Unfortunately item 12, should be listed as item 1….

• Support for USB monitoring of UPS / USB Backup Disks pass through.
• Built-in support for existing AD authentication, no special ‘root’ passwords for individual ESX hosts.
• Group Policy Support.
• Time based power management policy for Hyper-V hosts. (Low power after hours).
• FREE Hyper-V R2 version of 2008 server. Downloadable direct from Microsoft.
• Host updates can be done using existing WSUS server.

Keeping all this in mind, I still see VMWare vSphere as the king of the data centre. I just think (similar to Terminal Services and CITRIX) Microsoft will catch up over the next few years.

My notes from the sessions are here:

Limits are:
64GB per VM
SMP VMs up to 4 Cores
Cluster support for HA & Live migration

R2 supports
===========
Live Migration
High Availability
Hot Add/ Remove virtual Storage

SConfig.exe for management

Free Hyper-V server 2008 R2

PSHyper-V (free PowerShell tools)
Extended Page Tables for Intel & AMD is Nested Page Tables or Rapid Virtualisation Indexes
VHD Maximum size is 2TB.

Possible to deploy a .VHD file to boot host server.
A VHD Differencing disk must exist on the same partition.
Create fixed size VHD on hosts.
Non-boot VHD are not auto-mounted.
Bit-locker disabled and hibernation disabled.

Dynamic Memory Architecture can adjust ram allocated to hosts.
Complicated as it fools guests OS with hiding unallocated RAM on Windows 03-08R2 in kernel
Avoid Dynamic Memory Allocation on NUMA style processors.

IPD = Infrastructure Planning & Design
Map Guests to Hosts – Reserve 20% resources on a VM Host
Works with Discovery of VMware servers

Cluster Shared Volumes – Used to share a single NTFS volume between separate hosts.
Hyper-V supports Core Parking

NetFT driver governs traffic data on network.
Hyper-V with shared storage uses NetFT to request file creates on the NTFS NameSpace Owner.
Future read/writes are made directly to shared storage.

CSV’s are not required to run shared storage.

Must Support SCSI v3 & Persistent Reservations Support

During a failure of the network. Each node writes to the Quorum disk two things every 3 seconds. I am alive file and copy of configuration.
When no record from active host – second node takes control of quorum and resources. If this fails then it sends a BUS reset.
When starting it tries to connect to other hosts on the private network first, then secondly on the public network. If fails then goes into dormant state.

cluster.exe used for managing cluster services

The default interface for live migration is the second lowest network.
The iSCSI network should be disabled for Cluster and Live migration

Recommend 5 interfaces on servers:
- Host Management
- VM Switch
- Live Migration
- Cluster Heartbeat
- iSCSI

SCVMM can manage ESX (If running VI3 and NOTE VSPHERE), Virtual Server or Hyper-V.
Can separate services onto different hosts
Can handle about 100 physical hosts or 200 guests on self-contained installation.
Can manage hosts in an untrusted network or DMZ,
All management to SCVMM done through PowerShell. GUI & web management apps run through PowerShell host.

Hyper-V Cannot handle more than 1 live migration simultaneously.

Need to install the SCVMM Management pack for SCOM to pass usage and rules
ProTip’s are able to improve visibility of issues or errors
SCVMM and SCOM can run on the same server.

SCOM will discover services to manage.
Need to Install SCOM Console on SCVMM console to make PowerShell applets available
Need to install SQL MP and IIS MP for SCOM to allow integrated management
Run setup for SCVMM on Operations Manager and select to configure SCOM for SCVMM integration

PRO Graph for alerts are based on 5 day average and not alert value of average on previous 3 queries

Cluster Shared Volumes cannot be used for SAN migrations of Virtual Machines

Enable Maintenance Mode command on Hyper-V Host (Disable-VMHost) -MoveWithinCluster is Live Migration
Disable Maintenance Mode command is Enable-VMHost

SCDPM is Data Protection Manager – used to backup block level images to disk and tape.
For non VM-aware guest, the host will halt all transactions for the gust VM VHD and run the snapshot pausing all connections and connectivity.
For VM-Aware snapshots, host continues running but performance will be impacted.
DPM will only run 1 concurrent backup on each CSV volume
TechNet article to force backup of CSV volumes sequentially.

Rule of thumb is 1TB snapshot in 1min.

Dynamic Infrastructure Toolkit is used to manage requests for additional hardware and software in large organisations.
DITK bolds onto SCOM and SCVMM

Current Most cost effective:
Intel Quad Core
2-4GB /pre Core
(10GBit iSCSI = 3-7000K IOPS, 8GB FC 5-9000K IOPS, SATA Disk 100 IOPS, SAS Disk 150 IOPS, FC Disk 200 IOPS)
Networking is
On-board 1GB/e for Host Management
On-board 1GB/e for heartbeat
1x 4 Port 1GB/e PCIe for
Live migration
iSCSI
Teamed VMGuest network

Offline service tool can be used to slipstream patches into golden master VM’s.
SCVMM cannot extend the VHD file size or NTFS partition within.

The mailbox migration had me stumped as the Domino 5 was not hosting several of the required roles PLUS Lotus notes version 6 to 7 must be installed on the server for the import to work.

