Category: Virtualization

Mar142019March 14, 2019March 14, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

System Center 2019 now generally available!

Posted in Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Private Cloud, System Center, Virtualization, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

A couple of weeks a go the System Center team announced that System Center 2019 will be available in March 2019. Today is the good day, the general availability of System Center 2019 is announced. You can now download the LTSC release in the MSDN and the VLSC portal, and if you want to have a summary about what is new in System Center 2019, you can read my blog: System Center 2019 – What’s new

This will bring several enhancements around datacenter management, Windows Server 2019 support and Microsoft Azure integration. If you want to know more about what is new in Windows Server 2019 or Windows Admin Center, check out my blog posts.

As customers grow their deployments in the public cloud and on-premises data centers, management tools are evolving to meet customer needs. System Center suite continues to play an important role in managing the on-premises data center and the evolving IT needs with the adoption of the public cloud.
Today, I am excited to announce that Microsoft System Center 2019 will be generally available in March 2019. System Center 2019 enables deployment and management of Windows Server 2019 at a larger scale to meet your data center needs.

Download System Center 2019

You can download System Center 2019 from different Microsoft portals, depending on your needs:

I wish you all happy downloading and updating. If you have any question around System Center, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

As always, we would love to hear what capabilities and enhancements you’d like to see in our future releases. Please share your suggestions, and vote on submitted ideas, through our UserVoice channels.

Also check out the full System Center documentation at Microsoft Docs.

Mar072019March 7, 2019March 7, 20191 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Which Windows Server 2019 Installation Option should I choose?

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Docker, Hyper-V, Kubernetes, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Nano Server, PowerShell, Server Core, Uncategorized, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

Windows Server 2019 will bring several installation options and tuning options for virtual machines, physical servers as well as container images. In this blog post I want to give an overview about the different installation options of Windows Server 2019.

Installation Options for Windows Server 2019 Physical Servers and Virtual Machines

As always, you can install Windows Server 2019 in virtual machines or directly on physical hardware, depending on your needs and requirements. For example you can use Windows Server 2019 as physical hosts for your Hyper-V virtualization server, Container hosts, Hyper-Converged Infrastructure using Hyper-V and Storage Spaces Direct, or as an application server. In virtual machines you can obviously use Windows Server 2019 as an application platform, infrastructure roles or container host. And of course you could also use it as Hyper-V host inside a virtual machine, leveraging the Nested Virtualization feature.

Installation Option	Scenario
Windows Server Core	Server Core is the best installation option for production use and with Windows Admin Center remote management is highly improved.
Windows Server Core with Server Core App Compatibility FOD	Workloads, and some troubleshooting scenarios, if Server Core doesn’t meet all your compatibility requirements. You can add an optional package to get past these issues. Try the Server Core App Compatibility Feature on Demand (FOD).
Windows Server with Desktop Experience	Windows Server with Desktop Experience is still an option and still meets like previous releases. However, it is significantly larger than Server Core. This includes larger disk usage, more time to copy and deploy and larger attack surface. However, if Windows Server Core with App Compatibility does not support the App, Scenario or Administrators still need the UI, this is the option to install.

Installation Options for Windows Server 2019 Container Images

For containers Microsoft offers three types of container images with different sizes and different application compatibility levels. You can use the Nano Server and Windows Server Core container image you already know from Windows Server 2016, or you can leverage the new Windows container image, which adds additional application compatibility to beyond the Server Core image.

Name	Size	Scenario
Nano Server	~200MB	Nano Server is great for new applications for example for .NET Core applications. This image is the smallest of the Microsoft Windows container images. It is lightweight and fast.
Windows Server Core	~3.3GB	The Windows Server Core image offers the same application compatibility like the Windows Server 2019 Core Installation option.
Windows	~8.0GB	The Windows container image, Microsoft is offering a new option for applications who need more components which are not included in Windows Server Core, like DirectX or proofing support.

Installation Options for Windows Server 2019 in Microsoft Azure

Of course Azure is a great place to run Windows Server. You can run Windows Server 2019 as Azure VMs with the same installation options you have available if you download it. You can also run Windows Server Containers in multiple Azure services.

Windows Server 2019 in an Azure Virtual Machine
Windows Server Container Images as Azure Container Instance
Windows Server Container Images in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) or other Azure Container Services and container orchestrators
Windows Server Container Images in Service Fabric
and many more.

