On Tuesday, Jaunary 8, the below recommended fix was released and available on Windows Update for Windows .NET Framework 4.5.

2750149
An update is available for the .NET Framework 4.5 in Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Server 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2750149/EN-US

When installing this update to a Windows 2012 Cluster Server, you will receive the below error when you select Roles or Nodes from within Failover Cluster Manager.

A weak event was created and it lives on the wrong object, there is a very high chance this will fail, please review and make changes on your code to prevent this issue

You can still manage your Cluster from a node that does not have this fix or through Powershell.  The recommendation at this time is to remove and not install this fix. 

Microsoft is aware of the issue.  Once the cause has been identified and a resolution available, this blog will be updated to reflect the resolution.

==========
UPDATE - January 23, 2013
==========

This issue has been resolved.  After installing the KB2750149 patch for .NET Framework, please also install the below patch.

KB2803748
Failover Cluster Management snap-in crashes after you install update 2750149 on a Windows Server 2012-based failover cluster
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2803748

John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

Hello everyone. Today’s post is going to cover the steps needed to follow should you ever have to remove a ‘Physical Disk’ resource from a clustered service or application where that disk is configured as a mount point. Removing a disk from a group may be needed if the application no longer requires the storage and there’s a need to utilize the disk in some other group or decommission it entirely.

First, I wanted to talk a little about dependencies and their function. Resource dependencies are created between one or more resources in a cluster group in order to determine the order in which resources in the group are taken online/offline. Take for instance a SQL Server resource that’s dependent on the ‘Physical Disk’ resources where SQL’s data is stored. A dependency should be established so that the SQL Server resource is dependent on the disk resource. This dependency will make sure the disk comes online first, and then SQL Server. Same thing when taking those things offline, except in reverse. The SQL Server resource will come offline before the disk comes offline. Obviously, we would not want to have SQL Server attempt to start until all the disks it was using was online first.

Once resources in a cluster group are linked with dependencies, you have to be careful when deleting resources out of a group. If you don’t remove dependencies properly, you may end up inadvertently removing other resources as well.

In this example, I have two resources in a cluster group, Resource A and Resource B. I establish dependencies between them so that Resource B is dependent on Resource B.

This means that when the group is brought online, Resource B will not be brought online until Resource A is online.

Here is what the dependency report looks like.

Now that these two resources are linked, you have to be careful when deleting these resources. If I were to delete Resource A from the group without first removing the dependency, BOTH resources will get removed.

At this point, a pop-up will appear warning that a removal of this resource could affect applications using this resource.

If you click ‘Yes’, both resources get removed.

Lesson learned. If the resource you are deleting is dependent on any other resources, remove the dependency first.

Now, we get to the main point of this post. The above process is fine for deleting resources from a cluster group unless the resource you are deleting is configured as a “Physical Disk’ resource, and it a mount point disk. The process differs slightly and you must follow this process or you could find yourself unintentionally moving every resource in the group into ‘Available Storage’.

First, lets cover proper way to remove a mount point disk from a cluster group. In this example, I have a plain File Server group with a Network Name, IP Address, File Server, and three disks. A root disk (Disk X:) and two mount points using folders on the root of X: called X:\MountPointA and X:\MountPointB.

Since I don’t have any shares located on X:\MountPointB, I want to remove that disk so I can use it in some other application. The FIRST thing I need to do is take the resource offline.

Then I can right-click the resource and click ‘Remove from GroupName’

When you remove a ‘Physical Disk’ resource from a cluster group, it doesn’t actually remove the cluster resource altogether, it moves the disk resource into the ‘Available Storage’ group.  This is so that you can reallocate the resource to another group if needed.

As you can see, the resource now shows in ‘Available Storage’

At this point, you can remove the mount point configuration, or change it to a lettered drive so you can use for some other application.

Now let’s go over what can happen if you don’t take the mount point offline before removing it. The main reason in going over this is to show you how to recover so that there’s no adverse impact to the Cluster.

In this example, I am removing the same resource from the File Server group following the same process above WITHOUT taking it offline first. First, I verified there were no dependencies on the ‘DiskX:\MountPointB’ resource.

Now here’s where it gets fun. After I attempted to remove the mount point, ALL of my resources disappear from the group. ??????

Time to panic? No, all is not lost. What happened is that because we had a mount point configured, and a mount point is not usable unless there’s a root disk, ALL of the resources moved to ‘Available Storage’ because the rest of the resources DO have dependencies.

It may appear all of the resources disappeared. Because in the UI, we only show ‘Physical Disk’ resources, if any other resources get put in that group, they don’t show up in the UI. However, if we run a command line to display all resources and their groups, we can see that the resources are still there.

To get the resources back into the right group, just move the disks back to the original File Server group. Right click the disk, More actions, and select Move this resource to another service or application. The same dependency tree will cause the resources to move back.

Now we have all our resources back and we can follow the correct process of taking the mount point disk offline BEFORE removing it.

Cheers!

Jeff Hughes
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

The IT Pro Evangelism team, Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft Virtual Academy are pleased to announce the next Jump Start courses!

Introduction to Hyper-V

Thursday, January 24th

This one-day live event is designed for IT Pros experienced in virtualization (i.e., VMware) but in need of learning how to leverage Hyper-V to perform essential tasks in the Windows Server 2012 platform. Introduction to Microsoft Virtualization, Hyper-V Infrastructure, Hyper-V Networking, Hyper-V Storage, Hyper-V Management, Hyper-V High Availability and Live Migration, Integration with System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager, and Integration with Other System Center 2012 Components

COURSE OUTLINE

(01) Introduction to Microsoft Virtualization
(02) Hyper-V Infrastructure
(03) Hyper-V Networking
(04) Hyper-V Storage

**Meal Break**

(05) Hyper-V Management
(06) Hyper-V High Availability and Live Migration
(07) Integration with System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager
(08) Integration with Other System Center 2012 Components

Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals

Wednesday, January 30th.

This course is designed for VMware professionals looking to get up-to-speed with how Microsoft virtualization and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V works and compares with VMware vSphere 5.1.  Introduction & Scalability, Storage & Resource Management, Multi-tenancy & Flexibility, Backup & High-Availability, Introduction & Overview of System Center 2012, Application Management, Cloud on your Terms, and Foundation, Hybrid Clouds & Costs.

COURSE OUTLINE

AM | Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V vs. VMware vSphere 5.1
(01) Introduction & Scalability
(02) Storage & Resource Management
(03) Multi-tenancy & Flexibility
(04) Backup & High-Availability

**Meal Break**

PM | System Center 2012 SP1 vs. VMware’s Private Cloud
(05) Introduction & Overview of System Center 2012
(06) Application Management
(07) Cloud on your Terms
(08) Foundation, Hybrid Clouds & Costs

These live online events are designed for IT Pros that are new to virtualization, or experienced in other hypervisors (such as VMware or Citrix) and want to learn about Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. 

Join Microsoft & VMware virtualization experts Symon Perriman, Jeff Woolsey and Matt McSpirit in a demo-rich learning experience with a live Q&A for a full days of training from 8am to 5pm.

These events are FREE and open to the PUBLIC so please register and spread the word for Introduction to Hyper-V andMicrosoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals today!

Join us again in late February for our Microsoft Tools for VMware Migration & Integration Jump Start.

I often get asked the question by customers on how to find the newly released hotfixes for Cluster and Hyper-V or the customer wants to know what hotfixes are out there. We have 3 Wiki pages that will make life easier for you when looking for hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2 Cluster and Hyper-V. You can also setup an RSS Subscription to the Wiki page so you can the updated Wiki page in your favorite RSS app or Outlook.

Hyper-V: Update List for Windows Server 2008 R2 (en-US)

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/1349.hyper-v-update-list-for-windows-server-2008-r2-en-us.aspx

List of Cluster Hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2008.list-of-cluster-hotfixes-for-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx

List of Failover Cluster Packages Updated After the Release of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3153.list-of-failover-cluster-packages-updated-after-the-release-of-windows-server-2008-r2-service-pack-1-sp1.aspx

Steven Graves
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support
High Availability Team

The Microsoft Virtual Academy training portal offers quick and easy access to presentations, webcasts, whitepapers and other technical content about Microsoft’s Cloud technologies.  It is public, free and you learn at your own pace while earning awards and recognitions, and connecting with over 1 million other IT Pros.

Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start

This course is designed for VMware professionals looking to get up-to-speed with how Microsoft virtualization and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V works and compares with VMware vSphere 5.1. This one-day event will feature Microsoft Technical Evangelist Symon Perriman and Technical Product Manager Matt McSpirit (both VMware Certified Professionals) delivering an engaging, demo-rich, live learning experience.

Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals agenda includes:

1. Introduction & Scalability
2. Storage & Resource Management
3. Security, Multi-tenancy & Flexibility
4. High-Availability & Resiliency
5. System Center 2012 Introduction & Overview
6. Application Management
7. Cross-Platform Management
8. Foundation, Hybrid Clouds & Costs

This training is available now for free and can be downloaded for viewing at a later time, if desired.

