Intel/LSI/Avago StorCli Error: syntax error, unexpected $end FIX

We're working with an Intel setup and needed to verify the setup on an Intel RAID Controller.

After downloading the command line utilities, since we're in Server Core, we hit this:

C:\Temp\Windows>storcli /cx show

syntax error, unexpected $end

     Storage Command Line Tool  Ver 007.0415.0000.0000 Feb 13, 2018

     (c)Copyright 2018, AVAGO Technologies, All Rights Reserved.

help - lists all the commands with their usage. E.g. storcli help
<command> help - gives details about a particular command. E.g. storcli add help

List of commands:

Commands   Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------
add        Adds/creates a new element to controller like VD,Spare..etc
delete     Deletes an element like VD,Spare
show       Displays information about an element
set        Set a particular value to a property
get        Get a particular value to a property
compare    Compares particular value to a property
start      Start background operation
stop       Stop background operation
pause      Pause background operation
resume     Resume background operation
download   Downloads file to given device
expand     expands size of given drive
insert     inserts new drive for missing
transform  downgrades the controller
/cx        Controller specific commands
/ex        Enclosure specific commands
/sx        Slot/PD specific commands
/vx        Virtual drive specific commands
/dx        Disk group specific commands
/fall      Foreign configuration specific commands
/px        Phy specific commands
/[bbu|cv]  Battery Backup Unit, Cachevault commands
/jbodx      JBOD drive specific commands

Other aliases : cachecade, freespace, sysinfo

Use a combination of commands to filter the output of help further.
E.g. 'storcli cx show help' displays all the show operations on cx.
Use verbose for detailed description E.g. 'storcli add  verbose help'
Use 'page=[x]' as the last option in all the commands to set the page break.
X=lines per page. E.g. 'storcli help page=10'
Use J as the last option to print the command output in JSON format
Command options must be entered in the same order as displayed in the help of
the respective commands.

What the Help does not make clear, and what our stumbling block was, is what exactly we're missing.

It turns out, that the correct command is:

C:\Temp\Windows>storcli /c0 show jbod
CLI Version = 007.0415.0000.0000 Feb 13, 2018
Operating system = Windows Server 2016
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None

Controller Properties :
=====================

----------------
Ctrl_Prop Value
----------------
JBOD      ON
----------------

CFShld-Configured shielded|Cpybck-CopyBack|CBShld-Copyback Shielded

The /cx switch needed a number for the controller ID.

A quick search turned up the following:

• Broadcom: MegaCLI Commands to StorCLI Command Conversion
• Broadcom: StorCLI Reference Manual (PDF)

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
www.commodityclusters.com
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Some thoughts on Windows Server 1709 and Where to Find It

We were looking for the new Software Assurance benefit based download of Windows Server 1709 in Microsoft's Volume Licensing Service Center.

It took a bit to realize that the download was not tied into "Windows Server 2016" and it's available downloads.

The following two items show up in search for "Windows Server":

When we click through and try to download either one they both point to the same download:

Keep in mind that 1709 is a Server Core only option and receives updates every six months. Plus, the service life of each release is 18 months.

That means that adopting the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) release of Windows Server would require a significant investment in both testing prior to deployment and in deploying the OS on a regular basis.

Keep in mind that Software Assurance is required for access to SAC.

Is it of value? For those businesses that are looking to adopt newer/better features via quicker cadence then yes, there is value in it.

For those that are looking for long-term stability in their deployments then the Long Term Service Branch/Channel (LTSB/C) is the way to go.

For us, we are in a "Wait and see" mode as our focus is currently Storage Spaces and Hyper-V along with Storage Spaces Direct clusters.

As far as SAC being a Server Core option only we don't have a problem with that now do we? ;)

Realistically though, there may be a lot of really neat features and abilities that may only appear in the SAC branch of Windows Server as we go along. That has yet to be seen, but given Microsoft's push to add value to Software Assurance over the last number of years one can comfortably wager that there will be extra value in that branch of the OS.

