Ashish Jaiman's Blog : Longhorn

Windows Server 2008

jaiman — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 06:48:00 GMT

Server Management

The server manager gives you an overview of the running system, it includes computer-, security information and also shows us which roles and features are installed. It's also the central location to manage each of those roles because this MMC based console makes also usage of the Software Definition Model and knows every dependency of each role we can now monitor each role within this console. The many wizards built into Server Manager streamline the task of deploying servers in your enterprise by cutting the time it takes to install, configure, or remove roles, role services, and features. Multiple roles can be installed in a single session by using the Add Roles Wizard.
Most importantly, Windows Longhorn Server performs dependency checks as you progress through the Server Manager wizards, ensuring that all the roles and role services needed by the role you selected are installed, and that none are removed that might still be required by remaining roles or role services.

Branch Office Management

Windows Server 2008 allows you to get more control over your server and network infrastructure, which can be a valuable server to put into a branch office, take the possibility to encrypt the hard drives with the Bitlocker technology into consideration and you have a secured server. This means no need to put this server into a secured room, drives are encrypted and not readable when accessed from another computer, most of the branch offices don't have any these server rooms.
Prior to this release, users who had to authenticate with a domain controller, but were in a branch office that could not provide adequate physical security for a domain controller, had to authenticate over a wide area network (WAN). In many cases, this was not an efficient solution. An RODC is a new type of domain controller in the Microsoft Windows Server 2008. RODC hosts a read-only replica of the Microsoft Active Directory database. An RODC makes it possible for organizations to easily deploy a domain controller in remote locations where they have relatively few users, poor physical security, relatively poor network bandwidth to a hub site, and little local information technology (IT) knowledge. A branch office like in this scenario can deploy an RODC because of its reduced management requirements that are provided by such features as unidirectional replication.
By placing a read-only Active Directory database replica closer to branch users, these users can benefit from faster logon times and more efficient access to authentication resources on the network, even in environments with inadequate physical security to deploy a traditional domain controller.

Desktop Deployments

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is an updated and redesigned Windows Server 2008 version of Remote Installation Services (RIS), WDS assists with the rapid adoption and deployment of image-based Windows operating systems. WDS allows network-based installation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 to even computers that have no operating system installed, and even supports mixed environments including Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Windows Deployment Services thus provides an end-to-end solution for deployment of Windows operating systems to client and server computers and reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) and complexity of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista deployments.

Restartable Active Directory

One of the main improvements in windows server 2008 is Restart able Active Directory; Active Directory can be stopped and restarted in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins or from the command line. Active Directory can be stopped so that updates can be applied to a domain controller, or administrators can stop Active Directory to perform tasks such as offline defragmentation of the Active Directory database — without restarting the domain controller. Other services that are running on the server and that do not depend on Active Directory to function, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), continue to be available to service client requests while Active Directory is stopped.

Virtualization

Windows Server virtualization is Microsoft's new hypervisor-based virtualization technology available as part of Windows Server 2008 The Windows hypervisor is a thin software layer between the hardware and Windows Server 2008 operating system, and allows multiple operating systems to run unmodified, on a host computer at the same time. It provides partitioning functionality and is responsible for maintaining strong isolation between partitions. With virtualization built into the operating system and with simpler, more flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of all the benefits and cost savings of virtualization.

Remote Access

Windows Server 2008 introduces new functionality in Terminal Services to connect to remote computers and applications. Terminal Services RemoteApp completely integrates applications running on a terminal server with users' desktops such that they behave as if they were running on an individual user's local computer; users can run programs from a remote location side-by-side with their local programs. Terminal Services Web Access permits this same flexibility of remote application access via Web browser, granting an even wider variety of ways user can access and use programs executing on a terminal server. These features in conjunction with Terminal Services Gateway allow users to access remote desktops and remote applications via HTTPS in a firewall-friendly manner.

Server Core Deployment and management high level guidelines

jaiman — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:18:00 GMT

Server core is a new minimal server installation option for Windows Server 2008. A server core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles, reducing the servicing and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles

Only a clean installation is supported, there is no way to upgrade from a previous version of the Windows Server to a server core installation and there is no way to upgrade from Windows Server 2008 to a server core installation.

If you need the Windows user interface or a server role that is not supported on server core, you will need to install Windows Server 2008

Because a server core installation does not include the Windows user interface, you must manually complete the configuration using the command-line tools.