In a previous blog, it was discussed on where you can get a list of the Failover Clustering and Hyper-V hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2.

Looking for Windows Server 2008 R2 Cluster and Hyper-V Hotfixes?
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2013/02/15/looking-for-windows-server-2008-r2-cluster-and-hyper-v-hotfixes.aspx

In this blog, we give the links to newly released hotfixes for Failover Clustering and Hyper-V so you know what hotfixes are out there. There are two Wiki pages that will make life easier for you when looking for hotfixes for Windows Server 2012 Clustering and Hyper-V.

Hyper-V: Update List for Windows Server 2012
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15576.hyper-v-update-list-for-windows-server-2012.aspx

List of Failover Cluster Hotfixes for Windows Server 2012
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15577.list-of-failover-cluster-hotfixes-for-windows-server-2012.aspx

These Wiki pages are updated on a regular basis.  You can setup an RSS Subscription to the Wiki page so you can the updated Wiki page in your favorite RSS app or Outlook.

John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

The IT Pro Evangelism team, Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft Virtual Academy are pleased to announce the next FREE& PUBLIC event Live Q&A: Introduction to Hyper-V on Wednesday April 3^rd, from 8:30 am – 10:00am PST with virtualization experts Jeff Woolsey (Principal Program Manager) & Symon Perriman (Senior Technical Evangelist).

Ask your customers to join this live online event designed for IT professionals that have questions about Microsoft virtualization and want to learn about Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.  Register here: http://aka.ms/MVAf-HyperV.  If you cannot make the live event, sign up anyway so you can receive a notification when the recording is published on the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

Topics and demos may include:

• Introduction to Microsoft Virtualization
• Hyper-V Infrastructure
• Hyper-V Networking
• Hyper-V Storage
• Hyper-V Management
• Hyper-V High Availability and Live Migration
• Integration with System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager
• Integration with Other System Center 2012 Components

Tweet: Ask us your questions about #Windows#Sever 2012 #HyperV! Register for this live free public Q&A event on April 3rd: http://aka.ms/MVAf-HyperV

Also check out our recent full day training Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start which is now available on the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

I recently encountered an issue involving the failure of a new Network Name resource to come online. Doing some investigation I found a number of instances where this has been encountered, with different resolutions provided.  Since no root cause was defined, fellow Directory Services Engineer Robert Williams and I set out to determine the cause. 

You’ll know you’ve encountered this issue if you create a new Network Name resource and it fails to online with the following errors:

In the System Event log you will see a Failover Cluster event 1194:

Log Name:      System

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering

Date:          3/27/2013 1:19:07 PM

Event ID:      1194

Task Category: Network Name Resource

Level:         Error

Keywords:     

User:          SYSTEM

Computer:     ComputerName

Description:

Cluster network name resource 'ComputerName' failed to create its associated computer object in domain 'DomainName' for the following reason: Unable to obtain access to Computer Object in DS.

The text for the associated error code is: Access is denied.

Please work with your domain administrator to ensure that:

• The cluster identity 'CNO' can create computer objects. By default all computer objects are created in the 'Computers' container; consult the domain administrator if this location has been changed.
• The quota for computer objects has not been reached.
• If there is an existing computer object, verify the Cluster Identity 'CNO' has 'Full Control' permission to that computer object using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool.

In the Cluster log you will see the following entries:

00000ea4.000012b0::2013/03/25-16:55:04.113 ERR   [RES] Network Name < NetworkName>: Failed to obtain access to computer account < AccountName>, status 80070005

00000ea4.000012b0::2013/03/25-16:55:04.128 ERR   [RHS] Online for resource <NetworkName> failed.

Note:   To generate a Cluster log, run the following command from an administrators command prompt. The Cluster.log file will be generated in the c:\windows\cluster\reports directory.  The entry will be in the Cluster log on the Node where the online attempt failed.

Cluster log /gen

We determined that the root cause of the issue is due to the removal of NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users from the local Users group.  Note below that it is present by default:

The best solution is to add back NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated to the local Users Group. This will require a reboot for the change to take effect.  If your security team is unwilling to do this, you can disable the following two Security policies and refresh the policy by running gpupdate /force:

Network access: Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts

Network access: Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts and shares

You will have to determine which of these two options best fits the security requirements for your environment.   It may be a good option to create a separate Organizational Unit (OU) for your Cluster servers.  This will allow you to affect the preferred change to the limited subset of servers. 

Steven Andress

Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Microsoft Customer Support & Services

Greetings AskCore fans.  I thought I would start creating a blog for a subset of the videos/sessions available at each of the conferences that Microsoft has throughout the year.  These sessions will be available and will deal with topics that are discussed here on the AskCore Blog.  There are numerous other sessions if you want to get into System Center products, Azure, SQL Server, Exchange, etc.  They are just to numerous to list here. 

All sessions at our conferences are approximately 1:15 long and are presented by either Program Managers, Product Managers, Technical Evangelists, Support Escalation Engineers, etc.  Sit back and enjoy the sessions at your leisure.  Most all sessions can be viewed in either MP4 and WMV.  You can also download the sessions and PowerPoint presentations from the deliveries to be viewed at a later time or on some other device.

If you have attended any of these conferences, our many thanks are given.  If you haven't, you should look into going to one as it is a good way of networking with others and have a good time while getting up to speed on all the new technologies.

So, without further adieu, first up:  MMS 2013.

=====================

The Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) brings together the brightest IT professionals from around the world to increase their technical expertise through an intensive week of training led by experts in desktop, device management, datacenter, and cloud technologies.  This is held in Las Vegas every year and is a good time held by all.

MMS 101: Conquering the Summit
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/MMS101
If this is your first time attending the Microsoft Management Summit, then you don't want to miss this session! You'll learn priceless tips and tricks to maximize your investment in MMS2013. We'll give you the inside scoop on all the sessions, labs and Expo vendors. If that's not enough, we'll get you networked with other attendees and alumni from your area. Finally, we'll answer all your questions so that you have everything you need to conquer the Summit!

Windows Server 2012 in 60 Minutes
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B326

Introduction to Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2012
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B317

What's New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper–V
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B330

Availability Strategies for a Resilient Private Cloud
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B302

A Geek's Guide to USMT 5.0
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B301

Demonstrations of Assessment and Deployment Kit Tools
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B302

Advanced Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1 Customizations
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B303

Implementing the Windows To Go Concept in an Enterprise Environment
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B304

Deploying Windows 8 Using Lite Touch
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B308

Choosing the Right OS Deployment Tool
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B309

Windows Sysinternals Primer
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B311

What's New with Windows 8 Bitlocker and Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Management 2.0
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B312

Real World Windows 8 Deployment with MDT 2012 Update 1
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B316

Deploying Windows To Go in the Real World
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B317

What's New in Windows 8 Deployment
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B318

Making PC Recovery Easier with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/DC-B321

Competitive Advantages of Hyper-V over VMware vSphere
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B201

File Storage Strategies for Private Cloud
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B309

How to Design and Configure Networking in VMM and HyperV (Part 1 of 2)
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B312

How to Design and Configure Networking in VMM and HyperV (Part 2 of 2)
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B313

Switching to Hyper–V: Migrating from VMware
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/WS-B325

Sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the sessions.

John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

A few months ago we held the annual 2013 Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas. As in years past, the event sold out quickly and it was a very busy week. To everyone that attended, our sincere thanks.  As a recap, the below blog gives you the list of available sessions online to view that deal with topics covered on the Core Blog site.

Sessions from MMS 2013 Now Available
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2013/04/23/sessions-from-mms-2013-now-available.aspx

As usual, the hands-on labs and instructor-led labs continue to be some of the most popular offerings at MMS. MMS Labs offer folks the opportunity to kick the tires on a wide array of Microsoft technologies and products. As usual the lines started early. For the fourth year in a row, all of the MMS Labs were 100% virtualized using Windows Server Hyper-V and managed via System Center by our partners at XB Velocity and using HP servers and storage. Of course, this year we upgraded to the latest version so everything was running on a Microsoft Cloud powered by Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and System Center 2012 SP1.

(BTW, Microsoft blogged about this topic in the past years, if you’re interested, the links are here and here.)  Before I jump into the Microsoft Private Cloud, let me provide some context about the labs themselves.

What is a MMS Hand On Lab?

One of the reasons the MMS Hands on Labs are so popular is because it’s a firsthand opportunity to evaluate and work with Windows Server and System Center in a variety of scenarios at your own pace. Here’s a picture of some of the lab stations…

With the hands on labs, we’ve done all the work to create these scenarios based on your areas of interest. So, what does one of these labs look like on the backend? Let’s be clear, none of these labs are a single VM. That’s easy. Been there, done that. When you sit down and request a specific lab, the cloud infrastructure provisions the lab on highly available infrastructure and deploys services that can be anywhere from 4 – 12 virtual machines in your lab in seconds. There are over 650 different lab stations and we have to account for all types of deployment scenarios. For example,

1. In the first scenario, all users sit down at 8 am and provision exactly the same lab. Or,
2. In the second scenario, all users sit down at 8 am and provision unique, different labs. Or,
3. In the third scenario, all users sit down at 8 am and provision a mix of everything

The lab then starts each lab in a few seconds. Let’s take a closer look at what some of the labs look like in terms of VM deployment.

