Repair, Replace, or Reimage
April 15, 2013 Leave a comment
One man’s blame is another man’s credit?
April 12, 2013 Leave a comment
Andy Borowirz of The New Yorker, tongue in cheek, posted an article on his blog this morning that states that North Korean President Kim Jong Un had to delay their missile launch because of Microsoft. While it is of course bogus, the article is quite amusing! 
Check it out here: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/04/north-korean-missile-test-delayed-by-windows-8.html
If He Can Do It YOU Can Too!
April 9, 2013 Leave a comment
I have been saying for the past couple of years that Microsoft’s Hyper-V is much simpler than vSphere, but I never imagined that I would see this: Caleb, a 5th grader, shows us how to create a virtual machine, install an OS, and even create a virtual switch. Not only was I impressed with how well he does it, but his communication skills far exceed those of many adult IT Pros that I have met! (Not you of course… I mean the other guys…)
So the question is if he can do it, why can’t you? Of course you can, it is that simple!
Lock Screen in Windows Phone 8
April 3, 2013 2 Comments
One of my pet peeves in Windows Phone 7 was that the Lock Screen apps were set for you according to the order in which you configured them. Because I had run into that issue in Windows Phone 7, I had no reason to think it was any different in Windows Phone 8. Fortunately I was looking for something else and came across the Quick Status Configuration that lets you do just that!
Under Settings click Lock Screen.
In Lock Screen scroll down to Choose apps to show quick status
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As you can see, you can click on any of these icons and choose what to put in. I like the default… Phone, Text, and my three most important mail accounts. However as I have more than just the three, I get to choose which ones are on the lock screen, and in which position.
Thanks for listening Windows Phone guys!
Virtualization: CPUs and Cores and Sockets… Oh My!
April 2, 2013 2 Comments
I have been getting a lot of questions recently about virtual machine CPU usage, especially around things like Symmetric Multi-Threading (SMT). Jeff Woosley, the Principal Product Manager (WSSC) at Microsoft, recently sent out this clarification which many of you will find enlightening. –MDG
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Q: Should Symmetric Multi-Threading (SMT) be enabled or disabled?
A: Hyper-V works fine with Symmetric Multi-Threading and we recommend leaving it on. There’s really one corner case where you’d want to disable SMT:
>> if you’re running on a system that has more logical processor than is supported by Hyper-V <<
While this isn’t going to happen anytime soon with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, it can happen with earlier versions such as Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and previous. For example, if you’re running Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V (which support a maximum of 64 logical processors) on a system that has a total of 80 logical processors (4 sockets, 10 cores per socket with SMT). Let’s discuss.
In this case, Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V will use the first 64 logical processors and ignore the rest. This results in a bunch of idle cores in the system while SMT is used because of the way logical processors are enumerated during boot up. When the OS boots it starts with socket 1 and enumerates all logical processors:
- on socket 1 it enumerates logical processors 1-20
- on socket 2 it enumerates logical processors 21-40
- on socket 3 it enumerates logical processors 41-60
- and on socket 4 it would see 61-64
Notice that 65-80 are not enumerated and thus are ignored/not used by the system. This is because Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V only support up to 64 logical processors total. (Again, with Windows Server 2012/Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 it now supports up to 320 logical processors per server.) While SMT provides a good performance boost, a thread doesn’t equal a core, and you don’t want to leave any cores idle. Thus, in this case, we recommend disabling SMT so that Windows Server 2008 R2 uses all 40 cores. Let me again stress, this is a relative corner case.
The best solution is to use Windows Server 2012 and leave SMT enabled because it supports up to 320 logical processors and can take full advantage of the hardware resources.
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Q: Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V supports up to 320 logical processors and virtual machines with up to 64 virtual processors per virtual machine. However, the industry isn’t standing still and will create larger servers were with more sockets and cores. How does Microsoft view scalability?
A: Scalability, like performance, is an ongoing engineering commitment. We are never “done” with improving scalability and performance. Just a few years ago 32 logical processors in a server seemed like a huge, scale up system. Now, that’s an industry standard 2 socket server. Today’s mainstream server is yesterday’s scale up system. That said, we pushed the envelope very far with Windows Server 2012 and lead the industry. We’re going to watch and listen closely to what’s most important for our customers.
