leedesmond’s blog

For those who are in a hurry and tend not to RTFM, here is a quick summary of what you need to do before running the setup program for PowerShell v2 CTP on your machine. You should completely uninstall PowerShell v1.0 beforehand. Hopefully this will save you some time and unwanted frustration

- .NET Framework v2.0 (x86, x64)
- WS-Management v1.1 (x86 and x64 - update needed for the new remoting feature)
- .NET Framework 3.0 (x86 and x64 - needed for PowerShell GUI and Out-GridView cmdlet)
- PowerShell v2 CTP2 (May 2008, x86 and x64)

Make sure that you meet the system requirements for the respective components in order to install and for running certain new features on the corresponding operating system platforms (example: SP1 required on Vista for remoting).

Note that both the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0 can be installed on the same machine.

Technorati tags: PowerShell

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You can elect to backup the Windows System State and critical volume data using either the full Windows Server 2008 Backup MMC snap-in or the new wbadmin command-line tool. In the background, Windows utilizes Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to carry out the task of making point-in-time snapshot backup of the system.

Regardless of which method you use, the backup will be captured entirely in an .vhd virtual machine file format. This is the same file format used in Microsoft’s virtualization solutions - Virtual PC, Virtual Server and the upcoming Hyper-V.

Windows System State in Windows Server 2008 has grown dramatically in size. Depending on installed server roles and features, this figure can easily exceed 50′000 files! A full Windows System State backup can take up to one hour or more to complete to a direct attach storage (disk volume). Subsequent backup time should reduce if incremental or differential backup type is taken.

Let us take a look at how to use wbadmin to make a Windows System State backup. To begin, you need to have a separate disk volume as a backup destination. Otherwise, the following error will appear:

C:\Users\Administrator>wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:c:
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.

Starting System State Backup [5/26/2008 12:28 AM]
Retrieving volume information…

This would backup the system state from volume(s) Local Disk(C:) to c:.
Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y

ERROR - The location for backup is a critical volume.

Notice that the wbadmin syntax is quite straightforward. Once you have met the other prerequisites as described in my previous post*, simply let the backup progress run to completion. Ensure that you have sufficient disk space on the target volume because the .vhd file itself can use up to 6GB or more disk asset. In addition to that, you will also find a backup folder structure and a series of XML files created that describe the backup(s) made (additional storage space required).

The entire backup progress is shown below:

C:\Users\Administrator>wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:e:
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.

Starting System State Backup [5/26/2008 12:34 AM]
Retrieving volume information…

This would backup the system state from volume(s) Local Disk(C:) to e:.
Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y

Creating the shadow copy of volumes requested for backup.
Found (0) files
Found (3337) files
Found (7115) files
Found (10698) files
Found (29495) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Found (44795) files
Search for system state files complete
Starting backup of files
Overall progress - 0% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 0% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 0% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 0% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 0% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 1% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 1% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 2% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 2% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 2% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 3% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 3% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
.
.
.
Overall progress - 98% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 98% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 98% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Overall progress - 98% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘System Writer’)
Backup of files reported by ‘System Writer’ completed
Overall progress - 98% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘WMI Writer’)
Backup of files reported by ‘WMI Writer’ completed
Overall progress - 99% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘Registry Writer’)
Overall progress - 99% (Currently backing up files reported by ‘Registry Writer’)

Summary of backup:
——————

Backup of system state completed successfully [5/26/2008 1:37 AM]

Log of files successfully backed up
‘C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\SystemStateBackup 26-05-2008 00-34-54.log’

* search for Windows Server 2008 Backup Features dated 26 May 2008

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008, Security

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Upgrade Your Business Applications to Windows Server 2008 is the hot theme of our popular monthly event this Tue 3 June 2008. Dejan (Exchange MVP / exchangemaster.net) and myself will be bringing you 2 focus sessions on upgrading your IIS, SharePoint and Exchange 2007 to the exciting new OS release.

This free Swiss IT Pro User Group monthly event by IT Pros for IT Pros takes place next Tue 3 June 2008 at Digicomp Zurich. Registration and more information here.

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Looking at deploying Message Waiting Indication (MWI) in your Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging environment? The bad news is that no native support is available in the implementation of the UM server role.

In order to inter-operate with MWI compatible devices such as Cisco Call Manager whenever a voice recording is delivered to your Inbox (on the Exchange UM server), it is necessary to look at third party solutions. Check out one such option here.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS , Unified Communications, Exchange Server

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It is possible to install and run both Office Live Meeting 7.9.x and 8.x clients simultaneously, commonly known as LM 2005 and 2007 respectively, on the same machine. Why do you want to do this?

