Like Snapshots in Hyper-V? – Please read this

This is such a great ‘heads-up’ article.  Save yourself the pain and read this now.

taken from:

Like Snapshots in Hyper-V? – Please read this – A blog for the Tech Heads…

Like Snapshots in Hyper-V? – Please read this

Snapshots is nice to have, in fact very nice to have when running a virtual platform. In Hyper-V it is easy to do snap-shots and there are no problems, or is there something you should be aware of…

Yes, there is a a issue, it is not a bug but there is something you absolutely need to know, otherwise you will be in serious trouble. So lets here the story…

***article clipped – best practices recommended are below***

1. If you use snapshot, delete them after you have done your job and turn OFF the virtual machine as soon as possible.
2. Only use Snapshots as a temporary protection to be able to rollback, not as a backup solution.
3. Watch disk space BEFORE shutting down a virtual machine
4. Use fixed size disk for performance
5. Use dynamic disk for LAB/Demo/Play/low performance
6. If you use dynamic disk, be sure to monitor the disk

Mikael Nystrom – TrueSec
MCT, MVP Windows Server – Setup/Deployment

Windows 2008 – Core Configurator 1.3.0.1

For managing Windows Server 2008 Core via a simple GUI was initially developed by Guy Teverovsky, formerly employed by Smart-X.  Now Smart-X has improved this to a very nice UI with added features.

You can read about it and download it here:

http://www.smart-x.com/?CategoryID=198&ArticleID=170&sng=1

Core Configurator main console

"Run" command discovery – aha! that’s how

A simple task, …I wanted to pull up some system information quickly to check what memory exists on a server and so brought up Run in Windows Server 2003. Then I thought the command was “System32” so I entered that; the result I got was unexpected but nevertheless cool. (BTW “msinfo32” would have been the correct command) I was instead taken directly to C:\Windows\System32.

What I then wondered is what other such alias paths might exist. Is this simply a result of the Path variable? What makes this work and can I add my own shortcut/aliases. Is the plural form of alias – aliases or aliai? …but I digress

So I Googled this for myself … and learned some interesting stuff which I’ll share:

http://weblogs.asp.net/whaggard/archive/2004/04/11/111232.aspx

The run command (ShellExecute, as you said) also supports keyword expansion, so you can type any special path that’s in your environment variables and go the the appropriate directory:
My Documents
System32
Temp
ProgramFiles
HomePath
AppData
etc.
To see what’s in your list: win-r, cmd, set.

And also this quote off that same page:

After thinking about if awhile I hunted down how the run command works.  It turns out that it makes a call to ShellExecute, which I guess is not too surprising.  The next thing I wanted to find out was exactly how the commands are resolved. The following is an ordered list of how they are resolved ([1]):

· The current working directory

· The Windows directory (no subdirectories are searched)

· The Windows\System32 directory

· Directories listed in the PATH environment variable

· The App Paths registry key

And here are lists of several hundred commands that can be invoked via Run:

· http://www.usp.br/fzea/admin/files/2061_Windows Run Commands.htm

Blackberry Server Software, MDS, & Java Update Mayhem

A fundamental relationship exists between BlackBerry server software and Java Runtime Engine software.  This relationship specifically relates to the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.   This becomes very apparent if ever on the related server you update Java to a current version and remove the older version(s).  Now Java does this cleanup of older versions automatically with the introduction of Java version 6.10.  Without the correct pointer to the latest changed Java version, the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service will become effectively broken.  The pointer is a registry entry that refers to the associated jvm.dll file of a version of Java you have installed.  Note – if you have multiple versions of Java then you have multiple jvm.dll files on your system.

It’s been a little while since I originally posted on this; in fact, since then RIM has introduced some new server products that are basically all the same code foundation.  This means that the same solution still applies wherever MDS is involved.  Perhaps in the future RIM will find a way to automatically make the adjustment, but for now you will have to do the steps yourself.  The nice thing, as you will see below, is that Java may help by using a consistent path with updates of the same version.

The path to the Java jvm.dll file has been changed; the new path is:

C:\program files\java\jre6\bin\client\jvm.dll

Use this link to the previous article for the outline of the registry editing steps involved:

http://duitwithsbs.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/bmds-errors-galore-after-removing-old-java-version-from-bes-server/

Hyper-V Management Configuration Made Easy

For those who wish to use and deploy Hyper-V, this ‘freeware’ tool helps make the management UI configuration a cinch.

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/HVRemote

The author, John Howard, is a Program Director in the Hyper-V team. He created this over a recent vacation and just published it for public download. This makes the configuration of Hyper-V Remote Management Tools a far easier experience than what is was prior; in fact John claims it takes but seconds now!

If you invest any time reading his blog you quickly realize how greatly he has mastered the usage of and written the guiding instructions for its adoption.  This tool is a further of extension of his outstanding community commitment to helping this product find its way.

This covers both the client (Vista SP1) & server (Win2008) and both domain & workgroup scenarios …in other words, all the bases

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/11/14/configure-hyper-v-remote-management-in-seconds.aspx