Hyper-V Management Pack for SCOM Released

Microsoft has just released a System Center Operations Manager Management Pack for Hyper-V.  You can get it here: Hyper-V Management Pack

The Management Pack will monitor the Hyper-V role on both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.  The following major components are monitored:

• Hyper-V role
• Virtual machines
• Virtual networks
• Virtual network adapters
• Virtual hard disks

Build your own Windows 2008 Cluster – Part 3 of 3

In Part 1 of this article I detailed how to build an iSCSI Target Server and present iSCSI drives.  Now we will discuss attaching to the iSCSI drives and building a Windows Server 2008 Cluster with Server Core.  While Microsoft has drastically simplified the creation of a Cluster with Windows Server 2008, configuring Server Core can be a bit tricky.

This blog is presented in 3 parts:

Part 1 Details the setup of the Lab Environment and the iSCSI Target Server

Part 2 Details the installation of Windows 2008 Cluster Services with the full install of Windows 2008

Part 3 Details the installation of Windows 2008 Cluster Services with the Core install of Windows 2008.

WARNING: It is important to note that these instructions only detail building a cluster in a virtual environment for testing purposes only.  They in no way reflect the actual process required for building a cluster for production.  If you need details on building production level cluster please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/failover-clustering-technical.aspx

The configuration of the two Nodes that will be clustered are listed below, details of the iSCSI Target Server/Domain Controller TESTDC01 can be found in Part 1 of this Blog:

CLUSCORE1

1. Configuration
   1. Hard Disk 1 (SCSI 0:0) 20GB – System Drive
   2. Network Adapter 1 – Assigned the IP Address 10.10.2.41
   3. Network Adapter 2 – Assigned the IP Address 192.169.3.41
   4. Network Adapter 3 – Assigned the IP Address 192.168.49.41
2. OS is Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Core
3. IP Addresses assigned
   1. Public– 10.10.2.41
   2. iSCSI – 192.169.3.41
   3. Private – 192.168.49.41
4. Member of test.local Domain

CLUSCORE2

1. Configuration
   1. Hard Disk 1 (SCSI 0:0) 20GB – System Drive
   2. Network Adapter 1 – Assigned the IP Address 10.10.2.51
   3. Network Adapter 2 – Assigned the IP Address 192.169.3.51
   4. Network Adapter 3 – Assigned the IP Address 192.168.49.51
2. OS is Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Core
3. IP Addresses assigned
   1. Public– 10.10.2.51
   2. iSCSI – 192.169.3.51
   3. Private – 192.168.49.51
4. Member of test.local Domain

---

Connecting to the iSCSI drives

In Windows 2008 Core, Microsoft provides the command line tool iscsicli which allows you to configure the connection to the iSCSI Target Server.  Thankfully in Windows 2008 R2 Core, a more simplified GUI is provided to configure the iSCSI Initiator.

1. Log onto CLUSCORE1
2. Start iSCSI Initiator Service
   1. sc config msiscsi start= auto
   2. net start msiscsi
3. Configure connection to iSCSI Target
   1. iscsicli QAddTargetPortal 192.169.3.10
   2. iscsicli ListTargets {This can be used to get the names of the targets for the next commands} 
   3. iscsicli QLoginTarget witness
   4. iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget witness T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
   5. iscsicli QLoginTarget shared1
   6. iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget shared1 T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
   7. iscsicli QLoginTarget shared2
   8. iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget shared2 T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
4. Prepare Disks
   1. Diskpart
   2. select disk 1
   3. online disk
   4. attributes disk clear readonly {used if the disk is set to readonly}
   5. create partition primary
   6. format fs=ntfs label=witness quick
   7. assign letter=Q
   8. select disk 2
   9. online disk
   10. attributes disk clear readonly {used if the disk is set to readonly}
   11. create partition primary
   12. format fs=ntfs label=shared1 quick
   13. assign letter=S
   14. select disk 3
   15. online disk
   16. attributes disk clear readonly {used if the disk is set to readonly}
   17. create partition primary
   18. format fs=ntfs label=shared1 quick
   19. assign letter=T
5. start /w ocsetup FailoverCluster-Core

 