MMS Lab Examples

Let’s start off with a relatively simple lab. This first lab is a Service Delivery and Automation lab. This lab uses:

• Four virtual machines
• 16 virtual processors
• 15 GB of memory total
• 280 GB of storage
• 2 virtual networks

…and here’s what each virtual machine is running…

Interested in creating virtualizing applications to deploy to your desktops, tablets, Remote Desktop Sessions? This next lab is a Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 Overview lab. This lab uses:

Seven virtual machines

• 14 virtual processors
• 16 GB of memory total
• 192 GB of storage
• 2 virtual networks

How about configuring a web farm for multi-tenant applications? Here’s the lab which uses:

• Six virtual machines
• 24 virtual processors
• 16 GB of memory total
• 190 GB of storage
• 2 virtual networks

Ever wanted to enable secure remote access with RemoteApp, DirectAccess and Dynamic Access Control? Here’s the lab you’re looking for. This lab uses:

Seven virtual machines

• 28 virtual processors
• 18 GB of memory total
• 190 GB of storage
• 2 virtual networks

Again, these are just a few of the dozens of labs ready for you at the hands on labs.

MMS 2013 Private Cloud: The Hardware

BTW, before I get to the specifics, let me point out that this Microsoft/HP Private Cloud Solution is an orderable solution available today...

Compute. Like last year, we used two HP BladeSystem c7000s for compute for the cloud infrastructure. Each c7000 had 16 nodes and this year we to upgraded to the latest BL460c Generation 8 Blades. All 32 blades were then clustered to create a 32 node Hyper-V cluster. Each blade was configured with:

• Two sockets with 8 cores per socket and thus 16 cores. Symmetric Multi-Threading was enabled and thus we had a total of 32 logical processors per blade.
• 256 GB of memory per blade with Hyper-V Dynamic Memory enabled
• 2 local disks 300 GB SAS mirrored for OS Boot per blade
• HP I/O Accelerator cards (either 768 GB or 1.2 TB) per blade

Storage. This year we wanted to have a storage backend that could take advantage of the latest storage advancements in Windows Server 2012 (such as Offloaded Data Transfer and SMI-S) so we decided to go with a 3Par StoreServ P10800 storage solution. The storage was configured as a 4 node, scale-out solution using 8 Gb fibre channel and configured with Multi-Path IO and two 16 port FC switches for redundancy. There was a total of 153.6 TB of storage configured with:

• 64 x 200 GB SSD disks
• 128 x 600 GB 15k FC disks
• 32 x 2 TB 7200k RPM SAS

As you can see, the 3Par includes SSD, 15k and 7200k disks. This is so the 3Par can provide automated storage tiering with HP’s Adaptive Optimization. With storage tiering, this ensures the most frequently used storage (the hot blocks) reside in the fastest possible storage tier whether that’s RAM, SSD, 15k or 7200k disks respectively. With storage tiering you can mix and match storage types to find the right balance of capacity and IOPs for you. In short, storage tiering rocks with Hyper-V. From a storage provisioning perspective, both SCVMM and the 3Par storage both support standards based storage management through SMI-S so the provisioning of the 3Par storage was done through System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Very cool.

Networking. From a networking perspective, the solution used VirtualConnect FlexFabric 10Gb/E and everything was teamed using Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming. Once the network traffic was aggregated in software via teaming, that capacity was carved up in software.

Time for the Pictures…

Here’s a picture of the racks powering all of the MMS 2013 Labs. The two racks on the left with the yellow signs are the 3Par storage while the two racks on the right contain all of the compute nodes (32 blades) and management nodes (a two node System Center 2012 SP1 cluster). What you don’t see are the crowds gathered around pointing, snapping pictures, and gazing longingly…

MMS 2013: Management with System Center. Naturally, the MMS team used System Center to manage all the labs, specifically Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, Orchestrator, Configuration Manager, and Service Manager. System Center 2012 SP1 was completely virtualized running on Hyper-V and was running on a small two node cluster using DL360 Generation 8 rackmount servers.

Operations Manager was used to monitor the health and performance of all the Hyper-V labs running Windows and Linux. Yes, I said Linux. Linux runs great on Hyper-V (it has for many years now) and System Center manages Linux very well… J To monitor health proactively, we used the ProLiant and BladeSystem Management Packs for System Center Operations Manager. The HP Management Packs expose the native management capabilities through Operations Manager such as:

• Monitor, view, and get alerts for HP servers and blade enclosures
• Directly launch iLO Advanced or SMH for remote management
• Graphical View of all of the nodes via Operations Manager

In addition, 3Par has management packs that plug right into System Center, so Operations Manager was used to manage the 3Par storage as well…

…having System Center integration with the 3Par storage came in handy when one of the drives died and Operations Manager was able to pinpoint exactly what disk failed and in what chassis…

Of course, everything in this Private Cloud solution is fully redundant so we didn’t even notice the disk failure for some time…

In terms of managing the overall solution, here’s a view of some of the real time monitoring we were displaying and where many folks just sat and watched.

Virtual Machine Manager was used to provision and manage the entire virtualized lab delivery infrastructure and monitor and report on all the virtual machines in the system. In addition, HP has written a Virtual Machine Manager plug-in so you can view the HP Fabric from within System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Check this out:

It should go without saying that to support a lab of this scale and with only a few minutes between the end of one lab and the beginning of the next, automation is a key precept. The Hands on Lab team was positively gushing about PowerShell. “In the past, when we needed to provide additional integration it was a challenge. WMI was there, but the learning curve for WMI is steep and we’re system administrators. With PowerShell built-into WS2012, we EASILY created solutions and plugged into Orchestrator. It was a huge time saver.”

MMS 2013: Pushing the limit…

As you may know, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V supports up to 64 nodes and 8,000 virtual machines in a cluster. Well, we have a history for pushing the envelope with this gear and this year was no different. At the very end of the show, the team fired up as many virtual machines to see how high we could go. (These were all lightly loaded as we didn’t have the time to do much more…) On Friday, the team fired up 8,312 virtual machines (~260 VMs per blade) running on a 32 node cluster. Each blade has 256 GB of memory each and we kept turning on VMs until all the memory was consumed.

MMS 2013: More data…

• Over the course of the week, over 48,000 virtual machines were provisioned. This is ~8,000 more than last year. Here’s a quick chart. Please note that Friday is just a half day…

• Average CPU Utilization across the entire pool of servers during labs hovered around 15%. Peaks were recorded a few times at ~20%. In short, even with thousands of Hyper-V VMs running on a 32 node cluster, we were barely taxing this well architected and balanced system.
• While each blade was populated with 256 GB, they weren’t maxed. Each blade can take up to 384 GB.
• Storage Admins: Disk queues for each of the hosts largely remained at 1.0 (1.0 is nirvana). When 3200 VMs were deployed simultaneously, the disk queue peaked at 1.3. Read that again. Show your storage admins. (No, those aren’t typos.)
• The HP I/O Accelerators used were the 768 GB version and 1.2 TB versions. The only reason we used a mix of different sizes because that’s what we had available.
• All I/O was configured for HA and redundancy.
  • Network adapters were teamed with Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming
  • Storage was fibre channel and was configured with Active-Active Windows Server Multi-Path I/O (MPIO). None of it was needed, but it was all configured, tested and working perfectly.
• During one of the busiest days at MMS 2013 with over 3500 VMs running simultaneously, this configuration wasn’t even breathing hard. It’s truly a sight to behold and a testament to how well this Microsoft/HP Private Cloud Solution delivers.

From a management perspective, System Center was the heart of the system providing health monitoring, ensuring consistent hardware configuration and providing the automation that makes a lab this complex successful. At its peak, with over 3500 virtual machines running, you simply can’t work at this scale without pervasive automation.

From a hardware standpoint, the HP BladeSystem and 3Par storage are simply exceptional. Even at peak load running 3500+ virtual machines, we weren’t taxing the system. Not even close. Furthermore, the fact that the HP BladeSystem and 3Par storage integrate with Operations Manager, Configuration Manager and Virtual Machine Manager provides incredible cohesion between systems management and hardware. When a disk unexpectedly died, we were notified and knew exactly where to look. From a performance perspective, the solution provides a comprehensive way to view the entire stack. From System Center we can monitor compute, storage, virtualization and most importantly the workloads running within the VMs. This is probably a good time for a reminder…

If you’re creating a virtualization or cloud infrastructure, the best platform for Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Lync, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft SQL Server is Microsoft Windows Server with Microsoft Hyper-V managed by Microsoft System Center. This is the best tested, best performing, most scalable solution and is supported end to end by Microsoft.

One More Thing...

Finally, we’ve been talking about Windows Server and System Center as part of our Microsoft Private Cloud Solution. I’d also like to point out that Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V is the same rock-solid, high performing and scalable hypervisor we use to power Windows Azure too.

Read that again.

That’s right. Windows Azure is powered by Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. See you at TechEd.

