Archive
>Identify the Physical Host of a Virtual Server – Updated
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This PowerShell script can be used to identify the Physical host name of a Virtual server. You can run this script from a remote machine. This is an update to one of one old scripts – http://portal.sivarajan.com/2010/01/identify-physical-host-of-virtual.html.
Note: This is script is only works on Microsoft virtual/Hyper-v servers and products. If have you some other virtualization solution, the result may not be accurate.
Input – Servers.csv – Contains the sever name.
You will see status update on the screen as shown in the following screenshot:
Output – VM_ServerInfo.CSV – This out file contains all virtual Guest and Host information.
Download – You can download this script form the following locations:
www.sivarajan.com – http://www.sivarajan.com/scripts/VM1.txt
TechNet Script Gallery – http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/4a6c40c6-9e16-4dd1-bea8-356a7d7735cf
>Windows Server 2008 R2 Performance Tuning
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Here are some good articles on performance tuning from Windows Server Performance Team:
>Updated Understanding Virtualization Solution eBook
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An updated version of Understating Virtualization Solutions eBook is available for download now. It has been updated for Windows 2008 R2.
You can download the updated document from the following location:
Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions — From the Desktop to the Datacenter
You can also see more free eBooks details on the following link:
http://portal.sivarajan.com/2010/06/free-ebooks-from-microsoft-updated.html
>Exchange Server 2010 VHD
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This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 for 60 days.
Download this fully configured virtual machine of the latest release of Exchange Server 2010. Evaluate the new capabilities of Exchange Server 2010, which helps you achieve new levels of reliability and performance by delivering features that help to simplify your administration, protect your communications, and delight your users by meeting their demands for greater business mobility.
- This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Exchange Server 2010 for 60 days.
- This trial software is intended for evaluation purposes only.
- There is no product support for this trial. You are welcome to share your trial experience with others and to ask for advice by participating in the forums.
Download
>Hyper-V Update and HotFix List for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2
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The following links shows the list of software updates and hotfixes for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and Windows 2008 R2:
Windows 2008: http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/library/dd430893(en-us,WS.10).aspx
Windows 2008 R2: http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/library/ff394763(en-us,WS.10).aspx
>Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) for HYPER-V
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You can use Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the Hyper-V role, and help identify configurations that do not comply with the best practices of Microsoft for this role. BPA scans the configuration of the physical computer, the virtual machines, and other resources such as virtual networking and virtual storage. Scan results are displayed as a list of issues that you can sort by severity, and include recommendations for fixing issues and links to instructions. No configuration changes are made by running the scan.
>2010 Information Worker Demonstration Virtual Machine – Beta
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This download contains a two Virtual Machine set for evaluating and demonstrating Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Virtual machine “a” contains the following pre-configured software:
1. Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard Edition x64, running as an Active Directory Domain Controller for the “CONTOSO.COM” domain with DNS and WINS
2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 Enterprise Edition with Analysis, Notification, and Reporting Services
3. Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2
4. Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Ultimate Edition
5. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Beta 2
6. Microsoft Office Web Applications Beta 2
7. FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 Beta 2
8. Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta 2
9. Microsoft Office 2010 Beta 2
10. Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2
Virtual machine “b” contains the following pre-configured software:
1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Evaluation Edition x64, joined to the “CONTOSO.COM” domain
2. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Active directory has been preconfigured over 200 “demo” users with metadata in an organizational structure.
All of these user profiles have been imported and indexed for search within SharePoint Server 2010, with “contoso\administrator” granted administrator permissions. SharePoint Server 2010 has been configured in a “Complete” farm using Kerberos authentication and the default SQL Server 2008 instance for data, and has a site collection created using the Team Site template at http://intranet.contoso.com/ and a FAST Search Center at http://intranet.contoso.com/search/.
Performance Considerations
1. If possible, unpack and run the VM image on a separate, fast hard drive (7200 RPM or better) from the operating system of the host machine. If this is being done on a laptop, a second internal drive or external eSATA drive works best, though USB 2.0 (make sure it’s 2.0, 1.1 is too slow) or Firewire is acceptable. For absolute best performance use a second internal SSD drive.
>Identify the Physical Host of a Virtual Server using PowerShell
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Here is a PowerShell script you can use to identify the Physical host name of a Virtual server.
$regPath= "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Virtual Machine\Guest\Parameters"
$regValue = get-itemproperty -path $regPath
$regValue | fl "VirtualMachineName","PhysicalHostNameFullyQualified"
In this script I am looking for the values in the following registry keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Virtual Machine\Guest\Parameters
Download: You can download the script from this location
Updated script – http://portal.sivarajan.com/2011/04/identify-physical-host-of-virtual.html
>Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image
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You can download the VPC images for testing websites with different Internet Explorer versions on Windows XP and Windows Vista from the following location:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=21eabb90-958f-4b64-b5f1-73d0a413c8ef&displayLang=en
This download page contains the following VPC images:
- IE6-XPSP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE6 VHD file. Expires April 1, 2010
- IE7-XPSP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE7 VHD file. Expires April 1, 2010
- IE8-XPSP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE8 VHD file. Expires April 1, 2010
- IE7-VIS1.exe+IE7-VIS2.rar+IE7-VIS3.rar contain a Vista Image with IE7 VHD file. Expires 120 days after first run.
- IE8-VIS1.exe+IE8-VIS2.rar+IE8-VIS3.rar+IE8-VIS4.rar contain a Vista Image with IE8 VHD file. Expires 120 days after first run.
>Virtual Server and RDP
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I know we are all computer professionals and always use Microsoft Virtual server for demos and stuff. I heard a few comments from people saying they hated Virtual Server Remote Control view but would like to use full screen RDP. So here is an easy way to RDP into your Virtual Servers.
Let say you are running Virtual Server from your laptop for a demo, to use RDP, assign an IP address to your physical laptop (host) in the same subnet as your virtual guest server(s) IP address. For example, if the IP address of the Virtual Server is 192.168.1.10/24, assign 192.168.1.11/24 to your physical laptop. Make sure the network cable is connected to somewhere or you can use a "dummy" cross-over cable (loopback cable).
Active Directory and Microsoft Technology Blogs 