1. Log onto CLUSCORE2
2. Start iSCSI Initiator Service
   1. sc config msiscsi start= auto
   2. net start msiscsi
3. Configure connection to iSCSI Target
   1. iscsicli QAddTargetPortal 192.169.3.10
   2. iscsicli ListTargets {This can be used to get the names of the targets for the next commands} 
   3. iscsicli QLoginTarget witness
   4. iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget witness T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
   5. iscsicli QLoginTarget shared1
   6. iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget shared1 T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
   7. iscsicli QLoginTarget shared2
   8. iscsicli PersistentLoginTarget shared2 T * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0
4. Prepare Disks
   1. Diskpart
   2. select disk 1
   3. online disk
   4. attributes disk clear readonly {used if the disk is set to readonly}
   5. List Volume {Look for the volume number of the drive brought online}
   6. Select Volume 2 {Select the volume found in step 5}
   7. assign letter=Q
   8. select disk 2
   9. online disk
   10. attributes disk clear readonly {used if the disk is set to readonly}
   11. List Volume {Look for the volume number of the drive brought online}
   12. select volume 3 {Select the volume found in step 5}
   13. assign letter=S
   14. select disk 3
   15. online disk
   16. attributes disk clear readonly {used if the disk is set to readonly}
   17. List Volume {Look for the volume number of the drive brought online}
   18. Select Volume 4 {Select the volume found in step 5}
   19. assign letter=T
5. start /w ocsetup FailoverCluster-Core

---

Create the Cluster

1. Log onto TESTDC01
2. Click Start –> Administrative Tools – > Failover Cluster Management
3. Under Actions select Validate a Configuration
4. Click Next on the opening screen
5. Select both CLUSCORE1 and CLUSCORE2 and click Add
6. Click Next
7. Make sure Run all test (recommended) is selected
8. Click Next
9. On Confirmation Screen Click Next
10. The validation tests begin.  This can take up to 10 minutes or more.  If there are no problems reported in the Failover Cluster Validation Report you are ready to create your cluster
11. Under Actions select Create a Cluster…
12. Click Next on the opening screen
13. Select both CLUSCORE1 and CLUSCORE2 and click Add
14. Click Next
15. Enter a Cluster Name:  CLUSTER01
16. Enter a Cluster IP:  10.10.2.101
17. Confirm your settings and click Next
18. Click Finish upon completion

Your cluster is now built and ready for whatever application or service you wish to install.

Build your own Windows 2008 Cluster – Part 2 of 3

In Part 1 of this article I detailed how to build an iSCSI Target Server and present iSCSI drives.  Now we will discuss attaching to the iSCSI drives and building a Windows Server 2008 Cluster.  Microsoft has drastically simplified the creation of a Cluster with Windows Server 2008.

This blog is presented in 3 parts:

Part 1 Details the setup of the Lab Environment and the iSCSI Target Server

Part 2 Details the installation of Windows 2008 Cluster Services with the full install of Windows 2008

Part 3 Details the installation of Windows 2008 Cluster Services with the Core install of Windows 2008.

WARNING: It is important to note that these instructions only detail building a cluster in a virtual environment for testing purposes only.  They in no way reflect the actual process required for building a cluster for production.  If you need details on building production level cluster please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/failover-clustering-technical.aspx

The configuration of the two Nodes that will be clustered are listed below, details of the iSCSI Target Server/Domain Controller TESTDC01 can be found in Part 1 of this Blog:

CLUSNODE1

1. Configuration
   1. Hard Disk 1 (SCSI 0:0) 20GB – System Drive
   2. Network Adapter 1 – Assigned the IP Address 10.10.2.40
   3. Network Adapter 2 – Assigned the IP Address 192.169.3.40
   4. Network Adapter 3 – Assigned the IP Address 192.168.49.40
2. OS is Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
3. IP Addresses assigned
   1. Public– 10.10.2.40
   2. iSCSI – 192.169.3.40
   3. Private – 192.168.49.40
4. Member of test.local Domain

CLUSNODE2

1. Configuration
   1. Hard Disk 1 (SCSI 0:0) 20GB – System Drive
   2. Network Adapter 1 – Assigned the IP Address 10.10.2.50
   3. Network Adapter 2 – Assigned the IP Address 192.169.3.50
   4. Network Adapter 3 – Assigned the IP Address 192.168.49.50
2. OS is Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
3. IP Addresses assigned
   1. Public– 10.10.2.50
   2. iSCSI – 192.169.3.50
   3. Private – 192.168.49.50
4. Member of test.local Domain