P.S. Hope to see you at the Hands on Lab at TechEd!

More pictures below…

Here’s a close up of one of the racks. This rack has one of the c7000 chassis with 16 nodes for Hyper-V. It also includes the two managements heads clustered used for System Center. At the bottom of the rack are the Uninterruptible Power Supplies.

…and here’s the back of one of the racks that held a c7000…

HP knew there was going to be a lot of interest, so they created full size cardboard replicas diagraming the hardware in use.

…and here’s one more…

John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support

Today’s blog is a listing of our favorite videos and presentations that recently occurred at TechEd 2013.  I have gone through them and picked what we think are the most important to the technologies our team supports.

1. Deployment/Client
2. Windows Server 2012
3. Windows Server 2012 R2
4. Azure
5. For Fun

For a full list of the presentations take a look at http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013

Deployment/Client

· Building the Perfect Windows 8 Image:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B305

· Replacing BIOS with UEFI Deployment:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B337

· Advanced Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Customizations: Dueling MDT Enhancements:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B302

· Windows in the Enterprise: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/FDN07

· What’s new with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B347

· Windows Store Apps: Enterprise LOB App Deployment Scenarios:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B358

· Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Windows, But Were Afraid to Ask:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B201

· Windows RT in the Enterprise:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B357

· What's New in Windows 8 Deployment:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B349

· Windows 8 Deployment Using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1 and Microsoft System Center..:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-H209

· Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT):  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-H206

Windows Server 2012

· Overview of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B338

· Cluster in a Box in 2013: How Real Customers Are Making Their Businesses Highly-Available with Windows Server 2012:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B336

· Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Storage Performance:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B345

· The Top Ten New Features You Really Care about in Windows Server 2012:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B207

· Failover Cluster Networking Essentials:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B337

· Windows Server 2012 Deployment and Ongoing Management: Why Server Core Is Right for You:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B339

· Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster Disaster Recovery: Everything You Need to Know to Prepare and Successfully Recover:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B355

· Practical Implementation of Windows Server 2012 Storage Technologies:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B391

Windows Server 2012 R2

· Introduction to Windows Server 2012 R2:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B205

· Windows Server 2012 R2 Clustering:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/C9-22

· Deploying Windows Server 2012 R2 File Services for Exceptional $/IOPS:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B217

· Continuous Availability: Deploying and Managing Clusters Using Windows Server 2012 R2:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B305

· Storage and Availability Improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B333

· Hyper-V – What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B330

· Storage Spaces: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B218

· Deep Dive on Hyper-V Network Virtualization in Windows Server 2012 R2:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B380

Azure

· Crash Course on Automating Deployments in Windows Azure Virtual Machines. How and Which Tools?:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B405

· Take Control of the Cloud with the Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WAD-B305

· Windows Azure Internals:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WAD-B402

· Getting the Most out of Windows Azure Storage:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WAD-B406

· Infrastructure Services on Windows Azure: Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks with Mark Russinovich:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B212

· Best Practices from Real Customers: Deploying to Windows Azure Infrastructure Services (IaaS):  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B361

For FunJ

· Sysinternals Primer: TechEd 2013 Edition:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/ATC-B313

· Case of the Unexplained 2013: Windows Troubleshooting with Mark Russinovich:  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B306

Scott McArthur
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Support

When Failover Cluster Manager is opened to manage a Cluster, it will contact all the nodes and retrieve Cluster configuration information using WMI calls. If any one of the nodes in the Cluster does not have the cluster namespace "root\mscluster" in WMI, Failover Cluster Manager will fail and give one of the below errors:

Or,

Unfortunately, it does not give any indication of which node is missing the WMI namespace.  One of the ways you can check to see which one has it missing is to run the below command on each node of the Cluster.

Get-WmiObject -namespace "root\mscluster" -class MSCluster_Resource

It can be a bit tedious and time consuming if you have quite a few nodes, say like 64 of them.  The below script can be run on one of the nodes that will connect to all the other nodes and check to see if the namespace is present.  If it is, it will succeed.  If the namespace does not exist, it will fail.

-----------------
Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted

cls

If(import-module failoverclusters)
{

Write-Host "Imported Cluster module"

}

Write-Host "Getting the cluster nodes..." -NoNewline
$nodes = Get-ClusterNode
Write-host "Found the below nodes "
Write-host " "
$nodes
Write-host ""
Write-host "Running the WMI query...."
Write-host " "
ForEach ($Node in $nodes)
{
         Write-Host -NoNewline $node

              if($Node.State -eq "Down")
            {

                    Write-Host -ForegroundColor White    " : Node down skipping"
             }
   
        else
            {

           Try
           {
            #success

              $result = (get-wmiobject -class "MSCluster_CLUSTER" -namespace "root\MSCluster" -authentication PacketPrivacy               -computername $Node -erroraction stop).__SERVER
               Write-host -ForegroundColor Green      " : WMI query succeeded "
           }
           Catch
           {
         
              #Failure

              Write-host -ForegroundColor Red -NoNewline  " : WMI Query failed "
              Write-host  "//"$_.Exception.Message
            }
      }
  
   }
-----------------

In the below example, you can see that one of the nodes failed.

To correct the problem, you would need to run the below from an administrative command prompt on the "failed" node(s).

cd c:\windows\system32\wbem
mofcomp.exe cluswmi.mof

Once the Cluster WMI has been added back, you can successfully open Failover Cluster Management.  There is no restart of the machine or the Cluster Service needed.

Now, the next question you may have is, "well how did I get this way in the first place".  The answer is actually a command from the old days to "fix" the WMI repository.  In earlier days, if there was a problem with WMI, they would change to the above directory and run mofcomp.exe *.mof.  This will take all the .MOF (Managed Object File) files in the directory and recompile them.  The problem with this command is is does "all" of them. 

When you install Roles and Features that utilize WMI, there is a .MOF file to add itself to the repository.  There is also an uninstall .MOF file to remove itself if the role/feature is removed.  When you run with the *.mof switch, it could run the install first and the uninstall second.  So you are basically removing the namespaces to fix a problem.  Cluster is one of the ones that has an uninstall file.  To correct it, you have to run the above.  Since there are multiple uninstall files for other roles/features, you may need to run with those install files as well.

The proper ways of recompiling the WMI Repository is with the use of WINMGMT.EXE.

WINMGMT
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394525(v=vs.85).aspx

WMI Troubleshooting: The Repository on Vista / Server 2008
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2008/07/11/wmi-troubleshooting-the-repository-on-vista-server-2008.aspx

Note: The blog above is titled for Windows 2008, but does apply to Windows 2012/2012R2 as well.

Shasank Prasad
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Corporation

I was recently asked how to add a Pass-through disk to a Highly Available VM running on a Windows Server 2012 R2 Failover Cluster. I tested the steps I was accustomed to for Windows Server 2008 and found the Disk to be in a ReadOnly state in the VM. As it turns out there are differences in how you add the disk and how Cluster refreshes the VM after the disk as added. Below are the steps to do this successfully:

The first step is to add the disk to Failover Cluster. When you do this the disk will be placed in Available Storage. Note the Disk Number associated with your Pass-through disk for later use.

After adding the disk to Failover Cluster, assign it to the VM role and ensure that the disk is online. If it is offline when you perform the remaining steps, the disk will be ReadOnly in the VM with no way to fix it but to start over.

Now that you have the Pass-through disk added to the VM role, all that is left is to modify the VM setting by adding the Pass-through disk to a virtual SCSI adapter. Before doing this you will need to Shut Down the VM and leave the Configuration resource online. Also ensure the disk is online.

Go to the VM Settings from within Failover Cluster administrator by right clicking on the VM and selecting Settings:

Click on the SCSI controller, select Hard Drive and then click on Add. You can use the existing SCSI controller the Operating System VHDX is attached too, or add a second one if you like.

Click the Physical hard disk radio button and from the drop down select the disk that corresponds to the disk you added to the VM role. This is the disk number you noted above. Click ok to complete the change.

Start the Virtual Machine and you will now have access from within the VM to your Pass-Through disk.

Here is an abbreviated list of steps if you are familiar with the interfaces and would just like to know what needs to be done so you can go do it.

1. Add the disk that will be a Pass-through disk to Failover Cluster and assign the disk to the VM role.
2. Online the disk if it is offline.
3. Shutdown the Virtual Machine, but leave the Virtual Machine Configuration resource online.
4. Add the Pass-through disk to the VM configuration. Use the existing SCSI controller or add a second.
5. Start the Virtual Machine

Steven Andress
Sr. Support Escalation Engineer
Platforms Global Business Support

In this post, I’m excited to discuss a new Premier Support offering called Risk Assessment Program (RAP) as a Service (or RaaS for short).

For those that are not familiar with RAP, it is a Microsoft Services Premier Support offering that helps prevent serious issues from occurring by analyzing the health and risks present in your current environment.

For example: if you haven’t done a WDRAP (Windows Desktop RAP) and your end-users are suffering slow boot times, slow logon times, slow file copy, hung applications, and applications crashing, it could help! A WDRAP assesses your current environment and recommends changes which improve the Windows user experience.

