Tag: Windows Server 2016

How to Migrate configured DHCP from Windows Server 2008R2 to Server 2016

Here’s how  you do it:

  • Log on to the old/existing DHCP server.
  • Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, right-click, and then “Run as Administrator”.
  • On the Action menu, click Backup.
  • Type
    netsh dhcp server export C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\dhcp.txt all

    and then press ENTER.

  • Install the DHCP role on the new (2016) DHCP server using Server Manager.
  • Copy the exported DHCP text file to the desktop of the new DHCP server.
  • Verify that the DHCP service is installed and started on the new DHCP server.
  • Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, right-click, and then “Run as Administrator”.
  • Type
    netsh dhcp server import C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\dhcp.txt all

    and then press ENTER

  • Open DHCP console on the new server.
  • In the console tree, right-click DHCP.
  • Select “Authorize”.

If your old DHCP server is in the same network/subnet as the new DHCP server, you’ll notice that the old DHCP server has been de-authorized automatically. This is to prevent two DHCP servers from handing out conflicting addresses.

Check to make sure that your new DHCP has all of the same settings, options, scopes, and reservations set as the current one. If done correctly, everything should have been brought over.

Easy right 🙂

Nested Virtualized Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Cluster LAB – Scenario 1

On Hyper V in Windows 10 we will create 4 VMs as we planned before and after VMs are created we must enable nested virtualization for our future cluster nodes.

Set-VMProcessor -VMName SRV001-A1 -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true

After that we need to install Windows Server 2016 and I suggest we use VM template for faster deployment as described in post earlier. Do not forget to enable MAC address spoofing in order for network packets to be routed through two virtual switches, MAC address spoofing must be enabled on the first level of virtual switch.

First VM will be our Domain Controler, DHCP, DNS and we need to setup all those services (detailed info on this procedure). Second VM will be our SAN VM and for this we will use StarWind Virtual SAN. Third and Fourth Server will be our future Hyper V host cluster nodes and for time being they must be joined to domain and given appropriate names and IP addresses.
Network interfaces on cluster nodes will be configured later with PowerShell script since I elected to team all 4 NICs using the minimum bandwidth setting for Management, Cluster, ISCSI, VM, and LiveMigration traffic.  I highly recommend that you take a few moments to watch John Savill’s discussion on this method of teaming: Using NIC Teaming and a virtual switch for Windows Server 2012 host networking

Hyper Converged

Hyper Converged infrastructure is based on servers where disks are Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) connected internally or by using a JBOD tray. Each server (at least four to implement Storage Space Direct) has their own storage devices. So there are no shared disks or JBODs.

Hyper Converged infrastructure is based on known features as Failover Cluster, Cluster Shared Volume, and Storage Space. However, because storage devices are not shared between each node, we need something more to create a Clustered Storage Space with DAS devices. This is called Storage Space Direct. Below you can find the Storage Spaces Direct stack.

On network side, Storage Space Direct leverage at least 10G networks RDMA capable. This is because replications that occur though Software Storage Bus need low latency that RDMA provides.

More on this link: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-direct-overview?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Nano Server – Deployment

So, if you are an IT Pro you probably know that with Microsoft Server 2016 comes with something called Nano Server.

In my opinion it is the best of new thing that Server 2016 have. To see what is new in Windows Server 2016 check out this link on TechNet and if you have more time available there are a series of really good Microsoft Virtual Academy resources here.

Over the last few years the Microsoft tried to downsize their Windows Server product and answer on many issues that users had.

The first attempt to resolve these issues was in Server Core released as an installation option in Windows Server 2008. A command line only version of the Server OS that can be managed remotely and to a limited degree from a direct console This ‘server core’ did away with a lot of extraneous ‘stuff’ and meant fewer updates, smaller images and smaller, quicker installations.

But this was not enough and so the Server Product team in Microsoft went back to the drawing board and produced a deployment option now known as Nano server. This cannot be installed from the DVD or ISO, it has to be installed using PowerShell and each individual image built up to only contain the roles and services that are required for that particular server.

How to create a Hyper-V VM template

In this post I will look at creating a virtual machine (VM) template that you can use to quickly deploy new VM’s from, without having to install and patch them each time.

It is particularly useful if you are in a small Hyper-V environment and don’t have System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

The beauty of using a template for VM deployment is standardization. You deploy a known configuration which can be pre-patched which reduces time during the post deployment tasks.

Run Hyper-V in a Virtual Machine with Nested Virtualization

Nested virtualization is a feature that allows you to run Hyper-V inside of a Hyper-V virtual machine. In other words, with nested virtualization, a Hyper-V host itself can be virtualized. Some use cases for nested virtualization would be to run a Hyper-V Container in a virtualized container host, set-up a Hyper-V lab in a virtualized environment, or to test multi-machine scenarios without the need for individual hardware. This document will detail software and hardware prerequisites, configuration steps, and limitations.

Prerequisites

  • A Hyper-V host running Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
  • A Hyper-V VM running Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
  • A Hyper-V VM with configuration version 8.0 or greater.
  • An Intel processor with VT-x and EPT technology.

Configure Nested Virtualization

  1. Create a virtual machine. See the prerequisites above for the required OS and VM versions.
  2. While the virtual machine is in the OFF state, run the following command on the physical Hyper-V host. This enables nested virtualization for the virtual machine.
Set-VMProcessor -VMName <VMName> -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true
  1. Start the virtual machine.
  2. Install Hyper-V within the virtual machine, just like you would for a physical server. For more information on installing Hyper-V see, Install Hyper-V.

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