Windows Server 2008 Core Network Bind tool

I have done numerous Server 2008 Core installations, primarily to be the hosts for Hyper-V Virtualization. R2 made some great improvements in manageability as it relates to the Core platform, namely the SCONFIG command and the ability to have the GUI iSCSI initiator tool by running iscsicpl.
Well a new tool to help with Network Adapter bindings has just been released. I have used a previous version of this tool and it was helpful. Want to see what this one has. This functionality is really needed! http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/nvspbind
Thank You KeithMange

Microsoft Hyper-V Technet Resource Page

Good source for Technical Information and Resouces around Hyper-V,
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/dd565807.aspx

VMWare Core Tax

The guys over at Windows Virtualization Team Blog have a very interesting post about VMWare vs Hyper-V licensing and a "VMWare Core Tax" once processors begin shipping with more than 6 cores per processor. This is a compelling argument when you look at costs for virtualization.

http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/06/28/Beware-the-VMware-Core-Tax-and-More.aspx

Power Consumption Comparison for Exchange 2007, PHysical vs Virtual

The guys over at the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog have a post talking about power consumption for an Exchange 2007 environment comparing Physical versus Virtual. Good information: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/06/19/451650.aspx

Case Study for Hyper-V and Exchange 2007

Check out this case study for a project I completed implementing Hyper-V with Exchange 2007. The client liked Hyper-V so much with Exchange 2007 that they then had me assist with a new Hyper-V cluster for consolidating other servers.
http://www.statera.com/customers/cases/CoBizVirtualizationCS060309.pdf

Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Hyper-V

Good post from the Microsoft Virtualization Team blog about applying SP2 to Windows Server 2008 running the Hyper-V role and what is needed from a host and guest VM perspective.

http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/06/17/Re_3A00_-Windows-Server-2008-SP2-Hyper_2D00_V.aspx

Server 2008 Core and Hyper-V Cluster lessons learned

Part 1 Install and Networking

Server 2008 Core and Hyper-V clustering is the way to go. I will not say it is the easy way, but once you get everything running it works very smooth.

Plan out your environment! Hyper-V does not allow you to over-allocate memory so you must plan to ensure that your Hyper-V cluster can sustain a loss of one of the hosts. Best plan is to plan your cluster for a full load minus one host. This way you can ensure that a loss of a host due to hardware failure or planned maintenance you VMs will still function properly.
Shared storage is also very important, without it you don't have clustering or failover. The most recent deployment I worked on we utilized a NetApp filer and accessed the storage using iSCSI.

First off, Networking, here is a good guide for installing and configuring Server 2008 core, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753802.aspx, This covers the basic setup and configuration.
Next thing to learn and love is the NETSH command line tool for configuring network adapters in Server 2008 Core, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q242468&ID=KB;EN-US;Q242468. This is an overall doc, but I have found the "help netsh cmd" to be very helpful.
So now you have the interfaces configured, you need to use hardware teaming to ensure you have fault-tolerance for the interfaces. Hyper-V does not provide fault-tolerance naively, you must use the vendor teaming software to create a team and then added the teamed interface to the Virtual Switch. Intel NIC teaming was pretty easy, once you install the teaming software it also installs numerous VBScripts for configuring the team(s). Broadcom was a bit more difficult, you must use a command line tool using the MAC addresses for the team members to configure the team(s). The way I learned these processes was to first build a Server 2008 full version and use these scripts and command line tools to configure the teams and the verify the settings useing the GUI.
For Storage access you cannot utilize teaming, you must use MultiPath. I found the Microsoft MultiPath to work very well and was easy to setup.

I cannot stress this enough, ensure you designate a interface for management and do not add this interface to a virtual switch. This will ensure you have proper access to the server as well as the server having proper access to the network and domain services.
Also naming/labeling the interfaces greatly assists with the configuration and troubleshooting. Make sure you rename the interfaces from the default "Local Area Connection XX" to a more descriptive name to identify them days, weeks and months down the road.

In the next part I will cover Hyper-V install and cluster setup.....stay tuned.