Our new RAP as a Service offering helps accelerate the process of diagnosis and reporting, using our RaaS online service.

Q: So what is Microsoft RAP as a Service (RaaS)?
A:  RaaS is an evolution of the Risk Assessment Program offering.

• RaaS is a way of staying healthy, proactively.
• It’s secure and private.
• The data is collected remotely.
• We analyze against best practices established by knowledge obtained from Microsoft IT, and over 20,000 customer assessments.
• It enables you to view your results immediately.

You can also take a look at this video describing RAP as a Service:

Q:  What are the benefits of RaaS over a RAP?
A:  The benefits are:

• Online delivery with a Microsoft accredited engineer.
• A modern best-practices toolset that allows you to assess your environment at any time and includes ongoing updates for a full year.
• You get immediate on-line feedback on your environment.  Just run the straightforward toolset and you’ll garner instant insight into your environment.
• Easily share results with your IT staff and others in your organization.
• You can reassess your environment to track remediation and improvement progress.
• Reduced resource overhead requirements.  There’s no need to take your people away from their other work for multiple days, nor do they need to travel to the location where the work is being performed.
• Better scheduling flexibility.  Due to the agile structure of the RaaS service offering, turnaround times to get a Microsoft accredited engineer to review your environment are much shorter.
• Better security.  While both offerings are highly secure, RaaS has the added benefit of including no intermediary steps in the assessment process.
• RaaS includes remediation planning, which helps you understand what’s required to get your environment optimally healthy.
• A broader toolset that is continually enhanced.   For example, RaaS for Active Directory includes assessment checks that were previously available as two separate service offerings: an Active Directory RAP and Active Directory Upgrade Assessment Health Check.  These are combined in the Active Directory RaaS. RaaS also includes additional new tests such as support for Windows Server 2012.

Q:  What technologies can be assessed using RaaS?

• Active Directory 
• Dynamics AX
• Dynamics CRM 
• Exchange Server 
• Failover Cluster 
• Group Policy Object
• Internet Information Services 
• Lync Server 
• SharePoint Server 
• SQL Server 
• System Center Configuration Manager
• System Center Operations Manager 
• System Center Service Manager 
• Windows Desktop 
• Windows Azure: Application Resource Consumption and Cost 
• Windows Azure: Application Scalability 
• Windows Azure: Identity and Access Control 
• Windows Azure: Migrations 
• Release Management for Windows Azure 

… and others coming soon, such as Hyper-V and more.  Please contact your Microsoft Premier Support Technical Account Manager for further info on availability.

Q:  I can’t wait until the releases of the other technologies!
A:  In the meantime, you can still request a RAP for those technologies until these are released with RaaS.

Q:  Is RaaS currently available for non-Premier Support customers?
A:  Not at this time. To find out more about Premier Support, please visit Microsoft Services Premier Support  

Q:  Do I use the RaaS service for my environment before or after going into production?
A:  Both. We highly recommend you test your environment before going live using RaaS.  We also recommend using RaaS after you go in production, because changes between test and production are inevitable.

Q:  What are the system requirements for a RaaS?
A:  The Microsoft Download Center has a detailed description of RAP as a Service (RaaS) Prerequisites.

Q:  How do I schedule a RaaS?
A:  Talk to your Microsoft Premier Support Technical Account Manager (TAM) or Application Developer Manager (ADM), and they can schedule the RaaS.

Q:  Where would I go to sign-in for the RaaS?
A:  You browse to the Microsoft Premier Proactive Assessment Services site and enter your credentials. The packages will be waiting for you to download and start running.

Q:  I’m in a secure environment; we cannot access external websites.
A:  It’s alright! We have a portable version for your needs.

Q:  Does it take a lot of ramp-up time to get familiar with the toolset?
A:  No, the package is wizard-driven for ease of use.

Q:  Do I need to have any down time?
A:  No, the data collection is non-invasive, so no scheduled downtime is required. Collect the data on your own schedule.

Q:  OK, I collected the data, now what are my next steps?
A:  Once data collection is complete, you can submit the data privately and securely to the Microsoft Premier Proactive Assessment Services site for analysis.

Q:  When do I get to see my results?
A:  We (the accredited Microsoft engineers) will analyze and annotate the report for your specific environment.  Once you receive the report back, we will set up a conference call to go over the findings with your staff.

Q:  How long is the report available for us?
A:  The report is available online for twelve months so you can continue remediating any issues/problems.

Q:  Can I re-run the RaaS toolset?
A:  Yes, you get to re-collect the data, submit the data again and get the detailed analysis back for a whole year, as a Premier customer.

Q:  Can I still have Microsoft Premier Field Engineers come on-site?
A:  Yes, we still have that option available to assist you! Regular RAPs are still available.

Thank you and I hope you found this useful and something you can take advantage of.

John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Global Business Support

In this blog, I will discuss the overall general practices to be considered when configuring networks in Failover Clusters.

Avoid single points of failure:

Identifying single points of failure and configuring redundancy at every point in the network is very critical to maintain high availability. Redundancy can be maintained by using multiple independent networks or by using NIC Teaming. Several ways of achieving this would be:

· Use multiple physical network adapter cards. Multiple ports of the same multiport card or backplane used for networks introduces a single point of failure.

· Connect network adapter cards to different independent switches. Multiple Vlans patched into a single switch introduces a single point of failure.

· Use of NIC teaming for non-redundant networks, such as client connection, intra-cluster communication, CSV, and Live Migration. In the event of a failure of the current active network card will have the communication move over to the other card in the team.

· Using different types of network adapters eliminates affecting connectivity across all network adapters at the same time if there is an issue with the NIC driver.

· Ensure upstream network resiliency to eliminate a single point of failure between multiple networks.

· The Failover Clustering network driver detects networks on the system by their logical subnet. It is not recommended to assign more than one network adapter per subnet, including IPV6 Link local, as only one card would be used by Cluster and the other ignored.

Network Binding Order:

The Adapters and Bindingstab lists the connections in the order in which the connections are accessed by network services. The order of these connections reflects the order in which generic TCP/IP calls/packets are sent on to the wire.

How to change the binding order of network adapters

1. Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl, and then click OK. You can see the available connections in the LAN and High-Speed Internet section of the Network Connections window.
2. On the Advanced menu, click Advanced Settings, and then click the Adapters and Bindings tab.
3. In the Connections area, select the connection that you want to move higher in the list. Use the arrow buttons to move the connection. As a general rule, the card that talks to the network (domain connectivity, routing to other networks, etc should the first bound (top of the list) card.

Cluster nodes are multi-homed systems.  Network priority affects DNS Client for outbound network connectivity.  Network adapters used for client communication should be at the top in the binding order.  Non-routed networks can be placed at lower priority.  In Windows Server 2012/2012R2, the Cluster Network Driver (NETFT.SYS) adapter is automatically placed at the bottom in the binding order list.

Cluster Network Roles:

Cluster networks are automatically created for all logical subnets connected to all nodes in the Cluster.  Each network adapter card connected to a common subnet will be listed in Failover Cluster Manager.  Cluster networks can be configured for different uses.

Automatic configuration

The Network roles are automatically configured during cluster creation. The above table describes the networks that are configured in a cluster.

Networks used for ISCSI communication with ISCSI software initiators is automatically disabled for Cluster communication (Do not allow cluster network communication on this network).

Networks configured without default gateway is automatically enabled for cluster communication only (Allow cluster network communication on this network).

Network configured with default gateway is automatically enabled for client and cluster communication (Allow cluster network communication on this network, Allow clients to connect through this network).

Manual configuration

Though the cluster networks are automatically configured while creating the cluster as described above, they can also be manually configured based on the requirements in the environment.

To modify the network settings for a Failover Cluster:

· Open Failover Cluster Manager

· Expand Networks.

· Right-click the network that you want to modify settings for, and then click Properties.

· If needed, change the name of the network.

· Select one of the following options:

o Allow cluster network communication on this network.  If you select this option and you want the network to be used by the nodes only (not clients), clear Allow clients to connect through this network. Otherwise, make sure it is selected.

o Do not allow cluster network communication on this network.  Select this option if you are using a network only for iSCSI (communication with storage) or only for backup. (These are among the most common reasons for selecting this option.)

Cluster network roles can also be changed using PowerShell command, Get-ClusterNetwork.

For example:

(Get-Cluster Network “Cluster Network 1”). Role =3

This configures “Cluster Network 1” to be enabled for client and cluster communication.

Configuring Quality of Service Policies in Windows 2012/2012R2:

To achieve Quality of Service, we can either have multiple network cards or used, QoS policies with multiple VLANs can be created.

QoS Prioritization is recommended to configure on all cluster deployments. Heartbeats and Intra-cluster communication are sensitive to latency and configuring a QoS Priority Flow Control policy helps reduce the latency.

