Happy reading,

Christa

App-V

Ruben Sprujit

• Application Virtualization Smackdown: Head-to-head analysis of Cameyo, Citrix, Numecent, Microsoft, Spoon, Symantec and VMware: 2014 edition

Cluster

Philip Elder

• Repeat After Me: SATA Does Not Belong In Servers Part Deux

• Windows Server 2012 R2: Intel PROSet Install Error: No Intel Adapters Present

• Hyper-V: Number of NUMA Nodes on a Dual Intel Xeon E5-2630 R2208GZ4GC

Robert Smit

• Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 9.0 #MAP #MSA

• Windows Server 2012R2 StorageSpaces Minimal DiskSize 4GB #winserv #StorageSpaces #guidance

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (2013-12-17) Important Changes To The Forefront Product Line

• (2013-12-19) Selective Authentication Broken In W2K12R2 – To Be Fixed

Mike Kline

• Complete Windows 2012 & 2012 R2 Documentation

Roberto di Lello

• Windows Server 2008 R2: DirectAcces una alternativa a la VPN (Laboratorio) {Parte 1}

• Windows Server 2008 R2: DirectAcces una alternativa a la VPN (Laboratorio) {Parte 2}

File System/Storage

Dennis Martin

• Demartek Interview - When Does 16 Gbps Fibre Channel Make Sense?

Group Policy

Matthias Wolf

• Group Policy Preferences und der Internet Explorer 11

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• Corrupted Memory Dump When You Obtain Full Memory Dump From A VM On WS2012 Or W2008R2 Cluster

• Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 For Hyper-V Is Released

• Disk2VHD Version 2.0 AKA Disk2VHDX!

• KB2761899 – Hyper-V VMMS Fails When Dynamicportrange Is Changed On WS2012

Carsten Rachfal

• MSMQ Eventlog Fehler im Failover Cluster

• Microsoft Microsoft ITCamp CloudOS

• Microsoft Virtualisierungs Podcast Folge 34: Veranstaltungen

Didier Van Hoye

• Failed Live Migrations with Event ID 21502 Planned virtual machine creation failed for virtual machine ‘VM Name’: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0×80072746) Caused By Wrong Jumbo Frame Settings

PowerShell

Don Jones

• My outline for accelerated PowerShell training

• Using Install-WindowsFeature with Offline Source

Jeff Wouters

• PowerShell – A quick way to write content plain text to a file

• Set domain runas account for SQL Server Management Pack in SCOM

• I will be a judge at the PowerShell Scripting Games – Winter 2014

Jeffery Hicks

• Friday Fun: Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

Ravikanth C

• #PSTip Copying folders using Copy-VMFile cmdlet in Windows Server 2012 R2 (Hyper-V)

Remote Desktop Services

Freek Berson

• RDV Team: Resolution and Scaling Level Updates in RDP 8.1

Nicholas Dille

• Useful Features in Remote Desktop Services for Cloud-Based Labs

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom

• Nice to Know – Getting Hardware info(iLO) data using native PowerShell (and no need for credentials)

• PowerShell is King – Convert WIM to VHD/VHDX with support for Gen 1 and Gen 2 (BIOS/UEFI) and then some…

• Nice to Know–Getting Make and Model using CMD or PowerShell

• PowerShell Is King – Deploying Windows To Go devices using PowerShell

• Nice to Know – Adding the missing Disk performance counters in task manager in Windows Server 2012 R2

• Nice to Know – Where is the links to RSAT for Windows 7, 8, 8.1?

• PowerShell Is King – Using PowerShell to manage WDS in Windows Server 2012 R2

• Nice to Know–Upgrading Storage Spaces 2012 to 2012 R2 is easy (and works)

• PowerShell is King – Create a webpage containing LTI/ZTI Deployment issues with information and links to logs

• OS Deployment – Out Of Band install of Windows Server 2012 R2 Using MDT,WDS and PowerShell

Windows Server for Small and Medium Business

Amy Babinchak

• Exchange 2010 doesn’t free up ram–updated

Elvis Gustin

• Not able to backup Generation 2 VM

Other

Edward Horley

• IPv6 is like global warming

• Practical IPv6 for Windows Administrators is available!

Perhaps it’s having three on-campus events for Windows Server/System Center MVPs this year (most recently with the Summit from November 18-20) but I feel like I blinked and it became December. Here’s your look at what MVPs have been up to lately.

For many, holidays are approaching, and some use the holidays as a time to learn something new. Robert Smit has collected some resources (including free books, a book review, and a Windows Azure poster to help you get your mind around the architecture), Aidan Finn has posted his Tech Camp presentation, and Don Jones shows you how to get the Community Book on PowerShell Practices.

Want to try converting existing VMs to Hyper-V? Thomas Mauer and Carsten Rachfal discuss their preferred tools. Moving from Generation 1 VMs to Generation 2? Aidan and Elvis Gustin have resources for you.

Finally, although focusing on one technology, Helge Klein’s description of a VDI architecture for persistent desktops gives some practical pointers regardless of the technology you use to accomplish them. Be sure to check out Freek Berson’s blog on the new Remote FX clients!

Happy reading!

