Cluster Guy https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/feed.xml All things Cluster and High Availability Tue, 16 Apr 2019 04:55:46 GMT en-US hourly 1 Certified or not for Windows Server 2016 Storage Spaces Direct https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/certified-or-not-for-windows-server-2016-storage-spaces-direct Thu, 26 Oct 2017 11:27:56 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1275 Storage Spaces Direct.  I wanted to get this blog out there as there has been some questions regarding what I hardware should I get and is it certified and supported. Storage Spaces Direct has a bit of a difference in hardware certification than say normal Windows Server Failover Clustering or even Windows Server itself.  As a bit of a refresher for Failover Clustering, this is our stance on what is considered supported. All hardware and software components in the Failover Cluster meet the qualifications to receive at least one of the following Windows Server logos:
  • Certified for Windows Server 2016 Devices

This logo is designed for line-of-business and mission-critical hardware and software and demonstrates that a hardware or software component meets the highest technical bar for Windows fundamentals and platform compatibility that is set by Microsoft.

  • Certified Windows Server 2016 Systems

This logo is designed for cloud and infrastructure hardware and software. The Certified for Windows Server 2016 logo demonstrates that a server system meets the security, reliability, and manageability requirements of Microsoft products.

The fully configured Failover Cluster passes all required Failover Cluster validation tests.
  • To validate a Failover Cluster, run the Validate a Configuration Wizard in the Failover Cluster Manager snap-in, or run the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Test-Cluster.
For Storage Spaces Direct, there are additional qualifiers on the hardware compatibility list that need to be in place.  In Failover Cluster Manager (and Test-Cluster), there is a specific set of tests for Storage Spaces Direct you will need to run.  For this blog, I will not cover the validation test but wanted to ensure you were aware of it. First and foremost, the recommendation (not requirement) is to go to the Software Defined Datacenter site and get a complete solution so you know it all works.  Once you are there, click the link for Find a validated hardware and software partner solution.  This will bring you to the vendors that have been specifically testing their complete solutions for Storage Spaces Direct.  Choosing one of their solutions is best as they have tested the entire solution and certified to work. Another option that many may use is to put together a solution out of hardware they may already have and only have to purchase additional parts to work.  This is a valid option and wanted to point out a few things about it and what you should be looking for. You want to go to Windows Server Catalog to view what is certified to get the parts you want.  Under Hardware Testing Status is the All Product Categories that you would choose the part you are looking for.  So let's say you are looking for a storage controller.  Once you get to the list, you will see what is certified for what operating system.  For example: Let's take for example, you want to choose a storage controller certified for Windows Server 2016.  Once it comes up with the description, you are looking for the list of additional qualifiers.  For example, something similar to this: Certified for Windows
  • Boot 2.2TB+ Disk Volume
  • Boot Device
  • Nano Server Capable
  • SAS Interface
  • SATA Interface
  • Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) Premium
  • Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) Standard
If it shows certified for SDDC, you know that the vendor has tested it against Storage Spaces Direct.  In the qualifiers, notice one is Premium and one Standard.  Both are certified, and the infrastructure requirements are the same.  The difference between the two is Premium included a higher level of software defined datacenter component testing such as the full virtual networking stack, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, etc. One of the questions we get from time to time is what if I do not see the controller I have or want is not showing one of the SDDC qualifiers but is still certified for Windows Server 2016.  The thing to consider is everything that is on the Server Catalog has been tested by the vendor and submitted to Microsoft.  If it does not show the SDDC qualifiers but does show other information, that generally means one of two things:
  1. The vendor tested it and it failed
  2. The vendor never tested it
There is no way for us to know which it was.  If you want to pursue it further, you should get with the vendor directly. So to wrap things up, the recommendation (not requirement) is to go with the complete solution offered by a vendor.  If you start piecing together hardware, keep in mind that those various pieces may or may not work properly together, the driver or firmware may not be proper for Storage Spaces Direct, etc.  It very well may work just fine and you never have any issues.  If you go with the second option and you start running into storage issues, the combination of the storage controller and storage is suspect and needs further investigation. I hope to have cleared things up about Storage Spaces Direct and hardware certification/supportability.]]> New Server Management Tool: Project Name "Honolulu" https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/new-server-management-tool-project-name-honolulu Thu, 14 Sep 2017 12:24:36 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1255 UPDATE: Bits are available here for download. ============== I wanted to drop a note to mention that we have a new Server Management Tool that has been being worked on.  This is your sneak preview at what it will look like.  Below are a couple screen shots just to give you a preview. Project “Honolulu” is the culmination of significant customer feedback, which has directly shaped product direction and investments. With support for both hybrid and traditional disconnected server environments, Project “Honolulu” provides a quick and easy solution for common IT admin tasks with a lightweight deployment. If you will be attending Ignite, there will be a session on this that you will not want to miss. 
