I was under the impression from multiple threads that I can use starwind vSAN FREE edition with Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 (Core). However, after reaching out to Starwind for their Free edition license they said that it cannot be sue with Hyper-V Server 2012 R2. "The free license cannot be installed inside a VM or on a server with Hyper-V role".

From this post: http://www.vladan.fr/install-free-starwind-san-free-hyper-v/

What did I missed?

My intention is to create a Hyper-V server 2012 R2 on Dell R430 (with dual/mirrored 32GB SD card). Then spin up a VM with Windows server 2012 R2 on it for file server. Using starwind vSAN to mirror both server storage partition.

@scottalanmiller This is from FREE vs PAID on Starwind website.

What does Compute and Storage Seperated means?

EDIT: I LOVE the ability to copy and paste screenshot!

After Kooler post.. I feel like what I know about vSAN is just a tip of an iceberg.

I received this error message. Should I be concerned? This occured during installing SGI-S agent

SW post

Our projector is getting old and its bulb may need replacement soon, so I was tasked with finding a new solution for our conference room.

I am thinking of laser projector while some other suggested getting a 70"-80" TV. The price different is not much. Both is at around 2k-3k price tag.

The main concern is which one would be better for presentation + laser pointer? I'm open to all ideas and experience.

The farthest distance is about 25-30ft away.
I would prefer 4K but not sure if I need to replace the computer as well or not. It's i3-3xxx + 2GB RAM with no dedicate graphic card.

@scottalanmiller
I have looked as the SD card configuration under Integrated Devices. The only options are
On/Off
Mirror from SD1 or SD2
There is one more but I couldn't think of it on top of my head.

Yes. I am using the dual slot SD card from Dell. The SD card is Samsung Evo 32GB UHS-I

@scottalanmiller said:

I saw it suggested to attempt disabling USB 3. Could be an issue, I suppose. Worth testing.

Also, try a USB stick instead of SD card for that hardware.

USB 3.0 is disabled by default. Never turn it on.

I tried USB drive but it didn't detected during Windows installation stage. Will try again.

Here's a back story. We are recruiting agency and we usually communicate with potential candidate via email and phone. However, some candidates prefer texting instead. We try to avoid texting because we cannot compliance archive their conversation. What happens was recruiters text their candidates using their personal phone. Modern phone allow messages to be delete individually and that arise concerns to the manager (who may have to take responsible for their 'underlings' :P) . We are in US.

I am looking into a way to translate a phone number into SMSgateway. I know about the existing of [email protected]/e http://www.emailtextmessages.com/
but I want to know if there is any provider that can translate it on the spot. Preferably by clicking the phone number and it populate mailto: to Outlook.

If your organization experiencing anything in this area and has a way to overcome it please share.

Our ADDC is 2008 at the moment, and we have an option for Folder Redirection APPDATA(Roaming). Our environment is heavily utilize Outlook as primary communication application. We DO NOT host our exchange server as we are outsourced.

One day a HDD died on one of our user. All documents and files are Folder Redirected to network drive so everything is good. However, Outlook .pst file is located in APPDATA Local and it was not redirected to network drive. The problem is restoring Outlook mails. He has about 10GB of mailbox size and it took a whole day with bandwidth restriction lifted to completed. In the mean-time I offer him OWA so he can continue his work even if it is slower than Outlook.

To prevent this from happening again I want to know how to set GPO for APPDATA(Local) or GPO/script that will move and reconfigure Outlook Data file to new location...say /Document/Outlook PST. This way it will be covered by GPO Document folder redirection. I am trying to find an automatic way that does not required me to go cube to cube.

I did not expected to get so many feedbacks. Go MangoLassi!

@Dashrender
For our environment it cost roughly 45K(it's 4.5K not 45K) to migrate all data out of our third party Exchange server. This include 5 years worth of compliance achived data.

EDIT: Just went through the quote again and it was 4.5K. wow... 45K... LOL

@Dashrender

@Dashrender

LOL!!!! I am pretty sure it is a comma

@Dashrender
Actually you were right! Not with the comma part, but the problem is I gave it 1TB size but linked it to 1GB partition. I didn't show the resource down belong it it only show 883MB out of 1GB

Now it pointed to 1TB partition so it is working now.

@Dashrender
previously it failed because of Kerboros credential. After giving it delegate rights the live migration works.

@Dashrender

Okay.. that does clear up the confusion on my side. The Live Migration I performed is real Live Migration (I tested it by restart the main server to force VM to shutdown).

