Tag: Hyper-V

Dec192018December 19, 2018January 4, 20192 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Windows Sandbox – Isolated Windows Desktop

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Windows 10

Today Microsoft announced a new feature called Windows Sandbox. Windows Sandbox is built based on Windows Container technology, which allows you to spin up an isolated, temporary, desktop environment where you can run untrusted software. The software you run and install in the Windows Sandbox does not affect the host. If you shut down the Windows Sandbox all changes and all software you installed in the Sandbox are gone again. This sounds very similar to the technology Windows Defender Application Guard already used to build a sandbox environment for Microsoft Edge.

Windows Sandbox Overview

Windows Sandbox has the following properties:

Part of Windows – everything required for this feature ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. No need to download a VHD!
Pristine – every time Windows Sandbox runs, it’s as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows
Disposable – nothing persists on the device; everything is discarded after you close the application
Secure – uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft’s hypervisor to run a separate kernel which isolates Windows Sandbox from the host
Efficient – uses integrated kernel scheduler, smart memory management, and virtual GPU

Windows Sandbox brings the advantages of Windows Containers and also adds a desktop. If you compare this to a Windows 10 Virtual Machine, the Windows Sandbox will consume much less resources, it starts up match faster and will be much more efficient with hardware resources. You can think of it as a lightweight virtual machine, which can share the same hardware but also the same kernel and memory as the host system (like a container).

Nov282018November 28, 2018November 28, 20181 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Azure uses Live Migration for VMs

Posted in Cloud, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Virtualization, Windows Server, Work

If you have worked with Azure in the past, you might have been aware that Azure didn’t have live migration for VMs hosted in Azure for a long time. This had an impact for customers in terms of VM up-time during host maintenance. You basically got emails, that the host your VMs were running is going into maintenance during a specific time, and you will have a possible outage. Microsoft Hyper-V, which is the Hypervisor in Azure, had Live Migration for a long time. Today, Microsoft revealed that they are using Live Migration in Azure since early 2018 to move virtual machines in cases of rack maintenance and software and BIOS updates, as well as hardware faults.

But Microsoft didn’t stop there, they made even better using Machine Learning. Predictive ML helps Microsoft to detect proactively failure and do failure predictions. And in case a hardware failure is predicted, Microsoft can move the virtual machines from that host without downtime, using live migration.

To further push the envelope on live migration, we knew we needed to look at the proactive use of these capabilities, based on good predictive signals. Using our deep fleet telemetry, we enabled machine learning (ML)-based failure predictions and tied them to automatic live migration for several hardware failure cases, including disk failures, IO latency, and CPU frequency anomalies.

We partnered with Microsoft Research (MSR) on building our ML models that predict failures with a high degree of accuracy before they occur. As a result, we’re able to live migrate workloads off “at-risk” machines before they ever show any signs of failing. This means VMs running on Azure can be more reliable than the underlying hardware.

Microsoft talks in a blog post more about Live Migration in Azure and goes more in details about the challenges and how live migration in Azure works. It is great to see Microsoft adding features to improve VM resiliency with features like live migration and machine learning technology.

Nov262018November 26, 2018November 26, 201814 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Building a Windows Server Lab with an Intel NUC

Posted in Cisco, Cloud, Hardware, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Private Cloud, Server, UCS, Virtualization, Windows, Windows Admin Center, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

With the release of Windows Server 2019, which includes a ton of Hybrid Cloud integration features, it was time to build a new lab environment. The plan is to create a lab and demo environment for my presentations and workshops. Until today, I was still using my hardware from 2011, which was built from Cisco C200 and HPE ProLiant servers. This was, more or less, datacenter grade hardware, it was using a lot of electricity and made a lot of noise. Not really the thing for a home lab on your desk. With some pretty good deals out there, I decided to buy a brand-new Intel NUC. NUC stands for Next Unit of Computing, which is a small, light, cheap and not very noisy computer, which gives you the latest Intel CPUs and ports. Mostly used as desktop or media computers. However, the price and the features, are also making it a great option for a lab running Hyper-V.