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

Server Core: PowerShell Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-Clustering Seems to Hang at 68%

On a Windows Server 2012 Core deploy we ran the following command:

• Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-Clustering

And we saw the following for a _long_ time!

The “Start Installation...” line kept blinking on and off all during the time it seemed to be stuck.

With a little bit of patience we eventually saw the following result:

The entire process took about 15-20 minutes.

So, be patient. ;)

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

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
www.thirdtier.net/enterprise-solutions-for-small-business/

Windows Live Writer

Server Core Versus Server With A GUI Install Options in Windows Server 2012

It took six months to a year to work out all of the needed commands to get our first Hyper-V Server 2008 RTM up and running. We had it up and running in that first three months but it took another three just to find the right people to ask "How do we do _this_ please?"

In the midst of that and beyond it took another three to six months to figure out how to stand up a failover cluster on the Intel Modular Server.

From there it took about three months to get things working with two nodes and a SAS based DAS storage unit.

Was it worth it? Yes.

Would we do it again? Yes.

Is it for everybody? Absolutely not.

Server Core

While the Windows world "pine"d for the command line in Windows, which we received with Core, and then PowerShell (gives the *NIX/*BSD commands and piping a run for their money), the reality hit home really hard.

Figuring out NetDom and NetSH were a heartache and a half. The Man Pages in *NIX/*BSD were vastly superior to the in-OS Help and way beyond the pitiful online stuff at that time.

Microsoft picked up on the Man Pages and now we see that PowerShell has a similar Help structure as do the commands in the command line (not quite in a pitiful state anymore). The online content is still weak especially when a product is new. There are Online Help gems in the rough but they can be a tough find.

Product focused blogs tend to be better sources for specific information and instructions on how to get something going.

Why Core?

• Secure: It's exposure is ultra-slim relative to its Server with a GUI sibling. Less is More.
• Stable: It does not need to be patched nearly as much as Server with a GUI.
• Uptime: We have Hyper-V Server 2008 RTM/R2 servers that have been running for a _long_ time due to load scheduling.
• Remote Managed: A Core install can be managed just as easily as a Server with a GUI install can (with HVRemote it does not matter whether host/remote are in a domain or not).
• Consistent: With the right series of scripts in hand the Core setup can be duplicated time and again. It can be argued that Server with a GUI is the same but then if one is using a full set of scripts why is the Server with a GUI there exactly?
• Resources: Core uses significantly less in the way of hardware resources to get the job done over Server with a GUI. In intense workloads every thread processed by the CPU(s) counts.

The next step for us now is to start into PowerShell since v3 will be on Server Core 2012 providing a very robust server management environment over Server with a GUI.

Conclusion

It is our preference to build out our Hyper-V clusters on Server Core. It is our preference to run high load servers on Server Core. And, it is our preference to run servers and services on Server Core where uptime is an important factor.

There is management overhead and a learning curve involved in Server Core. Getting a remote client to connect to a Server Core host to manage it can be a challenge. And, getting a Server Core install up and running with stability and consistency takes time and practice.

In the end, the skill set learned is _worth_ it. Those skills can be carried into virtually any Windows Server environment and used.

Further Reading

• Server Core Blog: Server Core in Windows Server 2012
• TechNet: Windows Server Installation Options
• Describes the difference between Server Core and Server with a GUI and how to switch between them.

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

Server Core–How to Properly Move the Swap File

We have posted on this subject before though the pieces of the puzzle were a bit incoherent due to the comments providing the proper methodology and eventually a link to Sander Berkouwer’s blog post with up to date information.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Server Core - From Scratch to Hyper-V Production
• MPECS Inc. Blog: Server Core - Move that Swap/Page File - WMI Error Code = 0x80041017

As is indicated in the second blog post’s comments we find the following methodology:

1. Create the dedicated partition after the OS partition using DiskPart.
• We install Server Core to a 50GB partition and FULL to a 75GB partition.
• We use RAM * 2.5 as a rule.
• For larger GB where only the Hyper-V Role is running then RAM * 1.
• We assign the letter S:
2. wmic computersystem where name=”MyCoreServer” set AutomaticManagedPagefile=False
3. wmic.exe pagefileset create name="S:\pagefile.sys"
4. wmic.exe pagefileset where name="S:\\pagefile.sys" set InitialSize=12288,MaximumSize=32768
• Note the double slash in the file path.
5. wmic.exe pagefileset where name="C:\\pagefile.sys" delete
6. shutdown –r –t 0 –f

