Configure USB Devices in Windows Virtual PC

Windows Virtual PC has integration features that allow certain types of devices to be shared between the host computer and the virtual machine (VM), including audio devices, clipboard, printers, drivers, and smart cards.

However, the VM may use the generic driver for the USB device, and the device may not work correctly.  To install the driver for the USB device,

1. Disable Integration Features.
2. Log on again.  Under the USB menu, attach the USB device and click Continue to remove the device from the host computer.
3. Install the USB driver, and test it.
4. Release the USB device from the VM using the USB menu.
5. Enable the integration features again, and the USB device should work because the right driver is loaded in the VM.

Install Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell

See Mike Pferiffer’s Blog below.  Notes Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) or Active Directory Management Gateway Service is required to use Active Directory Module.  Quest Software ActiveRoles Management Shell for Active Directory’s Get-QADUser without this requirement.

 

With the release of PowerShell 2.0, we now have a PowerShell module that we can use to administer Active Directory. The Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell runs on Windows Server 2008 R2 and on Windows 7 and relies on a web service that is hosted on one or more domain controllers in your environment. In this post I'll go over what you need in order to install and use the Active Directory Module for PowerShell, also known as AD PowerShell.

Setting up your Domain Controllers

In order to use the Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell on 2008 R2 and Windows 7, you first need to be running Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) on at least one Domain Controller. To install Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) you'll need one of the following:

1. Windows Server 2008 R2 AD DS

You can load Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller when you install the AD DS role. The AD PowerShell module will also be installed during this process. Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) will be enabled when you promote the server to a DC using DCPromo.

2. Active Directory Management Gateway Service

If you cannot run Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers, you can install the Active Directory Management Gateway Service. Installing this will allow you to run the same Active Directory web service that runs on Windows Server 2008 R2 DC's. You can download the Active Directory Management Gateway Service here. Make sure you read the instructions carefully, there are several hotfixes that need to be applied depending on the version of Windows you are running. You can install the Active Directory Management Gateway Service on DC's running the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2003 R2 with Service Pack 2
• Windows Server 2003 SP2
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 SP2

Note: You can also use AD PowerShell to manage AD LDS instances on Windows Server 2008 R2. If you plan on using AD LDS, Active Directory web services will be installed with the AD LDS role, the AD PowerShell module will also be installed during this process. The ADWS service will be enabled when your LDS instance is created.

Once you've got Active Directory web services up and running on your Domain Controller(s), you'll notice you now have an ADWS service as shown here:

At this point, you should be ready to install the AD PowerShell module. You can run AD PowerShell on all versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 (except the Web Edition) and on Windows 7.

Installing the Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell on 2008 R2 member servers

You can install the Active Directory Module on Windows 2008 R2 member servers by adding the RSAT-AD-PowerShell feature using the Server Manager. I usually use the ServerManager module to do this because it is quick and easy. To install the feature using the ServerManager module, launch PowerShell and run the following commands:

Import-Module ServerManager
Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-PowerShell

Remember, this only needs to be done on Windows Server 2008 R2 member servers. The RSAT-AD-PowerShell feature will be added to 2008 R2 DC's during the DCPromo process.

Installing the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) feature on Windows 7

In order to install the Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell you need to download the RSAT tools for Windows 7here. Once this is installed you are still not finished, you need to enable the Active Directory module. Navigate to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features On or Off and select Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell as show here:

Once you have Active Directory web services running on at least one domain controller and the AD PowerShell module is installed, you are ready to run the AD PowerShell module. You can do this in one of two ways. First, you can access the "Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell" shortcut in Administrative Tools as shown here:

Right click the shortcut and select "Run as administrator" in order to start PowerShell with elevated permissions.

You can also simply import the AD PowerShell module in your existing PowerShell session. Just use the Import-Module ActiveDirectory command:

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

That's all that needs to be done to get up and running...I will get into using the AD PowerShell cmldets in future posts so keep an eye out for that.

Upgrade vSphere Virtual Machine

Recap vSphere upgrade process:

• Upgrade vCenter Server
• Upgrade ESXi Hosts (3.5 to 4.1, 4.0 to 4.1)
• Upgrade Virtual Machine Clients (optional.  But it’s required if you want to take advantage of the new drivers and features)

The following article is from Scott Lowe with some of my update.

Upgrading a VMware Infrastructure 3.x environment to VMware vSphere 4 involves more than just upgrading vCenter Server and upgrading your ESX/ESXi hosts (as if that wasn’t enough). You should also plan on upgrading your virtual machines. VMware vSphere introduces a new hardware version (version 7), and vSphere also introduces a new paravirtualized network driver (VMXNET3) as well as a new paravirtualized SCSI driver (PVSCSI). To take advantage of these new drivers as well as other new features, you’ll need to upgrade your virtual machines. This process I describe below works really well.