Christa

Cluster

Allan Hirt

• CONTEST! Win A Seat To Allan’s Mission Critical SQL Server Class in Chicago

Robert Smit

• Windows Azure poster November 2013 edition #WAP #poster #MVP13
• MAP Toolkit 9.0 Beta is now available @mapblog ‏@MSSolutionAccel #mvpsummit #MVPBuzz
• Free ebook: Microsoft System Center: Troubleshooting Configuration Manager #MVPBuzz #MVPSummit
• Free ebook: Microsoft System Center: Configuration Manager Field Experience #MVPBuzz #Winserv #sysctr
• Hyper-V Replica Essentials Book Review | Packt Publishing

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (2013-11-17) Time Sync Recommendations For Virtual DCs On Hyper-V – Change In Recommendations (AGAIN)
• (2013-11-23) A Hotfix Rollup Package (Build 4.1.3496.0) Is Available for Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2
• (2013-11-28) FIM 2010 R2: Windows Azure Active Directory Connector
• (2013-12-01) FIM 2010 R2: Generic LDAP Connector
• (2013-12-02) FIM 2010 R2: Sharepoint Services Connector

Roberto di Lello

• Hyper-V: Todas las tools que podemos necesitar {Tools}
• Windows Server 2012 R2: Work Folders, que son y para que sirven?

File System/Storage

Stephen Foskett

• Scale-Out Storage Field Day?
• Scaling Storage In Conventional Arrays
• Scaling Storage At The Client

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• Warning!!!–Group Policy Logon Scripts Delays in Windows 8.1

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• Learn About Generation 2 VMs – And How To Convert From Generation 1
• WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Manager Can Be Used With WS2012 Hyper-V
• TechCamp 2013 Wrap Up
• Whitepaper: NVGRE, Hyper-V Network Virtualization and Software-Defined Networking
• My TechCamp 2013 Presentation – Windows Server 2012 R2
• KB2893986 – Vulnerability in WS2012 & Windows 8 Hyper-V Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
• How WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Backup Works
• KB2894032 – Clustered VM Cannot Access Fiber Channel LUN After Performing Live Migration on WS2012 Hyper-V

Carsten Rachfal

• Migration von ESX nach Hyper-V mittels 5nine EasyConverter
• IT Camp: Windows Server 2012 R2 & System Center 2012 R2 … Plätze frei!

Didier Van Hoye

• Live Migration Can Benefit From Jumbo Frames

Thomas Maurer

• Fast and Easy VMware to Hyper-V Migration
• TechDays 2013 – Fabric Management with Virtual Machine Manager Session Online
• TechNet Switzerland Event: From VMware to Hyper-V

PowerShell

Don Jones

• Last chance for feedback on PowerShell course 10961A/B
• Community Book of PowerShell Practices
• Don't Buy Your Software, Rent It!

Jeff Wouters

• Remove white lines in file through PowerShell

Jeffery Hicks

• Friday Fun: Theme Me Up!

Ravikanth C

• #PSTip Convert a path to WMI compatible path
• #PSTip Check if a folder is shared

Shay Levy 

• Identifying Active Directory built-in groups with PowerShell

Remote Desktop Services

Benny Tritsch

• VDI Market Constellation 2.0

Freek Berson

• Update on Microsoft Remote Desktop Clients for iOS, Android and OS X
• Microsoft RDV Team: RemoteApp improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2
• New article: Microsoft's non-Windows based RDP clients

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom

• Nice to Know–Installing Windows Server 2012 R2 now works on HP Proliant Microserver

Small Business Server

Elvis Gustin

• Redirecting default OU for users and computers
• Converting VM from Generation 1 to Generation 2
• Step-by-step install Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2 with non local domain

Philip Elder

• SBS 2003 R2 Premium Migration to 2012 R2 Domain and Exchange 2013

Other

Helge Klein

• Persistent VDI in the Real World – Architecture

We’re getting ready for MVP Summit here in Redmond next week, and looking forward to meeting with the MVPs who are able to attend. While preparing for their visit, however, the MVPs keep blogging.

Keep learning about PowerShell with the links below. Not only are the PowerShell MVPs offering their usual set of tips (including Desired State Configuration), you can also learn how to user PowerShell from other MVPs. Also—you know how PowerShell capabilities depend on the version of PowerShell you’re running? Here’s how to programmatically test for version.

With IaaS, Azure is also getting increasing interest from the IT Pro community. Here’s some testing results from running Remote Desktop Services in Azure, as well as an overview of things that you should know if considering using the platform.

If you’re a fan of interactive learning, this roundup is a good opportunity to hear about in-person and online events such as PASS, E2EVC, Truth in IT series, the PowerShell Deployment Toolkit video (German) and the SMB Kitchen Chat. Or check out some reading material.

Happy reading!

Christa

Cluster

Allan Hirt

• A Look Back at PASS Summit 2013 and Two Weeks of Training in Australia
• Chicago Mission Critical SQL Server Class – Grab Your Seat Today!

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (2013-11-03) What Happens When The Password Of A User Is Reset While Being Logged On?
• (2013-11-04) What Happens When The AD User Account Expires While Being Logged On?

Roberto di Lello

• Windows 8.1|Windows Server 2012 R2: Los cambios de la interfaz de usuario de Shell
• Windows Server 2012 R2, new features

File System/Storage

Dennis Martin

• Demartek Evaluates NetApp Flash Accel and Flash Cache Technology

Stephen Foskett

• Miami and Tampa: Wrapping Up The Truth About Virtualization Seminar Series
• Storage Field Day 4: Live This Week!