If I look at the hardware our customers are using today, there is not really a good way to build a cheap home lab based on datacenter hardware. And with my workloads mostly running in Azure anyway, the Intel NUC seems to be a great option. For most of my demos a single server running Hyper-V should be enough. For demos on Storage Spaces Direct or Clustering I can still use Azure with Nested Virtualization.

I decided to get an Intel NUC NUC8i7BEH – Bean Canyon with the following specs:

Intel Core i7-8559U
32GB DDR4 RAM
1TB M.2 Samsung 970 EVO
Intel Wireless-AC 9560 + Bluetooth 5.0
Gigabit LAN
USB-A and USB-C ports
Thunderbolt 3 port

Unfortunately, the Intel NUC is limited to 32GB of RAM and this version does not have a TPM chip. The good thing, it runs Windows Server 2019 and Windows Admin Center just fine. So far I don’t have any issues, except that there are some missing drivers for Windows Server 2019. We will see how it works out in the next couple of months.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

Oct032018October 3, 2018October 3, 20180 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Speaking at Cloud Camp 2018 Dublin

Posted in Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Microsoft MVP, Nano Server, Server Core, Speaking, Virtualization, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

I am very excited to announce that I will be speaking at Cloud Camp 2018 in Dublin. Cloud Camp is Irelands Inaugural Conference for Microsoft Cloud & Server 2019. The conference takes place on October 17th 2018 in the Dublin Convention Center. In my sessions I will be speaking about Microsoft Azure Stack and Windows Server 2019, the latest and greatest new features.

Cloud Camp

Azure Stack - Your Cloud Your Datacenter

Microsoft released Azure Stack as an Azure appliance for your datacenter. Learn what Azure Stack is, what challenges it solves, how you deploy, manage and operate a Azure Stack in your datacenter. 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. In this presentation Thomas Maurer (Microsoft MVP) will guide you through the highly anticipated innovations and experience during the Azure Stack Early Adaption Program and Azure Stack Technology Adoption Program (TAP).

Cloud Camp

Windows Server 2019 - The Next Generation of Software-Defined Datacenter

Join this session for the best of Windows Server 2019, about the new innovation and improvements of Windows Server. Learn how Microsoft enhances the SDDC feature like Hyper-V, Storage and Networking and get the most out of the new Azure Hybrid 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. In this presentation Thomas Maurer (Microsoft MVP) will guide you through the highly anticipated innovations in Windows Server 2019 and the Semi-Annual Channel including: ○ Windows Server Containers ○ Azure Integration ○ Hyper-V features ○ Storage ○ Networking ○ Security ○ Windows Server Containers And more!

About Cloud Camp

In a time of rapid changes to “the cloud” – with continuous and frequent changes to Windows Server; Azure and even Microsoft 365. Add in the ever increasing importance to security and the challenges of compliance at its too easy to fall behind.
Cloud Camp brings together international speakers to one event where you will learn the latest about digital transformation, IT modernisation, productivity, security and compliance and governance.

Oct022018October 2, 2018November 13, 20186 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2019 released, get it now!

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Private Cloud, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

Microsoft announced Windows Server 2019 a while ago and also showed of a lot of new features and improvements at Microsoft Ignite last week. Today Microsoft announced the release of Windows Server 2019. Windows Server brings improvements in four key areas, such as Hybrid, Security, Application Platform and Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI). Together with Windows Admin Center, Windows Server 2019 becomes a powerful platform to run your workloads on-premise or in the cloud.

Update: Windows Server 2019 availability

On October 2, 2018, we announced the availability of Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809. Later that week, we paused the rollout of these new releases to investigate isolated reports of users missing files after updating to the latest Windows 10 feature update. We take any case of data loss seriously, so we proactively removed all related media from our channels as we started investigation of the reports and have now fixed all known related issues.