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If you are interested in evaluating Windows Server or System Center 2012 you can can do so by clicking here:
Virtual Networking in Hyper-V 2012
April 1, 2013 Leave a comment
Microsoft has released a poster diagramming virtual networking in Hyper-V 2012. Much of it revolves around Virtual Machine Manager, and is actually branded System Center 2012 SP1. If you are building or managing datacenters – even smaller ones – you should download this document and review it. We all have something to learn from it!
The VMM networking poster is available for download here.
Now: If you are going to be at MMS, I am told that the Windows Server team will be giving out printed copies – I had one of the original Hyper-V environment and wore it out – it was my most referenced document for months!
If you are interested in evaluating Windows Server or System Center 2012 you can can do so by clicking here:
Microsoft Virtual Academy: Live Q&A!
April 1, 2013 Leave a comment
The IT Pro Evangelism team, Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft Virtual Academy are pleased to announce the next FREE & PUBLIC event Live Q&A: Introduction to Hyper-V on Wednesday April 3rd, from 8:30 am – 10:30am PST with virtualization experts Jeff Woolsey & Symon Perriman.
Ask your customers to join this live online event designed for IT professionals that have questions about Microsoft virtualization and want to learn about Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. Register here: http://aka.ms/MVAf-HyperV. If you cannot make the live event, sign up anyway so you can receive a notification when the recording is published on the Microsoft Virtual Academy.
Topics and demos may include:
· Introduction to Microsoft Virtualization
· Hyper-V Infrastructure
· Hyper-V Networking
· Hyper-V Storage
· Hyper-V Management
· Hyper-V High Availability and Live Migration
· Integration with System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager
· Integration with Other System Center 2012 Components
Tweet: Ask us your questions about #Windows #Sever 2012 #HyperV! Register for this live free public Q&A event on April 3rd: http://aka.ms/MVAf-HyperV
Also check out our recent full day training Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start which is now available on the Microsoft Virtual Academy.
The One Inch Punch Revisited…
March 29, 2013 1 Comment
“Mitch, you cheated!”
I was astounded… Within hours of posting my video yesterday of my One Inch Punch I received dozens of likes and comments, both privately and in public. However one person responded that I had cheated… not only had I straightened my fingers (giving me 4” from tip to knuckle), but I also brought my fist back several inches before striking. I went back and watched the video, and sure enough at the millisecond before impact you can clearly see several inches between my fist and the board.
Pictures don’t lie… I watched the video over and over again, and came to the same conclusion. This had not been a one inch punch.
I have cheated in my life… I cannot think of a really good example right now, but I have not always been the honest person I am today. However I live my life by a code of honour (reinforced by and completely compatible with the Martial Arts). Cheating is not supposed to be in my vocabulary, let alone in my toolbox.
Of course, there is an argument to be made that I did not cheat, I just failed at what I tried to do… but bragging is bad enough, bragging when you didn’t do something is terrible. So Thursday evening I decided to try to make it right… I was at the Belt Testing for the Eglington branch of Master Kim’s OMAC, and after the testing was over and most of the people had left I gave it another go.
I tried with two boards first, but that was not feeling right. In the end I had Master Kwan hold a single board for me, and with a couple of my biggest fans looking on (Mrs. Anita has always been one of my favourites, but I have only recently become familiar with Mrs. Toni) I tried again:
Master Kwan holds the target for me as I attempt a TRUE One Inch Punch!
As you can see in the video I am not extending my fingers, rather I am only extending the first knuckle on my index finger, and while it is possible that for a split second my fist was 1.5” from the board, it is certainly a lot closer than it was in my first attempt (which was really my second – I didn’t record the first one).
I will say that after I was accused of cheating I went to the web and watched several masters perform (and explain the feat. Watching Bruce Lee perform it is simply impossible – the cameras that recorded him did not slow it down enough, and the resolution was terrible. However Sifu George Hajnasr (a Jeet Kune Do Master from Boston) gives a great demo of it, as does Senior Instructor Jeremy Lynch of Chinatown JKD. Watching Instructor Lynch’s explanation of how the body’s muscle groups work together really helped me to increase the power and snap in my punch.