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• Renaming GPOs with PowerShell
• Group Policy Settings Reference Available for Windows 8.1
• GP Preferences for Internet Explorer 11

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 Is Available
• Some Windows Server 2012 R2 & Exchange 2013 Reading For You
• Double-Take Move Partners With Microsoft For Easy Migration From VMware To Hyper-V Via System Center
• Windows Intune “Wave F”

Carsten Rachfal

• Videocast zum Microsoft PowerShell Deployment Toolkit

Didier Van Hoye

• Presentation & Demos E2EVC Rome 2013
• Enabling Jumbo Frames Inside Virtual Machines Enhances Throughput & Reduces CPU Load

Hans Vredevoort

• Windows Azure Pack Wiki
• Hotfix: VM Virtual Fibre Channel Loses Access to LUN after Live Migration
• Disk Performance counters in Windows Server 2012 R2 Task Manager

Thomas Maurer

• Speaking at TechNet Conference 2013
• PowerShell – Get File Hash
• Manage Windows Azure AD using Windows PowerShell

PowerShell

Don Jones

• What Enterprises Need To Know About Windows Azure

Jeff Wouters

• PowerShell function to report users in domain local groups
• PowerShell function to find groups with no users as members
• Vendors are picking up on PowerShell
• PowerShell function to list users in Authoritative Groups in Active Directory

Jeffery Hicks

• More PowerShell Trace Window Fun
• Turn On PowerShell Help Window
• PowerShell Clean Up Tools
• Get PowerShell Version with WMI

Ravikanth C

• #PSTip Ejecting and closing CDROM drive–the PowerShell way!
• #PSTip Clear clipboard content

Shay Levy 

• PowerTips Monthly: PowerShell Reference Library
• #PSTip How to combine trace log entries from all SharePoint farm servers using PowerShell
• HP Scripting Tools for Windows PowerShell

Steven Murawski

• Configuring a Desired State Configuration Client

Remote Desktop Services

Freek Berson

• GPU Requirements for RemoteFX on Windows Server 2012 R2
• Microsoft released Windows Azure: Desktop Hosting Deployment Guide
• Remote Desktop Protocol 8.1 update for Windows 7 SP1 is now available!

Greg Shields

• What's New in Group Policy Settings

Nicholas Dille

• My Lab in the Cloud

Small Business Server

Amy Babinchak

• Chat with the SMBKitchen Crew
• November Chat Recording

Elvis Gustin

• Problems installing Windows Server 2012R2 on HP DL380e

Philip Elder

• External Hard Disk Formatted GPT: Shows Healthy (GPT Protected Partition) in Disk Management

Other

Richard Hicks

• Vulnerability in DirectAccess Could Allow Security Feature Bypass

It’s been a little while since I was able to publish one of these roundups. Not because of any lack of great content from the MVPs, I’m afraid, but in getting ready for the MVP Summit later this month it suddenly became November. Please check out the links below (arranged by MVP expertise) to see what’s new in the world of Windows Server 2012. As always, if you are an MVP blogging about Windows Server 2012 and I haven't included you, please feel free to email me your blog's RSS feed and your Twitter handle.

The big news in the last couple of weeks is the general availability of Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 (now available for retail purchase). It might be a good time to think about the right hardware, upgrading essential services like DHCP, or how to update your KMS service key to activate the new operating system. PowerShell continues to be key to using Windows Server. While our MVPs suggest formal learning to help you learn most efficiently, we’ve also got the usual set of tips from the Powershell MVPS to supplement your courses. Those using Remote Desktop Services will also be intrigued at the arrival of RemoteFX clients for Android, iOS, and Mac OSX.

In time with GA some community events are happening: E2EVC in Rome, TechCamp in Dublin, and TechDays Online.

Happy reading!

Christa

App-V

Ruben Sprujit

• UEM Smackdown 2.0: Head-to-head analysis of Appsense, Citrix, Immidio, Microsoft, Liquidware Labs, PolicyPak, RES, Scense and others
• Local storage and sizing guidelines for VDI
• VDI Smackdown: Head-to-head analysis of Citrix XenDesktop 7.1, Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2/Win81, VMware View 5.3 + more!

Cluster

Allan Hirt

• Even If You Are Prepared, *&%$ Happens

Robert Smit

• The Cloud OS: It’s Time! Today is the date that Windows Server 2012 R2 is GA (General Availability) #winserv #hyperv
• Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 #sysctr #vmm #configmgr
• The new website of the #SCUG_NL is live ( System Center User Group NL ) #Cloud #SysCtr #Community #winserv

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (2013-10-20) Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) For Windows 8.1 x86/x64
• (2013-10-21) Delegating The Configuration Of "Trusted For Delegation" In AD
• (2013-10-22) Searching For Certificates Matching A Specific DNS Name Or WildCard Name
• (2013-11-01) Advanced Logging, Event Tracing Or Troubleshooting Within FIM Components

Mike Kline

• Active Directory Powershell Cmdlets in 2012 R2
• Active Directory Demo Fail Club Lessons Learned

Roberto di Lello

• eBook: Introduccion a Windows Azure para profesionales de IT
• Windows Server 2012: Replicacion, como hacer troubleshooting – Parte 1{Tool}
• Windows 8.1: Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) para administrar nuestro Active Directory {Tools}
• Windows Server 2012: Replicacion, como hacer troubleshooting – Parte 2 {Tool}
• Windows Server 2012: Directory Services Lab:

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• More on Group Policy Caching in Windows 8.1

