Continuously Available File Shares Don’t Support Short File Names – “The request is not supported” & “CA failure – Failed to set continuously available property on a new or existing file share as Resume Key filter is not started.”

Posted on September 28, 2012 by workinghardinit

If you ever get the following error while trying to create a Continuously Available File Share in Windows Server 2012 “The request is not supported”

If on top you find this entry in the Microsoft-Windows-SmbServer/Operational event log:

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-SmbServer/Operational
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-SmbServer
Date:          24/09/2012 17:56:59
Event ID:      1801
Task Category: (1801)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      (8)
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      server1.lab.test
Description:
CA failure – Failed to set continuously available property on a new or existing file share as Resume Key filter is not started.

First of all check with fsutil if you have short file names enabled on the volumes on which you are trying to create the continuous available file share:

Log on to the node running the File role and open a elevated command prompt to run the following on the volume/partition in play, F: in this example.

fsutil 8dot3name query F:
The volume state is: 0 (8dot3 name creation is enabled).
The registry state is: 2 (Per volume setting – the default).
Based on the above two settings, 8dot3 name creation is enabled on F:

I chose to enable or disable short file names per volume

fsutil 8dot3name set 2
The registry state is now: 2 (Per volume setting – the default).

Disable short file names on the volume at hand

fsutil 8dot3name set f: 1
Successfully disabled 8dot3name generation on f:

Remove any short file names present on this volume

fsutil 8dot3name strip f:
Scanning registry…
Total affected registry keys:                   0
Stripping 8dot3 names…
Total files and directories scanned:            6
Total 8dot3 names found:                        3
Total 8dot3 names stripped:                     3
For details on the operations performed please see the log:
“C:UsersUSER~1AppDataLocalTemp28dot3_removal_log @(GMT 2012-09-24 18-40-05).log”

Now, move the role over to the next node to rinse & repeat

fsutil 8dot3name set 2
The registry state is now: 2 (Per volume setting – the default).

fsutil 8dot3name set f: 1
Successfully disabled 8dot3name generation on f:

fsutil 8dot3name query f:
The volume state is: 1 (8dot3 name creation is disabled).
The registry state is: 2 (Per volume setting – the default).
Based on the above two settings, 8dot3 name creation is disabled on f:

fsutil 8dot3name strip f:
Scanning registry…
Total affected registry keys:                   0
Stripping 8dot3 names…
Total files and directories scanned:            6
Total 8dot3 names found:                        0
Total 8dot3 names stripped:                     0
For details on the operations performed please see the log:
“C:UsersUSER~1AppDataLocalTemp38dot3_removal_log @(GMT 2012-09-24 18-44-36).log”

I know this now because I hit the wall on this one and Claus Joergensen at Microsoft turned me to the solution. He actually blogged about this as well, but I never really registered this until today.

Disable 8.3 name generation

SMB Transparent Failover does not support cluster disks with 8.3 name generation enabled. In Windows Server 2012 8.3 name generation is disabled by default on any data volumes created. However, if you import volumes created on down-level versions of Windows or by accident create the volume with 8.3 name generation enabled, SMB Transparent Failover will not work. An event will be logged in (Applications and Services Log – Microsoft – Windows – ResumeKeyFilter – Operational) notifying that it failed to attach to the volume because 8.3 name generation is enabled.

You can use fsutil to query and setting the state of 8.3 name generation system-wide and on individual volumes. You can also use fsutil to remove previously generated short names from a volume.

There’s also a little note here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2709568

SMB Transparent Failover

Both the SMB client and SMB server must support SMB 3.0 to take advantage of the SMB Transparent Failover functionality.
SMB 1.0- and SMB 2.x-capable clients will be able to connect to, and access, shares that are configured to use the Continuously Available property. However, SMB 1.0 and SMB 2.x clients will not benefit from the SMB Transparent Failover feature. If the currently accessed cluster node becomes unavailable, or if the administrator makes administrative changes to the clustered file server, the SMB 1.0 or SMB 2.x client will lose the active SMB session and any open handles to the clustered file server. The user or application on the SMB client computer must take corrective action to reestablish connectivity to the clustered file share.
Note SMB Transparent Failover is incompatible with volumes enabled for short file name (8.3 file name) support or with compressed files (such as NTFS-compressed files).

