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You know you’re a SysAdmin when…
Did you know that 29% of data loss cases are caused by accident? As World Backup Day nears, we think back to all the incidents, data loss scares, and near-disasters that we’ve experienced over the years – and how grateful we were to have backup during those times!

If you use Microsoft 365/Office 365, Hyper-V or VMware, celebrate with Altaro. All you have to do is sign up for a 30-day free trial of either Altaro VM Backup or Altaro Office 365 Backup – it’s your choice!
What can you win?
• Receive a guaranteed $20 Amazon voucher when you sign up for and use the trial of Altaro Office 365 Backup or Altaro VM Backup
– Get a chance to WIN one of our Grand Prizes when you complete the sentence “You know you’re a SysAdmin when…” What are you waiting for? Sign up now!
New Technical Preview for Microsoft Windows Server management experience Project “Honolulu”, released
Modernized, simplified, integrated, and secure experiences. Project “Honolulu” Technical Preview 1711 update is now available!
Some cool new features were release like the Windows 10 client management: You can now add Windows 10 client machines as connections in Honolulu, and manage them with a subset of tools in the “Computer Management” Solution.
For more information on new and removed features check https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2017/12/01/1711-update-to-project-honolulu-technical-preview-is-now-available/
Windows 2016 released and with it Hyper-V and System Center
Microsoft released today at the Microsoft Ignite conference in Atlanta the newest release of Windows Server 2016!
Windows Server 2016 is jam-packed with innovation and customer response has been overwhelming, with more than half a million devices running the final Technical Preview. These customers range from large global enterprises to private cloud hosters to organizations of every size from every corner of the globe – Erin Chapple, General Manager, Windows Server
Windows Server 2016 delivers powerful innovation across three areas:
- Advanced Multi-layer Security: Use Shielded Virtual Machines to help protect your virtual machines from a compromised fabric as well as improve your compliance. Shielded Virtual Machines are encrypted using BitLocker and will run on healthy hosts. To help prevent attacks and detect suspicious activity with new features to control privileged access, protect virtual machines and harden the platform against emerging threats.Watch an introduction to Shielded Virtual Machines
- Software-defined Datacenter with Hyper-V: Run your datacenter with the utmost confidence with an automated, resilient server operating system. Azure utilises Windows Server and Hyper-V at a massive scale. Windows Servers delivers a more flexible and cost-efficient operating system for any datacenter, using software-defined compute, storage and network features inspired by Azure. Explore server virtualization with Hyper-V
- Cloud-ready Application Platform: Run your existing apps on Windows Server 2016 without modifying them. Take advantage of enhanced security and efficiency features in the fabric. Applications are at the heart of every organization and its ability to serve customers and compete effectively for their loyalty. Windows Server 2016 delivers new ways to deploy and run both existing and cloud-native applications – whether on-premises or in Microsoft Azure – using new capabilities such as Windows Server Containers and the lightweight Nano Server deployment option. Learn more about containers and Learn more about Azure Service Fabric on Windows Server 2016
Availability: Windows Server 2016 is available for evaluation starting today
Note: Volume licensing customers will be able to download fully licensed software at General Availability in mid-October.
Hyper-V 2016 Tp5: Hyper-V Manager Console new features
Here are some important information and improvements Microsoft released for Hyper-V Manager in Tp5:
- Alternate credentials support. You can now use a different set of credentials in Hyper-V Manager when you connect to another Windows Server 2016 TP5 or Windows 10 remote host. You can also save these credentials to make it easier to log on again.
- Previous version management: the New Hyper-V Manager will allow you to manage versions manage computers running Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012/R2 and Windows 8.x client version.
- Updated management protocol – Hyper-V Manager has been updated to communicate with remote Hyper-V hosts using the WS-MAN protocol, which permits CredSSP, Kerberos or NTLM authentication. When you use CredSSP to connect to a remote Hyper-V host, you can do a live migration without enabling constrained delegation in Active Directory. The WS-MAN-based infrastructure also makes it easier to enable a host for remote management. WS-MAN connects over port 80, which is open by default.
- No more Integration services for Windows Virtual Machines. Updates to integration services for Windows guests are distributed through Windows Update. For service providers and hosting companies, this puts the control of applying updates into the hands of the tenants who own the virtual machines. Customers (tenants Administrators) can now update their Windows virtual machines with all updates, including the integration services, using a single method.
- Integration services for Linux and FreeBSD Virtual Machines. Hyper-V supports both emulated and Hyper-V-specific devices for Linux and FreeBSD virtual machines. Linux Integration Services (LIS) or FreeBSD Integration Services (BIS) , the collection of drivers that are required to run Hyper-V-specific devices, has been added to the Linux kernel and is updated for new releases, but Linux distributions based on older kernels may not have the latest enhancements or fixes. Microsoft provides a download containing installable LIS drivers for some Linux installations based on these older kernels.
Note: As some Linux distributions include versions of LIS, make sure you install the latest downloadable version of LIS, if applicable, for your installation.
Download:
- Download Windows Server 2016 Technical Prevew from the Evaluation Center.
- Download Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 Technical Prevew from the Evaluation Center.
Hyper-V. CSV Volumes pause states 5120: Workaround
Microsoft is aware that after installing KB3126593 (MS16-014) there may be an issue that causes loss of network packets.
This may cause Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) on the nodes Failover Clusters to going into a paused state with an event ID 5120 in the System event log what indicates “Status c000020c – STATUS_CONNECTION_DISCONNECTED”.
You will also find that, on the node that owns the CSV volume(s), there will be an event 7031 with the source: “Service Control Manager”, which indicates “The Windows Firewall Service terminated unexpectedly”.