An example of setting cluster heartbeating and intra-node communication to be the highest priority traffic would be:

New-NetQosPolicy “Cluster”-Cluster –Priority 6
New-NetQosPolicy “SMB” –SMB –Priority 5
New-NetQosPolicy “Live Migration” –LiveMigration –Priority 3

Note:

Available values are 0 – 6

Must be enabled on all the nodes in the cluster and the physical network switch

Undefined traffic is of priority 0

Bandwidth Allocation:

It is recommended to configure Relative Minimum Bandwidth SMB policy on CSV deployments

Example of setting minimum policy of cluster for 30%, Live migration for 20%, and SMB Traffic for 50% of the total bandwidth.

New-NetQosPolicy “Cluster” –Cluster –MinBandwidthWeightAction 30
New-NetQosPolicy “Live Migration” –LiveMigration –MinBandwidthWeightAction 20
New-NetQosPolicy “SMB” –SMB –MinBandwidthWeightAction 50

Multi-Subnet Clusters:

Failover Clustering supports having nodes reside in different IP Subnets. Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) in Windows Server 2012 as well as SQL Server 2012 support multi-subnet Clusters.

Typically, the general rule has been to have one network per role it will provide. Cluster networks would be configured with the following in mind.

Client connectivity

Client connectivity is used for the applications running on the cluster nodes to communicate with the client systems. This network can be configured with statically assigned IPv4, IPv6 or DHCP assigned IP addresses. APIPA addresses should not be used as will be ignored networks as the Cluster Virtual Network Adapter will be on those address schemes. IPV6 Stateless address auto configuration can be used, but keep in mind that DHCPv6 addresses are not supported for clustered IP address resources. These networks are also typically a routable network with a Default Gateway.

CSV Network for Storage I/O Redirection.

You would want this network if using as a Hyper-V Cluster and highly available virtual machines. This network is used for the NTFS Metadata Updates to a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) file system. These should be lightweight and infrequent unless there are communication related events getting to the storage.

In the case of CSV I/O redirection, latency on this network can slow down the storage I/O performance. Quality of Service is important for this network. In case of failure in a storage path between any nodes or the storage, all I/O will be redirected over the network to a node that still has the connectivity for it to commit the data. All I/O is forwarded, via SMB, over the network which is why network bandwidth is important.

Client for Microsoft Networks and File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks need to be enabled to support Server Message Block (SMB) which is required for CSV. Configuring this network not to register with DNS is recommended as it will not use any name resolution. The CSV Network will use NTLM Authentication for its connectivity between the nodes.

CSV communication will take advantage of the SMB 3.0 features such as SMB multi-channel and SMB Direct to allow streaming of traffic across multiple networks to deliver improved I/O performance for its I/O redirection.

By default, the cluster will automatically choose the NIC to be used for CSV for manual configuration refer the following article.

Designating a Preferred Network for Cluster Shared Volumes Communication
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff182335(WS.10).aspx

This network should be configured for Cluster Communications

Live Migration Network

As with the CSV network, you would want this network if using as a Hyper-V Cluster and highly available virtual machines. The Live Migration network is used for live migrating Virtual machines between cluster nodes. Configure this network as Cluster communications only network. By default, Cluster will automatically choose the NIC for Live migration.

Multiple networks can be selected for live migration depending on the workload and performance. It will take advantage of the SMB 3.0 feature SMB Direct to allow migrations of virtual machines to be done at a much quicker pace.

ISCSI Network:

If you are using ISCSI Storage and using the network to get to it, it is recommended that the iSCSI Storage fabric have a dedicated and isolated network. This network should be disabled for Cluster communications so that the network is dedicated to only storage related traffic.

This prevents intra-cluster communication as well as CSV traffic from flowing over same network. During the creation of the Cluster, ISCSI traffic will be detected and the network will be disabled from Cluster use. This network should set to lowest in the binding order.

As with all storage networks, you should configure multiple cards to allow the redundancy with MPIO. Using the Microsoft provided in-box teaming drivers, network card teaming is now supported in Win2012 with iSCSI.

Heartbeat communication and Intra-Cluster communication

Heartbeat communication is used for the Health monitoring between the nodes to detect node failures. Heartbeat packets are Lightweight (134 bytes) in nature and sensitive to latency. If the cluster heartbeats are delayed by a Saturated NIC, blocked due to firewalls, etc, it could cause the cluster node to be removed from Cluster membership.

Intra-Cluster communication is executed to update the cluster database across all the nodes any cluster state changes. Clustering is a distributed synchronous system. Latency in this network could slow down cluster state changes.

IPv6 is the preferred network as it is more reliable and faster than IPv4. IPv6 linklocal (fe80) works for this network.

In Windows Clusters, Heartbeat thresholds are increased as a default for Hyper-V Clusters.

The default value changes when the first VM is clustered.

Generally, heartbeat thresholds are modified after the Cluster creation. If there is a requirement to increase the threshold values, this can be done in production times and will take effect immediately.

Configuring full mesh heartbeat

The Cluster Virtual Network Driver (NetFT.SYS) builds routes between the nodes based on the Cluster property PlumbAllCrossSubnetRoutes.

Value Description

0     Do not attempt to find cross subnet routes if local routes are found

1     Always attempt to find routes that cross subnets

2     Disable the cluster service from attempting to discover cross subnet routes after node successfully joins.

To make a change to this property, you can use the command:

(Get-Cluster). PlumbAllCrossSubnetRoutes = 1

References for configuring Networks for Exchange 2013 and SQL 2012 on Failover Clusters.

Exchange server 2013 Configuring DAG Networks.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298065(v=exchg.150).aspx

Before Installing Failover Clustering for SQL Server 2012
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189910.aspx

At TechEd North America 2013, there was a session that Elden Christensen (Failover Cluster Program Manager) did that was entitled Failover Cluster Networking Essentials that goes over a lot of configurations, best practices etc.

Failover Cluster Networking Essentials
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B337#fbid=ZpvM0cLRvyX

S. Jayaprakash
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft India GTSC

My name is Ram Malkani and I am a Support Escalation Engineer on Microsoft’s Windows Core team. I am writing to discuss how Failover Clustering is integrated with Active Directory on Windows Servers.

Windows Server Failover Clustering, has always had a very strong and cohesive attachment with the Active Directory. We made considerable changes to how Failover Clustering integrates with AD DS, as we made progression to new versions of Clusters running on Windows Servers. Let us see the story so far:

What’s new with Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2

We have introduced, a new mode to create a Failover Cluster on Windows Server 2012 R2, known as Active Directory detached Cluster. Using this mode, you would not only no longer need to pre-stage these objects but also stop worrying about the management and maintenance of these objects. Cluster Administrators would no longer need to be wary about accidental deletions of the CNO or the Virtual Computer Objects (VCOs). The CNOs and VCOs are now instead created in Domain Name System (DNS).

This feature provides greater flexibility when creating a Failover Cluster and enables you to choose to install Clusters with or without AD integration. It also improves the overall resiliency of cluster by reducing the dependencies on CNO and VCOs, thereby reducing the points of failure on the cluster.

The intra-cluster communication would continue to use Kerberos for authentication, however, the authentication of the CNO would be done using NT LM authentication. Thus, you need to remember that for all Cluster roles that need Kerberos Authentication use of AD-detached cluster is not recommended.

Before installing an Active Directory-detached Cluster, considerations must be made on what role will be on the Cluster.  Not all roles will work on a Cluster in this configuration. For details on cluster roles that are not recommended or unsupported for AD detached Clusters, please read:

Deploy an Active Directory-Detached Cluster
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn265970.aspx

Installing Active Directory detached Cluster

First, you should make sure that the nodes, running Windows Server 2012 R2 that you are intending to add to the cluster are part of the same domain, and proceed to install the Failover-Cluster feature on them. This is very similar to conventional Cluster installs running on Windows Servers. To install the feature, you can use the Server Manager to complete the installation.

Server Manager can be used to install the Failover Clustering feature:

Introducing Server Manager in Windows Server 2012
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2012/11/04/introducing-server-manager-in-windows-server-2012.aspx

We can alternatively use PowerShell (Admin) to install the Failover Clustering feature on the nodes.

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering -IncludeManagementTools

An important point to note is that PowerShell Cmdlet ‘Add-WindowsFeature’ is being replaced by ‘Install-WindowsFeature’ in Windows Server 2012 R2. PowerShell does not install the management tools for the feature requested unless you specify  ‘-IncludeManagementTools’ as part of your command. 

BONUS READ:
The Cluster Command line tool (CLUSTER.EXE) has been deprecated; but, if you still want to install it, it is available under:
Remote Server Administration Tools --> Feature Administration Tools --> Failover Clustering Tools --> Failover Cluster Command Interface in the Server Manager

The PowerShell (Admin) equivalent to install it:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface

Now that we have Failover Clustering feature installed on our nodes. Ensure that all connected hardware to the nodes passes the Cluster Validation tests. Let us now go on to create our cluster. You cannot create an AD detached clustering from Cluster Administrator and the only way to create the AD-Detached Cluster is by using PowerShell.

New-Cluster MyCluster -Node My2012R2-N1,My2012R2-N2 -StaticAddress 192.168.1.15 -NoStorage -AdministrativeAccessPoint DNS

NOTE:
In my example above, I am using static IP Addresses, so one would need to be specified.  If you are using DHCP for addresses, the switch “-StaticAddress 192.168.1.15” would be excluded from the command.