---

Connecting to the iSCSI drives

1. Log onto CLUSNODE1
2. Click Start –> Administrative Tools –> iSCSI Initiator
3. Select Yes on the Microsoft iSCSI pop-up that requests to start the iSCSI Service
4. Select Yes on the Microsoft iSCSI pop-up requesting to unblock the Microsoft iSCSI Service in the Windows Firewall.
5. Select Discovery Tab
6. Click Add Portal…
7. Enter 192.169.3.10 in the IP Address or DNS name: Text Box
8. Click OK
9. Select Targets Tab
10. Select a target and click Log on…
    1. Select Automatically restore this connection when the computer starts
    2. Click OK
11. Repeat Step 8 for the remaining Targets
12. Select the Volumes and Devices Tab
13. Click Autoconfigure
14. Click OK to close out the configuration
15. Open Server Manager
16. Select Disk Management under Storage
17. If the Disks are Offline, Right-Click and bring them each Online.
18. Partition and format each newly presented drive with NTFS
    1. Disk 1 – Drive Assigned Q: and Labeled Witness
    2. Disk 2 – Drive Assigned S: and Labeled Shared1
    3. Disk 3 – Drive Assigned T: and Labeled Shared2
19. Under Server Manager Select Features
20. Click Add Features
21. Select Failover Clustering
22. Click Next
23. On the Confirmation Page select Install 
24. Close Server Manager upon completion

 

1. Log onto CLUSNODE2
2. Click Start –> Administrative Tools –> iSCSI Initiator
3. Select Yes on the Microsoft iSCSI pop-up that requests to start the iSCSI Service
4. Select Yes on the Microsoft iSCSI pop-up requesting to unblock the Microsoft iSCSI Service in the Windows Firewall.
5. Select Discovery Tab
6. Click Add Portal…
7. Enter 192.169.3.10 in the IP Address or DNS name: Text Box
8. Click OK
9. Select Targets Tab
10. Select a target and click Log on…
    1. Select Automatically restore this connection when the computer starts
    2. Click OK
11. Repeat Step 8 for the remaining Targets
12. Select the Volumes and Devices Tab
13. Click Autoconfigure
14. Click OK to close out the configuration
15. Open Server Manager
16. Select Disk Management under Storage
17. If the Disks are Offline, Right-Click and bring them each Online.
18. Select each Drive and bring it online
    1. re-assign Witness Drive to Q:
    2. re-assign Shared1 Drive to S:
    3. re-assign Shared2 Drive to T:
19. Under Server Manager Select Features
20. Click Add Features
21. Select Failover Clustering
22. Click Next
23. On the Confirmation Page select Install 
24. Close Server Manager upon completion

---

Create the Cluster

1. Log onto CLUSNODE1
2. Click Start –> Administrative Tools – > Failover Cluster Management
3. Under Actions select Validate a Configuration
4. Click Next on the opening screen
5. Select both CLUSNODE1 and CLUSNODE2 and click Add
6. Click Next
7. Make sure Run all test (recommended) is selected
8. Click Next
9. On Confirmation Screen Click Next
10. The validation tests begin.  This can take up to 10 minutes or more.  If there are no problems reported in the Failover Cluster Validation Report you are ready to create your cluster
11. Under Actions select Create a Cluster…
12. Click Next on the opening screen
13. Select both CLUSNODE1 and CLUSNODE2 and click Add
14. Click Next
15. Enter a Cluster Name:  CLUSTER01
16. Enter a Cluster IP:  10.10.2.100
17. Confirm your settings and click Next
18. Click Finish upon completion

Your cluster is now built and ready for whatever application or service you wish to install.

VIDEO – Build your own Windows 2008 Cluster – Part 2 of 3

Build your own Windows 2008 Cluster – Part 1 of 3

Keeping up with the latest Microsoft technology requires the ability to install, configure, and test this technology in a Lab environment.  Sadly very few of us have the hardware laying around to do this.  When it comes to installing, configuring, and testing Microsoft’s latest implementation of Clustering, how many have there own SAN?

With Windows 2003 one could easily build a cluster environment on their desktop with VMware Workstation by creating a couple of extra SCSI disks and editing the configuration file appropriately.  Windows 2008 changes things by eliminating the ability to use these same SCSI disks and adding a requirement for Persistent Reservation.  Knowledge Base Article 947710 states:

Effects on virtualization

The deprecation of parallel SCSI support in Windows Server 2008 also affects the configuration of virtual computers. Parallel SCSI storage is no longer available to be used in a virtual environment for failover clustering. When you configure a Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster in a virtual environment, the only option for storage is an iSCSI solution.

iSCSI Target Software allows one to share their disks over the network providing a SAN like experience.  I spent several days searching the web for iSCSI Target Server software that could be used in my test environment and in the end only StarWind iSCSI Target Software from RocketDivision met all the requirements for my Windows 2008 Cluster. I am sure this will change in the near future.

With StarWind I was able to build the following LAB on my Desktop running Windows XP and VMware Virtual Server without any problems.