As per Sander we can check the registry for the settings as well:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Some additional reading:

• Sander Berkouwer’s Blog: Page files in Server Core
• Sander’s blog has been a constant source of _great_ information for all things Server Core and Hyper-V among others.
• Sander Berkouwer’s Twitter Feed
• Microsoft Support: KB979386: You receive an error message after you put the page file on another drive other than the drive C in a guest operating system.
• A VM’s Swap File cannot be placed on a VHD that is attached to the VM via Hyper-V SCSI bus.

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.

A Quick Way to Find Server Up-Time in Server Core or Hyper-V Server

Open an elevated command prompt and:

1. systeminfo | find “System Boot Time:”

Our report:

C:\>systeminfo | find "System Boot Time:"
System Boot Time:          1/3/2012, 11:22:30 AM

Hat tip: Petri: Seven Simple Ways to Find Your Uptime in Windows Server 2008

Note that this command can be run on almost any Windows OS.

UPDATE: Thanks to vNiklas we have the following PowerShell command run via an elevated PowerShell session:

1. (get-date)-([System.Management.ManagementDateTimeconverter]::ToDateTime((Get-WmiObject win32_operatingsystem).lastbootuptime)) [Enter]

Our output:

PS C:\>  (get-date)-([System.Management.ManagementDateTimeconverter]::ToDateTime((Get-WmiObject win32_operatingsystem).lastbootuptime))

Days              : 6
Hours             : 4
Minutes           : 44
Seconds           : 31
Milliseconds      : 872
Ticks             : 5354718724344
TotalDays         : 6.19759111613889
TotalHours        : 148.742186787333
TotalMinutes      : 8924.53120724
TotalSeconds      : 535471.8724344
TotalMilliseconds : 535471872.4344

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.

Setting Server Core to MiniDump

When it comes to troubleshooting spontaneous reboots on Server Core we need to make sure that we have some sort of memory dump file.

In some cases we saw dump files such as when we were initially dealing with the CLOCK WATCHDOG TIMEOUT (blog post) issue. But that has not been consistent.

So, to set the Server Core installation to create a MiniDump file we do the following:

• wmic RECOVEROS set DebugInfoType = 3

Some further reading:

• TechNet: Configure memory dump files for Server Core installation options of Windows Server 2008
• Step 3
• Microsoft KB 254649: Overview of memory dump file options for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft KB 244139: Windows feature lets you generate a memory dump file by using the keyboard

We use the Crash Analyzer for MSDaRT Tool included in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack to work with the dump files.

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.

WMIC pagefileset create Error: Provider does not support put extensions

Now this was a funky bit of brain busting to figure out just what this error message was saying:

C:\>wmic.exe pagefileset create name="S:\PageFile.sys"
ERROR:
Description = Provider does not support put extensions

We did a quick search for “WMIC pagefileset create” and came up with:

• Microsoft KB 973423: You cannot set page files on a partition that is larger than 2 terabytes on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer

We went to the Workaround section and found the correct syntax for working with page files in Server Core. Now, the _only_ difference that we could see between what we inputted above and what was in the KB was the case of the file name?

Okay, so maybe WMIC commands are case sensitive?

Sure enough:

C:\>wmic pagefileset create name="S:\pagefile.sys"
Instance creation successful.

Kewl! :)

Lesson learned and it is great to see the proper syntax for working with page files on Server Core is available on a Microsoft document with the _correct_ syntax.

Note that a search on the error itself turned up very little.

• Bing Search: Provider does not support put extensions

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

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP USB Flash Drive Must Have Drivers & Utilities

There are a number of different little utilities that we drop into the _Drivers folder on the USB flash drives we use to load the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 OS with. We also put these utilities on our Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 USB flash drives for standalone Hyper-V deployments.