Frankly, all my testing of Continuous available share, from the BUILD conference till RTM setups have been green field, meaning squeaky clean, brand new LUNs. So this time, in real live with a LUN that has a history in a Windows 2008 R2 environment I got bitten.

So, read, read and than read some more Smile is my advise and be grateful for the help of patient and knowledgeable people.

Anyway, It’s full steam ahead here once again getting the most out of our Software Assurance by leveraging everything we can out of Windows Server 2012.

Overview Community Speaking Engagements

Posted on September 17, 2012 by workinghardinit

Below you’ll find a short overview of my speaking engagements in coming months. I encourage everyone to attend the smaller and often les expensive or even free events as they provide a fast way to get up to speed with new technologies. Everyone is welcome and we’re all there to learn. The sessions I’ll be presenting are on are about Windows Server 2012 & Hyper-V, but that should not be a surprise.

TechNet BeLux – The Belgian Windows Server 2012 Launch Event – Antwerp, October 3rd 2012

On October 3rd I’ll be presenting a session at the Windows Server 2012 Launch Event in the Windows Server 2012 Track. That session is called “Hyper-V over SMB: Remote File Storage Support in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V”.You can register here for this event which is free and open to all.

Presenting at the Technical Experts Conference 2012 Europe – Barcelona, October 22nd-24th 2012

I’ll be speaking at the Technical Experts Conference 2012 Europe in Barcelona on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and it’s storage related improvements and great new features. Being an MVP is about sharing knowledge and experiences with you so I’ll join up again I won’t be there alone, as my friends, colleagues and fellow MVPs Aidan Finn (@joe_elway), Carsten Rachfahl (@hypervserver) and Hans Vredevoort (@hvredevoort) will be there as well to present and share their knowledge, which I extensive, I assure you. It’s great to have the chance to come together and talk about our technology passions.

Experts2Experts Virtualization Conference (E2EVC) – Hamburg, November 2nd-4th 2012

In joining up with my fellow MVPs Alex Jushin (@e2evc), Aidan Finn (@joe_elway), Carsten Rachfahl (@hypervserver) and Hans Vredevoort (@hvredevoort) to present a master class on Sunday November 4th. Unfortunately this event has already sold out. Click on the link in the title to find out more about E2EVC. It’s a great way to meet up with fellow technologists and learn from each other. Ronnie, Jeff, Florian, Udo … it will be good to see you there! I’m looking forward to it Smile

Dell Storage Forum Paris 2012 – Paris, November 14th 2012

On November the 14th I’ll be in Paris, joining the DELL “Fluid Forward Think Tank” at Dell Storage Forum Paris 2012 for an open conversation on our wishes, needs, ideas on the future of storage & technology in our businesses. That might make for an interesting discussion with others from the industry and it provides for a real good way learn from other people their experiences and challenges.

Very Educational Microsoft TechEd 2012

Posted on June 28, 2012 by workinghardinit

Hello from TechEd 2012 Europe at the RAI in Amsterdam. I’ve been extremely busy attending sessions, talking to Microsoft employees and vendor engineers. We’ve had some very interesting discussions and I learned a lot and clarified even more. TechEd has once more proven to be an excellent investment of time and I have been able to get a lot of face time with the right people. To me this is important because that helps me tremendously when designing solutions. Sorry for the low quality pictures.

Bob Combs on stage at the TechEd Europe 2012 educating us on NIC Teaming

You know my mantra “options, options options” as this is what gets you a way out of a pinch. However a lot of options also mean you need to make decisions, and not just when dealing with issues but also at design time. Knowledge and understanding is what help to make the correct of the best decision fast. Attending this conference with its tremendous networking opportunities provides for a very nice and effective setting for passionate discussions and deep dives into scenarios. Challenging vendors, interacting with peers, throwing ideas out there and deep diving into the possibilities and drawbacks with each other is great and helps a lot to understand technologies better. You have to thrown what you have learned out there and discuss it to test your understanding of the subject. Don’t be afraid to do so. We all don’t know things, get stuff wrong, etc. Don’t let fear stop you from interacting with your peers.

Ben Armstrong in action on Live Storage Migration

It is also great to meet up with my community buddies from all over the word again and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to attend these conferences. For me personally these are priceless and the value to my employers/clients is considerable. There is a tsunami of new technology in the Windows Server 2012 stack and learning to put these into context is both fun and useful. These are very interesting times in the Microsoft Infrastructure ecosystem so life is good!

Answer to Brad at TechEd Europe 2012 Keynote: Pessimists & Tad Don’t like Windows Server 2012

Posted on June 26, 2012 by workinghardinit

Brad is on stage for the opening keynote asking if the glass is half full or half empty. Well it depends on where you are in the ecosystem. For us the glass is half full and filling up fast.

Some people nag me about the fact that Windows Server 2012 is so different and that it’s wrong to turn the world upside down. Yes, it is different and new in many ways. There are also many improvements to features that already exist. There is a lot to learn and understand. Why are some people so pessimistic?

Ever since I got my hands on the BUILD Developer Preview bits I have personally invested a lot of my time in Windows Server 2012. With the beta that only increased. Why? Well, that’s the way forward, because that’s where the improvements are. We can’t do tomorrows jobs and meet tomorrows demands with yesterdays technology.

The picture above is basically the pessimists view of the world. Enjoy your cupper but I’m not joining you. Windows Server 2012 rocks and it’s going to do a whole lot for our industry and businesses. But wait a minute, I do understand why Tad is so pessimistic. But that’s about the future of vLimited and being stuck in the past. Listen Tad, you’d better empty that cup because this is where vLimited becomes history rather than write it.

Does that mean I’ll be throwing away Windows 2008 R2? Nope. I expect to deal a lot with it in the next few years but I’m not going to build future infrastructure on the previous version. I will introduce Windows Server 2012 where and when we benefit from it. For me that is from day one the bits RTM. The benefits are so overwhelming we’d hurt ourselves by not doing it. Your mileage may vary. But don’t get stuck in the past Here’s a link to your escape pod: Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Solution Accelerator I’m happy it’s here. That’s what people are asking me more and more about, how to move to Hyper-V.

But what’s with the negativism of some? Sure people are still running Windows Server 2000/2003. Sometimes for good reasons, often for (very) bad ones. Are some going to go through all this again with people clinging to Windows2008 R2? No doubt. Been there, seen it. Very predictable. Is Windows Server 2012 going to fail? No way. And what I’m seeing in Windows Server 2012 is great technology. Will it be perfect? No. I already have feature requests for vNext Smile . But this is pushing the ball forward, this is ambitious in the best sense of that word. There will be bugs, there will be challenges and hiccups. That’s part of the business and the realities of life. But look at all what’s available in there. Don’t just read some industry press articles. Did you test it your self already? Did you do any clustering? Tested all the new functionality in Hyper-V? The innovations in Live Migration options and networking? Looked at the amount of PowerShell support in there? Notice the improvements in Active Directory, DHCP and other core infrastructure services? Have you used Windows Server 2012 at all yet? You didn’t look at SMB 3.0 and all the storage improvements in there did you? Go talk to Jeff Woolsey, he’s passionate about it and for good reasons. Put in some effort, live a little, get out of your comfort zone and you’ll be going places. Don’t be a pessimist. Think positive or you’ll end up like Tad who was the joke of the party at MMS2012

Working Hard In IT

My view on IT from the trenches

Category Archives: Learning