Troubleshooting Cluster Shared Volume Auto-Pauses – Event 5120. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clustering/2014/12/08/troubleshooting-cluster-shared-volume-auto-pauses-event-5120/
Microsoft is aware of this problem and are working on a fix. But until it is release here is what you could do to get around this issue:
Option 1: Disable the Firewall LOGGING for all profiles (domain, private, public). (just the logging, not the firewall . You don’t want to be un-protected)
1. Start the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security management console (wf.msc)
2. Right-click Windows Firewall with Advanced Security on Local Computer and select Properties
3. For all profiles (Domain, Private, Public), under Logging, click Customize. Set Log Dropped Packets and Log Successful connections to NO.
Option 2. Uninstall https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3126593 from the systems.
I will post an update once Microsoft releases the Hotfix.
Supercharging performance of your Hyper-V
If you are an expert in Hyper-V or just started playing with it, I recommend you download the Hyper-V ebook provided by Altaro.
The ebook is divided in 2 sections: (1) Diagnosing and Remediating Performance Issues and (2) Planning is Better than Remediation.
It will help you better plan your next Hyper-V deployment and how could you make the most of your existing deployment, through practical hands-on tips as well as background information you will learn how Hyper-V (and virtualization in general) affects performance and how to find issues in storage, CPU, memory and network components. This is followed by a look at planning hosts, VMs, storage, networking and management for maximum performance.
What the book covers:
- Diagnosing and remediating Storage, CPU, Memory, and Network performance issues
- Using Windows Performance Monitor and PAL to facilitate system and VM monitoring
- Manage planning of Hosts, VMs, Storage, Networking, to minimize the risk of performance issues
Microsoft released System Center 2016 TP4
Microsoft today announced the release of Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4.
This new build includes new features that enables hybrid datacenter solutions.
Running at cloud scale also produces technology innovation for management. System Center 2016 brings cloud learnings to the datacenter, enabling seamless management of complex environments. Moving into the hybrid world, System Center 2016 combines with Microsoft Operations Management Suite to provide an integrated, 360-degree view across any cloud, any operating system, from infrastructure to applications. Management anywhere means IT has the ability to take robust data about system performance, security, and emerging issues and turn that into action as rapidly as possible. With management tools designed to handle complexity, IT can allow for more agility in the environment as a whole. Core enhancements in System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4 include:
- Advanced software-defined datacenter support for Windows Server 2016 including new technologies such as patching of hosts while provisioning, simplified logical network creation, scale-out file server with Storage Spaces Direct and SAN storage automation, and improved storage monitoring.
- Protecting customer IP through shielded VM’s and Guardian Host deployment and management
- Easy to use monitoring improvements in Operations Manager through data-driven management of alerts and enhanced visualization
Download Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-technical-preview
Download System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-system-center-technical-preview
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 TP4 released
Microsoft today announced the release of Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4.
This new build includes new features that enables hybrid datacenter solutions.
The three main features: Hyper-V Containers, Software-defined datacenter capabilities and increase agility and Enhanced management capabilities:
Hyper-V: Now includes an early preview of nested virtualization, along with Direct Device Assignment, and improved PowerShell support for VM upgrades. Nested virtualization can be used in dev and test scenarios and is a key enabling technology for Hyper-V Containers.
- Networking: high availability for the network controller, better East-West load balancing, enhanced container networking, and support for live migration. New: Virtual Machine Multi-Queue to enable 10G+ performance.
- Storage: Storage Spaces Direct to support all-flash configurations with NVMe SSD and SATA SSD devices, and Erasure Coding for increased storage efficiency. Also in this release, support for Storage Health Service provides easier health monitoring and more streamlined operations, with a single monitoring point per cluster. Storage QoS now supports adjusting the normalization size of the algorithm from the current default 8 KB settings. Additional enhancements are designed for increased control, such as maximum bandwidth settings for a VHD/X.
- Security: Enhancements to shielded VMs and the Host Guardian Service are directed toward ensuring readiness for production environments. Just Enough Administration, which limits administrator rights for additional security, has been expanded to domain controllers and server maintenance roles.
Make innovation easier with Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4.
Core enhancements in System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4 include:
- Advanced software-defined datacenter support for Windows Server 2016 including new technologies such as patching of hosts while provisioning, simplified logical network creation, scale-out file server with Storage Spaces Direct and SAN storage automation, and improved storage monitoring.
- Protecting customer IP through shielded VM’s and Guardian Host deployment and management
- Easy to use monitoring improvements in Operations Manager through data-driven management of alerts and enhanced visualization
Download Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-technical-preview
Download System Center 2016 Technical Preview 4: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-system-center-technical-preview
Installing Hyper-V role on Windows 2016 Server TP2 MinShell version
As you probably are aware of, Windows 2016 Server TP2, comes with 2 installation options. You also probably have noticed as well that the graphical user interface (GUI) is no longer an option in a default install on the Technical Preview 2.NOt even Start Menu.
- Windows Server Technical Preview 2 option, will install the server with MinShell (Minimal Shell no GUI). Assuming that you will manage the host remotely you won’t need graphical interface at all and from a security point of view, it is the better option.
- Windows Server Technical Preview 2 (with local admin tools) option, will install the server again with MinShell, but includes Server Manager and the other GUI administration tools, although no desktop experience (traditional desktop), nor start menu.
To install Hyper-V role in the Windows Server Technical Preview 2 (with local admin tools) option, in the Server Manager console, click on Add roles and features and select Hyper-V.
To install Hyper-V role in the Windows Server Technical Preview 2 option :
in the command prompt, type:
PowerShell
PS: > Install–WindowsFeature Hyper-V
Note: If the installation fails due to “The source files could not be found” error, assuming the Windows Server Technical Preview 2 ISO image connected to the DVD drive (D:), type:
Simple as that!