• ServerNameJoin.bat
• NOTE: We drop all Server Core and Hyper-V servers into their own OU where we have all aspects of UAC disabled. Core management does _not_ work with UAC enabled.
• Change OU structure to match your own.
• Pause is there to allow us to see if the process succeeded or failed.
• MYSERVERNAME: Must be the name of the Hyper-V server.
• MYDOMAIN: Must be the name of the domain.
• DomainAdmin: Must be the name of an admin account with permissions to join the domain.
• netdom join MYSERVERNAME /Domain:MYDOMAIN.local /OU:OU=SBSServers-ServerCore,OU=Computers,OU=MyBusiness,DC=MYDOMAIN,DC=local /userd:DomainAdmin /passwordd:*
• pause
• John Howard’s HVRemote utility
• This utility makes configuring the host for domain/domain, domain/workgroup, and the other iterations a breeze.
• Chris Eck’s VHDTool utility
• We use this utility to create fixed VHDs on _new_ LUNs/LDs or ones that have been properly initialized.
• It is fast and easy.
• NOTE: The size format is in bytes so add those zeroes!
• Intel’s most recent PROSet driver and command line utility.
• Intel Download Center: Intel Server Adapters search results.
• We use the prosetcl.exe utility to configure our adapter teaming and VLAN setup for each team.
• Appropriate drivers
• Intel AXXSASIOMOD (LSI) Driver
• LSI 3442 x64 Driver
• Intel RAID driver

With the above on our flash drive we are able to jump right into configuring the Hyper-V node for clustering or standalone VM guest delivery.

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

Intel ProSetCL.exe Error: TeamMode VMLB is not a valid team mode

We are doing the final preparation steps prior to running the Cluster Validation Wizard tests.

We ran the Intel ProSetCL.exe utility to create a pair of VM Load Balancing teams but ended up with the following:

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>prosetcl team_create 5,3 Team00 VMLB

    Attempting to create team 'Team00' ...

        TeamMode 'VMLB' is not a valid team mode.  See help for supported team modes

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>

A quick search result came up:

• Intel Communities: Team Mode VMLB Problem

Following Mark’s instructions we ran through creating the team in ALB mode and then changing it to VMLB mode:

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>prosetcl team_create 3,5 Team00 ALB

    Attempting to create team 'Team00' ...

        Successfully created team 'Team00'

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>prosetcl team_enumerate

    Number of teams currently present: 1

        1) Team00

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>prosetcl team_ModifyTeamInfo 1 Mode VMLB

1) Team00

        Successfully set value: 'VMLB'

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>prosetcl team_GetTeamInfo 1

1) Team00

    Team Information:

        Team GUID       - '{571A22AB-1FE0-4FE7-B38E-1DBED9CC8BAB}'
        Team MAC        - '001E67024719'
        Team Mode       - 'Virtual Machines Load Balancing'
        Team Name       - 'Team00'

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL>

We now have our NIC teams ready to go.

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

Server Core and UAC

We have just finished replacing our file server that was running on Windows 2008 Standard Core.

Replacing that server was not high on the priority list until after our migration to SBS 2011 RTM when we had a Group Policy setting that enabled UAC for the OU that contained our Core and Hyper-V Server installs. We restructured our GP scopes and OUs to eliminate UAC on our Core based servers.

By default, UAC is disabled on Server Core. All of our Core, Hyper-V Server, and cluster node servers took the settings changes that disabled UAC without an issue. But, the file server for whatever reason decided to ignore the GP settings and keep UAC enabled.

Try as we might we ended up with a Group Policy Tattoo for UAC thus rendering the server in a bad state.

We decided to cut and run so we reloaded it with Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Full.

The benefits of having the full install are huge. We now have access to the Windows Search service which allowed us to key in all of the shares on the file server into the Windows 7 Libraries feature and thus local search results.

We were able to mount the original server’s backup and attach the backup VHD to recover the needed folder share data.