Discover what's new with Windows Server Management experiences
Monday, September 25, 2017 at 4:00pm in OCCC West Hall F1
Presenters: Samuel Li and Jeff Woolslayer
By late next week, a Project “Honolulu” Technical Preview package will be published for everyone to install and use.  This blog with the download link will be updated once it’s available.  Stay tuned! To get a little more information about this new tool, please view the following blog: 
Sneak peek #4: Introducing Project “Honolulu”, our new Windows Server management experience
 ]]> Free EBooks available for download on Windows Server 2016 https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/free-ebooks-available-for-download-on-windows-server-2016 Thu, 31 Aug 2017 21:59:59 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1245
  • Better protect credentials, the operating system, and virtual machines (VMs) with just-in-time administration and shielded VMs
  • Improve datacenter efficiency with virtualization, software-defined storage, and networking
  • Deliver application innovation with improved security, new modernization capabilities, and cloud-native app development
    • The Ultimate Guide to Windows Server includes an 18-page overview and 180-page deep-dive. Links: ]]>         No such thing as a Heartbeat Network https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/no-such-thing-as-a-heartbeat-network Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:02:31 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1216

    In the picture above, we would want to select Private for our Cluster Communication to as to not use the Public which has all WAN traffic.  All Cluster Communication between nodes (joins, registry updates/changes, etc) would go only over this network if it is up.  As the picture shows, the networks are called Public and Private.  As years went by, some started calling the Private network a Heartbeat network. Heartbeats are small packets (134 bytes) that travel over UDP Port 3343 on all networks configured for Cluster use between all nodes.  They serve multiple purposes. 1. Establishes if a Cluster Network is up or down 2. Establishes routes between nodes 3. Ensure the health of a node is good or bad So let's say I have Private set as my priority network for Cluster Communications.  If it is up, we are sending our communication through it.  But what happens if that network wasn't reliable.  If a node tries to join and packets are dropping, then the join could fail.  If this is the case, you either determine where the problem is and fix it, or go back into the Cluster properties and set the Public as priority. Starting in Windows 2008 Failover Clusters, the concept of Public and Private networks went out the window.  We will now send Cluster Communication over any of our networks.  One of the reasons for this was reliability.  With that change, we also gave the heartbeats an additional purpose. 4. Determine the fastest and reliable routes between nodes Since we are now determining the fastest and reliable routes, we could use different networks between nodes for our communication.  Take the below as an example. We have three individual networks between our nodes:
    • Blue – 10 gbps used for backups and administration only
    • Green – 40 gbps used for communicating out on the WAN to clients
    • Red – 40 gbps used for communicating out on the WAN to clients
    As a refresher, here is what the heartbeats are doing: 1. Establishes if a Cluster Network is up or down 2. Establishes routes between nodes 3. Ensure the health of a node is good or bad 4. Determine the fastest and reliable routes between nodes What the heartbeats are going to tell the Cluster is to use one of the faster networks for its communication.  With that as the case, it is going to use either Red or Green network.  If the heartbeats start detecting that neither of these is as reliable (i.e. dropping a packet, network congested, etc), it will automatically switch and use the Blue network.  That's it, nothing for you to configure extra. So to wrap things up, remember these things about Failover Clusters and Heartbeats. 1. There is no such thing as a heartbeat network or a network dedicated to heartbeats 2. Heartbeat packets are lightweight (134 bytes in size) 3. Heartbeats are sensitive to latency 4. Bandwidth is not an important factor, quality of service is.  If your network is all teamed, ensure you have set up Network QOS policies for our UDP 3343 traffic. For more information regarding configuring networks in a Cluster, please see the following:

    Failover Cluster Networking Essentials

    Happy Clustering !!!! John Marlin]]>         Host Virtual Receive Side Scaling and System Center VMM 2016 https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/host-virtual-receive-side-scaling-and-system-center-vmm-2016 Mon, 12 Jun 2017 17:50:02 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1175 blog, we discussed virtual Receive Side Scaling (vRSS).  When it comes to System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager, I wanted to show how to enable this feature. With SCVMM 2016, it provides the ability to create port profiles for managing network adapters. Specifically, it allows you to configure offload settings for the Host (parent), Live Migration and Failover Clustering. Below are screenshots for SCVMM 2016 with Update Rollup 3. Special thanks to Jeff Woolsey for this information. Please note the text in the window for enabling vRSS clearly states the requirements for vRSS such as the fact that the physical NIC must support VMQ and more… ]]> Performance Issues with your Hyper-V vNic? https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/performance-issues-with-your-hyper-v-vnic Mon, 12 Jun 2017 11:40:31 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1155
