Live Migrating or Moving the VM to a different host, the VM isn’t aware of the hardware change, tries to use capabilities that it’s new CPU doesn’t support, and fails to start.

Luckily, the solution is simple. Open the VM’s settings, and under the CPU settings check the option named “Migrate to a physical computer with a different processor version".

Note that the VM has to be off in order for you to check this option.

When checking this option, the hypervisor is only exposing the VM to the features of the processor that are available on all versions of a virtualization-capable processor by the same processor manufacturer. Note that this option doesn’t allow you to migrate between AMD and Intel CPUs. Check this Microsoft Technet article for further details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd446679(WS.10).aspx

It is important to read between the lines in this case. Although you will be able to migrate without errors, your VM does LOSE PERFORMANCE .

This means that when planning to build a new Hyper-V Cluster, make sure that you get exactly the same CPUs on your physical hosts. Otherwise, you will have to downgrade the CPU capabilities of your VMs.

Hope this is helpful.

Kobi

Hi guys,

It was very nice meeting you all yesterday at the re-birth of the Infrastructure & Management User Group.

Below is the presentation for the main subject we talked about – “Windows 2008 R2 Overview”.

We will continue next month, on December 17th with the subject “Active Directory improvements in Windows 2008 R2”.

In the meantime, share your thoughts and interesting finds at the group site – http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=2389097

Have a great weekend and take care!

I know its a bit late, but here is the presentation I gave on November 3rd at the Microsoft convention – Let’s Talk Business-Tech that was held at Tel Aviv.

During the presentation, my co-presenter Ronen Gabay and myself talked about the new features of Failover Clustering in Windows 2008 R2.

We talked about Geo-Clusters, PowerShell 2.0 extensive support, Cluster Shared Volumes and mainly about how simple it is to create and manage complex cluster (everyone can do it! believe me! ).

We finished the presentation with a nice demo of RDS 7.0 media enhancement when we showed a 1080P HD movie (Terminators 2 Trailer) over RDP 7.0 while doing a Live Migration of the RDS Session Host virtual server that we RDPed into.. very nice!

What do you think, will we start seeing more clusters from now on? or something is still missing?

I’ll love to get your input.

Microsoft has published some very nice eBooks free of charge! enjoy!

Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/C/0/5C0BD0AB-040D-4C56-A60B-661001012DDA/Windows_Server_2008_R2_e-book.pdf

Learn about the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 in the areas of virtualization, management, the Web application platform, scalability and reliability, and interoperability with Windows 7. Download Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, written by industry experts Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker along with the Windows Server team at Microsoft.

Microsoft Press / Oct. 2009 / Version 1.0 / 200 pages / 11.1 Mo / PDF

Deploying Windows 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=ee2a1d38-88a9-43b3-95bc-7e962f0b6030

Microsoft’s eBook Deploying Windows 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine combine selected chapters written by industry experts Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, Jerry Honeycutt, Ed Wilson, and the Windows 7 Team with select Windows 7 articles from TechNet Magazine. Sample topics include: Deployment Platform, Planning Deployment, Testing Application Compatability, and 8 Common Issues in Windows 7 Migrations.

Microsoft Press – Microsoft TechNet / Oct. 2009 / Version 1.0 / 332 pages / 6.5 Mo / PDF

Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions

http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urmvs17u33

This guide will teach you about the benefits of the latest virtualization technologies and how to plan, implement, and manage virtual infrastructure solutions. The technologies covered include: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, and Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

Microsoft Press / Oct. 2008 / 452 pages / 14.4 Mo / PDF

NB : This download requires a Windows Live account

7 Development Projects for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services Version 3.0

http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/2/f/02f0f661-88e1-43c2-b523-88d2e9e6802f/7%20Development%20Projects%20with%20the%202007%20Microsoft%20Office%20System%20and%20Windows%20SharePoint%20Services%202007.pdf

Get a hands-on introduction with seven practical projects. This guide highlights architectural underpinnings, the latest enhancements for developers, and code samples to get you started with building custom applications and solutions with Windows SharePoint Services products and technologies. (Note For developers)

Microsoft Press – Microsoft TechNet / May 2006 / 236 pages / 7.76 Mo / PDF

Hi all,

Microsoft recently announced that customers can now deploy Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux and a range of select applications, virtualized on Red Hat and Microsoft virtualization products, knowing that the combined solutions will be supported by both companies.

Here are the details:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 have passed cert tests when running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. See more at RedHat’s certified hardware site.
• Windows Server 2003/ Windows Server 2008 / Windows Server 2008 R2 are validated to run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4, using their KVM-based hypervisor. See more at Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program site.

Beyond the OS, both companies have select applications that would receive technical support when running on certified server virtualization software.

The Microsoft applications can be seen in KB article 957006. On the Red Hat side, you can now run JBoss Enterprise Middleware within a virtual machine guest on Hyper-V and receive coordinated technical support.

This is a step forward for enterprise customers, hosting providers, systems integrators, and those who want to offer their customers the top x86 operating systems to run applications.

Good news for everyone that uses both Microsoft & Red Hat products, I hope more collaboration news like that will continue to come out.