It also allowed us to gain access to the File Resources management features which will help us to clean up our file stores:

The above screenshot was from a folder specific to Windows 95 . . . yeah, I actually said “Windows 95”! :)

The utility is the Enhanced Print Troubleshooter developed by the Decision Theory Group at Microsoft Research and Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS).

From the ReadMe.txt:

The Enhanced Print Troubleshooter is a diagnostic tool developed by
the Decision Theory Group at Microsoft Research and Microsoft
Product Support Services.  The Enhanced Print Troubleshooter uses
probabilities and costs associated with different faults to generate
a list of recommended troubleshooting steps.  When you run the
Enhanced Print Troubleshooter, the list of recommendations is
regenerated after each question is answered, based on what the
system knows about the problem you are having and the printing
configuration.

We will now be able to create and run reports that will allow us to see the big picture on all of those dormant files as well as other files and their usage on the server. Since we have well over a Terabyte of data to sift through we are anticipating freeing up a lot of storage space!

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

Server Core Error – The requested operation requires elevation

After migrating our SBS 2003 R2 domain to SBS v7 we cleaned out our Active Directory OU and GPO structure. Since we were anticipating the subsequent migration to SBS v7’s RTM bits (SBS 2011) we did not rebuild our standard OU and GPO structures.

One of the GPO setups that we do is to mandate UAC, Secure Desktop, prompt for admins, and credentials for Standard Users.

Now that we have finished migrating to SBS 2011 we have discovered that a couple of our Server Core installations running the Hyper-V role don’t have their DNS settings up to date. So, we need to verify and update any of our Core and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 server’s DNS settings that needed it to point to the new SBS 2011 as we are running a solo DC in SBS at this time.

When we went to update the DNS settings we hit the following:

netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="2" address=192.168.xx.xx index=2 [Enter]
The requested operation requires elevation.

A little bit of searching turned up the following blog post:

• Microsoft TechNet Server Core Blog: User Account Control (UAC) and Server Core

The second step to run Regedit shown in the above screenshot came from the blog post to test whether UAC was indeed causing the block.

C:\Windows\Regedit.exe
The specified service does not exist as an installed service.

Well, since we have a mandated UAC structure in place via group policy post SBS 2011 migration, it is indeed to culprit.

So, We created a new OU for our Core servers (Windows SBSServers – Server Core)

• 

Then linked a new GPO for that OU. The GPO settings to properly disable UAC in that GPO were found here:

• Petri: Disable UAC in Windows 7: Option 2
• 

We then moved all of our Core and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 servers into that new OU and ran GPUpdate /Force to get the settings to take right away.

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

Some Hyper-V Basics

Here is the answer to an inquiry about Hyper-V when starting from ground zero.

• Overview
• RAID 10 is your best friend (lots of I/O) but needs at least 4x drives.
• 16GB of RAM is better.
• Gives access to 8GB for SBS 2008+ and a couple of clients including RD RemoteApps on TS and a couple of 7s.
• Register a domain, or set up a DNS A record for testsbs.yourdomain.com and purchase the GoDaddy cert for that URL.
• Have an ISP IP handy for it so that one can test things from the Internet which is critical to understanding how things work.
• Hyper-V
• Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 Full
• GUI install means more updates.
• GUI install means security openings not in Core.
• Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 Core
• Command Line means less updates (There were about 8-12 in the last 6 months that were applicable).
• Tougher to configure though we do have a guide.
• Less OS load means more CPU cycles available for Hyper-V = better VM performance.
• Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
• Has a built-in “GUI” to eliminate much of the CL work.
• SConfig on R2 Core with Hyper-V brings up the same.
• Blog Category list of posts
• Note the binding order post is important for both Core and H-V Server.
• Clustering and all of its features are available in this free addition.
• P2V
• We have used StorageCraft for restores to H-V.
• Only one vCPU can be assigned during the restore or performance suffers.
• Legacy NIC required for initial restore if networking is critical.
• Hardware clean-up steps same as Hardware Independent Restore clean-up steps.
• We have used the built-in SBS 2008/v7 backup for restores to H-V.
• We have used the built-in Windows Server 2008+ for restores to H-V.

