Category Archives: Windows Server 2012

Altaro Hyper-V Backup 3.5 Supports Windows 2012

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Altaro is one of the first backup vendors to support Windows Server 2012 with release of Hyper-V Backup v3.5. It has few that can match that speed to market and then we’re talking the likes of CommVault who Altaro can teach some lessons left and right (I should know, I’m a long time CommVault customer and whilst a great product they should really address some issues, hire a GUI developer is one, get decent information and accessible support is another, we won’t even mention pricing Winking smile).

With Altaro Hyper-V Backup v3.5. we get full support Windows Server 2012. That is CSV 2.0, VSS backups of SMB 3.0  etc. As an early adaptor I can appreciate the speed and time to market of a backup product. I do not like 3rd party vendors keeping me back of getting the most of Volume License software assurance so these things matter to me when selecting products.

Check out htttp://www.altaro.com/hyper-v-backup/ for more information. Some of their customers are enough to make you look at their solution. At least it made me do so => Harvard University, Max-Planck Institute, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Princeton University, US Geological Survey, … etc. (I’m a scientist by training so yes these customers appeal to me Smile) .

Disclaimer: No I did not ever accept any offer for sponsorship from any vendor, even if asked, just because I wanted to make sure you know who’s story I’m telling.

Windows Server 2012 Is Launched

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It’s 17:00 hours here in Belgium (GMT+1, summer time) and Windows Server 2012 has been officially launched today world wide! The world wide launch event can be followed on line here so join in.

This is huge. Anyone who has been watching the virtualization & private cloud area of endeavor knows what this release means. I’m an early adopter and spent the day bringing another 2 Hyper-V cluster on line for our transition to Windows Server 2012 (UEFI boot).

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We are running it it production with great success.

This version is a game changer and it means a lot to us all en our customers. This is a very capable Operating System that puts to rest any doubts whether Windows will work in any environment imaginable. Sure, the competition will mark it as insignificant but that’s FUD. From this year on with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V the tables have turned. As of this year vLimited is stopped in it’s tracks, this is the year where they will loose ground and Hyper-V will lead. If nothing else customers tied in to them will benefit from this competition, but I hope they do more than just that Winking smile

Get ready for your future and invest in skills and knowledge. Start your learning journey here with events the Belgian community is contributing towards.It’s impressive what the community does to share knowledge and I’m proud to be part of that. I’m also honored to have had to opportunity to talk to so many Microsoft employees at many occasions, including the MVP Summit.

Flash Forward To Windows Server 2012 SP1

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No, it doesn’t exist yet. But when you muck around in a lab a lot kicking the tires and trying to break stuff just to see how it reacts, doing unsupported stuff you can get a “flash forward” sometimes. image

Look at the picture above, this is what a rolling upgrade from Windows Server 2012 RTM to Windows Server 2012 SP1 might very well look like as this message is the one we all know from the previous versions Smile. Alright, that’s enough time travelling for today. Back to work.

Attending the Dell Tech Summit EMEA

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As you read this I’m preparing to get on my way to the DELL Tech Summit in Lisbon, Portugal for a few days. I’ll be discussing the needs we have from them as customers (and their competition actually for that matter) when it comes to hardware in the Microsoft landscape in the era of Windows Server 2012.

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I’m very happy and eager to tell them what, in my humble opinion, they are doing wrong and what they are doing right and even what they are not doing at all Smile  I believe in giving feedback and interaction with vendors. Not that I have any illusion of self importance as to the impact of my voice on the grand scheme of things but if I don’t speak up nothing changes either. As Intel and Microsoft are there as well,  this makes for a good selection of the partners involved. So here I go:

  1. More information on storage features, specifications and roadmaps
  2. Faster information on storage features, specifications and roadmaps
    • Some of these are in regards to Windows Server 2012 & System Center 2012 (Storage Pools & Spaces, SMI-S, ODX, UNMAP, RDMA/SMB3.0 …) and some are more generic like easier & better SAN/Cluster failovers capabilities, ease of use, number of SCSI 3 persistent reservations, etc.
  3. How to address the IOPS lag in the technology evolution. Their views versus my ideas on how to tackle them until we get better solutions.
  4. Plans, if any, for Cluster In a Box (CiB) building blocks for Windows Server 2012 Private Cloud solutions.
  5. When does convergence make sense and when not cost/benefit wise (and at what level). I’d like a bit more insight into what DELLs vision is and how they’ll execute that. What will new storage options mean to that converged network, i.e. SMB 3.0, Multichannel & RDMA capable NICs. Now convergence always seems tied to one tech/protocol (VOIP in the past, FCoE at the moment) and it shouldn’t, plenty of other needs for loads of bandwidth (Live migration, Storage Live Migration, Shared Nothing Live Migration, CSV redirected mode, …).

Now while it’s important to listen to you customers, this is not easy if you want to do it right, far from it. For one we’re all over the place as a group. This is always the case unless you cater to a specialized niche market. But DELL serves both consumers and enterprises form 1 person shops to fortune 500 companies in all fields of human endeavor. That makes for nice cocktail of views and opinions I suspect.

Even more importantly than listening is processing what you hear from your customers. Do you ignore, react, or take it away as more or less valuable information. Information on which to act or not, to use in decision making, and perhaps even in executing those decisions. And let’s face it without execution decisions are pretty academic exercises. In the end management is in control and for all the feedback, advise, research that gathered and done, they are at the steering wheel and they are responsible for the results.

One thing that I do know from my fellow MVPs and the community is that for the past 12 months any vendor who would address those questions with a good plan and communications would be a top favorite while selecting hardware at many customers for a lot of projects.