Matthias Wolf

• DHCP Bereiche mittels Group Policy überwachen

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• Microsoft Releases Remote Desktop For Apple iOS
• Microsoft Remote Desktop Is Also Available For Android And Updated For Mac OS X
• Windows Azure Pack (WAP)
• How To Avoid Common Networking Issues In Hyper-V
• Event: UK & Ireland TechDays Online … Featuring Steve Ballmer!
• Event: TechCamp2013 – Learn About Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 And Windows 8.1 (Dublin)
• Windows Azure Backup Is Generally Available & Other Azure News
• 5nine Software Releases V2.0 Of VMware-To-Hyper-V V2V Conversion Tool (FREE!)
• KB2842111 – "Delayed Write Failed" Error When An I/O Stress Test Runs Against A WS2012 Failover Cluster
• Configuring The Paging File On Hyper-V Hosts
• Event: TechCamp 2013 Windows & System Center Mailshots Begin
• Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 Can Be Bought … Now

Didier Van Hoye

• Update Your KMS Service Key To Activate Windows Server 2012 R2 And Windows 8.1
• Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual RSS (vRSS) In Action
• E2EVC Rome 2013–Attending & Speaking
• Great Hardware Support Equals Fast Windows 2012 R2 Implementation

Thomas Maurer

• Windows 8.1 Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 now available
• Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1
• System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager Update Rollup 4 available
• Microsoft Server Posterpedia Windows 8.1 App just updated

PowerShell

Don Jones

• Windows PowerShell: Professional Training Is a Must-Have

Jeff Wouters

• PowerShell function to find stale and old trusts in your Active Directory

Jeffery Hicks

• Runspaces, Remoting and Workflow, Oh My!
• Out with the Windows.old
• Managing Local Admin with PowerShell
• Friday Fun: 50 Shades of PowerShell HTML Reports
• Download SysInternals with PowerShell

Ravikanth C

• #PSTip List all WMI namespaces on a system
• #PSTip Azure cmdlets and proxy authentication

Shay Levy 

• #PSTip Windows 8.1 Win+X Menu: PowerShell in, Command Prompt out!
• Windows Management Framework 4.0 is now available!

Remote Desktop Services

Freek Berson

• Microsoft's Remote Desktop Client for iOS is available!
• Download links for Microsoft RDP client for iOS, MacOS and Android
• Getting Started with Remote Desktop Client on iOS, Mac & Android

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom

• Migrate DHCP from WS 2012 to WS 2012 R2
• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 is here
• Nice to Know: Upgrade Sequencing for System Center 2012 R2

Windows Server for Small and Medium Business

Amy Babinchak

• Cryptolocker Prevention Kit
• What Defines You As A Managed Services Firm?
• How to Move Computers in and out of a Group Policy

Other MVPs

Edward Horley

• Network Field Day 6 - Post Mortem

Richard Hicks

• Cannot Apply Remote Access Setup Wizard Settings in Windows Server 2012 R2

Happy reading!

Christa

Clustering

Robert Smit

• Implement Office 365 easy ? #Unattended Install #O365 with Group Policy #windows7 #windows12R2
• Specifications for SQL Server failover cluster instance #FCI #SQL #Server #winServ #CSV
• Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Failover Clustered Instance #Step-By-Step #AlwaysOn AvailabilityGroups What can go Wrong! Part 1

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (2013-09-04) Incorrect CSP Prevents Enrollment Of OCSP Response Signing Certificates
• (2013-09-05) Querying An Event Log Of One Or Multiple Computers For A String
• (2013-09-06) Duplicate SPN Breaks Trust Between Client/Server And Active Directory
• (2013-09-09) Windows 8.1 And Windows Server 2012 R2 Available For Subscribers
• (2013-09-11) Follow-Up On “AD DB Becomes Corrupted When W2K12 Hyper-V Host Server Crashes”

Roberto di Lello

• Windows Server 2008 R2: Implementando, configurando y administrando nuestro entorno de Directory Services para una Pequena Empresa (PYME) {ScreenCast}
• Windows 8.1 RTM, Visual Studio 2013 RC y Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM hoy
• Vulnerabilidad en Internet Explorer (todas las versiones) podría permitir la ejecución remota de código

File System/Storage

Dennis Martin 

• Demartek Evaluation of EMC VNX8000 and XtremSW Cache
• Demartek Interview: To Use 16Gbps Fibre Channel or Not - That Is The Question

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• Consolidating & Cleaning Up Group Policy — Best Practices

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Virtual Receive Side Scaling (vRSS) In Action
• Comparing TCPIP, Compressed, and SMB WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration Speeds
• Event – TechNet Conference 2013 in Berlin
• The Effects Of WS2012 R2 Storage Spaces Write-Back Cache
• The Effects Of WS2012 R2 Storage Spaces Write-Back Cache On A Hyper-V VM
• Windows Server 2012 R2 & Windows 8.1 RTM Are Available On MSDN and TechNet
• Observing Dynamic Memory in Linux VMs on WS2012 R2 Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2012 R2 Licensing
• System Center 2012 R2 Is Required To Manage WinServ or Hyper-V 2012 R2
• HVRemote Updated To Support WS2012 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2012 R2
• Option To Select Physical GPU Is Unavailable In Hyper-V Settings

Carsten Rachfal

• Microsoft Virtualisierungs Podcast Folge 32: TechNet Conference 2013

Didier Van Hoye

• Preventing Live Migration Over SMB Starving CSV Traffic in Windows Server 2012 R2 with Set-SmbBandwidthLimit
• Windows Server 2012 R2 & Windows 8 .1 RTM Available on TechNet & MSDN Today
• Join me for aTechNet Live Meeting: Hyper-V Storage Efficiencies & Optimizations in Windows Server 2012 R2
• Mind the UNMAP Impact On Performance In Certain Scenarios