Once we have executed the command, we would have a new cluster created with the name “MyCluster” with two nodes “My2012R2-N1” and “My2012R2-N2”. When you look Active Directory, there will not be a computer object created for the Cluster “MyCluster”; however, you would see the record as the Access Point in DNS.

That’s it! Thank you for your time.

Ram Malkani
Support Escalation Engineer
Windows Core Team

When you attempt to create a CheckPoint of a virtual machine that is running on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) , you may receive a General access denied error as shown below.

You will receive this error if the virtual machine’s VHD is placed on the root of the drive.

The reason for the access denied error is due to the VM worker process (VMMS) not having relevant permissions on the CSV volume.  Below are default permission that is present for a typical CSV volume.  It is strongly recommended that these permissions not be changed.

To resolve the issue, migrate the storage from Failover Cluster Manager or reconfigure the VM and place the VHDX in a folder off the root.  By moving the VHDx to a subfolder or if the VM is reconfigured, the VMMS service updates the permissions on the subfolder as it should.

For example, this is the current location of the file: 

C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Test Lab.Vhdx

You would want to move it (and any other VHDX files present) to a subfolder you can create, such as this: 

C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Test Lab\Test Lab.Vhdx

There are several options you can run through to accomplish this task.

Option 1:

Using the Virtual Machine Storageselection from Failover Cluster Manager, move it to the folder you created.  This is an option that can be done without affecting production as it can be done while the virtual machine is online and running.

Option 2: 

Shut the virtual machine down and, in Explorer, move the VHDx from the root of CSV to a folder you create.  In Failover Cluster Manager, bring up the settings of the virtual machine and manually change the path of the relocated VHDx.  This is an option that can be done but will affect production as it cannot be done while the virtual machine is online and running.  So you would need to schedule downtime to accomplish this task.

General Rule:

Microsoft has always not recommended to keep any type of data files in the root of a drive.  Even though things may appear to work fine, problems could arise from this configuration.

Shasank Prasad
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Corporation

Early in the month of May, Microsoft held it's Ignite Conference (formally known as TechEd) in Chicago, Illinois.  This conference was a huge success with over 23,000 attendees.  There are a lot of new things coming out with Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 over the next year.  I wanted to provide you some of the sessions that deal specifically with what our Core Group supports (Failover Clustering, Storage, Hyper-V, and Deployment).  There were tons more sessions regarding all other aspects of Microsoft Azure, Applications (such as SQL, Exchange, Office 365), SCVMM, Security, etc, but I wanted to pull out these specific sessions since they deal with what we deal with.

Give it a look and see how the next version of Windows could be for you.  Each full session is approx 75 minutes in length.  I also pulled out a few "Ignite Studios" productions that are in the 20 minute or so range.

To see the full list of all sessions from Microsoft Ignite, please visit our Channel 9 site.

Failover Clustering / Storage
==============================
Stretching Failover Clusters and Using Storage Replica in Windows Server vNext
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3487
In this session we discuss the deployment considerations of taking a Windows Server Failover Cluster and stretching across sites to achieve disaster recovery. This session discusses the networking, storage, and quorum model considerations. This session also discusses new enhancements coming in vNext to enable multi-site clusters.

Deploying Private Cloud Storage with Dell Servers and Windows Server vNext
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3496
The storage industry is going through strategic tectonic shifts. In this session, we’ll walk through Dell’s participation in the Microsoft Software Defined Storage journey and how cloud scale scenarios are shaping solutions. We will provide technical guidance for building Storage Spaces in Windows Server vNext clusters on the Dell PowerEdge R730xd platform.

Exploring Storage Replica in Windows Server vNext
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3489
Delivering business continuity involves more than just high availability, it means disaster preparedness. In this session, we discuss the new Storage Replica feature, including scenarios, architecture, requirements, and demos. Along with our new stretch cluster option, it also covers use of Storage Replica in cluster-to-cluster and non-clustered scenarios.

Upgrading Your Private Cloud to Windows Server 2012 R2 and Beyond!
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3484
We are moving fast, and want to help you to keep on top of the latest technology! This session covers the features and capabilities that will enable you to upgrade to Windows Server 2012 R2 and to Windows Server vNext with the least disruption. Understand cluster role migration, cross version live migration, rolling upgrades, and more.

Overview of the Microsoft Cloud Platform System
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2472
With the Microsoft Cloud Platform System, we are sharing our cloud design learnings from Azure datacenters, so customers can deploy and operate a cloud solution with Windows Server, Microsoft System Center and the Windows Azure Pack. This solution provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service solutions for enterprises and service providers.

Architectural Deep Dive into the Microsoft Cloud Platform System
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3459
The Microsoft Cloud Platform System has an automated framework that keeps the entire stamp current from software to firmware to drivers across all Windows Server, Microsoft System Center, Windows Azure Pack, SQL Server and OEM/IHV and prevent disruptions to tenant and management workloads. This session covers the complete architecture for CPS and deployment in your datacenter.

Platform Vision & Strategy (4 of 7): Storage Overview
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2485
This is the fourth in a series of 7 datacenter platform overview sessions.

StorSimple: Extending Your Datacenter into Microsoft Azure with Hybrid Cloud Storage
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2494
StorSimple provides a hybrid cloud storage solution with a hybrid storage array in the on-premises datacenter that seamlessly extends storage capabilities to the cloud. This session details the implementation and functionality of the solution and discusses how the solution solves the issue of growing IT costs related to storage growth and management.

Hyper-V Storage Performance with Storage Quality of Service
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3504
Windows Server vNext allows you to centrally monitor and manage performance for Hyper-V workloads using Scale-Out File Servers. Learn how to monitor storage performance from a customer, Hyper-V, and storage admin’s viewpoint, then author effective policies to deliver the performance your customers need.

Spaces-Based, Software-Defined Storage: Design and Configuration Best Practices
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3463
Going well beyond a feature walkthrough, this session delves into the nuances and complexities of the spaces-based SDS design. Starting with the hardware selection and continuing up the stack, this session empowers you to successfully design, deploy, and configure a storage solution based completely on Windows Server 2012 R2 and proven best practices. Examples galore!

Virtualization
===============
Platform Vision & Strategy (2 of 7): Server Virtualization Overview
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2466
Windows Server and Microsoft Azure are ushering in the next generation of computing for modern apps and cloud infrastructure. What are Containers? Nano Server? New in Hyper-V? Azure IaaS? Or how does this fit into Microsoft’s cloud strategy? Get the answers and more! Come learn about new capabilities in Windows Server, Hyper-V and Azure VMs.

The Hidden Treasures of Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V?
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3506
It's one thing to hear about and see a great demo of a Hyper-V feature. But how do you put them into practice? This session takes you through some of those lesser-known elements of Hyper-V that have made for great demonstrations, introduces you to some of the lesser-known features, and shows you best practices, how to increase serviceability and uptime, and design/usage tips for making the most of your investment in Hyper-V.

Microsoft's New Windows Server Containers
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2493
In this session, we cover what containers are, what makes them such an exciting technology, how they will work in Windows Server, and how Docker will integrate with them.

An Insider’s Guide to Desktop Virtualization
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3853
Ready to drink from a fire hose? In this highly energized session, learn about insights, best practices, and hear unfiltered thoughts about Desktop Virtualization, VDI, vendors, and solutions. Discussion topics include: VDwhy, VDCry, VDI Smackdown, building and designing a Microsoft VDI solution, and 3D graphics. Experience the Microsoft and Citrix Virtual Desktop solution with a huge amount of videos and demos. With unique content and insights, this session is fun and packed with great content for everyone interested in Desktop Virtualization—and some nice giveaways. A session you don’t want to miss!

Shielded Virtual Machines
=========================
Harden the Fabric: Protecting Tenant Secrets in Hyper-V
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3457
In today’s environments, hosters need to provide security assurance to their tenants. "Harden the fabric" is a Windows Server and Microsoft System Center vNext scenario, which includes enhancements in Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Manager, and a new Guardian Server role that enables shielded VMs. Technologies which ensure that host resources do not have access to the Virtual Machine or data.

Platform Vision & Strategy (5 of 7): Security and Assurance Overview
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2482
Come learn how Microsoft is addressing persistent threats, insider breach, organized cyber crime and securing the Microsoft Cloud Platform (on-premises and connected services with Azure). This includes scenarios for securing workloads, large enterprise tenants and service providers.

Shielded VMs and Guarded Fabric Validation Guide for Windows Server 2016
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Shielded-VMs-and-Guarded-44176db3
This document provides you an installation and validation guide for Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview (build #10074) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager vNext for Guarded Fabric Hosts and Shielded VMs. This solution is designed to protect tenant virtual machines from compromised fabric administrators.

Windows 10
===========
Top Features of Windows 10
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2339
In this demo-heavy session, see why you need to start thinking: Windows 10. The answer to every question will be Windows 10, but what are the questions? How do you deliver a more secure standard operating environment? How do you make mobility familiar for all your users? What changes the deployment conversation? What changes the app conversation? How do you “mobilize” Win32 applications? What changes the way you manage device lifecycles? What changes how you buy your devices? There will be prizes, there will be fun and you’ll be ready, set for the rest of your Windows 10 experience at Microsoft Ignite.