Although LM 2007 is backwards compatible with LM 2005, some public live meeting conferences - such as those accessed through www.livemeeting.com - still require the latter before the meeting will successfully load. To gain access to the full LM features, you must install the LM 2005 client (~6.5MB). It is safe to do so with an existing LM 2007 installation as both are setup in different folders under %programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Live Meeting 7 (and Live Meeting 8 ) .

The 32-bit version of LM 2005 and 2007 have been tested to work under Windows Server x64 editions (2003 or 2008).

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS , Unified Communications

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The May 2008 Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Application Compatibility Update has been released. This recommended cumulative update contains all fixes included in previous application compatibility updates.

More info here.

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008, Vista

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A separately installed feature, Windows Server 2008 Backup consists of 2 selectable sub-features, namely Windows Server Backup and Command-line Tools. Unless you intend to use PowerShell to manage scheduled backups, Windows Server Backup is all that you need.

There are many new functionality and feature enhancements in Windows Server 2008 Backup (check out the excellent online help). Through the Wizard interface, you can run Scheduled Backups but note the following changes:

• it is no longer possible to pick individual files, folders or Windows system state for backup
• backup can only be selected for an entire disk volume (all-or-nothing backup, even if you choose the Custom backup type)
• the target backup must reside on a different location i.e. you cannot backup drive C: onto itself
• only direct attached storage (disks) with NTFS formatted volumes can be backup
• backup to tape is no longer supported (target must be internal/external (removable) disks, DVD or remote shared folders)

So what if you just want to run an on-demand backup of the Windows System State? That would be a good candidate for another blog discussion next.

Technorati tags: PowerShell, Windows Server 2008, Security

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I pointed out in a previous post* that virtual machine hard disks (.vhd) built on virtualization solutions such as Virtual PC or Virtual Server can be reused under Hyper-V. All you need to do is to manually create a new virtual machine that mirrors the settings described in the original .vmc.

When you attempt to start the virtual machine, the Windows guest OS’s plug-and-play feature will kick in automatically. Although no new hardware has been explicitly added, the Hyper-V synthetic devices, in particular the VMBus, will still be detected. Because of this, Windows Product Activation may be triggered. VMBus is the hardware sharing model that facilitates guest VMs proper access to the host machine hardware.

In order to support these new devices, the correct APCI HAL must be loaded. The original HAL in the guest OS will only be replaced once the Hyper-V Integration Components are successfully installed. Be aware that once this is done, the VM will no longer be portable back to the older virtualization solutions.

This behavior is known to affect Windows OS versions prior to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 as the former do not have in-built capability to dynamically detect HAL at boot time.

Note that previously attached NIC will appear as not connected. Simply select the correct virtual switch under Hyper-V and you are good to go.

* Import Existing Activated VHD to Hyper-V - WPA again! dated 21 May 2008

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Virtualization, Hyper-V

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To customize the PowerShell environment on a per-user basis, you need to explicitly create files that describe such user profiles as they do not exist by default. Name it Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 if the profile applies only to the default instance of PowerShell. To affect all PowerShell instances on the same machine, give it a name of profile.ps1 instead.

Where should I put these PowerShell user specific profiles under Windows Server 2008? The answer is %userprofile%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users should place them under %userprofile%\My Documents\WindowsPowerShell.

Technorati tags: PowerShell, Windows Server 2008

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The “Import Virtual Machine” option under Hyper-V only permits the import of virtual machines previously exported from Hyper-V itself. You are out of luck if you are looking to use this as an accelerated means (as there is none officially from Microsoft) to conveniently import existing virtual machines (configurations defined in .vmc) created by Virtual Server 2005 or Virtual PC 2007. Read more here.

Nevertheless, you can reuse a virtual hard disk (.vhd) under Hyper-V by running the New Virtual Machine Wizard and provide similar settings as recorded in the .vmc. After this manual process, a folder tree structure (path changeable at point of creation) describing the new VM configuration will be created. The .vmc configuration file is deprecated. Although highly recommended, it is not necessary to first uninstall the Virtual Machine Additions. Installation of the Hyper-V Integration Services is required if services such as OS shutdown or time synchronization were to be made available to the guest OS.

For Windows XP and later editions that are subject to Windows Product Activation, you may be prompted with the following as soon as the VM starts:

This condition may appear even though it is a direct reuse of previously created .vhd that are already WPA activated from either Virtual Server or Virtual PC, where the VM’s hardware attributes such as CPU type/speed, RAM memory, hard-drive controller type (IDE/SCSI), network adapter type, etc. were not modified at all and no new hardware was explicitly added either.

Therefore, if you can help it, do not activate any previous versions of .vhd prior to bringing them under Hyper-V. If possible, build supported, RTM versions of the Windows operating system from scratch straight away on the target host machine running Hyper-V.

Tested on Windows Server 2008 x64 RTM with Hyper-V RC0 + KB949219

Reference: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V FAQ, How to Install Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Release Candidate

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Virtualization, Hyper-V

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