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Archive for January, 2010
Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer is not yet available for Windows Server 2008 R2
Jan 27th
[Update January 28, 2010: Mike Sterling from Microsoft informed me that the article was erroneously published. There is still some work to be done internally before it can be made available]
Microsoft has a reputation of writing good best practices analyzers. Some of the newer ones are integrated in the Server Manager of Windows Server 2008 R2 (Active Directory, DNS) or its manager such as the Cluster Validation Analyzer in Windows Failover Cluster Manager.
A recent addition is the new Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer
About the Hyper-V BPA Update
The update described in this article contains best practice benchmarks against a computer that is running Hyper-V on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2. After this update is installed on a server that is running Windows Server 2008 R2, you can run a series of Best Practices Analyzer scans on Hyper-V that will help you to bring the role into compliance with best practices.
You can use Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the Hyper-V role, and help identify configurations that do not comply with best practices for this role. BPA scans the configuration of the physical computer, the virtual machines, and other resources such as virtual networking or virtual storage. Scan results are displayed as a list that you can sort by severity, and include recommendations for fixing issues and links to instructions. No configuration changes occur automatically by running the scan.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977238
Currently there are no downloadable bits, but this will no doubt change soon.
New Hyper-V network configuration tool
Jan 26th
On MSDN you can find a new Hyper-V network configuration tool which lets you disable and enable protocol bindings from the command line at the parent partition level. It is great stuff for Server Core en Hyper-V Server administrators.
The tool is written by Paul Despe, program manager from the Microsoft Hyper-V team.
Get the options with nvspbind.exe /?
nvspbind.exe
Disable netbios from the selected adapter
nvspbind -d {0EA93B34-DEE7-4CDF-B232266E3F0B9D72} ms_netbios
Just type nvspbind again to verify the protocol binding
And change it back to enabled again with:
nvspbind -e {0EA93B34-DEE7-4CDF-B232266E3F0B9D72} ms_netbios
John Howard pointed me to another tool called nvspcrub which helps out if you managed to ruin your virtual network configuration 
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2010/01/25/announcing-nvspbind.aspx
Hotfix for Windows Server 2008 R2 Print Cluster (KB 976571)
Jan 24th
Please note Microsoft has published an important hotfix for Windows Server 2008 R2 print clusters. A detailed blog written by Symon Perriman can be found at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/clustering/archive/2010/01/22/9951795.aspx
In short it solves the following issues:
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Shared printer disappears
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Spooler stops responding
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Restoring printers using Print Back-up Restore Migrate Utility (PrintBRM.exe)
HP and Microsoft getting closer to the clouds
Jan 13th
In my last blog of 2009 I anticipated that the joint forces of VMware, Cisco and EMC, would make the bond between HP and Microsoft stronger.
Apparently I’m not the only one who is observing another front on the horizon. Even though HP and MS have been partners for many years in their Frontline Partnership, the battle for the cloud seems to have started.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100113-708448.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
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