The New User Experience with Windows 10
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/THR0310
Are you ready for Windows 10? Well, it was designed and developed based on feedback from millions of people around the world, so we think you probably are! Join us as we show you how Windows 10 combines the familiar things you love with a modern touch. Get a deeper look at the user experience and discover new features. Find out how Windows 10 makes you more productive, celebrates a new generation of apps, and unlocks the power of hardware.

Upgrading to Windows 10: In Depth
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3307
With Windows 10, we are encouraging everyone, including organizations, to upgrade from their existing OS (Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1). This upgrade process is easy and reliable, but how exactly does it work? In this session, we dig deep and explore how the process works to ensure that everything (apps, settings, data, drivers) is preserved.

Windows 10: Ask the Experts
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2320
We’ve talked a lot about Windows 10 already. In this session, we hold an open Q&A, hosted by the always-entertaining Mark Minasi, where you can ask anything about Windows 10. No questions are off limits. So if you’ve still got questions and are looking for answers, bring them to this session.

Provisioning Windows 10 Devices with New Tools
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3339
A new feature in Windows 10, runtime provisioning will help to reduce the cost of deploying Windows PCs and devices such as tablets and phones. This new feature will enable IT professionals and system integrators to easily configure a general-purpose device during first boot or runtime without re-imaging for the organization's use. In this session, we look at the new tools that enable these scenarios, and exploring the capabilities and deployment options for them.

Overview of Windows 10 for Enterprises
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/THR0342
Windows 10 brings a wealth of new features and solutions to the enterprise. In this session, we explain the various security, management, and deployment features of Windows 10 along with showing you some of the new end-user features that will not only make your customers more productive but also delight them.

Overview of Windows 10 for Enterprises
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/FND2901
Windows 10 brings a wealth of new features and solutions to the enterprise. In this session, we explain the various security, management, and deployment features of Windows 10 along with showing you some of the new end-user features that will not only make your customers more productive but also delight them.

Overview of Windows 10 for Education
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2305
While Windows has always provided great learning outcomes for students and a comprehensive platform for teachers and administrators, there are several reasons why education customers in general should take notice of Windows 10. From the minimal learning curve user experience for mouse and keyboard users, to the familiar usability scaled across Windows 10 devices, teachers and students will be productive and comfortable from the start. In this session we explain how we are simplifying management and deployment, including in-place upgrades from Windows 7 or 8.1 and provisioning off-the-shelf devices without wiping and replacing images. Learn about benefits of the new, unified app store, allowing flexible distribution of apps.

What's New in Windows 10 Management and the Windows Store
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3330
Windows 10 continues to add new and improved management technologies, to ensure that Windows continues to be the best—and most flexible—operating system to manage. In this session, we talk about all the changes that are coming, including enhancements to built-in mobile device management protocols, new Windows Store and volume purchase program capabilities, sign-on capabilities with organizational IDs (Microsoft Azure Active Directory), sideloading and other app deployment enhancements, and new capabilities being added to other existing management technologies, such as PowerShell, WMI, etc.

Windows Server 2016
===================
Nano Server
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/THR0480
Come hear about important transformations in Windows Server – the new installation option called Nano Server. Nano Server is a deep rethink of the server architecture. The result is a new, lean cloud fabric host and application development platform, resulting in 20x smaller than Server Core and a reduction in security attack service surface and reboots!

Deployment
============
How Microsoft IT Deploys Windows 10
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3303
Learn how Microsoft IT adopted and deployed Windows 10 internally using Enterprise Upgrade as the primary deployment method. This approach reduced the deployment overhead by using System Center Configuration Manager Operating System Deployment (OSD) and upgrade which resulted in significant reductions in helpdesk calls. In addition we share how we are leveraging some of the new Enterprise scenarios to delight users while securing the enterprise. You can realize similar benefits in your enterprise by adopting these best practices as you migrate from Windows 7 and 8.x to 10.

Expert-Level Windows 10 Deployment
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK4301
Join us for a live demo on how to build a Windows deployment solution, based on Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. In the session we are taking OS Deployment in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and System Center Configuration Manager to its outer limits. Deployment tips, tricks, and hard core debugging in a single session. You can expect a lot of live demos in this session.

Windows 10 Deployment: Ask the Experts
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3333
Still have questions about Windows deployment, even after all the other sessions this week? For this session, we gather as many experts as we can find for a roundtable Q&A session, with plenty of “official” and “real-world” answers for everyone, troubleshooting and implementation advice, and probably a fair number of opinions and “it depends” answers as well.

Preparing Your Infrastructure for Windows 10
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3325
So you want to deploy Windows 10 in your organization? While many organizations will be able to do this with little impact, there are some scenarios and features that can impact existing server, management, and network infrastructures. In this session, we take a look at those impacts so you know what to expect.

Deploying Windows 10: Back to Basics
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK2316
Are you new to Windows deployment, or maybe just rusty? In this session, we review the tools that are available, explain all the acronyms, and explore best practices for deploying Windows 10. During the process, we show all the key tools that we recommend for building and customizing Windows 10 images, deploying Windows 10 images, provisioning new computers, and migrating from older operating systems like Windows 7.

What's New in Windows 10 Deployment
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/THR0322
With the upcoming release of Windows 10, there will be new and updated ways to deploy Windows. In this session, we review new recommendations for upgrading existing devices using a simple in-place upgrade process, provisioning tools for transforming new devices into ones ready for enterprise use, as well as updates to traditional deployment tools and techniques (ADK and beyond). We also talk about application compatibility, hardware requirements, and other common deployment questions.

What's New in Windows 10 Deployment
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3321
With the upcoming release of Windows 10, there will be new and updated ways to deploy Windows. In this session, we review new recommendations for upgrading existing devices using a simple in-place upgrade process, provisioning tools for transforming new devices into ones ready for enterprise use, as well as updates to traditional deployment tools and techniques (ADK and beyond). We also talk about application compatibility, hardware requirements, and other common deployment questions.

Deploying Microsoft Surface Pro 3 in the Enterprise
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3327
You have chosen Surface Pro 3 for your organization. Now, get the tips and tricks directly from engineers who built it. This session offers useful information on how you can deploy, manage, and support these devices throughout your org like a jedi master.

Troubleshooting Windows 10 Deployment: Top 10 Tips and Tricks
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3318
Need help with troubleshooting Windows deployment issues? Johan and Mikael share lessons learned around handling device drivers in the deployment process, common deployment issues and their workarounds, parsing log files, WinPE and PXE troubleshooting, UEFI deployments. As a foundation, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager will be used. You can expect a lot of live demos, tips, and tricks in this session.

Preparing for Windows 10 Deployment: Assessment, Compatibility, and Planning
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3334
Before you can deploy Windows 10, you need to make sure your organization is ready. That requires information gathering, compatibility analysis, project management, and piloting – an iterative process. In this session, we talk about tools to help with common concerns around app and hardware compatibility, web compatibility, readiness for upgrades, and more.

Enjoy,
John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Group

I am not sure if everyone is aware of UserVoice but I am here to tell you about it.  UserVoice is where you can provide feedback to the Microsoft Product Groups who are now monitoring these forums.  Do you have idea or suggestion on how to make Windows Server 2016 better or a feature you would like to see added?  Well, speak up and let us know what you are thinking.

There are multiple forums to provide this feedback.  Below is the listing of the various features.  But first, how to start User Voice and how the Windows Server Product Team will respond.

How to start User Voice?

1. Create user account. (Enter contact in case we need to ask more questions. )
2. Add your voice! (I wish… )
      Or
3. Cast a vote to the idea you like. You get 10 votes total!

What ideas will be most considered by the Windows Server Product Team? 

• Idea with high votes will be considered heavily.
• Clear and actionable ideas will be reviewed quickly.  

Caution: Do not create a single idea with multiple ideas contained in it. We need to understand the priorities. Please make sure they are separate ideas so we can see clear votes on each distinct idea. In this case, we will likely to close the idea.

Once the Windows Server Product Team has reviewed the idea, the idea status will change.

Note:"Under Review" status means that the Windows Server Product Team is reviewing. It does not guarantee any deliverable.

We will provide notification on all declined ideas.

Each vote get released when the idea is closed (either decline or completed).

Now, as far as the various forums, here you go and let us know what you would like to see:

Clustering  
Diagnostics 
General Feedback 
Nano Server 
Networking 
Remote Management Tools 
Security and Assurance 
Storage 
Virtualization 

Also, if you are looking to provide feedback on Automation (PowerShell and Scripting), please provide your suggestions using our PowerShell Connect Site. 

Remember, these sites are for feature suggestions and ideas only.

To see our work in progress, please go ahead and install the Windows Server Technical Preview. More information on what’s new in the Technical Preview can be found here. You can join the conversation about the Technical Preview and swap advice with others at Technical Preview Forums.

Enjoy,
John Marlin
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Group