While the One Inch Punch is a great demonstration, it would not be effective in a real combat situation unless it is used in combination with other techniques… When I am able to get back into training I am going to try to add that last inch into every punch that I throw. The body mechanics that go into the punch do not have to be exclusive to this one punch. However for now I am thinking that I should take this demo to the OMAC Canada Championships coming up in May… Want to come watch? Let me know and I’ll get you the details!
TechEd 2013: Call For MCTs!
March 28, 2013 Leave a comment
Are you a current MCT? TechEd wants you! The Call For Staff for TechEd, including Hands On Labs, MCT Ambassadors, and Certification Prep is open, and I am hoping to see a few Canadian MCTs throw their name into the Goblet of Fire! Ok, it’s not a goblet, there’s no fire… but you do get your show pass paid for TechEd along with a cool shirt 
If you would like to go to TechEd but think the price is out of reach, here is a great compromise… you work a few hours a day and your ticket is paid for! Yes, you still have to pay your own travel and expenses, but that is a small price to pay compared to all of the learning and networking opportunities that await!
To put your name in click here: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/mct/general/f/120/t/321378.aspx#fbid=bLNZEjAFLpL
If you are interested in going please let me know as well, and continue to conversation on Twitter… we will be using the hashtag #CdnAtTechEd (as we did last year). And stay tuned… the DPE Team just may have something in store for you down in New Orleans (and Madrid for TechEd Europe)!
TechEd 2013: Call For MCTs!
March 28, 2013 1 Comment
Are you a current MCT? TechEd wants you! The Call For Staff for TechEd, including Hands On Labs, MCT Ambassadors, and Certification Prep is open, and I am hoping to see a few Canadian MCTs throw their name into the Goblet of Fire! Ok, it’s not a goblet, there’s no fire… but you do get your show pass paid for TechEd along with a cool shirt
If you would like to go to TechEd but think the price is out of reach, here is a great compromise… you work a few hours a day and your ticket is paid for! Yes, you still have to pay your own travel and expenses, but that is a small price to pay compared to all of the learning and networking opportunities that await!
If you are interested in going please let me know as well, and continue to conversation on Twitter… we will be using the hashtag #CdnAtTechEd (as we did last year). And stay tuned… the DPE Team just may have something in store for you down in New Orleans (and Madrid for TechEd Europe)!
The One Inch Punch
March 28, 2013 2 Comments
As many of you know I have been forced to take a break from Taekwondo since my auto accident in December. That does not mean that when asked I cannot suit up to help the judging at the Colour Belt Grading Tests. I did that this Wednesday, and afterwards some of us were hanging out chatting. I decided to try something I had never done before… although I have thought about it for years. I wanted to try the “One Inch Punch” as made famous by the Dragon Bruce Lee (see article).
Of course my left shoulder is still wrecked, but my right side is mostly fine. I gave it a shot, and although it hurt a bit it worked! Master David Kim held a very knotty board for me while Instructor Peter Wolchak filmed it for us. The board was much harder than most boards we use, but I figured I would try anyways. Here it is!
Thanks to Master David Kim for holding and Instructor Peter Wolchak for filming!
Video Conversion Software Giveaway
March 28, 2013 1 Comment
Welcome to Spring! As you know, from time to time software vendors contact me with promotions and giveaways for you, my readers. I like to pass along the ones that are really appealing, so when Digiarty Software told me that they are giving away copies of the WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe (the latest and greatest) I knew I had to get it out to you so that you don’t miss it.
We all get videos in all sorts of file formats, and some do work for us while others do not. Why take a chance? Even if you are only going to use it occasionally why not just download it and install it (the free part means you have to install it before April 9th) and have it for when you need it? I did!
There are also a couple of other great offers on their site so don’t forget to check them out… you will thank me for it!
To access Digiarty’s Easter giveaway visit: http://www.winxdvd.com/giveaway/software-deals-easter.htm
Activation Headaches: Here is your aspirin!