Please note that this process will require some downtime. I personally tested this process with both Windows Server 2003 R2 as well as Windows Server 2008; it worked flawlessly with both versions of Windows.

1. Record the current IP configuration of the guest operating system. You’ll end up needing to recreate it.

2. Upgrade VMware Tools in the guest operating system. You can do this by right-clicking on the virtual machine and selecting Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools. When prompted, choose to perform an automatic tools upgrade. When the VMware Tools upgrade is complete, the virtual machine will reboot.

3. After the guest operating system reboots and is back up again, shutdown the guest operating system. You can do this by right-clicking on the virtual machine and selecting Power > Shutdown Guest.

4. Upgrade the virtual machine hardware by right-clicking the virtual machine and selecting Upgrade Virtual Hardware.

5. In the virtual machine properties, add a new network adapter of the type VMXNET3 and attach it to the same port group/dvPort group as the first network adapter.

6. Remove the first/original network adapter.

7. Add a new virtual hard disk to the virtual machine. Be sure to attach it to SCSI node 1:x; this will add a second SCSI adapter to the virtual machine. The size of the virtual hard disk is irrelevant.

8. Change the type of the newly-added second SCSI adapter to VMware Paravirtual.

9. Click OK to commit the changes you’ve made to the virtual machine.

10. Power on the virtual machine. When the guest operating system is fully booted, log in and recreate the network configuration you recorded for the guest back in step 1. Windows may report an error that the network configuration is already used by a different adapter, but proceed anyway. Once you’ve finished, shut down the guest operating system again.

11. Edit the virtual machine to remove the second hard disk you just added.

12. While still in the virtual machine properties, change the type of the original SCSI controller to VMware Paravirtual (NOTE: See update below.)

13. Power on the virtual machine. When the guest operating system is fully booted up, log in.

14. Create a new system environment variable named DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES and set the value to 1.

15. Launch Device Manager and from the View menu select Show Hidden Devices.

16. Remove the drivers for the old network adapter and old SCSI adapter. Close Device Manager and you’re done!

If you perform these steps on a template, then you can be assured that all future virtual machines cloned from this template also have the latest paravirtualized drivers installed for maximum performance.

UPDATE: Per this VMware KB article, VMware doesn’t support using the PVSCSI adapter for boot devices. That is not to say that it doesn’t work (it does work), but that it is not supported. Thanks to Eddy for pointing that out in the comments!  The VMware KB article has been updated, VMware support using the PVSCSI adapter for boot devices on Windows Server 2008 and Server 2003.

Reference: Scott Lowe – vSphere Virtual Machine Upgrade Process

Install HP ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware ESXi 4.1

Prerequisites

• vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI) on a Microsoft Windows computer.
• HP ESXi bundle zip file (e.g. hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip)

Procedure

1. Power off any VMs that are running on the host.

2. Place the host into maintenance mode.

3. Find out which bulletins are applicable to the ESXi host.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --scan --bundle <local_path>/hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip

4. (Optional) List all the bulletins that are available in the bundle.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --list --bundle <local_path>/hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip

5. Install bulletins from the bundle on the ESXi host.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --install --bundle <local_path>/hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip --bulletin bulletin1,bulletin2

if you omit the --bulletin argument, this command installs all the bulletins in the bundle.

6. Verify that the bulletins are installed on your ESXi host.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --query

Reference: see HP Installation Instructions for more details

Exchange Server 2010 RAM Recommendations

• 1GB per CPU core for Edge Transport and Hub Transport servers
• 2GB per core for Unified Messaging and Client Access servers
• For Mailbox servers, 4GB plus between 3MB and 30MB per mailbox (so somewhere between 7GB and 34GB for a 1,000-mailbox server)
• 2GB per core for servers that combine Hub Transport and Client Access servers
• For servers that combine the Mailbox role with other roles, a minimum of 8GB (4GB plus 3-30MB/mailbox)

Reference: Exchange 2010: Can You Have Too Much RAM? and Understanding Memory Configurations and Exchange Performance

Free CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc Burner–True Burner

http://www.glorylogic.com/trueburner.html

How to Manage SQL Server Database Files

• Log files
• Query log space usage for every DB on the server: DBCC SQLPERF(‘logspace’)
• Add a log file to the DB: ALTER DATABASE dbname ADD LOG FILE(NAME = logicalname, FILENAME = ‘filepath’, SIZE = size, MAXSIZE = maxsize, FILEGROWTH = filegrowth)
• Modify auto growth: ALTER DATABASE dbname FILE (NAME = logicalname, AUTOGROW = size)
• Remove MAXSIZE limit: ALTER DATABASE dbname (NAME = logicalname, MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED)
• Prevent autogrow: ALTER DATABASE dbname (NAME = logicalname, AUTOGROW = 0)
• Data files
• the command is essentially the same with some new options (e.g. “TO FILEGROUP”).