This blog is presented in 3 parts:

Part 1 Details the setup of the Lab Environment and the iSCSI Target Server

Part 2 Details the installation of Windows 2008 Cluster Services with the full install of Windows 2008

Part 3 Details the installation of Windows 2008 Cluster Services with the Core install of Windows 2008.

WARNING: It is important to note that these instructions only detail building a cluster in a virtual environment for testing purposes only.  They in no way reflect the actual process required for building a cluster for production.  If you need details on building production level cluster please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/failover-clustering-technical.aspx

---

The Lab Environment

The lab environment will be virtual with three virtual machines: TESTDC01, NODE1 and NODE2 of the Cluster. TESTDC01 will have the combined roles of Domain Controller and iSCSI Target Server. NODE1 and NODE2 are both members of the test.local domain. Below is the configuration for TESTDC01:

Get your free/trial software here:

StarWind iSCSI Target Software

VMware Virtual Server or Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2

NOTE: Setting up and configuring Virtual Server is not the focus of this article and the audience is expected to have some knowledge of how to setup VMs and configure networks. I have attempted to provide some instructions for the configuration but its important to note that there are many different ways to configure networks and VMs to match the requirements for this lab.

An assumption is also made that you already know how to install Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Active Directory so these steps are not included in this article. If you don’t already know how to do these tasks you should not be attempting to build clusters yet.

TestDC01

1. Configuration
   1. Hard Disk 1 (SCSI 0:0) 20GB – System Drive
   2. Hard Disk 2 (SCSI 1:0) 10GB – iSCSI Drives
   3. Hard Disk 3 (SCSI 1:1) 10GB – iSCSI Drives
   4. Hard Disk 4 (SCSI 1:2) 10GB – iSCSI Drives
   5. Network Adapter 1 – Assigned the IP Address 10.10.2.10
   6. Network Adapter 2 – Assigned the IP Address 192.169.3.10
2. OS is Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
3. IP Addresses assigned
   1. Public – 10.10.2.10
   2. iSCSI – 192.169.3.10
4. Active Directory installed – Domain Name is test.local

---

Setting up the iSCSI Target

StarWind will be installed on TestDC01 to provide the iSCSI Target service for our Cluster.

1. Log onto TESTDC01
2. Open Server Manager
3. From Server Manager open Storage –> Disk Management
4. In Disk Management select each of the unknown disks and bring them Online
5. Close Server Manager
6. Install StarWind Software
7. Start StarWind Management Console
8. Select localhost:3260 and click Connect
9. Enter the password test
10. You must add the Registration Key provided by RocketDivision for your 15 day trial at this point in order to proceed any further
    1. From the Menu select Help –> Registration
    2. Select Load license from file
    3. Click Load and browse to the licensekey.swk file you received from StarWind and click OK
11. Right-Click localhost:3260 and select Preferences
12. Enter the IP address for the iSCSI interface of TESTDC01 which in our example is 192.169.3.10 and click OK
13. Right-Click the newly renamed connection 192.169.3.10:3260 and select Edit Configuration
14. Enter the IP of the iSCSI interface of TESTDC01 (192.169.3.10) in the Interface: text box and click OK
15. Right-Click the connection 192.169.3.10:3260 and select Add Device
16. In the Add Device Wizard select Disk Bridge Device and click Next
    1. Select the disk you want to make available via iSCSI. Do not Select the Disk that has the address of 1,0,0,0 as this is your system drive.
    2. Ensure Asynchronous mode and Allow multiple concurrent iSCSI connections (clustering) are selected
17. Click Next
18. Enter a name for the target (The names for our three disks will be Witness, Shared1, and Shared2)
19. Click Next
20. Repeat steps 15 through 19 for the remaining disks.
21. The Final step is to create an Inbound Rule to open TCP port 3260 in the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security so that your servers can see the iSCSI drives that are presented.

Upon completion the StarWind Console should look like this:

Validate that each device is configured correctly by Right-Clicking each DiskBridge Device and selecting Properties. Ensure that Clustered and Persistent reservation are both set to Yes.

The iSCSI Target Server is now actively presenting three iSCSI Disks. You are ready to build your cluster.

VIDEO – Build your own Windows 2008 Cluster – Part 1 of 3

"Snaps" the best new feature in Windows 7

While attending Microsoft Tech Ed in Los Angeles this year I received the latest bits for the Release Candidate of Windows 7. The advance word on the beta release had been very positive and the demonstrations given during the Keynote and other sessions where eye popping to say the least.