March 14, 2013 2 Comments
This post was originally written for the Canadian IT Pro Connection.
There are three concepts in Microsoft licensing that people often mistake for a single entity, when in fact the three are connected but very separate. They are:
- Licensing
- Activation
- Product Keys
Because the three are so tied together it is easy to get yourself in trouble if you do not take the time to understand how the three of them interrelate. However with a little understanding you should be good to go.
Licensing
You have paid for an instance of an operating system or an application; you are licensed to use it. Does that mean you are licensed to use it anywhere? Of course not. Depending on the type of license you may be good, or you may be limited. For example, there may be educational licensing that cannot be used outside of a school, or charity licensing that can only be used by a non-profit (and non-religious) organization. Then there are OEM licenses which are tied to a piece of hardware, which means that it cannot be transferred to another physical machine (or, depending on the license, to a Virtual Machine). These types of limitations are important to understand not only when planning your licensing, but also when migrating from older to newer hardware, and from physical to virtual, and even from vSphere to Hyper-V (virtual to virtual).
Activation
You install an operating system or an application. Now you are allowed to use it… however before you do it has to ‘call home’ to make sure that your license is legitimate. Unfortunately over the past few decades software piracy and misuse caused companies like Microsoft to come up with ways to try to prevent theft or misuse. In the days before ubiquitous interconnected computing (the Internet) you might have had to call Microsoft with a code and type in their response code. Fortunately today our computers are all connected, and all that software activation requires is your permission (some companies do not ask even that). However what if your computer is not connected to the Internet at the moment? Simple… most companies will let you install and use their software for a trial period (often 30 or 60 days) before having to activate it.
Product Keys
In order to make sure your operating system or application software is legitimate the company that sells it to you will provide you a product key, often represented on a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). This key ensures that you purchased it legitimately, and is encoded with protections to make sure a) you enter a legitimate key, and b) that the key has not simply been stolen or used more often than permitted.
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So we’re good to go… we understand the three different concepts. How they interconnect is as such:
- Not all Licensed software comes with a Product Key, but most of them do, and most of them require Activation to work.
- Having a Product Key does not mean that you are licensed, but will usually allow you to Activate your software (or OS).
- Having a Licensed Product Key does not necessarily mean you will be able to Activate your software, because if the Product Key has been compromised the software vendor may ‘kill’ the Product Key.
- A ‘killed’ Product Key does not mean you lose your License; you will however have to contact your software vendor to get a new key in order to Activate.
- An Activation is not proof of License. You can reinstall the same machine ten times and only use a single license. Also if you are able to Activate a Product Key more often than the number of Licenses you bought it does not make it legitimate.
Ok… so now that you understand all of this (there will be a test 
) it is time to manage your Licenses and Product Keys and Activations.
…What? Are you serious?
Okay okay… we know it sounds like a much simpler task in an organization with ten machines than in one with 10,000 machines, but Microsoft has a solution that is going to make your life easier. For the Enterprise (or at least for organizations with over 25 licenses) Microsoft provides a couple of free tools for managing your Volume License (VL) Activations. The Key Management Server (KMS) is a great way to manage your activations for Windows (Server & Client), Office, and several other Microsoft products, including OEM, Volume License, and even ‘FPP.’
Charity Shelbourne, a Senior Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft, wrote a great piece on Active Directory-Based Activation vs. Key Management Services. It discusses and links to articles on setting up and managing a KMS Server, as well as takes you through installing and configuring the Volume Activation Services role in Windows Server 2012, and managing all of the components of same. You can check out that article on the Ask Premier Field Engineer (PFE) Blog here. I was going to do a similar write-up, but when she has done such a great job I decided it was better to just point to hers. Now go forth and get your Licensed Product Keys Activated!
What not to Learn… Revisited for 2013!