And of course Windows Server is used in the Azure back-end and powers a large amount of services.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Feb282019February 28, 2019February 28, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Speaking at Microsoft NetWork 9 in Neum

Posted in Cloud, Cloud Advocate, Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Speaking, Virtualization, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019

Today, I am happy to announce that I will be speaking at the Microsoft NetWork 9 conference in Bosnia again. The Microsoft NetWork 9 conference will take place from March 27-29 in Neum, Bosnia. I will present two sessions focusing on the Microsoft Hybrid Cloud and Azure. This will be my second time at this conference, after speaking in 2016.

NetWork 9

Mastering Azure using Cloud Shell!

Azure can be managed in many different way. Learn your command line options like Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI and Cloud Shell to be more efficient in managing your Azure infrastructure. Become a hero on the shell to manage the cloud!

NetWork 9

Windows Server 2019 - Next level of Hybrid Cloud

Join this session for the best of Windows Server 2019, about the new innovation and improvements of Windows Server and Windows Admin Center. Learn how Microsoft enhances the SDDC feature like Hyper-V, Storage and Networking and get the most out of the new Azure Hybrid Cloud Integration and Container features. You’ll get an overview about the new, exciting improvements that are in Windows Server and how they’ll improve your day-to-day job.

I remember it is great event, with a great community and a lot of interesting sessions. I am looking forward to the event and hope to see you at Microsoft NetWork 9!

If you want to learn more about Windows Server 2019 and Azure CloudShell, check out my blog.

Feb212019February 21, 2019February 21, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Cluster Functional Level and Cluster Upgrade Version

Learn about Windows Server Cluster Functional Levels

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, Virtualization, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Work

A couple of weeks ago, I released a blog post about Hyper-V VM Configuration versions to give an overview about the version history of Hyper-V virtual machines. After that I had the chance to work with John Marlin (Microsoft Senior Program Manager High Availability and Storage) on a similar list of Windows Server Cluster Functional Levels.

Why Cluster Functional Levels are important

With Windows Server 2016, Microsoft introduced a new feature called Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade or Cluster Rolling Upgrade. This feature allows you to upgrade the operating system of the cluster nodes to a new version, without stopping the cluster. With mixed-OS mode, you can have for example 2012 R2 and 2016 nodes in the same cluster. Keep in mind that this should only be temporary, while you are upgrading the cluster. You can basically upgrade node by node, and after all nodes are upgraded, you then upgrade the Cluster functional Level to the latest version.

List of Windows Server Cluster Functional Levels

Since the feature Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade was first introduced with Windows Server 2016, you never really knew about Cluster Functional Levels before. However, it already existed since Windows Server NT4.

Windows Server Version	Cluster Functional Level
Windows Server 2019	11
Windows Server RS4	10.3
Windows Server RS3	10.2
Windows Server 2016	9
Windows Server 2012 R2	8
Windows Server 2012	7
Windows Server 2008 R2	6
Windows Server 2008	5
Windows Server 2003 R2	4
Windows Server 2003	3
Windows Server 2000	2
Windows Server NT4	1

Tips and PowerShell

If you want to know more about Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade, you can check out the Microsoft Docs. Together with John, I created a quick list of some tips for you, and some of the important PowerShell cmdlets.

To check which Cluster Functional Levels your cluster is running on, you can use the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Get-Cluster | Select ClusterFunctionalLevel

1	Get-Cluster \| Select ClusterFunctionalLevel

If you have upgraded all nodes in the cluster, you can use the Update-ClusterFunctionalLevel to update the Cluster Functional Level. Also make sure that you upgrade the workloads running in that cluster, for example upgrade the Hyper-V Configuration Version or in a Storage Spaces Direct Cluster, the Storage Pool version (Update-StoragePool).

Update-ClusterFunctionalLevel

1	Update-ClusterFunctionalLevel

In Windows Server 2019 the Clustering team introduced a new PowerShell cmdlet to check how many nodes of the cluster are running on which level. Get-ClusterNodeSupportedVersion helps you to identify the Cluster Functional Level and the Cluster Upgrade Version.

Get-ClusterNodeSupportedVersion

1	Get-ClusterNodeSupportedVersion

This means that the functional level is 11 (Windows 2019). The Upgrade version column is what you can upgrade to/with, meaning 11.1 or Windows 2019 only.