The above is an overview or guideline that can be used to build out an understanding of how to work with Hyper-V in all of its iterations.

Other than more cores is always better for the host, the above should be a good start.

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

NIC Binding Order On Server Core – Error 0x000013AB – A cluster network is not available for this operation

The initial NIC binding post had what we thought was the correct binding order for the NICs.

Now we have discovered that the order we had was not correct.

Note the following error when we tried to Live Migrate a Windows 7 VM that was stood up on the cluster late this afternoon:

'Virtual Machine TD-Win7Mgmt-01' live migration did not succeed at the source.

Failed to get the network address for the destination node 'TD-HV_NODE-01': A cluster network is not available for this operation. (0x000013AB)

The problem was the order we had the bindings in according to Chris Adams:

• Chris’s Blog: Real World Example of Troubleshooting R2 Live Migration using CSV’s

Note that the correct binding order as of this writing is:

1. Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter
2. NIC 0: Management
3. NIC 1: Cluster Heartbeat
4. NIC x: iSCSI (if needed)
5. Microsoft Virtual Network Switch Adapter
6. NIC 2+: Bind the MS Virtual Switch.
   1. NICs disappear from the binding keys after the Virtual Switch is bound to them and the host OS no longer has access.

As always, test this first before running a setup into production!

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

NIC Binding Order On Server Core or Hyper-V Server 2008 RTM/R2

For those of us that have worked with SBS 2003 Premium in a 2 NIC setup, we know the importance of having the binding order correct for those 2 NICs are things really don’t work right.

The same is true for our Hyper-V implementations. There is a need to have the correct binding order for all of the NICs on a server that will be utilized by the host OS, cluster heartbeat, the Hyper-V virtual switches, and if needed iSCSI.

So, what order do we need to have those NICs in and how do we figure out which NIC is which?

Have a look at the following screenshot taken from the first node in a four node Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 cluster:

The images in order from top to bottom (numbers to the right of each one):

1. HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\services\TCPIP\Linkage
   1. Bind: Contains NIC GUIDs
   2. Export: Contains NIC GUIDs
   3. Route: Contains NIC GUIDs
2. NIC report via the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 menu
   • The Intel Modular Server compute modules have a maximum of 4 NICs as indicated here.
3. NIC GUIDs in each Linkage key
   • Bottom most GUID is _first_ in the binding order.
4. wmic nicconfig get Description,SettingID [Enter]
   1. WMIC command gives us a GUID to NIC name association.

So, to change the binding order on Server Core and Hyper-V Server 2008 RTM/R2, one moves the order of the GUIDs in each registry key:

1. Bind
2. Export
3. Route

Once the GUID orders have been changed, reboot the server to get the changes to take affect.

The binding order we put the NICs in:

1. NIC 0: Management
2. NIC 1: Cluster Heartbeat
3. NIC x: iSCSI (if needed)
4. Microsoft Virtual Network Switch Adapter
5. NIC 2+: Bind the MS Virtual Switch.
   1. NICs disappear from the binding keys after the Virtual Switch is bound to them and the host OS no longer has access.
6. Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter

Please make sure to take a screenshot of the default settings as above along with an export of that registry key just in case! A backup might be a good thing too.

IMS Ethernet Switch Ports To Node NICs

And one more thing when it comes to the IMS Ethernet Switch port structure relative to the NIC order listed in Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 or any other Server Core OS for that matter.

There is no direct correlation between which NIC comes in at 0, 1, 2, and 3 in the Hyper-V OS listing and the physical NIC to node NIC port in the IMS Ethernet Switch setup.

This is important to know since we already went ahead and set the NIC binding order according to the list in the Hyper-V OS but the _wrong_ NIC went down when we changed the VLAN setting in the IMS Ethernet Switch port management for port 1 on SWM 1!

In the screenshot below, we have VLAN 98 set up to be the heartbeat and migration network on physical NIC 2 on each node.

However, when we do an IPConfig /release && IPConfig /renew on the nodes the NIC assigned a 169.x.x.x IP was actually NIC 0!