  • Using a physical network card not bound to Hyper-V, they may be seeing transfer rates of ~900 mb/s
  • Binding that same network card to a Hyper-V virtual switch, transfer rates may drop to ~300 mb/s
  • In-bind that same network card from Hyper-V, transfer rates go back up to ~900 mb/s
    • This is a known issue and is expected with Windows Server 2012 R2 and below. The issue is that Windows Server 2012 R2 / Windows 8.1 Hyper-V does not support virtual Receive Side Scaling (vRSS) in the host (parent) partition. Without support for vRSS, the virtual NIC cannot distribute network load across multiple logical processors and thus all processing for network traffic will be limited to logical processor 0. Without vRSS and depending on the speed of the processor, we would expect performance of 3.5-5 Gbps at the vNIC assuming VMQ is active. This performance issue will not be present in Windows Server 2016.  Windows Server 2016 / Windows 10 added support for Receive Side Scaling in the host. This means that processing for network traffic can and will automatically scale out to multiple logical processors for greater scalability. Given that both core counts and network performance are continually rising, this a great new feature in Window Server 2016. Here’s a screenshot of Receive Side Scaling for the Hyper-V host which is enabled by default. Here is a FAQ regarding virtual Receive Side Scaling. Special thanks to Jeff Woolsey for this information.]]>         If you are still running Windows Server 2016 TP5… https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/if-you-are-still-running-windows-server-2016-tp5 Mon, 20 Mar 2017 11:01:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1125 Microsoft Ignite 2016 sessions dealing with what we do https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/microsoft-ignite-2016-sessions-dealing-with-what-we-do Sun, 16 Oct 2016 16:02:56 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1135 site. Failover Clustering / Storage Keep the lights on with Windows Server 2016 Failover Clustering https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3196 This session will give the complete roadmap of the wealth of new Failover Clustering features and features which enable high availability scenarios in Microsoft Windows Server 2016. If you are going to attend one session on clustering / high availability... this is it! This session covers all the incremental feature improvements from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016 for clustering, as well as other features which increase availability of your cluster solutions. Discover Storage Spaces Direct, the ultimate software-defined storage for Hyper-V https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3088 Use industry-standard, cloud-inspired hardware to build highly performant, capacity efficient, and fault tolerant software-defined storage for Hyper-V and private clouds. Storage Spaces Direct enables scale-out Hyper-Converged or disaggregated Scale-Out File Server (SoFS) deployments. Its a key building block of the Microsoft Azure Stack architecture, and heres the best part – its included at zero additional cost in Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Datacenter. Optimize your software-defined storage investment with Windows Server 2016 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3085 Explore the Microsoft software-defined storage stack in Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and how it gives you the ideal return on investment for datacenter workloads, efficiency, and disaster protection. Scalable, high-performance private cloud storage no longer means a multi-million dollar SAN. Flexible and reliable hyper-convergence no longer means hoping a start-up still answers the phone next month. Drill into Storage Replica in Windows Server 2016 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3072 Delivering business continuity involves more than just high availability...it means disaster preparedness. In this session, we discuss the new Storage Replica feature, including scenarios, architecture, best practices, requirements, and demos. And I have swag! Virtualization Hack Hyper-V: how to protect your Microsoft private cloud https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3339 Hear the tips and tricks to protect Hyper-V datacenters of all sizes by fixing numerous security holes that you are already exposed to, but never even knew about. Join 5nines virtualization expert Symon Perriman (former Microsoft worldwide virtualization lead) to learn the best practices for protection and compliance for Hyper-V, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) and Microsoft Azure Pack (WAP). Unravel and harness Windows Server 2016 for private and hybrid cloud solutions https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3313 Learnings from the real world, take the hybrid datacentre to the next level with the capability of Windows Server 2016. With a focus on end-to-end design, unravel and harness the vast array of capabilities within Server 2016 to drive up scale and drive down cost on your private and hybrid cloud systems, delivered from a speaker who builds their business on the technology. Gain the real-world insight and understanding required to obtain maximum benefit from the new generation of software defined storage, networking and compute. Beyond the base fabric, see how significant enhancements in remote desktop services light up a broad new range of capabilities and how the break through shielded VM solution redefines the way to think about