March 12, 2013 2 Comments
In October, 2011 I posted an article called vPTA: What NOT to take away from my 1-day virtualization training! It was only partly tongue-in-cheek on the environment that I have been using for several years to demonstrate server virtualization from a pair of laptops. A few months later Damir Bersinic took that list and made some modifications, and published it on this blog as Things NOT To Take Away from the IT Virtualization Boot Camp. Because we spend so much time in our IT Camps demonstrating similar environments, I decided it was a good time to rewrite that article.
Normally when I revisit an article I would simply republish it. There are two reasons that I decided to rewrite this one from scratch:
- The improvements in Windows Server 2012, and
- My more official position at Microsoft Canada
Since writing that original article I have tried to revise my writing style so as to not offend some people… I am trying to be a resource to all IT Professionals in Canada, and to do that I want to eliminate a lot of the sarcasm that my older posts were replete with. At the same time there are points that I want to reinforce because of the severity of the consequences.
Creating a lab environment equivalent to Microsoft Canada’s IT Camps, with simple modifications:
1. In our IT Camps we provide the attendees with hardware to use for their labs. Depending on the camp attendees will work in teams on either one or two laptops. While this is fine for the Windows 8 camps, please remember that in your environment – even in a lab where possible – you should be using actual server hardware. With virtualization it is so simple to create a segregated lab environment on the same server as your production environment, using virtual switches and VLAN tagging. In environments where System Center 2012 has already been deployed it is easy enough to provision private clouds for your test/dev environments, but even without that it is a good idea. The laptops that we use for the IT Camps are great for the one- or two-day camps, but for longer than that you are going to risk running into a plethora of crashes that are easy enough to anticipate.
2. You should always have multiple domain controllers in any environment, production or otherwise. Depending on who you speak to many professionals will tell you that at least one domain controller in your domain should be on a physical box (as opposed to a virtual machine). I am still not convinced that this does not fall into the category of ‘Legacy Thinking’ but there is certainly an argument to be made for this. Whether you are going to do this in physical or virtual, you should never rely on a single domain controller. Likewise your domain controllers should be dedicated as such, and should not also be file or application servers.
3. I strongly recommend shared storage for your virtualization hosts be implemented on Storage Area Networks (SANs). SAN devices are a great method of sharing data between clustered nodes in a failover cluster. In Windows Server 2012 we have included the iSCSI Software Target that was previously an optional download (The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target is now free). While this is still not a good replacement of physical SANs, it is a fully supported solution for Windows Failover Cluster Services, including for Hyper-V virtual machine environments. It is even now recognized as an option for System Center 2012 private clouds. As well the Storage Pools feature in the new Server is a compelling feature to consider. However there are some caveats to consider:
A. Both iSCSI software targets and Storage Pools rely on virtual storage (VHDX files) for their LUNs and Pools. While VHDX files are very stable, putting one VHDX file into another VHDX file is a bad idea… at least for long-term testing and especially for production environments. If you are going to use a software target or Storage Pool (which are both fully supported by Microsoft for production environments) it is strongly recommended that you put them onto physical hardware.
B. While Storage Pools are supported on any available drive architecture (including USB, SATA, etc…) the only architecture that will be supported for clustered environments are iSCSI and SAS (Serial Attached SCSI). Do not try to build a production (or long-term test environment) cluster on inexpensive USB or SATA drives.
C. In our labs we use a lot of thin-provisioned (dynamically expanding, storage-on-demand) disks. While these are fully supported, it is not necessarily a best practice. Especially on drives where you may be storing multiple VHDX files you are simply asking for fragmentation issues.
4. If you are building a lab environment on a single host, you may run into troubles when trying to join your host to the domain. I am not saying that it will not work – as long as you have properly configured your virtual network it likely will – but there are a couple of things to remember. Make sure that your virtual domain controller is configured to Always Start rather than Always start if it was running when the service stopped. As well it is a good idea to configure a static IP address for the host, just in case your virtual DHCP server fails to start properly, or in a timely fashion.
5. Servers are meant to run. Shutting down your servers on a daily basis has not been a recommended practice for many years, and the way we do things – at the end of the camp we re-image our machines, pack them into a giant case and ship them to the next site – is a really bad idea. If you are able I strongly recommend leaving your lab servers running at all times.
