September, 2008

Mark Russinovich Talks Vista Performance

Last week Mark Russinovich and a group of other experts talked about Windows Vista performance. You can watch the recording of the show here.

Silent Installation of VMWare Tools - Additional Way

1. First, you need to extract the contents of windows.iso
2. Run: msiexec.exe /i “VMware Tools.msi” /qb-! INSTALLLEVEL=1000 REBOOT=ReallySuppress

Hyper-V Failover-Cluster Hotfix now public

Increased functionality and virtual machine control in the Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Management console for the Hyper-V role….

KB951308

TechNet Magazine Online: October Edition

Virtualization: An Introduction to Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008
The introduction of Hyper-V makes virtualization an even more compelling solution for IT environments. Get an overview of today’s virtualization market and see how Hyper-V improves the manageability, reliability, and security of virtualization.

Virtualization: Manage Your Virtual Environments with VMM 2008
System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides a consolidated interface for managing your virtual infrastructure. The latest version adds support for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, as well as for VMware virtual machines. Explore the new features and get an overview of using VMM to centralize your management tasks.

Virtualization: Getting Started with Microsoft Application Virtualization
Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) allows you to deliver virtualized desktops to client systems throughout your organization. This simplifies system management and liberates employees from their desktops. Take a close look at how App-V works and discover how you can deploy it in your organization.

Virtualization: Achieving High Availability for Hyper-V
Consolidating servers onto fewer physical machines has many advantages, but it is extremely important that you plan for your systems to be highly available. Here’s a guide to using Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering to bring high availability to your Hyper-V virtual machines.

Virtualization: Backup and Disaster Recovery for Server Virtualization
Virtualization brings significant changes to disaster recovery. Here’s an introduction to how the Microsoft virtualization platform factors into your disaster recovery plan, as well as a deeper look into backup and restore options and considerations for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

Virtualization: Essential Tools for Planning Your Virtual Infrastructure
Is your infrastructure ready for virtualization? The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit, a network-wide infrastructure assessment tool, can help you better understand your IT infrastructure and determine whether your systems are ready for upgrade or migration to a variety of technologies, including virtualization.

Continue at: blogs.technet.com

VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool

Matthijs ten Seldam has produced a very cool tool that allows import existing virtual machines from Virtual PC and Virtual Server in Hyper-V.

VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool  (VMC2HV), imports the configuration from a Virtual Machine Configuration (VMC) file. Both Virtual PC and Virtual Server use VMC files to store the hardware and other properties of a VM. It reads the VMC file and maps all relevant properties to those for a Hyper-V VM.

Continue at source: Matthijs’ blog

Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 Beta

IEAK8 Beta is now available to public. Everyone can try it. IEAK allows you to deploy customized packages and manage IE settings post deployment within corporations and among Internet Content Providers (ICP) and Internet Service Providers (ISP).

Continue at: blogs.msdn.com

Administrative Templates (ADMX) for Windows Server 2008

Few days ago Microsoft released a Administrative Templates (ADMX) for Windows Server 2008. Windows Server 2008Administrative templates provide Group Policy setting information for the items that appear under Administrative Templates. Group Policy tools use Administrative template files to populate policy settings in the user interface.

Administrative template files in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista are divided into ADMX (language-neutral) and ADML (language-specific) files. ADML files are XML-based ADM language files that are stored in a language-specific folder. By default, the %Systemroot%\PolicyDefinitions folder on a local computer stores all ADMX files, and ADML files for all languages that are enabled on the computer.  Download At Source: www.microsoft.com 

VMware Workstation 6.5

The Gold Standard for Desktop Virtualization Just Got Better

VMware® Workstation 6.5 provides the deepest OS support, best-in-class virtual machine architecture, the richest desktop user experience and an unmatched set of features to enhance productivity.

InfoWorld says that VMware Workstation 6.5 is “the gold standard for desktop virtualization…truly a world-class product and a pace-setter for the entire industry.”

VMware Workstation 6.5 is packed with new features, including:

• “Unity” view provides a seamless desktop experience.
• DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 2 graphics enable Windows 3D applications and games.
• Easy Install simplifies the creation of Windows and Linux virtual machines.
• Powerful Record and Replay for groundbreaking debugging capabilities.

Get details about all of the new features.

Moving a Windows Installation (2000, XP, 2003) to Different Hardware

Time to time is necessary upgrade or change Server Hardware. In average, companies change hardware for servers every 3-5 years. Furthermore, yes, this time we could get problems with doing that. Move Installed Windows to the same the physical computer is not a big deal, but move Installed Windows to different physical computer sometimes is not so easy. Let see how to do this by using standard NTBACKUP.

In this article I’ll show you how to create a system state backup on one computer and restore it to a different physical computer.

Full story at source: http://www.admininfo.ca/

XenServer 5 Has Arrived (130 new features)

XenServer 5 Has Arrived (130 new features). This is most significant launch of XenServer(130 additional features). Read about what’s new: http://www.xenserver5.com/whatsnew.php