IaaS. Shielded Virtual Machines Discover Shielded VMs and learn about real world deployments https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3126 Learn what a Shielded VM is, what security assurances they offer and whats required to deploy them. We walk you through what is possibly the world's first production-ready Hoster deployment of a guarded fabric (one that runs Shielded VMs). You'll leave with an understanding of the hardware and software requirements, any of the not-so-obvious gotchas that were encountered, any physical security measures that were adopted in support of the enhanced security offered by Shielded VMs, how the service is being offered, any scale requirements and/or capacity differences and much more. If you're considering deploying a guarded fabric or are curious to see how the technology works in the real word then this session is for you. Dive into Shielded VMs with Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V: https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3124 Maintaining strong separation between Hyper-V administrators and sensitive VM-workloads is highly desirableseparation that today isnt achievable. However, we know that customers virtualize sensitive workloads anywayrunning content servers and even domain controllers in VMs is now commonplace. In doing so, additional attack vectors are exposed and the overall security of the workload is weakened. Hosters want to assure their customers that they can protect tenant VMs + data from the hosters datacenter administrators while allowing tenants to continue to meet regulatory and compliance requirements. Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Shielded VMs provide a first-of-its-kind solution that does just that! Nano Server Manage Nano Server and Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3338 Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and the Nano Server deployment are predicted to quickly become the most popular Hyper-V platform, and here is your chance to see the different tools and techniques that businesses of all sizes are using to manage their virtual infrastructure. Join Symon Perriman (ex-Microsoft evangelist and Hyper-V MVP) to hear best practices for deploying and managing Nano Server, Hyper-V and Failover Clusters. Deploy, configure, and remotely manage Nano Server https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3120 Hear about important transformations in Microsoft Windows Server - the new installation option called Nano Server. Nano Server is a deep rethink of the server architecture. The result is a new, lean cloud fabric host and application development platform, resulting in 20x smaller than Server Core and a reduction in security attack service surface and reboots! We cover everything you need to know in order to create a Nano Server image, deploy the image, how to configure as part of deployment, as well as remotely configuring and managing post deployment. Get notes from the field: implementing Nano Server in production around the world https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3073 Hear how, what and why customers around the world has embraced the latest Server technology from Microsoft: Nano Server. We go over designs, deployment and operational capabilities as well as some of the challenges faced during the implementation of Nano Server. Containers Walk the path to containerization – transforming workloads into containers https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3319 Containers, micro-services and Docker are all the rage but what workloads are they used for? And how can you take advantage of these transformative new technologies? Hear from a user that has succeeded in taking their existing .Net application and migrated it into Windows containers proving them the agility and flexibility to further transform the application. But where do I start with containers? We will further cover concepts and best practices for identifying and migrating applications from existing deployments into containers and how to start down the path to microservice architectures. Develop, debug and deploy containerized applications with Docker https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3189 You want to develop, build and deploy your app in containers, but where do you start? What development workflows would you use? What if you want to target Linux and/or Windows? In this talk, we demo Microsoft Visual Studio Code from a Mac, Visual Studio Code from Windows and Visual Studio as a local development environment targeting both Windows Containers and Linux. We demo the inner loop, developing in a container, continuous integration and deployment with Visual Studio Team Services, and deployed to the Azure Container Service. This will be an all demo session showing the workflows for you to get started today. Accelerate application delivery with Docker Containers and Windows Server 2016 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3147 Applications are changing and Docker is driving the containerization movement to deliver new microservices applications or provide a new construct to package legacy applications. Attend this session to learn how the combination of Docker, Linux, Microsoft Windows Server and Microsoft Azure technologies together deliver an application platform for hybrid cloud apps. Accelerate your app delivery and gain freedom to use any stack across a secure software supply chain. Windows 10 Deploy Windows 10 for business - the future is closer than you think https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/GS07 Digital transformation has changed the face of enterprise computing, and the time for Windows 10 is now. Rob Lefferts