Upon returning from the conference my Director asked me what I felt the best new feature was in Windows 7. This initially felt like a question with no single answer as the list of new features is quite large and includes:

  Improvements to Power Management and Windows Search
  Virtualization Integration with Windows XP Mode and Virtual PC
  Security Enhancements such as Improved UAC, BitLockerToGo and AppLocker
  BranchCache
  DirectAccess
  A new and improved Taskbar that will make you weep with joy
  Desktop enhancements like See Through Windows and Shake It

Initially, I was excited most with the new virtualization integration of XP Mode and Virtual PC, but after installing and working with Windows 7 I realized that the feature I used the most was a Desktop enhancement called Snaps.

The desktop is the main work area for most of us and it is truly amazing how messy and unruly it can become slowing down our ability to actually do work. If you wanted to do research on the web and take notes in Microsoft Word you had to either manually arrange your windows so that you could see both side-by-side or alt-tab between each app.

In Windows 7, Microsoft has implemented a feature called Snaps which allows you to simply grab a window and pull it to either side edge of the screen where it will fill half the screen. By snapping windows to both sides you can easily work with multiple applications.

Here is an example where I have used Snaps to arrange Live Writer and Microsoft Word side by side:

While this feature seems like a small thing to be so excited about I can tell you that after using this feature for the past two weeks I really have no idea how I have survived without it. I honestly can’t imagine going back to an earlier version of Windows that doesn’t have Snaps.

Windows 2008 Hyper-V (In The Field)

Recently a customer came to us requesting a design and implementation of Microsoft’s Windows 2008 Hyper-V in a highly available configuration. With years of experience designing and implementing virtual solutions with VMware, the opportunity to get our hands dirty with Microsoft’s new Hyper-V was exciting.

The Design

The initial design called for a two-node clustered Hyper-V configuration running on Windows 2008 Server Core x64-bit, Enterprise Edition. This would provide the high availability required by the customer and the ability to grow by adding additional nodes as needed. This is a pretty straight forward design for a highly available virtual solution but there are some considerations that must be taken with Microsoft Hyper-V.

Currently Hyper-V does not implement a clustered file system. In a multi-node Hyper-V cluster it is critical to understand how this affects the design.

The underlying file system used by Hyper-V is NTFS. In a shared storage configuration only one physical node can access a LUN at a time. So, if you were to have more than one virtual machine on a single LUN and there was a failure of the Hyper-V server, all virtual machines on the same LUN must be recovered to the same server.

Technically this wasn’t a problem for our two-node cluster implementation but in the future if we added additional nodes it could become an issue. So we implemented a separate LUN for each virtual machine.

Another important consideration is how Hyper-V handles memory. While VMware provides a shared memory feature that lets VMs share common memory blocks, Hyper-V doesn’t support shared memory between VMs. So when evaluating the capacity of your design keep that in mind.

The Hardware

When reviewing server hardware for Hyper-V its important to note that it requires a system with hardware-assisted virtualization support. This technology is implemented in Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) and AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) chips and must be enabled in the BIOS on most servers.

You should also select your Network Interface Cards carefully. We ran across the following support document from Dell regarding the Intel and Broadcom Single and Dual port NICs.

Hyper-V VLAN Capability Not Functional on Intel and Broadcom Network Adapters

It turns out that this is a known issue with the currently shipping device drivers for these devices and Dell does not support Hyper-V VLANs on these Network Adapters at this time. If you need to implement VLAN capability make sure you purchase Intel 1 GB Quad-Port or 10GB Network Adapters which are supported by Dell.

Finally, Windows 2008 Clustering requires that Persistent Reservation is enabled. This is a set of SCSI commands used to protect LUNs. When a LUN is reserved, no other computers on the SAN can access the disk, except those controlled by the cluster. This functionality is configured on the SAN so make sure you have your SAN administrator verify that it is enabled.

The Software

Microsoft Hyper-V does not currently have an ability similar to VMware’s V-Motion. Instead a technology similar to VMware HA is implemented called Quick Migration. In the event of a failover the Virtual Machines are restarted on the new node. This can be problematic when security patches (released monthly by Microsoft) need to be installed.

While there were many reasons, an attempt to minimize the number of security patches needed to be installed on a monthly basis, was a major factor for us in selecting Windows 2008 Server Core.

The Future of Hyper-V

I recently attended Microsoft Tech Ed 2009 in Los Angeles and Hyper-V R2 was a topic of many sessions. I can tell you that Microsoft has improved the product greatly. Of note were Live Migration, Clustered Shared Volumes, 64 logical processor support, and processor compatibility mode for live migration.

You can read about all of the new features here: Hyper-V in WS08 R2 Release Candidate: Bringing More to the Table