Thomas Maurer

• Connect Microsoft Hyper-V Network Virtualization Gateway in System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• Export and Import Virtual Machine Manager Templates
• Hyper-V Network Virtualization: NVGRE Offloading

PowerShell

Don Jones

• Microsoft's Ever Evolving Configuration Management
• System Center's MDM and BYOD Strategy

Jeff Wouters 

• Wake On Lan through PowerShell
• PowerShell function to get time server NTP settings from clients
• PowerShell – Error when you query Active Directory for the OperatingSystem attribute
• SCCM – Report all software in Add and Remove Programs for all computers
• Copy Active Directory group membership from user to user

Jeffery Hicks

• Building a Mini Hyper-V Server
• Mini Hyper-V: Hardware Build
• Mini Hyper-V: Setup
• Mini Hyper-V: Operating System
• PowerShell 4.0 A First Look
• Friday Fun: Get Friday the 13th
• Get Most Recent PowerShell Scheduled Job Result
• A Better PowerShell Get Scheduled Job Results

Ravikanth C

• Copying PowerShell modules and custom DSC resources using DSC
• Announcing PSReadLine – A bash-inspired readline implementation for PowerShell

Shay Levy 

• #PSTip How to configure storage quotas for a mailbox using PowerShell
• #PSTip How to find which mailboxes are over quota limits
• #PSTip How to prevent script execution for non-admin users
• #PSTip How to create a dynamic distribution group
• #PSTip Preview the members of a dynamic distribution group

Remote Desktop Services

Benny Tritsch

• Remoting Protocol Testing Methodology

Freek Berson

• Load balancing Remote Desktop Services Web Access & Gateway with KEMP Load Master for Azure
• Running Dell vWorkspace in Windows Azure
• KB: Error when you try to change the properties of a published RemoteApp in Windows Server 2012
• KB: A memory leak in the WmiPrvSe.exe process occurs when you use the RDS WMI provider in Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
• KB: The size of the "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT" registry hive continuously increases on a Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1-based server
• Using User Profile Disks (UPD) in combination with predefining the Modern UI Start Screen on RDS 2012 (appsfolder.itemdata-ms)

Greg Shields

• The New Windows Admin: Employee or Freelance Contractor?

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom 

• The Ultimate Event, Sweden, October–Do not Miss this!

Small Business Server

Amy Babinchak

• Ways to find technical information on Microsoft Servers you might not have known about

Elvis Gustin

• Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012R2 is coming
• Group Policy and WMI filtering for OS

Philip Elder

• A Small Windows Server 2012 Issue
• Windows Server 2012 and Essentials: Error 80073718 on Update(s)
• Windows Features Error: Windows couldn’t complete the requested changes 0x800F0906
• Why We Never Dedicate a NIC Port to a VM

Other

Edward Horley

• Cricket Liu presenting on IPv6 at Dyn Geek Summer Camp

Helge Klein

• Software Installation Very Slow without Internet Access

Richard Hicks 

• What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2 DirectAccess
• DirectAccess Webinar on October 3, 2013
 

It’s summer and many people are taking some time off (myself included) but some of the Windows Server MVPs are still blogging away. First, as summer draws to an end, it’s a good time to start planning for your next in-person events this fall. As noted by the MVPs, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 will launch October 18. Curious to get a preview of another fall event? Two MVPs have blogged video from their presentations at E2EVC in Copenhagen this past spring.

Brushing up on your skills? Check out the tips on how to automate specific tasks with Powershell, see the RDS MVPs’ section for new KB articles, view screen casts online, or check out new books on PowerShell and (soon) IPv6.

Happy reading,

Christa

Cluster

Robert Smit

• Update System Center and Management related content #sysctr #vmm #configmgr #sco #wap #azure

Directory Services

Roberto di Lello

• Windows Server: Como limpiar la metadata de nuestro Directory Services {ScreenCast}
• Windows Server 2012, Como administrar multiples servidores con la ayuda del Server Manager y Windows PowerShell 3.0 {ScreenCast}

File System/Storage

Dennis Martin 

• Demartek Discusses SSDs at the Storage Decisions Conference New York in September 2013
• Demartek to Present at SNW USA in October 2013
• Demartek Plans to Offer Energy Efficiency Testing

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• Apologies to Chris Wolf of Gartner
• Event: Sept 10th, London –Transform The Data Centre
• Video: Me Talking About The Microsoft Cloud At E2EVC Copenhagen
• Microsoft Releases Windows Server 2012 R2 Licensing Information
• Testing SMB Live Migration on WS2012 R2 Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2, Windows 8.1, and Windows Intune Release Dates
• The Number 1 Support Call For WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Will Be …

Carsten Rachfal

• Einigen hilfreiche CmdLets zum Umgang mit Storage Spaces
• Hyper-V PowerKurs V3 – was ist neue?
• Kurzfristiges aufgesetztes IT Camp am 24. August auf der ICE 2013 in Lingen

Didier Van Hoye

• Upgrading Your DELL Compellent Storage Center Firmware (Part 1)
• Upgrading Your DELL Compellent Storage Center Firmware (Part 2)
• Fixing A Little Quirk In Dell Compellent Replay Manager
• Hands on with Hyper-V Clustering Maintenance Mode & Cluster Aware Updating TechNet Screencast

Thomas Maurer

• System Center Advisor now adds Monitoring for Virtual Machine Manager
• Interview about System Center Universe Europe 2013
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager Mania at E2EVC
• Manage Cisco UCS via UCS Manager Add-in in System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• Hyper-V over SMB: SMB Multichannel
• Mark your calendars for Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2
• Automate your Cisco UCS with System Center Orchestrator
• Hyper-V over SMB: SMB Direct (RDMA)

PowerShell

Don Jones

• What To Do in a Post-TechNet World

Jeff Wouters 

• PowerShell Deep Dives – Get your copy!
• PowerShell – Find disabled Group Policy Objects
• 3rd Dutch PowerShell User Group meeting
• DMTF – Open Standards Based Management

Ravikanth C

• #PSTip Get Active Database Connections of a SQL Database
• #PSTip Drop all Active Connections of SQL Database
• #PSTip Retrieve all SQL instance names on local and remote computers
• Announcing PoshTools – Visual Studio extension for PowerShell Scripting
• #PSTip Add a SQL login to database roles using SMO
• #PSTip Validate if a SQL login exists using PowerShell
• #PSTip Validate if a user exists in Active Directory

Shay Levy 

• #PSTip Swapping the value of two variables
• #PSTip Multiple variable assignments
• #PSTip Initializing multiple variables at once
• #PSTip Identifying DSC commands
• #PSTip Get the fully qualified path of the system directory
• PSharp makes PowerShell ISE better
• PowerShell module for Lync Online is available

Remote Desktop Services

Freek Berson

• Lowering the cost of storage for VDI using Windows Server 2012 R2 with Data Deduplication
• KB: Server 2012 VDI collection require two-way trust when adding user group of external domain (2877933)
• KB: Error "Invalid parameter" when add Domain Local group for VDI collection (2877941)
• KB: You cannot log off from a Remote Desktop session in Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 will launch October 18, 2013
• KB: Updates to improve Remote Desktop Protocol network-level authentication
• New feature in RDP 8.1 : RestrictedAdmin
• KB: "Not enough storage is available to process this command" error when a new user tries to log on through RDP in Windows Server 2008 R2

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom 

• Windows Server 2012 R2–Hands On LAB
• Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V – Hands On LAB
• SommarKollo 2013 – MSAB

Small Business Server

Amy Babinchak

• Microsoft SMB Champions Club
• Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

Elvis Gustin

• Migrate from SBS 2008 or 2011 (Part 1)
• Windows XP and Exchange 2013 connectivity

Philip Elder

• Exchange Transport TLS Certificate Expiry Warnings and/or Errors
• A Really Good Read on the State of IT and Cloud Outsourcing
• Server 2012–Unidentified Network with Team Set As Public
• Intel Modular Server – Setting up Untagged VLANs for Dedicated Compute NIC Port to External Port Must Do
• Kiss-o’-Death Packet – Time Then and Now

Other

Edward Horley

• Software-Defined Data Center Symposium is September 10, 2013 in Santa Clara, CA
• Practical IPv6 for Windows Administrators - yes, I am writing a book

Helge Klein

•  Contest: Why Is This Desktop Empty?

As they dig into Windows Server 2012 R2, the Windows Server MVPs have highlighted many of the key details of the upcoming release; take a look at the links below for details. If you haven’t yet tried it out, you can download evaluations from the evaluation center here. Faced with the Douglas Adams problem (“Windows Server 2012 R2 is big. Really big. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to Windows Server 2012 R2!”) and aren’t sure where to begin? Here’s some highlights of R2 to test.

• Storage tiering allows files to move between hard disk drive (HDDs) and solid-state drive (SSD) tiers within the same volume, and while keeping the file running. Windows tracks data temperature and moves data at the sub-file level; only hot regions of a file (VHD, database, etc.) need to move to SSDs, the cold regions can reside on HDDs. Storage tiers allow for optimizing price/performance of IOPS and for increased IOPS/$.
• Software-defined networking through Hyper-V network virtualization lets you place any virtual machine on any node regardless of IP address, and allows multiple VMs to have their own IP address. Simplifies onboarding onto service provider clouds for customers who have existing on-premises VMs or physical servers.
• Changes to live migration provides dramatic time savings through improved compression, RDMA support, and simultaneous live migrations—including cross-version live migration. 
• Windows Server Work Folders allow users to synchronize files, originating from corporate file servers to their devices anywhere. 

Want to try out roles on a lot of servers at once? Check out these MVP tips on how to use PowerShell to deploy the roles and install prerequisites. And I'd be remisss if I didn't mention Desired State Configuration to set and maintain a server’s configuration.

Finally, be sure to read Powershell MVP Don Jones’ take on the shorter release cycle and the importance of user feedback. Try out Windows Server 2012 R2 by downloading the eval from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dn205292.aspx, and please be sure to register your feedback on Connect as Don recommends.

Best,

Christa 

Cluster

Allan Hirt

• Allan’s Mission Critical SQL Server Book Ordering Information and FAQ

Robert Smit

• Windows Server 2012R2 IOPS resource metering #Hyper-v #ws2012r2 #winserv #msftprivatecloud
• Windows Server 2012R2 Grant access to hyper-v VM’s #Hyper-v #ws2012r2 #winserv #msftprivatecloud
• Windows Server 2012R2 RDS Virtual Desktop Concurrency Setting #Hyper-v #ws2012r2 #winserv #msftprivatecloud

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

•  (2013-07-12) KB Article: AD DB Becomes Corrupted When W2K12 Hyper-V Host Server Crashes
• (2013-07-16) Credential Theft And Reuse – Risks And Mitigations
• (2013-07-19) Required Claims/Permissions To Join An ADFS Proxy To The ADFS Federation Service

Roberto di Lello

• Windows Server 2012, Como corregir el problema del “Shared Folder Inaccesible” en una maquina virtual {HowTo}
• Asi fue Build 2013 {Build 2013}
• Windows Server 2012 R2, Que tiene de nuevo? Con que nos sorprendera ahora?