This means your Cluster Functional Level is 10. Meaning you can add basically anything 10.x (2016, RS3, RS4) and 11 (2019) to it.

If you are running System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the Cluster OS rolling upgrade, can be fully automated as well. Check out the Microsoft Docs for Perform a rolling upgrade of a Hyper-V host cluster to Windows Server 2016 in VMM.

To find out more about information Cluster operating system rolling upgrade, like how-to, requirements and limitations, check out the Microsoft Windows Server Docs page.

Feb192019February 19, 2019February 19, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Speaking at Microsoft Tech Summit Switzerland 2019

Posted in Cloud, Cloud Advocate, Events, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Virtualization, Work

Yesterday Microsoft Switzerland launched the website for the Tech Summit Switzerland 2019 in Bern. I am happy that I will be speaking again this year at Microsoft Tech Summit Switzerland, after speaking there as well last year.

The inspirational and technical learning event for developers and ITPros to gain strategic insight, evolve skills, deepen expertise and grow career – Open Source and Microsoft alike. Besides keynotes on the first day, the Tech Summit will offer 30 breakout sessions delivered by Microsoft employees and Microsoft Technology Enthusiasts.

The Tech Summit Switzerland will at April 3-4, in Bern. We will have great keynote speakers like Scott Hanselman, Marc Pollefeys, Dominik Wotruba and Primo Amrein.

I will be speaking about extend the Intelligent Cloud to the Edge with Azure Stack.

Tech Summit 2019

Extend the Intelligent Cloud to the Edge with Azure Stack

Azure Stack allows you to extend Azure to your datacenter and run Azure Services under your terms. Find out more about Azure Stack and how it can help you to in your Hybrid Cloud strategy. Learn about the features and services you will get by offering Azure Stack to your customers and how you can build a true Hybrid Cloud experience.

You can also meet other Azure Cloud Advocates like Phoummala Schmitt and Laurent Bugnion!

I hope to see you there!

Feb162019February 16, 2019February 16, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Veeam Vanguard 2019

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, Virtualization, Windows Server

Beginning of this week I got some fantastic news. I was awarded with my third Veeam Vanguard award. I was on of the first Veeam Vanguards in 2015 and was awarded directly after that in 2016. I am proud to again receive the Veeam Vanguard Award in 2019.

A Veeam Vanguard represents the Veeam brand to the highest level in many of the different technology communities in which Veeam engages. These individuals are chosen for their acumen, engagement and style in their activities on and offline.

I am looking forward to community in this virtualization and cloud journey. I also want to thank Veeam, it is an honor to be part of the Veeam Vanguard community again.

Feb112019February 11, 2019February 11, 20191 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Join me for a Azure IaaS Masterclass Webinar!

Posted in Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows Server

This Wednesday, Altaro have invited me to give a webinar on Infrastructure as a Service with Microsoft Azure and you’re invited – it’s free to join!

Implementing Infrastructure as a Service is a great way of streamlining and optimizing your IT environment by utilizing virtualized resources from the cloud to complement your existing on-site infrastructure. It enables a flexible combination of the traditional on-premises data center alongside the benefits of cloud-based subscription services. If you’re not making use of this model, there’s no better opportunity to learn what it can do for you than in this upcoming webinar.

I’ll be joined by me good friend from Altaro, Technical Evangelist and Microsoft MVP Andy Syrewicze. I’ve done a few webinars with Andy over the years and it’s always a fun experience to work with him. We have also received great feedback from attendees saying they learnt a lot and enjoy the format in which we present.

The webinar will be primarily focused on showing how Azure IaaS solves real use cases by going through the scenarios live on air. Three use cases have been outlined already, however, the webinar format encourages those attending to suggest their own use cases when signing up and the two most popular suggestions will be added to the list. To submit your own use case request, simply fill out the suggestion box in the sign up form when you register!

Like all Altaro webinars, this will be presented live twice on the day (Wednesday 13th February). So if you can’t make the earlier session (2pm CET / 8am EST / 5am PST), just sign up for the later one instead (7pm CET / 1pm EST / 10am PST) – or vice versa. Both sessions cover the same content but having two live sessions gives more people the opportunity to ask their questions live on air and get instant feedback from us.

Save your seat for the webinar and learn more about Azure IaaS