Windows Server

Windows Server Hyper-V vNext Features

Hyper-V MVP Aidan Finn has a post running over at http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17424 where he is maintaining a list of the new features coming in Windows Server vNext specifically around Hyper-V.

His post is worth keeping an eye on if you are in the Hyper-V virtualization business. Reading through it myself, there seems to be a lot of work gone into stabilising clustered Hyper-V which is very welcome. My personal favourites from the list so far are Production Checkpoints to allow you to checkpoint an application service; a number of VMs in a collection that make up an application such as SQL Server, an app server and a web server, all in a single operation for consistent snapshots across multiple service tiers. Network Adapter Identification allows the name of a vNIC from the Hyper-V host to be passed through into the VM Guest OS so our Guest OS will see our vNICs not as Ethernet or Local Area Connection but as Production-VMNetwork or whatever you naming convention is. Rolling Cluster Upgrades is something which Windows Failover Clustering has long needed to allow us to upgrade our nodes whilst retaining the cluster functionality and integrated Backup Change Tracking prevents the need for 3rd party backup APIs to be installed which can commonly destabilise the platform.

All in all, it’s a nice list of features and the changes will be very welcome. There is nothing here which technically blows your mind like the feature gap bridged from Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V to Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V however there is definitely enough here to pip your interest and to make you warrant moving to Windows Server vNext when it ships if only for the platform stability improvements.

I’m an MCSE – What’s Next?

I  had a booking today for what was to be the final exam in my path to becoming an MCSE – 70-298: Designing Security for a Windows Server 2003 Network.MCSE

I arrived at the testing centre to be told there was a problem with the link to Prometric and that the exam would need to be rescheduled. Whilst the centre organised a Prometric Incident ID for the fault they managed to get the link restored I was exuberant that I managed to sit the exam today.

I passed with a sore of 784 – Not the highest I’ve achieved on an exam but neither was it the lowest so I was quite happy with that fact.

The pass today does indeed mean that I have now met all of the criteria for an MCSE certification. These are the exams I’ve actually sat to make up my MCSE:

70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment
70-291: Implementing, Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
70-294: Planning, Implementing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure

70-270: Installing, Configuring and Administering Windows XP Professional

70-298: Designing Security for a Windows Server 2003 Network

70-350: Implementing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004

My plan was originally to also complete 70-299 to allow me to obtain my MCSE: Security status, however this Server 2003 usage falling by the wayside and Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 ever increasing in market presence, I’ve decided to drop 70-299 from my calendar and proceed ahead with the MCITP track for Server 2008.

I ordered the book for the 70-680: Configuring Windows 7 Technical Specialist exam on Thursday last week and Home Delivery Network should be bringing me that either later today or tomorrow.

In the mean time, I already have the ICND1 CCENT under my belt and I am sitting the second week of training and Global Knowledge in late May to allow me to plough ahead and sit my ICND2 to give me my CCNA certification.

My aim is to complete the ICND2 and the CCNA track by mid-June so that I can move to start the Windows 7 training and hopefully the Windows 7 exam by around July or August time. I slacked in 2009 on my personal training and development and I didn’t really get a lot of it done, however with 2010 being the year Microsoft seem to have a real product development rocket up their bottom, I’m going to try and make 2010 the year I put the rocket up myself.