As we were doing a single import of all users mailboxes and not planning on running the two systems in parallel, the toolbox gives the ability to import mail items directly from the domino NSF files. There are a few gotcha’s but read on for the steps I followed to import the user mailboxes:

Step 1. Download/ obtain the Lotus Notes v6 or v7 client. (Note that you will need to register for this)

Step 2. Install Lotus Notes on the SBS/ Exchange server.

Step 3. Install the Microsoft Transporter Suite – download.

Step 4. Create all user accounts & mailboxes with the necessary mailbox configuration.

Step 5. Grant the necessary Exchange permissions to the AD migration user account.
‘Get-ClientAccessServer | select name,distinguishedname | fl’ (Will give the CAS Server Distingued Name)
‘Add-ADPermission –Identity <CAS Server Distingued Name> -User <userDN> -ExtendedRights ms-Exch-EPI-Impersonation’

Step 6. Copy a current user <mailbox>.NSF from the Domino server to a temporary storage location.

Step 7. Open the ‘Microsoft Transporter Suite for Domino’ and navigate to ‘Toolbox’

Step 8. Run the Migrate Notes Mail Archive wizard.

Step 9. Select the NSF file and enter the mail domain. (eg. DOMINOSRV/CONTOSO/MAIL domain will be ‘MAIL’ domain which appears to be case sensitive.) Select the existing user account and mailbox for the import and click Next.

If  the process runs and errors on the import naming the Junk Email folder, simply log into this user mailbox and delete the duplicate Junk Mail folder that uses a standard folder icon.

Step 10. Have test import user compare the contents of the Outlook and Notes mailboxes.

The final import can be done using the same procedure and if necessary it is possible in the import wizard to select item dates for import.

In our experience we found:

• Not all future appointments were migrated correctly.
• Recurring appointments are imported with the wrong time zone and could not be modified.
• Recurring appointments have end dates specified to finish recurrence on date of migration.
• Contact databases have to be imported separately.
• Corrupt items skipped are shown in the wizard log and can be copied and pasted using Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V.

I will update this article if I find any other useful information post-migration.

You might run into a probelm seeing how the %date% output includes / characters.

Useful little command is %date:/=-% so that the output is “day-month-year” not “day/month/year”

I now think that is a little short sighted. As with pre-avatar 3D a lot of movies were recorded in two dimensions and then using computers had the foreground and background forced to one of several 3D panes with some special effects rendered into 3D. Since watching Avatar I have seen both Alice in Wonderland & Clash of the Titans but by both was left disappointed with a slight headache to boot.

Neither of these films was recorded in 3D but had the depth “bolted on” in post-production and you can see the difference. Until studios record the entire movie in 3D, they just won’t get the same effect as avatar had and they risk putting the population off stereoscopic viewing.

Remember - Reduce, Re-use & Recycle!!!

If I am mistaken in ownership of the article, let me know and I will happily give credit where it is due.

I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War II. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.

“Very few people were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”

We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars world wide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behea
The fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
d, murder, or execute honor killings. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority” is the “silent majority,” and it is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war-mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians – most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt; yet, for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because, like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

by Paul E. Marek

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us, watching it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

I agree in concept with what the government is trying to achieve. To prevent Australian Internet subscribers from accessing immoral content such as child porn, bestiality, rape and information on home-made explosives. Unfortunately for us they have not been smart about how they do this nor have they been up-front & transparent. (As governments should be).

Millions of dollars have been spent on developing, testing and implementing a solution that only works for honest people. It’s like having a 60cm high fence, law abiding citizens will obey the rules but others will simply jump over, around or go under it. By using simple software, the internet filter can be easily bypassed allowing determined people access to blocked content.

Further to this, all plans around this filter are being kept secret with the threat of legal action and jail time to anyone found publishing specific details on what or how it blocks content. This secret list that is maintained by a government body can block anti-government comments as easily as porn and we aren’t allowed to ask questions or discuss or even know about it.

The world often criticizes countries like Iran, China and North Korea for the way their government’s control what the population can view and their restrictions to freedom of speech. Recently Australia has started to be included in this list and for good cause. As with the maintenance of this block list, the decision to deploy this has been made by the government with no consultation of Australian citizen’s.

What can we do? The Electronics Frontiers Australia is an organization that is working to make the government rethink their current plans and come up with a better solution. You should read news, ask questions and be vocal in your opinions. If nothing else, please sign the petition and make the government realise that they can’t make decisions that affect us without our permission.

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Ummmmmm. ]]> http://brendon.davis.to/2010/02/11/1c-special/feed/ 1 http://brendon.davis.to/2010/02/05/more-evidence-of-stick-in-the-mud-mentality/ http://brendon.davis.to/2010/02/05/more-evidence-of-stick-in-the-mud-mentality/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:11 +0000 brendon http://brendon.davis.to/?p=597 In a recent article on Wired Magazine, several publishing houses have complained about the pricing structure of Amazon eBooks. Regardless of the fact that a lack of distribution costs warrant a lower retail price; to protect book shops publishers want to artificially increase the price of eBooks.

Cheap MP3 downloads have been available for years now and I still can’t throw a stone in a shopping centre without hitting a music shop or two. I don’t see how the sale of books is any different, not to mention the increased selling capacity of a global store front.