6. While it is great to be able to demo server technologies, when at all possible you should leave your servers connected (and turned on) in one place. If you are able to bring your clients to you for demos that is ideal, but it is so easy these days to access servers remotely on even the most basic of Internet connections. If your company does not have a static IP address I would recommend using a dynamic DNS service (such as dyndns.com) with proper port-forwarding configured in your gateway router to access then remotely.
7. I am asked all the time how many network adapters you need for a proper server environment. I always answer ‘It depends.’ There are many factors to consider when building your hosts, and in a demo environment there are concessions you can make. However unless you have absolutely no choice it should be more than one. For a proper cluster configuration (excluding multi-pathing and redundancy) you should have a production network, a storage network, and a heartbeat network… and that is three just for the bare minimum. Some of these can share networks and NICs by configuring VLANs, but again, preferably only in lab environments. Before building your systems consider what you are willing to compromise on, and what is absolutely required. Then build your architectural plan and determine what hardware is required before making your purchase.
7a. While on the subject of networks, in our demo environment the two laptop-servers are connected to each other by a single RJ-45 cable. BUY SWITCHES… and the ones that are good enough for you to use at home are usually not good enough for your production environment!
8. When it is at all possible your storage network should be physically segregated from your production network. When physical segregation is not possible then at least separating the streams by using vLANs is strongly recommended. The first offers security as well as bandwidth management, the second only security.
9. Your laptop and desktop hardware are not good-enough substitutes for server-grade hardware. I know we mentioned this before, but I still feel it is important enough to state again.
10. In Windows Server 2008 R2 we were very adamant that snapshots, while handy in labs and testing, were a bad idea for your production environment. With the improvements to Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 we can be a little less adamant, but remember that you cannot take a snapshot and forget about it. When you delete or apply a snapshot it will now merge the VHDX and AVHDX files live… but snapshots can still outgrow your volume so make sure that when you are finished with a snapshot you clean up after yourself.
11. Breaking any of these rules in a production environment is not just a bad idea, it would likely result in an RGE (Resume Generating Event). In other words, some of these can be serious enough for you to lose your job, lose customers, and possibly even get you sued. Follow the best practices though and you should be fine!
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Microsoft Certified Career Day!
March 11, 2013 Leave a comment
Our industry moves fast! There was a time when if you learned a system you e set for a long time. Now Microsoft is releasing operating systems every three years (client AND server), and the management tools are constantly evolving. A carpenter who takes a year off work may be out of practice, but will remember his way pretty quick. An IT Pro who is out of the loop for that long has a steep learning curve to step to… just to get back to where he was. Automation with PowerShell and System Center Orchestrator is increasing the ratio of servers to administrators, and that means that people who once thought they had a secure position may be fighting for their jobs, or even find themselves looking for a new one in a market where there are hundreds of others in the same boat, fighting for the same jobs.
In a world of ones and zeros, how can we stand out from the crowd? What can we do to make ourselves worth more to a IT potential employer than the rest of the pack? Experience is great, but once you are out of work it is hard to build while pounding the pavement. What can we do to increase our value and marketability?
GET CERTIFIED! Certifications demonstrate not only that you have the respect for your profession to learn to do things right, they also give you the chance to show that you are up to speed on the latest technologies… even when the company you were working for wasn’t. Are you an MCSE? Great! But hiring managers now understand the difference between an MCSE on Windows Server 2003 (2000? NT4??) and an MCSE: Private Cloud. If they are looking for someone to lead them into the future they are not looking for someone who only knows the past. That is why we as IT Pros are constantly updating our certs, even at a cost of $150 per shot. It is not usually for our current company, but rather for our next one.
Microsoft Learning is hosting an on-line certified career day on March 12, 2013. The day will begin with a live, interactive panel discussion with IT managers and industry experts who will discuss how the cloud is redefining IT recruitment and the growing need for up-to-date certifications.
The panel will be followed by an exclusive interview with special guest Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow. Next, attend the technology focused sessions with Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 product group experts.
Attendees of Certified Career Day are eligible to win an Acer tablet with full Windows 8. Event capacity is limited so register now! Click here and you are on your way!
