20Jul2017
11Jul2017
How to fix guest processing errors on Hyper-V virtual machine backups
So you setup a third party backup system, sticking mostly to defaults on the job settings, with "application aware" or "guest OS processing" enabled, in order to capture Hyper-V virtual machines, and keep their application data consistent (process database transaction logs, etc.) Or, perhaps you have migrated existing virtual machines...
16Feb2017
Hyper-V Failover Cluster: Basic Setup
I have previously shared a slightly more complex method for configuring a simple 2-node failover cluster, involving a converged Hyper-V virtual switch, with QoS policies and so forth to manage traffic on the Management, CSV and Live Migration networks. However, there is another config I wanted to share, which...
08Dec2016
Hyper-V Failover Cluster Best Practices (footnotes)
Some of you may be familiar with this handy best practices checklist, published by Microsoft. Actually it comes in three varieties currently (I haven't seen an updated one for 2016 yet): 2012 Hyper-V Best Practices and 2012 R2 Hyper-V Best Practices 2008 R2...
08Aug2016
Hyper-V Failover Cluster: MPIO & CSV Storage
Continuing our last post on Hyper-V Failover Clustering, we turn our focus from networking to storage. To bring storage into the picture, we will have to provision some volumes from Storage Spaces, our SAN or other Shared Storage device. This varies by vendor, so see their documentation for more details. However you...
04Aug2016
Hyper-V Failover Cluster: Converged Network
In this post, we will look at a concept known as "Converged Networking" for setting up a simple two-node Hyper-V cluster (a great option for small businesses). The basic idea is that all of your physical network adapters will be brought together as a single NIC team, and thereby made...
01Aug2016
Hyper-V Failover Cluster: Affordable HA for the SMB
Next to Office 365, virtualization is still the number one recommendation I make to small businesses. It's a no-brainer. Enabling Hyper-V opens up so many great opportunities--grow your server's CPU, RAM or storage on the fly, perform host-level backups, Live Migrate to new hardware with no downtime, use Hyper-V Replica or Azure Site Recovery...
21Jul2016
New Options for High Availability using Hyper-V with Storage Spaces Direct (S2D)
Windows Server 2016 introduces a new feature called Storage Spaces Direct. Expanding on their existing software-defined storage technology, Microsoft now allows us to pool internal disks across multiple servers--meaning that you do not need to use a separate enclosure and extra cabling to enable a shared storage solution. Shared storage is required for...
13Jun2016
Hybrid Network Architecture Options & Pre-Reqs for SBS Migration to Office 365 & Windows Server 2016
In this post I will lay out some of the options to consider when replacing the late Small Business Server (SBS) product with a hybrid architecture. Along with the huge success of Office 365, many small businesses are realizing the benefits of a hybrid deployment model, where some infrastructure is kept on-premises, and other...
02Jun2016