As a result, we leave all of the node NICs connected to the management network to pick up an IP from the SBS VM. We can then change the VLAN setting to figure out which NIC in the OS belongs to which physical port in the IMS Ethernet Switch.

UPDATE: The proper binding order has finally been found! According to Chris Adams of Microsoft:

• Chris’s Blog: Real World Example of Troubleshooting R2 Live Migration using CSV’s

Now we have a pretty conclusive answer as to what order we need to put those NICs in:

1. Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter
2. NIC 0: Management
3. NIC 1: Cluster Heartbeat
4. NIC x: iSCSI (if needed)
5. Microsoft Virtual Network Switch Adapter
6. NIC 2+: Bind the MS Virtual Switch.
   1. NICs disappear from the binding keys after the Virtual Switch is bound to them and the host OS no longer has access.

Thanks Chris!

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

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Server Core – Remotely Managing Storage Like USB HDDs

We have the need to connect an existing USB hard drives containing our SBS 2008 backups to an existing Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 box using the new USB HDD pass through feature.

To do so requires three things to be done. One on the remotely connecting management machine and two on the Hyper-V box itself.

On the management machine:

1. Click Start –> Firewall Advanced [Enter]
• The Windows Firewall with Advanced Security console should come up after a UAC.
2. Click Inbound Rules.
3. Enable the following three rules:
1. Remote Volume Management - Virtual Disk Service (RPC)
2. Remote Volume Management - Virtual Disk Service Loader (RPC)
3. Remote Volume Management (RPC-EPMAP)
4. 
4. Close the Firewall MMC.

On the Server Core box repeat the above but also make sure of the following:

1. The Virtual Disk service is set to Automatic.
• 
2. If the service is not started, start the service.

Once the three steps above have been completed, we are now able to remotely manage the volumes on the Hyper-V box thus enabling us to place those USB HDDs Offline to allow VM access in the Hyper-V Manager:

Thanks to Sander Berkouwer & Joachim Nässlander:

• SlideShare: Server Core Remote Management by Sander Berkouwer & Joachim Nässlander

Slide #9 indicates that _both_ the management and Server Core boxes need the firewall exception which was our initial stumbling point on getting things working.

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

Server 2008 R2 MMC – Windows Server Backup Error Not Compatible

Since we do not have our network migrated to SBS 2008 yet, we need to have a Server 2008 full install box on the network for some specific Server 2008 management needs such as configuring Volume Shadow Copies and Windows Backup on our many Server Core installations.

Both features cannot be managed from a desktop OS even with the RSAT installed.

For now, that means running a full version as a VM on one of our Hyper-V servers:

The partition scheme shown above was after clicking OK in the previous warning pop-up. We ended up with the 60GB primary that the OS was going into, the 15GB we left over for the swap file partition, and then the 100MB partition that Windows Server 2008 R2 setup created.

We have seen Windows 7 installations do the same (Bing Search). For now, we will leave it be.

Once installed, we will set up an MMC that contains the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, Computer, and Windows Server Backup snap-ins for each of the Server Core based servers we have.

Or so we thought . . .

Windows Server Backup (Server Name)

An internal error has occurred in the backup engine or the computer that you are connected to remotely is running a version of backup application that is not compatible with the version on your local computer. The local and remote computers must be running the same version of backup application for you to manage backups remotely.

Oops. So, we fired up a new VM and are installing Windows Server 2008 RTM. Once installed, we will service pack the VM up to SP2 and force WSUS updates to get things on the level with our Server Core installs. From there we will be able to manage them.

When we have a bit more time, we will migrate our VMs across our various Hyper-V servers so that we can begin updating them to Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core versions.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Vista SP2 on Hyper-V SP1 – Integration Services Install Error Code 1

When trying to install the Hyper-V Integration Services on a newly installed Windows Vista Enterprise VM, this is the error we received:

Error

An error has occurred: One of the update processes returned error code 1.

Apparently, we need to Service Pack 2 our Hyper-V box too (Kit Kai’s Tech Blog).

In the mean time, if connected to the Hyper-V manager via an RDP session, there will be no mouse access to the VM.