The server core installation of Windows Server 2008 supports the following server roles:

Ø DHCP server

Ø File Server

Ø DNS

Ø Active Directory

The server core installation of Windows Server "Longhorn" supports the following optional features:

Ø Microsoft Failover Cluster

Ø Network Load Balancing

Ø Subsystem for UNIX-based applications

Ø Backup

Ø Multipath IO

Ø Removable Storage Management

Ø Bitlocker Drive Encryption

Ø Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

A server core installation can only be managed in the following ways:

Ø Locally and remotely via the Command Prompt. Using the Windows command line tools at the command prompt, you can manage servers running a server core installation.

Ø Remotely via Terminal Server. Using another computer running Windows, you can use the Terminal Server client to connect to the server running the server core installation and manage it remotely. The shell in the Terminal Server session will be the command prompt.

Ø Remotely via Windows Remote Shell. Using another computer running Windows Vista or Windows Server "Longhorn", you can use Windows Remote Shell to run command line tools and scripts on the server core-based server.

Ø Remotely via MMC. Using an MMC snap-in, you can connect to a server running a server core installation as you would any other computer running Windows.

Since no managed code can be run on server core that means that server core cannot be used as an application server or web server. A Server Core installation can only be used to run the supported server roles and management tools.

Powershell Design Goals

jaiman — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:09:00 GMT

PowerShell is not only a new scripting language, but a shell in which you can leverage existing scripts and knowledge. This makes the learning curve very short and experienced scripter will be able to be productive within the PowerShell environment very quickly. By investing the time to learn PowerShell, you will be able to leverage her existing scripts, add power to them, extend them across the Windows Server platform, and build a consistent, repeatable mechanism for managing core Windows Server systems.

Simply by moving the existing scripts into the PowerShell environment, you will be able to use the WhatIf and Confirm utilities to determine the impact of scripts before they are executed.

By using CMDLET’s, you will be able to capture often repeated functions and reuse them across different scripts and different platforms. This truly brings a significant amount of power from the developer skill set to the IT Pro’s responsible for managing the Windows Server infrastructure.

The key design principles for PowerShell included:

· Preserving investment in existing scripts and command line tools, including commands, VB, COM, and WMI.

· Provide for object manipulation – objects can be directly manipulated and output pipelined to other tools.

· Expose the consistency & functionality of .NET to IT Pro’s

Provide Extensibility for administrators to quickly write scripts, customize existing command, and author their own tools using cmdlets.

Big Ideas Deserve Big Rewards

Server management in Windows Server Longhorn

jaiman — Sun, 13 May 2007 23:46:00 GMT

There are a variety of tools, technologies and installation options that are available included in Windows Server “Longhorn” to improve the management experience of single and multiple servers across an enterprise.

Server Manager Console
Windows Server “Longhorn” eases the task of managing and securing multiple server roles in an enterprise with the new Server Manager Console. Server Manager in Windows Server “Longhorn” provides a single source for managing a server’s identity and system information, displaying server status, identifying problems with server role configuration, and managing all roles installed on the server.
The Server Manager console is a new Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in which provides a consolidated view of the server, including information about server configuration, status of installed roles, and commands for adding and removing roles and features.

Initial Configuration Tasks
The Initial Configuration Tasks window is a new feature in Windows Server "Longhorn" that opens automatically after the operating system installation process is complete, and helps the administrator finish the setup and initial configuration of a new server. It includes tasks such as setting the Administrator password, changing the name of the Administrator account to improve the security of the server, joining the server to an existing domain, and enabling Windows Update and Windows Firewall.

Windows PowerShell
Windows PowerShell is a new command line shell and task-based scripting technology that provides information technology (IT) administrators comprehensive control and automation of system administration tasks, increasing administrator productivity

Remote Management
IT Professionals can use the Windows Remote Shell (WinSH) tool to remotely manage servers or to obtain management data through Window Remote Management (WinRM) and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) objects on remote servers.

Task Scheduling based on Events
The Longhorn Task Scheduler MMC snap-in helps you schedule automated tasks. It maintains a library of all scheduled tasks, which provides an organized, convenient point of access for managing them

Event Subscriptions
Longhorn and Windows Vista include the ability to collect copies of events from multiple remote computers and store them locally. To specify which events to collect, you create an event subscription. Among other details, the subscription specifies exactly which events will be collected and in which log they will be stored locally. Once a subscription is active and events are being collected, you can view and manipulate these forwarded events as you would any other locally stored events.

Big Ideas Deserve Big Rewards

Introducing NetFx3.com

jaiman — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:43:00 GMT

Today we launched the NetFx3.com site, a new developer community that focuses on the four new technologies included in the.NET Framework 3.0. this is a unified community site for the new .NET Framework 3.0 technologies.

This new site will consolidate some of our community sites and position the .NET Framework 3.0 technologies together.
The Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation sites are now represented as “sub-communities” within NetFx3.com. We have also created new sub-communities for Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows CardSpace.

This site is designed to aggregate information on the .NET Framework 3.0 technologies from product team and community bloggers, MSDN forums, and Channel9. It will also provide a location for the product teams, evangelism, and the community to easily share samples, code snippets, and other resources.

IIS 7

jaiman — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT

Internet Information Servers 7.0 (IIS7) provides a secure, easy to manage platform for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services.

With IIS7 you can:

Minimize patching and security risks with fine grained control over Web server footprint
Implement powerful Web solutions rapidly with a new extensibility framework
Go to market faster with simplified deployment and configuration of applications
Reduce administrative costs by managing Web infrastructure more efficiently
Reduce Web site downtime by quickly resolving faulty applications

Learn more about IIS 7.0 at www.iis.net

WCF – High level overview

jaiman — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:30:00 GMT

Windows communication foundation is a unified programming framework to create secure, reliable, transacted, service oriented distributed applications. WCF is part of WinFX, the next generation programming model for windows vista and beyond. WCF is written from ground up and brings together all the features, functionality and more of today’s Microsoft stack for creating distributed applications (ASMX, WSE, MSMQ, Enterprise Services (COM+) and .Net Remoting).

WCF is designed to accomplish following goals

v Improve Productivity

o Learning one programming model for creating distributed application.

o Write less code or no code, attribute based programming

o WCF is an extension of .Net 2005, leveraging the power of VS2005 IDE and .Net framework.

v Interoperability

o Ability to interoperate with distributed application on other platforms using WS* specifications

o Ability to interoperation with distributed applications on MS platform build with today’s MS distributed technology ( ASMS, MSMQ, ES …)

v Service Orientation

o Supporting all tenets of SOA Applications

§ Boundaries are Explicit – Separating out implementation from published interfaces using attributes.

§ Services are Autonomous – by specifying the ABCs (Address, Binding and Contract) in configuration files we can achieve versioning and location transparency for a WCF application

§ Services share schema and contract, not classes – WCF application can publish Contract schemas, Data Schemas and Message Schema by classifying your class, methods by attributes.

§ Service compatibility is determined based on policy – Service policy statements are automatically created based on configuration, class attributes and method signatures.

WinFX ships as a core part of Windows Vista, there is also a down level support for Windows XP and Windows 2003 server.

Get more information -
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx
http://windowscommunication.net

Machine virtualization

jaiman — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:48:00 GMT

One of my ISV is interested in finding more about Microsoft’s virtualization technologies. I offered to find out more about it, as it gives me opportunity to delve into this technology and learn. I am blogging a snapshot of my find and also have some resources to go to for more information in the bottom of this post.

Virtualization is a framework of dividing resources of a computer into multiple execution environments. Some of the key benefits of this paradigm are

· High Resource Utilization – consolidate the workload of underutilized machines to few machines which will also result in other benefits like hardware, management, administration cost.

· Security – isolated sandbox for running un-trusted application

· Increased productivity – for development and testing for different OS, platforms and Applications on one physical box.

· Application / System mobility – the virtual hard disk can be very mobile and ported to different physical machines without the overhead of imaging / reinstalling.

· System migration, backup and recovery becomes easier and more manageable.

Microsoft acquired Connectix Corporation back in 2003 to offer Virtual PC and Virtual Server as to achieve machine virtualization using out technologies. We have included virtualization as a key component of our server offerings for the Enterprise; the idea is to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on one machine.
One of the design goals for server technologies from Microsoft is to have them run and tested in Virtual machine environment.
Microsoft's SQL Server 2000 has multiple instance capability. Microsoft's Exchange Server, File/Print Servers, IIS Server, Terminal Server, etc. also don't really need virtualization support in the operating system.
We support virtualized networking capabilities, Virtual NICs, purely virtual networks and also clustering to improve service availability.

Licenses for the Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition will allow running up to four virtual instances on one physical server at no additional cost.
Licenses for the Longhorn Server will allow running an unlimited number of virtual instances on one physical server.

More information and references:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=163022
http://www.kernelthread.com/publications/virtualization/

Microsoft to Make Virtual Server Free