Posts by Chris Henley

To begin with, we all know that Hyper-V comes as a free addition to Windows Server 2012 R2. There are Standard and Data Center Editions. There is also a free version of Hyper-V called Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 that doesn’t require that you purchase a WS license? Finally, we need to get a clear understanding of the concept of virtualization rights.

In order to really understand the details of what Hyper-V is and why it’s so important you have to go back to its roots and to the roots of virtualization itself. In the late 1960’s IBM was working on operating systems at their Cambridge Scientific Center. These operating systems were for mainframe computers, the PC revolution had not begun.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote “3 Easy Steps to Migrate to Hyper-V 2012 R2” talking about how to migrate VM’s from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2. Since then I keep hearing the same question over and over again.

Question: When you migrate VMs from Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 to Hyper V in Windows Server 2012 R2 can you also automate conversion from .vhd to .vhdx? And can it be done with minimum interruption to the operation of the workload of the VM?

Answer: YES!

Today Veeam announces Veeam Explorer for Active Directory! Veeam Explorer for Active Directory is a valuable and innovative extension for Veeam Backup & Replication. Veeam Explorer for Active Directory will allow you to browse the backup of an NTDS.DIT database to locate containers, objects, and their attributes and then restore them to their original location in the running domain controller or to a new location.

In the good old days, like yesterday, Active Directory recovery demanded the downtime associated with restoring the VM that hosted the Active Directory Domain Controller and then using active directory restore mode to recover containers, objects, and their attributes. Unfortunately some attributes such as passwords were problematic or downright impossible to ... Read more

Hyper-V is cool! Its technically sound and for all practical purposes has become an excellent choice for running infrastructure workloads in a virtual environment. Hyper-V is not just for test and development environments anymore. More and more businesses are relying on Hyper-V to run their production workloads like Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, and Active Directory. Production environments have strict operating requirements! Business relies on uptime and access!

So what if you were using Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 to run your Virtual Machines (VMs) and you have decided to make the move to Windows Server 2012 R2? How will you migrate those VMs? I get this question at least once a week so I decided to write the detailed answer.

For those ... Read more

Q: If I use replication for a virtual machine does that mean that I no longer need to worry about backing it up?

A: The short answer is you should still back up the virtual machine! The reason is that all data protection systems seek to eliminate the two critical challenges of downtime, and data loss. Each problem costs the business lots of money. In the IT industry the goals of limiting, or even eliminating, data loss and downtime are referred to as Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) (for data loss), and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) (for downtime.)

There has been a lot of talk about Hyper-V in its 2012 editions. One of the questions that I hear on a regular basis is about which version of Hyper-V to use. Usually the conversation goes something like this.

“So Microsoft makes Hyper-V Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V?”

“Yes.”

“Hyper-V Server 2012 is a free download, right?”

“Right!”

“So why would I want to use Windows Server 2012 to get Hyper-V?”

The question is a good one, and it has a really good answer. Licensing! Here are the nitty gritty details. First this from the Microsoft Hyper-V Server2012 page;

“Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product that contains the hypervisor, Windows Server driver model, virtualization capabilities, and ... Read more

Our customers love Veeam Backup & Replication! We get all kinds of positive comments about how easy it is to set up, configure, and operate. We hear about how powerful it is in backup and recovery operations. All of this goodness comes at a very affordable price point.

Powerful, Easy-to-Use, and Affordable. That’s Veeam!

Veeam builds innovative software that helps a business to realize the promises of virtualization. Veeam’s products support virtual machines (vm’s) running in multiple hypervisor environments including VMware and Hyper-V. The changes and improvements to Windows Server 2012, particularly as they relate to Hyper-V, and to storage, are incredibly exciting! Let me give you a great example!

I have the opportunity to work with some really smart people who do some really great things with technology. Steven Duckaert is a co worker and friend who is one of those IT guys who takes what is possible and makes it Reality! Recently I saw him do a demonstration of integrating Veeam Backup & Replication and System Center to automate VM recovery.  I asked him to write it up so I could put it on the Blog. The following post is what he wrote. It’s a great Post! Thanks Steven!