To shut the VM down, do the following:

1. Click the button.
2. Hit the down arrow on the keyboard to get to Start Task Manager and hit the Enter key.
3. Type ALT+N to hit the New Task button.
4. shutdown –s –t 0 [Enter]

The VM will shut down. We shut down all of the desktop VMs on this Hyper-V box before installing the service pack.

You folks in the US sure have it good with your Internet connections!

• Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465)

The update took a while on the dual Xeon E5420 series Dell 2950 2U. There were 5x 300GB 15K SAS drives in RAID 10 with a hot spare.

We shut the VMs ahead of applying the update to give the server as much dedicated processing and disk I/O as possible. Even though we are working with a Server Core install, the update is quite large.

At about 5 minutes:

And here we are about 17 minutes after the update was initiated:

Keep in mind that any Hyper-V server that hosts Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will need to be updated to Service Pack 2 prior to service packing the Windows Vista VMs.

When the Integration Services disk gets inserted into the VM the AutoPlay feature should pop up a window that enables us to hit the Enter key to initiate the setup routine and an ALT+A to continue through the UAC prompt.

If the VMGuest.ISO was already mounted, then make sure to dismount and click Insert Integration Services Setup Disk in the VM’s Action menu.

Once installed, we will see:

After the reboot, our remote mouse movements will be enabled. If the above menu gets lost behind the default Vista Welcome window, hit the CTRL+ALT+DLTE button in the VM manager and bring up the Task Manager to switch to the Hyper-V setup.

Another reason Windows 7 in a VM is way ahead of Windows Vista! Windows 7 has the Hyper-V Integration Services already installed!

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Ack! SBS 2008 Not Genuine!

The situation we find ourselves in right now is a little silly.

Going to download the Hyper-V manager for Windows Vista SP1, the site called for a Windows Genuine Advantage verification.

Okay, we are on a newly built SBS 2008 box with its Server Core Hyper-V partner almost built and ready for the Windows Vista VM installs.

All of the local workstations on this newly set up SBS domain are Windows XP Pro SP3 but not added to the new domain yet. We could install the Hyper-V manager on any of them anyway.

We ran through the WGA which failed of course. It then required that we download the WGA tool and run it to get a key to get through to the download.

Once the tool ran and we got the key, the WGA site choked on the key and stated that we were not running genuine software.

Yikes!

Okay, so we went into the Change Product Key routine and entered the SBS 2008 Open Value license key and ran through the validation. Well, that failed too!

This is getting a bit nerve racking since the last backup was done about an hour ago when we had finished the last batch of updates. We are working on a new server install for a client in Florida.

Since activation was stating that we had to activate today, meaning the server would go catatonic on us at anytime soon, we needed to get this situation resolved or we were recovering the server before we want to.

Nothing in our searches turned up a plausible solution.

However, since we did not enter the product key for the install (we never do until the server goes live), why not try and rearm the “trial” period and see if that corrects the problem.

1. Start –> right click Command Prompt and Run As Administrator
2. cscript %windir%\System32\slmgr.vbs –rearm [Enter]
3. shutdown –r –t 0 [Enter]
4. Once logged on: Start –> right click Computer –> Properties.
5. Click Change Product Key
6. Enter the product key and go.

Eventually, the following will show:

Lesson learned: Never run the WGA tool for any other OS on the server! 8*O

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft Licensing Briefs

One area we always seem to need to brush up on is Microsoft Licensing.

A site that has the necessary documentation:

• Microsoft: About Licensing – Licensing Briefs

The site:

We are looking to find out whether a client of ours can install Windows Server 2008 x64 Server Core with the Hyper-V role enabled and virtualize a Windows Server 2003 Standard server using the 1+1 virtualization rights plus downgrade ability with Open Licensing.

This is the site we were pointed to with the specific document:

• Licensing Microsoft Server Products in Virtual Environments (DOCX)

Pages 24-25 explain the Server Standard 1+1 and Enterprise 1+4 licensing guidelines quite well.

So, the answer is yes we can run Server 2003 Standard with their Open Licensing server license.

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

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer