SharePoint Online: Setting up a WebDav File/Windows Explorer Favourite and/or Mapped Drive

We’re working on setting up a project collaboration site in Office 365 SharePoint Online.

One of the simplest things to do to streamline document access is to set up a Favourite/Quick Access link in user’s File/Windows Explorer.

To do so:

1. Open the SharePoint Site in Internet Explorer
2. In Internet Options –> Trusted Sites set the slider to Low
3. Add the site to the Trusted Sites list and Apply & OK
4. Click on the Documents link
5. Click the Return to classic SharePoint link bottom left of the browser
6. Click the LIBRARY tab
7. Click the Open with Explorer button under Connect & Export
1. A credentials prompt may happen here
8. Drag the folder in the Address Bar to Favourites/Quick Access
9. Right click on the new shortcut and click on Properties
10. On the General tab:
1. Click and hold at the left of the Location: UNC path
2. Drag the mouse to the right to highlight the entire path and release the mouse button
3. Right click on the highlight and Copy
4. UNC path will look like: \\YOURDOMAINURI.sharepoint.com@SSL\DavWWWRoot\

That UNC path can be used to map a drive via Group Policy Preferences so that all users will have access via File/Windows Explorer.

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
www.s2d.rocks !
Our Web Site
Our Cloud Service

iPhone - Add a Virtual Home Button

While helping out with a new iPhone XR the following was seen:

Tap on it and:

Figuring out just what that was turned out to be a bit of a challenge since it was put there by an Apple employee when the phone was purchased and set up.

Well, after asking around and getting an answer from the ever knowing Merv Porter (he has way better search skills than me) it turns out it is called the Virtual Home Button and is in the AssistiveTouch menu.

To turn it on is quite simple:

1. Settings
2. General
3. Accessibility
4. AssistiveTouch

Turn that on. The menu above can be customized using Customize Top Level Menu… and the button itself can have several different touch abilities.

The button can be moved and moves about the screen depending on what's being done or read.
It grows opaque when not in use and disappears when trying to get a screenshot of it. The above were taken by my own iPhone's camera.

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
www.s2d.rocks !
Our Web Site
Our Cloud Service

RDMA via RoCE 101 for Storage Spaces Direct (S2D)

We’ve decided to run with RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) for our Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) proof of concept (PoC).

• (4) Intel Server Systems R2224WTTYS
• Dual Intel Xeon Processors, 256GB ECC, Dual Mellanox ConnectX-3, and x540-T2
• Storage is a mix of 10K SAS and Intel SATA SSDs to start
• (2) Mellanox MSX1012 56Gbps Switches
• (2) NETGEAR XS712T 10GbE Switches
• (2) Cisco SG500x-48 Gigabit Switches
• APC 1200mm 42U Enclosure
• APC 6KV 220v UPS with extended runtime batteries

The following is a list of resources we’ve gathered together as of this writing:

• RoCE How-To Video
• Hyper-V Amigos Showcast Episode 9: RDMA, RoCE, PFC and ETS (YouTube)
• Carsten  interviews Didier about his RoCE endeavours
• EXCELLENT and well worth the time (~45 minutes)
• Didier’s Working Hard in IT content
• RoCE Tagged: https://blog.workinghardinit.work/tag/roce/
• RDMA Tagged: https://blog.workinghardinit.work/tag/rmda/
• Data Centre Bridging Tagged: https://blog.workinghardinit.work/category/data-center-bridging/
• The two are sometimes exclusive of each other but still contain RoCE content
• SMB Direct Secret Decoder Ring Slides (PDF)
• Deck from the above video
• Lots of PoSh
• Mellanox has a fair amount of info on setting things up but is a bit convoluted
• HowTo Configure SMB Direct (RoCE) over PFC on Windows 2012 Server
• RDMA/RoCE Considerations for Windows 2016 on ConnectX-3 Adapters
• HowTo Configure RoCE v2 for ConnectX-3 Pro
• HowTo Enable PFC on Mellanox Switches
• HowTo Configure QoS on Mellanox Switches
• Mellanox Community: Tagged RoCE
• Microsoft
• Jose: Deploying Windows Server 2012 with SMB Direct (SMB over RDMA) and the Mellanox ConnectX-3 using 10GbE/40GbE RoCE
• How-To with good resources
• Ignite: Enabling Private Cloud Storage Using Servers with Local Disks
• S2D demo

This is, by far, not the most comprehensive of lists. The best place to start in our opinion is with Didier’s video and the PDF of the slides in that video. Then move on to the Mellanox resources.

We’ll update this blog post as we come across more materials and eventually get a process guide in place.

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
Our Cloud Service

Hyper-V: Set Up An Internal Network For Host/Guest File and Service Sharing

Here’s a quick and simple How-To for setting up network communication between a Hyper-V host, both Server and Windows 8/8.1, and any guests.

1. Hyper-V Manager --> R.Click ServerName --> Virtual Switch Manager --> New --> INTERNAL.
• Note the description for the internal vSwitch.
• 
2. Click APPLY and OK
3. Assign the newly created vSwitch – Internal to the required VM(s)
• 
4. On the HOST: Start –> NCPA.CPL [Enter] –> Set an IPv4 IP Address
• 
• Use a different subnet for this network than anything else on the host’s NICs.
5. On the Guest: Start –> NCPA.CPL [Enter] –> Set an IPv4 IP Address
• 
• Note the host and the guest are assigned an IP on the same subnet.
6. On either the Host or the Guest open Windows Explorer
7. \\IPv4Address\
8. Authenticate
1. To host: Either MachineName\Username or DomainName\Username
2. To guest: MachineName\Username
9. Copy and paste files and access services as expected
•  

If there is a need to work with UNC paths, HTTPS and certificates, and more then make sure to set up a small VM running DNS and ADDS if needed. One could also put DHCP on that VM to make addressing simple.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
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Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Windows 8: Excellent video on working in Windows 8 with a Mouse & Keyboard!

We don’t know about you but we learn a lot faster by seeing things get done than by reading step-by-step instructions.

This has to be one of the best videos seen to date that gives an excellent, slow moving, Keyboard & Mouse How-To:

Windows 8 Mouse and Keyboard How-To

Very well done! :D

As far as Windows 8 goes, we are beginning to _really_ like the changes in the OS. It is very intuitive on the Tega v2 tablet while there is a learning curve on the desktop/laptop.

Now, besides the Tega, let’s hope that there are some awesomely kewl tablets coming down the pipe to wrap around this very promising OS!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer