Category Archives: Hyper-V

Unable to correctly configure Time Service on non PDC Domain Controller

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Introduction

Around new year, between the 31st 2016 and the 1st of January 2017 some ISP had issues with the time service. It jumped 24 hours ahead. This cause all kinds of on line services issues ranging from non working digital TV to problems with the time service within companies. That caused some intervention time and temporarily switching the external reliable NTP time server sources to another provider that didn’t show this behavior. Some services required a server reboot to sort things out but things were operational again. But it became clear we still had a lingering issue afterwards as we were unable to correctly configure Time Service on non PDC Domain Controller.

Unable to correctly configure Time Service on non PDC Domain Controller

A few days later we still had one domain, which happend to be 100% virtualized, with issues. As turned out the second domain controller, which did not hold the PDC role, wasn’t syncing with the PDC. No matter what we tried to get it to do so. If you want to find out how to do this properly for virtualized environment I refer you to a blog post by Ben Armstrong Time Synchronization in Hyper-V and fellow MVP Kevin Green Hyper V Time Synchronization on a Windows Based Network.

But no matter what I did, the DC kept  getting the wrong date. I could configure it to refer to the PDC as much as I wanted, nothing helped. It also kept saying the source for the time was the local CMOS (w32tm /query /source). I kept getting an error, we’re normally able to fix by configuring the time service correctly.

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Another trouble shooting path

The IT universe was not aligned to let me succeed. So that’s when you quit … for a coffee break. You relax a bit, look out of the window whilst sipping from your coffee. After that you dive back in.

I dove into the registry settings for the Windows time service in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time of a functional DC in my lab and the one of the problematic DC in the production domain.  I started comparing the settings and it all seemed to be in order. But for one serious issue with the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Security key on the problematic DC.

Trying to open that key greeted me with the following error:

Error Opening key

Security cannot be opened. An error is preventing this key from being opened. Details: The system cannot find the file specified.

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That key was empty. Not good!

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I exported the entire W32Time registry key and the Security key as a backup for good measure on the problematic DC and I grabbed an export of the security key from the working DC (any functional domain joined server will do) and imported that into the problematic DC. The next step was to restart the time service but that wasn’t enough or I was to inpatient. So finally I restarted the DC and after 10 minutes I got the result I needed …

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Problem solved Smile

Testing Compellent Replay Manager 7.8

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Testing Compellent Replay Manager 7.8

So today I found the Replay Manager 7.8 bits to download.image

As is was awaiting this eagerly (see Off Host Backup Jobs with Veeam and Replay Manager 7.8). So naturally, I set of my day by testing Compellent Replay Manager 7.8. I deployed in on a 2 node DELL PowerEdge Cluster with FC access to a secondary DELL Compellent running SC 6.7.30 (you need to be on 6.7).

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The first thing I noticed is the new icon.

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That test cluster is running Windows Server 2016 Datacenter edition and is fully patched. The functionality is much the same as it was. There is one difference and that if you launch the back upset manually of a local volume for a CSV and that CSV is not owned y the Node in which you launch it the backup is blocked.

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This did not use to be the case. With scheduled backup sets this is not an issue, it detects the owner of the CSV and uses that.

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Just remember when running a backup manually you nee to launch it from the CSV owner node in Replay Manager and all is fine.

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Other than that testing has been smooth and naturally we’ll be leveraging RM 7.8 with transportable snapshots with Veeam B&R 9.5 as well.

Things to note

Replay Manager 7.8 is not backward compatible with 7.7.1 or lower so you have to have the same version on your Replay Manager management server as on the hosts you want to protect. You also have to be running SC 6.7 or higher.

Wish list

I’d love to see Replay manager become more intelligent and handle VM Mobility better. The fact that VMs are tied to the node on which the backup set is create is really not compatible with the mobility of VMs (maintenance, dynamic optimization, CSV balancing, …). A little time and effort here would go a long way.

Second. Live Volumes has gotten a lot better but we still need to choose between Replay Manager  snapshots & Live Volumes. In an ideal world that would not be the case and Replay manager would have the ability to handle this dynamically. A big ask perhaps, but it would be swell.

I just keep giving the feedback as I’m convinced this is a great SAN for Hyper-V environments and they could beat anyone by make a few more improvements.

DELL EMC Ready Nodes and Storage Spaces Direct

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Introduction

Unless you have been living under a rock you must have heard about Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) in Windows Server 2016, which has gone RTM in Q4 2016.

There is a lot of enthusiasm for S2D and we have seen heard and assisted in early adopter situations. But that’s a bit of pioneering with OEM/MSFT approved components. So now bring in the DELL EMC Ready Nodes and Storage Spaces Direct.

DELL EMC Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes

So enter the DELL EMC ready nodes. These will be available this summer and should help less adventurous but interested customers get on the S2D bandwagon. These were announced at DELL EMC world 2017 and on may 30th they published some information on the TechCenter.

If offers a fully OEM supported S2D solution to the customers that cannot or will not carry the engineering effort associated with self built solution.

I was sort of hoping these would leverage the PowerEdge 740DX from the start but they seem to have opted to begin with the DELL 730DX. I’m pretty sure the R740DX will follow soon as it’s a perfect fit for the use case having 25Gbps support. In that respect I expect a refresh of the switches offered as well as the S4048 is a great switch but keeps us at 10Gbps. If I was calling the shots I’d that ready and done sooner rather than later as the 25/50/100Gbps network era is upon us. There’s a reason I’ve been asking for 25Gpbs capable switches with smaller port counts for SME.

Maybe this is an indication of where they think this offering will sell best. But I’d be considering future deployments when evaluating network gear purchases. These have a long service time. And when S2D proves it self I’m sure the size of the deployments will grow and with it the need for more bandwidth. Mind you 10Gbps isn’t bad even if if, for Hyper-V nodes would be doing 2*dual port Mellanox Connect-X 3 Pro cards.

Having mentioned them, I am very happy to see the Mellanox RoCE cards in there.That’s the best choice they could have made. The 1Gbps on board NICs are Intel, which matches my preference. The game is a foot!

I am presenting at VeeamON 2017

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I’m travelling to New Orleans for VeeamON2. If you don’t know what that is, please check it out here. I can recommend this conference. Both the attendees and presenters are all very active users of Veeam products and the workloads Veeam protects in real live. That makes for excellent sharing of experiences, insights and knowledge with your peers.

SM banner-Presenters

I have the distinct honor of presenting a joint session with Luca Dell’Oca (@dellock6 / http://www.virtualtothecore.com/en/) and Carsten Reachfahl (@hypervserver / https://www.rachfahl.de/). The presentation is called: Throw your backups into ANY window and is on Wednesday, May 17 | 13:30-14:30.

Choosing a storage solution for your backups can be a daunting task: Windows or Linux servers, SMB shares, SAN, NAS, deduplication appliances … But block cloning, a new feature in Windows 2016 and leveraged by Veeam Backup & Replication™, is promising to change this. Available for ReFS 3.1 file systems, this technology allows for insanely reduced transform times and spaceless GFS backups. Or at least, this is what marketing has told us so far, but how good is it in reality? Is an expensive and complex Storage Spaces Direct the only way to consume all the amazing new features? How can I design my new backup repository with these new options in mind? What about encryption and Veeam Scale-out Backup Repository™? Didier Van Hoye, Carsten Rachfahl (both Microsoft MVPs and Veeam Vanguards) and Luca Dell’Oca (Veeam cloud architect) have joined forces to bring you from-the-field information, tips, tricks and ideas to build your next Veeam backup repository with real-life tests and feedback gained from deploying this new powerful combination into multiple environments.

This session is complimentary to the other ones given at VeeamON 2017, both the breakout sessions as well as some of the session the Microsoft MVPs are presenting at the boot. Those sessions combined will send you home with ideas and options on how to leverage Veeam in creative ways to achieve the best possible solution for your needs. Personally I’ll be discussing some of the options you have to get get high available backup targets leveraging ReFSv3.1 in brown field scenarios when  a brand new Storage Spaces Direct deployment is not option or when you don’t run Windows Server Windows Server 2016 yet.

Next to that and between attending interesting sessions I’ll be available at the Veeam and Microsoft boots if you want to have questions or want to discuss the technologies. At the Microsoft boot I’ll be presenting a demo focused walk through on how to on Discrete Device Assignment in Windows Server 2016.