July, 2008

Update for FTP Service for IIS 7.0 (KB955136)

This update for the Microsoft FTP Service for IIS 7.0 fixes several issues that occur when using the service.
Update for FTP Service for IIS 7.0 (KB955136) (x64)

Update for FTP Service for IIS 7.0 (KB955136) (x86)

Update for WebDAV Extension for IIS 7.0 (KB955137) (x64)

This update for the Microsoft WebDAV Extension for IIS 7.0 fixes several issues that occur when using the extension.

Update for WebDAV Extension for IIS 7.0 (KB955137) (x64)

Update for WebDAV Extension for IIS 7.0 (KB955137) (x86)

Windows Small Business Server 2008 RC1 released

Few days ago Microsoft released Windows Small Business Server 2008 RC1. Windows SBS 2008 is available in two editions: Standard and Premium.

Standard Edition includes the software to install the primary Small Business Server. To install Standard Edition, you will need to download:

• SBS__RC1_DVD1_Installation.iso - Small Business Server Installation

Premium Edition includes software to install an additional Windows Server (either x86 or x64) for your domain, with the option of running SQL Server. To install Premium Edition, you will need to download:

• SBS_RC1_DVD1_Installation.iso - Small Business Server Installation
• SBS_RC1_DVD2_AddServerInstallationx86.iso - Additional Server Installation x86
• SBS_RC1_DVD3_AddServerInstallationx64.iso - Additional Server Installation x64
• SBS_RC1_SQL2008.iso - SQL Server 2008 for Small Business RC0

More information about Windows SBS 2008 editions is available here.

Script for Changing the Screen Resolution in Windows Server 2008 Server Core

I just finished with a script video_res.bat :). This scripts helps change the screen resolution in Windows Server 2008 Server Core. You can do this manually, but simple use Regedit, but you should know exactly what video driver is working right now in your system, my script does it for you, you just need to select the resolution and that it! Here is a content of video_res.bat:

@ECHO OFF
Rem ****************************************************************
Rem *                                                              *
Rem * Script to change display resolution in Windows 2008 Core     *
Rem *                                                              *
Rem * http://thesystemadministrator.com -  http://www.admininfo.ca *
Rem *                                                              *
Rem ****************************************************************

IF /i %VRES%==1 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 640 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 480 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==2 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 800 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 600 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==3 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1024 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 768 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==4 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1280 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 720 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==5 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1280 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 800 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==6 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1280 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1024 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==7 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1440 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 900 /f&goto :EOF
IF /i %VRES%==8 REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.XResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1600 /f&REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{%VIDEOCARD%}000 /v DefaultSettings.YResolution /t REG_DWORD /d 1200 /f&goto :EOF

Remember to Log Off and Log On again ;).

CoreConfigurator Tool discontinued

Guy Teverovsky, notice that CoreConfigurator Tool discontinued. He will not be developing the tool anymore and cannot support it.

Failover Clustering for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V with File Server Storage

Jose Barreto published very interesting article, which explains Step-by-Step how to create a Failover Clustering for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V JUST with File Server Storage.

Continue at Source…

Step-by-Step Installing Hyper-V on Server Core

Enable CPU virtualisation assistance and DEP in the BIOS.
Install Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 (Core Installation).
Determine the NIC ID: netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces.
Set the IP address for NIC, let say for NIC #2: netsh interface ipv4 set address name=”2″ source=static address=192.168.1.3 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1.
Set the DNS: netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name=”2″ address=192.168.1.2 index=1.
Rename server: netdom renamecomputer %computername% /NewName:HyperSvr1.
Reboot for that to take effect: shutdown /r /t 0.
Join it to domain: netdom join %computername% /domain:admininfo.local /userd:administrator /passwordd:*.
Reboot for that to take effect: shutdown /r /t 0.
Copy CoreConfigurator onto the Core server and configured any users, groups, enabled RDP, firewall settings, etc…
Download and copy the Hyper-V update onto the server.
Install the Hyper-V update: wusa.exe Windows6.0-KB950050-x64.msu.
Install the Hyper-V role: start /w ocsetup.exe Microsoft-Hyper-V.
Reboot.
Download and install Remote Management for Windows Vista.

What to use, IDE or SCSI in Hyper-V?

I have seen blog posts saying that there is no support for SCSI in Hyper-V.  That’s not exactly true :).  Microsoft said that you can use SCSI controllers for disks but not for your boot disk, the Boot disk must be on an IDE controller. But before making decision not to use SCSI controller, you should know that Hyper-V uses an emulated IDE controller.  This means there is a little bit of overhead in processing disk operations.

For SCSI support, Hyper-V uses a SCSI controller that is not emulated.  Instead it uses the virtual machine bus which is much faster and requires less CPU overhead.

As you probably know, the best practice is to separate your Data from your Operating System (OS).  I always install the operating system is on C: and store the data on D: drive.  In Hyper-V environment, C: will be a virtual disk on the IDE controller.  D: should be a virtual disk on a SCSI controller.  Just test this and you will see that it’s a not so bad idea ;).

Run Windows Live software on 64bit Windows

At Jun, I’ve published article “Sorry, Windows Live programs cannot be installed on Windows Server 2008“. I want to show the other (pretty same) solution about how to get manage to use Windows Live software on64-bit OS. Here it is.

Migrating and Restructuring Active Directory Domains Using ADMT v3.1

Additional new guide release from Microsoft, ADMT v3.1. This guide assists Active Directory administrators in performing domain migration through the use of the Active Directory Migration Tool. Download it here.