File System/Storage

Dennis Martin 

• Demartek Discusses Best Practices for SSD Technologies
• Demartek Adds 220v Capabilities to Testing Lab
• Demartek Presents at Flash Memory Summit 2013
• Demartek Attends SNIA Emerald Power Efficiency Training
• Demartek Updates Fibre Channel Roadmap on the Storage Interface Comparison Reference Page

Stephen Foskett

• Thinking About Storage In a New Way, From Cloud to Flash, with Dropbox and Fusion-io
• Flash Memory in the DRAM Slots? Diablo Technologies is Working On It…

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• Group Policy vs. Desired State Configuration vs. …

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• VMM 2012 R2 Release Notes
• Forcefully Removing a VM From VMM 2012
• Counting SALs in a Multi-Tenant Hosting Environment
• KB2872325 – VMs On WS2012 Hyper-V May Not Be Able To Create Or Join Guest Cluster
• A Very Important Article About Health Of Virtual DCs On Hyper-V
• Constraining SMB Powered Redirected IO Traffic To Selected Networks In A WS2012 Hyper-V Cluster
• Update Rollup 3 For System Center 2012 Service Pack 1
• Windows Firewall On Hyper-V Management OS (Host) Has Nothing To Do With Virtual Machines
• Deploy Roles Or Features To Lots Of Servers At Once
• Getting Started With DataOn JBOD In WS2012 R2 Scale-Out File Server
• Yes, You Can Run A Hyper-V Cluster On Your JBOD Storage Spaces
• Comparing The Costs Of WS2012 Storage Spaces With FC/iSCSI SAN

Carsten Rachfal

• Videointerview mit Mike Resseler über Hyper-V Replica und einen Bären
• Interview mit Jan Kappen zum “Microsoft Hyper-V und System Center” Buch
• Microsoft Virtualisierungs Podcast Folge 31 – LiveMigration in WS2012 R2

Didier Van Hoye

• Live Migration over NIC Team in Switch Independent Mode With Dynamic Load Balancing & Compression in Windows Server 2012 R2
• House Keeping In The Cluster Aware Updating GUI
• Some ODX Fun With Windows Server 2012 R2 And A Dell Compellent SAN
• Virtual Receive Side Scaling (vRSS) In Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V

HansVredevoort

• Notes From The Field Using ODX With HP 3PAR Storage Arrays
• Some More Background on Windows Update KB2855336

Thomas Maurer

• Interview with Marcel Zehner und Thomas Maurer about System Center Universe Europe in Switzerland
• Recommended Hotfixes and Updates for Windows Server 2012 Failover Clusters
• How to configure Availability Sets in Virtual Machine Manager
• Update Rollup 3 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1
• System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager Update Rollup 3 available

PowerShell

Aleksandar Nikolic

• New version of the Windows Azure PowerShell

Don Jones

• Should Windows Server 2012 R2 Be a Service Pack Instead?
• Microsoft's Faster Software Release Cycle: A Blessing or a Curse for IT?

Jeff Wouters 

• FREE – Advanced Tools & Scripting with PowerShell 3.0 Jump Start course
• Get the Windows Experience Index through PowerShell
• Use PowerShell to install prerequisites for Windows roles

Jeffrey Hicks

• PowerShell Deep Dives is published!

Ravikanth C

• Advanced Tools & Scripting with PowerShell 3.0

Shay Levy 

• #PSTip Get the path to x86 special folders
• PowerShell Deep Dives book
• #PSTip How to convert words to Title Case
• #PSTip Hiding parameters from tab completion

Remote Desktop Services

Freek Berson

• Performance testing RDS (Session-Based Desktop deployment) on Azure

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom 

• Nice To Know–New PowerShell 4.0 CMDLets for DISM functions in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2
• Running DC’s on Hyper-V? – Please read this  – Keeping your Virtual Active Directory Domain Controllers Safe

Small Business Server

Amy Babinchak

• Microsoft Partner Rebates to Know

Philip Elder 

• Server Core: PowerShell Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-Clustering Seems to Hang at 68%
• Some Thoughts on the Need for a Physical DC for Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Clusters

Other

Edward Horley

• Enterprise IPv6 Video with Jeff Doyle and Shannon McFarland

Helge Klein

• Comparing the CPU Performance of Physical and Virtual PCs (VDI)
• How-to: XenApp/RDS Sizing and Capacity Planning with uberAgent for Splunk

Welcome to this week’s roundup of blogs from MVPs with expertise areas related to Windows Server.

If you’re interested in how-to articles and background information, this is a good week for you. We’re continuing to see more exploration of PowerShell, with how-tos for using PowerShell to perform tasks such as deleting AD accounts, configuring Live Migration, and enabling jumbo frames on multiple NICs. For those interested in the bigger picture, there’s also some core concepts on Desired State Configuration (new in Windows Server 2012 R2) and how it uses declarative PowerShell. Clustering is also a hot topic, with explanations of how changes to the dynamic witness in Windows Server 2012 R2 should improve uptime in clustered environments and how to set up SQL Server 2014 to use Cluster Shared Volumes. Active Directory Management is also on the list, as well as key new features of Remote Desktop Services and Group Policy caching in Windows Server 2012 R2. This is just a sample--be sure to get the details at the links in this roundup!

