Implement Private Cloud infrastructure using S2D, VMM and WAP – Part 1

Implement Private Cloud infrastructure using S2D, VMM and WAP – Part 1

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The goal of this series is to give a full overview on how to plan, deploy, and manage Storage Spaces Direct infrastructure using Windows Server 2016, System Center Virtual Machine 2016 and Windows Azure Pack (WAP). Some contents will come from docs.microsoft.com, and I will add a POC implementation to give you a real world situation. But first, let’s understand what is Storage Spaces Direct (S2D). Storage Spaces Direct is a new feature in Windows Server 2016 and an extension…

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Windows Server Software-Defined Datacenter (WSSD) Program

Windows Server Software-Defined Datacenter (WSSD) Program

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Microsoft publicly unveiled its new software-defined datacenter certification program for storage and hyper-converged systems running Windows Server 2016. The Windows Server Software-Defined Datacenter (WSSD) program is a Product Group and OEM program to develop and apply prescriptive guidance including configuration and validation of certified hardware SKUs (appliances). The goal is to minimize implementation risk by moving the complex hardware/software integration, and solution validation steps to a pre-purchase phase. The WSSD Reference Architecture is an OEM-specific document that informs OEMs of…

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Fix Storage Spaces Direct Storage Pool

Fix Storage Spaces Direct Storage Pool

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During the implementation of WSSD POC for one of my customers, I faced issue with S2D storage pool and more precisely with the disks. In fact, after the creation of the S2D Hyper-Converged cluster and so the storage pool, I noticed that the listed capacity was not aligned with expectation and actual hardware configuration. As you can see below, I quickly identified the issue. Actually, if you want to have more details about your S2D storage pool, we can simply…

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Run SQL Server Management Studio as Different User

Run SQL Server Management Studio as Different User

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One of my customer which recently updated to W10 deployed the actual version of SSMS (v17.1) to manage its SQL instances. And most of these instances are configured with Windows Authentication authentication method (integrated security). In order to manage these instances, he has to run SQL Server Management Studio as a different user. But when he tried he got the following error: This task requires the application to have elevated permissions. In order to resolve this issue, you simply need…

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Configure Hyper-V NAT Virtual Switch and NAT Forwarding

Configure Hyper-V NAT Virtual Switch and NAT Forwarding

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Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 adds the native ability for a NAT forwarding Hyper-V switch. This is really handful software-defined networking (SDN) or even lab environment. By default, there is no inbound access from the LAN to the virtual machines that are connected to an NAT-enabled (Internal) virtual switch. And you might want to access isolated virtual machines in your lab through RDP with your laptop. Actually, the old way was to create a specific virtual machine in this…

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Microsoft Operations Management Suite

Microsoft Operations Management Suite

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The Microsoft Operations Management Suite (OMS), previously known as Azure Operational Insights, is a software as a service (SaaS) platform that allows an administrator to manage on-premises and cloud IT assets from a central portal. It was introduced in May 2015 as an evolution of System Center. OMS provides flexible access to the management capabilities a company needs through four key service offerings: Insight & Analytics – includes Azure Log Analytics and 2 additional solutions on OMS Portal (Service Map and…

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Manage Report Operator User Role in SCOM and SSRS 2016

Manage Report Operator User Role in SCOM and SSRS 2016

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During the installation of SCOM 2016, you can choose to deploy the Reporting Server feature. This feature will provide the possibility to generate SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports based on SCOM data. During the installation, it will automatically configure the Operations Manager Report Operator default SCOM user role as System User of your SSRS site. You can check it by getting the Identity Id in SCOM console and cross checking it with the security configuration of your SSRS site. And by default,…

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Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Checkpoints

Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Checkpoints

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Checkpoints enable you to capture point-in-time snapshots of a VM. This gives you an easy method of quickly restoring to a known working configuration, making them useful before installing or updating an application. When a checkpoint is created, the original VHD becomes read-only, and all changes are captured in an AVHD file. Conversely, when a checkpoint is deleted, the contents of the AVHD are merged with the original disk, which becomes the primary writable file. Prior to Windows Server 2016,…

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Perform Remote Management of Hyper-V Hosts

Perform Remote Management of Hyper-V Hosts

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Performing remote management of Hyper-V hosts within the same domain simply requires the permissions or delegation discussed in this previous article. However, managing a Hyper-V server that is in a Workgroup is slightly more complicated. First, the Hyper-V server must have PowerShell remoting enabled. This is easily accomplished by running the Enable-PSRemoting cmdlet. The second task on the Hyper-V host is to enable the WSMan credential role as a server. To accomplish this, run the following command:

The more complicated…

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Enable Nested Virtualization on Hyper-V and Windows Server 2016

Enable Nested Virtualization on Hyper-V and Windows Server 2016

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As you should know, through the latest version of Hyper-V coming with Windows Server 2016 & Windows 10 you can enable Nested Virtualization, which means you can install Hyper-V role on a Hyper-V virtual machine. But in order to activate this functionality you need to meet some requirements, otherwise you will face this kind of error. Dynamic Memory must be disabled on the virtual machine containing the nested instance of Hyper-V VM must have more than 1 vCPU MAC address…

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