In addition to extensive internal validation, we have taken time to closely monitor feedback and diagnostic data from our Windows Insiders and from millions of devices on the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. There is no further evidence of data loss. Based on this data, today we are beginning the re-release of Windows Server 2019, Windows Server, version 1809, and the related versions of Windows 10.

Customers with a valid license of Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809 can download the media from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC). Azure customers will see the Windows Server 2019 image available in the Azure Marketplace over the coming week. We are also working to make the Windows Server 2019 evaluation available on the Microsoft Eval Center. We will provide an update to this blog and our social channels once it’s available.

November 13, 2018 marks the revised start of the servicing timeline for both the Long-Term Servicing Channel and the Semi-Annual Channel. For more information please visit the Support Lifecycle page.

Source: Microsoft

You can also read more about Windows Server innovations on my blog:

I have some other blog post in the pipeline, covering new features in Windows Server 2019.

Download Windows Server 2019

You can download and get Windows Server 2019 form different Microsoft source:

MSDN and the Microsoft Partner Network will get Windows Server 2019 later in October.

At Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft showed also some great Windows Server demos and I hope you check it out!

Sep152018September 15, 2018September 15, 20182 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Install SNMP Feature on Windows Server Core

Install SNMP on Windows Server Core

Posted in Microsoft, Server Core, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Work

If you run Windows Server as Core Installation, like Windows Server 2016 Core or any Microsoft Hyper-V Server edition and you want to use SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) on that system, you first have to install the SNMP feature on that Core Server. After that you can use the MMC to remotely connect to the services list on the Core Server.

Install SNMP on Windows Server Core

First lets see if the SNMP feature is installed, using PowerShell:

Get-WindowsFeature *SNMP*

1	Get-WindowsFeature SNMP

By default the SNMP feature is not installed. To install the SNMP feature on Windows Server Core, you can run the following command:

Install-WindowsFeature SNMP-Service -IncludeAllSubFeature -Verbose

1	Install-WindowsFeature SNMP-Service -IncludeAllSubFeature -Verbose

Aug302018August 30, 2018August 30, 20183 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2019 In-place Upgrade

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

As another part of my series for Windows Server 2019, this blog post covers the in-place upgrade feature. In-place upgrade allows you to upgrade your existing LTSC versions of Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 servers to Windows Server 2019. Windows Server 2019 In-place Upgrade allows businesses to quicker update to the latest version. Especially, if you have servers which you might needed to install some dependencies for the applications. I saw a lot of customers which not have documented their server installations and neither used infrastructure as code to deploy them. For these customers it can be hard to upgrade to newer versions of Windows Server. With the Windows Server 2019 In-Place Upgrade feature, this should get a lot easier. Especially since Windows Server 2019 bring a lot of improvements.

You can in place upgrade to Windows Server 2019 from

Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2016

How to in place upgrade to Windows Server 2019

To in place upgrade to Windows Server 2019, just insert the Windows Server 2019 media into the existing server, by attaching an ISO file, copying the sources, inserting a USB drive or even a DVD drive and start the setup.exe.

The setup will discover the existing installation and will let you perform an in place upgrade. The installation will run for a couple of minutes, it will take quiet some time depending of the speed of your server hardware and of the installed roles and features. Microsoft MVP Didier Van Hoye, did write a great blog post about Windows Server 2019 In-Place Upgrade testing. In that blog post he has a quick look on upgrading to Windows Server 2019.

You can also find a overview about what is coming new in Windows Server 2019, in my blog: Windows Server 2019 – What’s coming next.

Tag: Hyper-V

Windows Sandbox – Isolated Windows Desktop

Windows Sandbox Overview

Azure uses Live Migration for VMs

Building a Windows Server Lab with an Intel NUC

Windows Server 2019 released, get it now!

Download Windows Server 2019

Install SNMP on Windows Server Core

Install SNMP on Windows Server Core

Windows Server 2019 In-place Upgrade

How to in place upgrade to Windows Server 2019

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