MVPs not only provide original writing but can help you find resources created elsewhere. This week includes pointers to the new MAP Toolkit, a free architectural diagram of Hyper-V, and an updated hotfix rollup for Windows Server 2012.  Finally, if you’re interested in learning more about PowerShell, MVPs have pointed you to the free PowerShell Jumpstart on July 18, led by Jeffrey Snover. (Seriously, you don't want to miss this, so check out the links below.)

To close, I’d like to introduce you to a change in the format for this regular roundup. While there’s a lot of overlap in interest between Windows Server and System Center, we’ve decided to split them into separate rollups. I’ll be continuing the Windows Server roundups, and we’ll
also publish a separate one for System Center.

Happy reading!

Christa

Cluster

Allan Hirt

• WSFC’s Dynamic Witness in Windows Server 2012 R2

Robert Smit

• SQL Server 2014 Create a New #SQL Server Failover #Cluster (Setup) in 5 minutes #SQL2014 #Windows2012R2 #WPC13
• Microsoft Assessment and Planning #MAP Toolkit 8.5 #Hyperv #WS2012 #SQL #Cloud
• Use Cluster Shared Volumes / StoragePools in a Windows Server 2012 For #SQL 2014 DB Storage. #TEE13 #WPC13
• Great new blog post from Brad Anderson : In the Cloud #cloud #msft #pcit
• SQL Server 2014 Setup is failing using #CSV #SQL14 #WFC #ws2012r2js

Directory Services

Jorge de Almeida Pinto

• (05-07-2013) PowerShell Resources For Survival
• (2013-07-06) Uninstalling An ADFS v2.0 STS Server
• (2013-07-06) Uninstalling An ADFS v2.0 PRX Server
• (2013-07-08) Enabling Auditing Of Issued Claims In ADFS v1.0 and ADFS v1.1
• (2013-07-08) Enabling Auditing Of Issued Claims In ADFS v2.x and ADFS v3.x

Roberto di Lello

• Windows Server, Backup Feature: Como funciona?
• Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster and Companion References {Download}

Group Policy

Darren Mar-Elia

• Understanding Group Policy Caching in Windows 8.1
• An In-Depth Walkthrough of Desired State Configuration in PowerShell Windows Management Framework v4

Hyper-V

Aidan Finn

• Adding A Disk To A SOFS Clustered Storage Pool
• Building Storage Spaces On My PC
• KB2867302–Clustered File Share Resource Fails With “Status 5. Tolerating …” Cluster Log Error
• Configuring Jumbo Frames Using PowerShell
• Configuring WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration Performance Options Using PowerShell
• KB2855336 – WS2012 Update Rollup For July 2013
• Creating & Adding Lots Of Shared VHDX Files To VMs Using PowerShell
• KB2846837–Incorrect RSS Core Assignment On Win8 or WS2012 Computer That Has Multi-Core processors
• Best Practices for Virtualizing & Managing SQL Server On Hyper-V

Hans Vredevoort

• Red Alert–Avoid KB2855336 Rollup with NIC Teaming and VLANs

Thomas Maurer

• Cloud as a Tier with Microsoft StorSimple
• Gartner Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure 2013
• What is Hyper-V over SMB?

PowerShell

Jeff Wouters 

• How to use environment variables in PowerShell
• FREE – Getting Started with PowerShell 3.0 Jump Start course

Ravikanth C

• Imperative versus declarative syntax in PowerShell

Shay Levy 

• #PSTip Disabling multiple AD user accounts
• #PSTip Invoking methods by using dynamic method names#PSTip Inserting characters at a specified string index position
• #PSTip PowerShell 4 – Filtering a collection by using a method syntax
• #PSTip How to check if a DateTime string is in a specific pattern
• #PSTip A Faster way to open specific Event Logs

Remote Desktop Services

Freek Berson

• Closer look at Remote App and Full Desktop experience improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1
• KB: Adding Remote Desktop Services role may fail when Firewall Service is stopped in Windows Server 2012 (2802436)
• Running VDI Session-Based Desktops on Azure now supported for SPLA
• Memory leak occurs in the Dwm.exe process on a Remote Desktop computer that is running Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012
• New Remote Desktop App for Windows 8.1 in the Microsoft Store!

Setup, Deployment, and Patching

Mikael Nystrom 

• Nice to Know – Video: Windows Server 2012 Fjärråtkomst (Swedish)
• Nice to Know – Video: Windows Server 2012 – Hyper-V (Swedish)
• Nice to Know – Video: Private Cloud med SCVMM 2012 (Swedish)

Small Business Server

Amy Babinchak

• Windows 8 patch prevents Essentials Server join

Damir Dizdarevic

• Some tips for troubleshooting AD CS

Other

Edward Horley

• IPv6 only networks
• Another year as a Microsoft MVP

Helge Klein

• Remarks on Windows Disk and File IO During System Boot

Please note the MVP Pro Speaker Series scheduled for Tuesday 7/16 has been canceled.  We are currently working on our next series of topics and as soon as we have them confirmed I will post a blog with all the details.

Thank you.

Damian Flynn gave a great presentation today, Tuesday 7/09/13, titled Taking Control of NVGRE with PowerShell. If you would like to view the presentation, you may do so by clicking on the video box below.

If you would like to review the deck, you will find it located here.  If you have any access issues to the deck, please contact me directly.