1. When I first create the HA VM I did not install any operating system which means there is only HDD/BIOS and probably took up no more than couple MB. It is like a barebone machine with only BIOS. That should explain how I managed to do it with 1GB space.
2. After the Live Migration is correctly configured I tried to install OS but failed and returned with not enough storage error (windows PE error). I thought I messed up something so I start fresh again (remove and delete VM), and this time I attach Windows Server ISO along with the configuration wizard. Which is why it keeps failing because the VM knows it does not have enough resources to properly install anything.
3. How did I get 1GB to begin with? It all started back in Starwind vSAN console. I configured 3 disks (storage1/storage2/witness). Storage1 has 1,000GB. Storage2 has 1GB, Witness has 200GB. The mistakes happens with I attach the drives to the server via iscsi. I must have skipped a step somewhere and thought I already did it thus the iscsi was incorrectly configured.

This is the screenshot of the iscsi drives (before fix) Noticed the Disk 3 with 1GB formated and 1TB unallocated space? That's how I got 1GB but shows 1TB.

This is the screeshot of the iscsi drives (after fixed)

If you need help configure your servers feel free to ask anything. Links belows are what I used for configured the HA servers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGgqG8oEpBQ
sensiblecyber.com/configuring-a-2-node-cluster-with-starwind-native-san-for-hyper-v/
http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/microsoft-hyper-v-articles/general/diagnosing-live-migration-failures-part2.html
http://www.hyper-v.nu/archives/pnoorderijk/2013/03/microsoft-virtual-system-migration-serviceservice-is-missing/

@shybrsky
I would start with going through all the security groups member/member of. We ran into similar problem before where certain admins lose their administrator rights. Turn out they didn't have the rights from the beginning as the member they were given, named admin, does not contain administrators group. They got their administrator rights through another group, named audit, which was removed for reasons. It was a mess for a day.

To prevent this incident from happening again I would use GPO to give every machine within AD the rights for administrators group to gain remote access. In my environment we create a security group named remoteaccess for RDP
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4980.how-to-enable-or-disable-remote-desktop-via-group-policy-windows-2008.aspx

I have a WSUS server that was configured by my predecessor. I am not sure if the configuration is set correctly or not. Do I need to interact with WSUS server at all? Not even sure where to start

I have a new server with Windows 2012 R2 that will be a part of Domain Controller. However, I do not want to upgrade from our 2008 DC to 2012 R2 as I want a clean fresh setup.

I am thinking of start a new forest and add the users and groups into AD later. The problem I suspect will happen is users will lose their CID and their workstation will recognize them as a different user. How do you overcome this problem?

My reason behind this because a lot of things have changed during the past couple of years. This DC used to be use in Web Develop environment so there are A LOT of groups and users. I don't want them on the new server. Nothing wrong with it just.. don't want it. How can I approach this?

[I feel like this has been asked before, so Sorry! in advance]

This is kind of vaguely questioned. When do you, admins, think SSD is a MUST HAVE for server? I know IOPS would be the deciding factor, but I want to know where is the line of Good Enough and Over Kill is.

[Back story] This question popped in my head while I was taking a shower . To me I would give EVERY workstation SSDs for no obvious reason... just cause. SSD improve boot speed and other loading speed + it make users complaint less. Win-Win for me and users.
But what about servers? Our File Server utilizing SATA III at the moment and we do not see any poor performance, except network bandwidth. Our IOPS is quite low, less than 100. I wanted to go with enterprise grade SSD for Dell PowerEdge but we just couldn't afford it. We'll need 3-4TB total per server (2 servers total) $$$.

What is your thoughts on this? Is SSD the way of the future for server? Is manufacturer certified enterprise SSD the only option? I saw some use enthusiast SSD like Samsung Pro or Kingston Enterprise.
ps. If you have any idea how to deal with network bandwidth leave the comment below. I have 48port Cisco Gigabit switch. It's couple of years old but still kicking. Any recommendations for replacement switch are welcome as well.

THANKS for reading!

@BRRABill said:

I used the EDGE SSDs from xByte in my latest server. That would help with your cost issue.

My thinking was, yeah, it's overkill, but it wasn't much more, and it'll make the system speedier longer.

Of course, had I been buying 1000 of these instead of 1, I would have thought differently, probably.

I already got a quote from xByte. To do Raid 10 with 2TB I'll need 8 drives of 480GB... totaled ~$3K per server.. or almost $6K total
Kingson SSD is half the price.. just that it may not work with Dell Raid Controller.