from the Windows Devices Group dives into what Windows 10 is delivering for businesses and how it makes deployment easier than ever. Rob will also discuss the latest Windows enhancements in management, security, and productivity and how they are changing what is possible today, and are continuously improving for tomorrow. Along the way Rob shares stories of real world Windows 10 deployments. Plus demos! Master Windows 10 Deployments – Expert Level https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK4023 Join us for a live demo on how to build a Microsoft Windows deployment solution, based on Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. In the session we take OS Deployment in Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and System Center Configuration Manager to its outer limits. Deployment tips, tricks, and hard core debugging in a single session. You can expect a lot of live demos in this session. Discover Windows 10 Internals https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK4021 In this session Sami Laiho shows what's really new below the surface of Windows 10. People are talking about the start menu mostly, but we talk about Secure Kernel, Memory Compression, Skylake enhancements, Device Driver protection, Active Memory dumps and so on. Ask us almost anything about Windows 10 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3240 Do you have questions on how to deploy, secure, or manage Windows 10 in your organization? Here's your chance to ask the experts. Join the conversation with members of the Windows team, hosted by Mark Minasi, and get your questions answered. Upgrade to Windows 10: in depth https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3173 With Windows 10, we are encouraging everyone, including organizations, to upgrade from their existing OS (Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1). This upgrade process is easy and reliable, but how exactly does it work? In this session, we dig deep and explore how the process works to ensure that everything (apps, settings, data, drivers) is preserved. Troubleshoot Windows 10 deployment: top 10 tips and tricks https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3150 Need help with troubleshooting Windows deployment issues? Johan and Mikael share lessons learned around handling device drivers in the deployment process, common deployment issues and their workarounds, parsing log files, WinPE and PXE troubleshooting, UEFI deployments. As a foundation, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager will be used. You can expect a lot of live demos, tips, and tricks in this session. Enhance Windows 10 deployment: what's new with Windows 10 deployment? https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3144-TS We continue to invest in new capabilities to make Windows deployment easier. In this session, we provide an overview of the latest enhancements for Windows 10 deployment. Ask the experts - Windows10 deployment, servicing, and provisioning https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3140 Windows 10 impacts the way you deploy, service, and provision PCs. In this interactive session, we try to answer all of your questions related to these aspects of Windows 10, with engineering team experts from Microsoft on hand. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade! Say goodbye to clean installs of Windows 10 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK2303 For years, the perceived wisdom was always to perform a clean install of Windows. With Windows 10, that all changed. Learn why it doesnt make sense to seek the holy grail of a gold image any more. Windows 2016 Learn the top 10 reasons why you'll like Windows Server 2016 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3116 Microsoft Windows Server 2016 brings a huge number of new capabilities and after a year of discussions in the Microsoft Technology Center there are certain features that resonate the best with customers. In this session we go through those top ten including virtualization, storage, networking, management and more. A core theme throughout all the areas will be security with a focus on some game-changing capabilities that finally enable the protection of workloads even from the administrator. Discover Hyper-Converged Infrastructure with Windows Server 2016 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK2189 Discover how Windows Server 2016 brings you hyper-converged solutions. We heard your feedback - you asked for the ability to run software-defined storage with local disks on Hyper-V clusters. We demonstrate how Storage Spaces Direct and Hyper-V on the same cluster provides streamlines deployments and management with Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI). Introduce Windows Server 2016 into your environment! https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK2186 Microsoft Windows Server 2016 brings a host of new technologies for infrastructure (software defined compute/networking/storage) and for the application platform (Containers, Nano Server). Its both the server you know and the bridge to the cloud. We've heard you are eager to understand what Windows Server can bring to your organization and want to know how you can incorporate into your organization. In this session, we dive into deployments, upgrades, monitoring and more, so you can quickly onboard Windows Server 2016! Explore Windows Server 2016 Software Defined Datacenter https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK2169-TS Microsoft Windows Server 2016 wave represents a tectonic shift in the industry with Software Defined Compute, Storage, Networking, Nano Server, Containers, Next Generation Assurance and more. If you are an IT Pro or an Ops person, then this session is for you. Learn how Windows Server 2016 SDDC is delivering new layers of security, cloud scale, disruptive cost economics, flexibility for private clouds, enterprises and much more. Build and operate a software-defined datacenter https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK3314 In this session you re guided through the design and implementation process of a software-defined datacenter:_ - Requirements / Components - What are the challenges - If all is SW defined, which role play the HW / vendors - Organizational aspects (teams, know how, processes) Meet Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016! https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/BRK2204 Join us in this demo-heavy presentation for the unveiling of the brand new Windows Server 2016 and Microsoft System Center 2016. Drive business transformation in the cloud-first world - Windows Server and System Center have evolved to meet this changing world. To accelerate value and stay ahead of competition, you need infrastructure that unleashes application innovation and you need your IT to meet increasingly demanding business requirements. Learn about Windows Servers enhanced security capabilities, software define datacenter technologies and application features to build cloud-native applications, and how System Center 2016 streamlines management across your datacenter. We hope that you enjoy the sessions and hope to see you in Orlando, FL for Ignite 2017.]]> FREE EBOOK: Introducing Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/free-ebook-introducing-windows-server-2016-technical-preview Wed, 27 Apr 2016 10:47:45 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1106

    There are ways you can download depending on what you are using: Standard PDF Mobile PDF Description: Windows Server has powered a generation of organizations, from small businesses to large global enterprises. No matter what your role in IT, you can be guaranteed that you have touched Windows Server at some point in your career or, at the very least, you have seen it from afar! No matter what your area of expertise, this ebook introduces you to Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview and its latest developments, which is the next version of Windows Server. Each chapter has been written by either field experts or members of the product group, who provide you with the latest information on every improvement or new feature that is coming in Windows Server. This information will help you to get ready for Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview and give you an opportunity to develop and design a path to introduce this powerful technology into your environment and take full advantage of what is to come. This book was written at a time when the product was still evolving, and it should be noted that things might change or not appear in the final version of Windows Server 2016 when it is released. All guidance in these chapters is meant to be tried and evaluated in a test setting; you should not implement this in a production environment. This book assumes that you are familiar with key Windows Server concepts (i.e., Hyper-V, networking, and storage) as well as cloud technologies such as Microsoft Azure. In this ebook, we cover a variety of concepts related to the technology and present scenarios with a customer focus, but it is not intended as a how-to guide or design manual. You should use other sources including the online Microsoft resources to stay up to date with the latest developments on the roles and features of Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview. The online resources will also contain the latest how-to procedures and information about designing a Windows Server 2016 infrastructure for your business.]]>         Hello world! Cluster Guy here... https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/clusterguy/hello-world Thu, 21 Jan 2016 19:39:07 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clusterguy/?p=1 AskCore site for the longest time and it is finally time I branch out onto my own.  As you can tell from the other site, most all of my blogs have been about High Availability which would include Failover Clustering, Storage, and Virtualization. I started at Microsoft back in April of 1992 and did quite a few things in support.  But I found my real passion with Failover Clustering.  In March of 1997, I joined the beta support for Microsoft Cluster Server.  It released several months later with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 and I have been with it ever since. I deliver High Availability (Cluster/Storage/Hyper-V) Training to both internal groups as well as to external partners.  I have delivered Failover Clustering sessions at multiple TechEd's (2003 in Dallas TX, 2005 in Orlando FL, 2007 in Orlando FL, 2011 in Atlanta GA, and 2014 in Houston TX).  I have also delivered at Microsoft's Internal Conferences on multiple occasions. I have written articles for Windows IT Pro (8) and TechNet (3) Magazine as well as a regular contributor to the Microsoft "AskCore" (46 blogs) and "NT Debugging" (2 blogs) sites. I have contributed to the books "Introducing Windows Server 2012", "Optimizing and Troubleshooting Hyper-V Storage", and "Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview Release". Because of everything that I have accomplished, people have referred to me and been introduced as "the Cluster Guy"; hence the name of the blog. In what spare time I do have, I raise and breed quarter horses.

    I hope you enjoy my site and get value out of it.  I will be porting over all of these blogs to here.]]>