Aidan Finn, IT Pro

Oh you just know when RTM is nearby. Documents that don’t talk about beta or release candidate start to trickle out. Overnight I saw a Windows Server 2012/Windows 8 Branch Cache Deployment guide. And just now, Jose Barreto tweeted about a new version of the Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2012 document. Can you smell it? The flavour of RTM is in the air, and it’s good!

BTW, MSFT did say first week of August, and that is next week.  But Mary Jo Foley did warn us to watch out for under-promise and over-deliver, i.e. an early RTM.  Let’s hope there are know showstopper bugs logged.

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It’s not often that you come across a Microsoft licensing article that is written in plain English where non-constitutional lawyers can understand complete sentences of the text.  But this one (admittedly a guest post by Amy Konary of IDC) does a very nice job of explaining the differences between Microsoft licenses that you can buy outright and licenses that you can lease.

I didn’t like the idea of the lease model when I first heard about it back in 2002 or thereabouts.  I wondered why you’d want to do it.  But I’ve seen it in the real world, why it’s important, and how it can offer very valuable benefits to customers.

SPLA is a lease model for hosting companies.  Customers have a 1 month commitment to the license, paying for what they use, when they use it.  It’s perfect for the very fluid hosting model, and enables upgrades when new SKUs are available.  SPLA is very specialised licensing and even has it’s own dedicated product usage rights document.

I see a lot of SMEs and service providers to that market who love the Open Value Subscription (OVS) scheme.  There is a low entry cost, enabling the SME to keep cash for business operations.  It’s flexible, enabling the business to true-up or true-down to reflect headcounts.  It builds in Software Assurance giving the customer all the benefits such as Windows Enterprise for the client, free upgrades, and so forth.  And it gives the business peace of mind that they’re probably compliant. 

An example: a company has 100 employees this year and licenses Windows 7 and Office 2010 for them under OVS.  They are entitled to use Windows 7 Enterprise with BitLocker for disk encryption and DirectAccess for a VPN alternative.  In a few weeks when MSVL is updated, they’ll have rights to upgrade to Windows 8 Enterprise, with a simpler/better DirectAccess and Windows-To-Go to enable employees to work from home with company Windows builds booting from a USB 3.0 stick.  Give it another couple of months and they can upgrade to Office 2013 with all it’s new information consumption and touch features.  In the meantime, the company grows to 150 employees and doesn’t have to buy new licensing until their annual report when they true up.  Maybe in a year they hit hard times and shrink to 80 staff.  At the next annual report, they true-down to 80 seats instead of being stuck with 150 perpetual licenses on the books where 70 of them are wasted.  They also have SA so they’re entitled to support calls, MUI, Office roaming rights, TechNet for trial/lab, training vouchers, etc.

For the MSFT partner or service provider, it also means that there’s a reason to talk to the customer on an annual basis, and the customer already has a lot of licensing that can solve problems with some consulting days/hours.

I try to steer clear of the education side of licensing because it is complex.  But there is an OVS in that space which is very cool.  Microsoft licensing in education is already highly discounted.  However, schools under this scheme only have to license full time equivalent employees for the licensing and this covers all the students too.  Imagine a school of 1,000 students with 50 teachers and 20 admin staff (not including cleaners, etc that don’t use PCs).  That school, under this scheme, could license all 1,070 users based on the 70 employees that are full time equivalents and use PCs.  That’s a pretty nice deal! 

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You’ll find much more detailed posts on the topic of creating a continuously available, scalable, transparent failover application file server cluster by Tamer Sherif Mahmoud and Jose Bareto, both of Microsoft.  But I thought I’d do something rough to give you an oversight of what’s going on.

Networking

First, let’s deal with the host network configuration.  The below has 2 nodes in the SOFS cluster, and this could scale up to 64 nodes (think 64 SAN controllers!).  There are 4 NICs:

• 2 for the LAN, to allow SMB 3.0 clients (Hyper-V or SQL Server) to access the SOFS shares.  Having 2 NICs enables multichannel over both NICs.  It is best that both NICs are teamed for quicker failover.
• 2 cluster heartbeat NICs.  Having 2 give fault tolerance, and also enables SMB Multichannel for CSV redirected I/O.

Storage

A WS2012 cluster supports the following storage:

• SAS
• iSCSI
• Fibre Channel
• JBOD with SAS Expander/PCI RAID

If you had SAS, iSCSI or Fibre Channel SANs then I’d ask why you’re bothering to create a SOFS for production; you’d only be adding another layer and more management.  Just connect the Hyper-V hosts or SQL servers directly to the SAN using the appropriate HBAs.

However, you might be like me and want to learn this stuff or demo it, and all you have is iSCSI (either a software iSCSI like the WS2012 iSCSI target or a HP VSA like mine at work).  In that case, I have a pair of NICs in each my file server cluster nodes, connected to the iSCSI network, and using MPIO.

If you do deploy SOFS in the future, I’m guessing (because we don’t know yet because SOFS is so new) that’ll you’ll mostly likely do it with a CiB (cluster in a box) solution with everything pre-hard-wired in a chassis, using (probably) a wizard to create mirrored storage spaces from the JBOD and configure the cluster/SOFS role/shares.

Note that in my 2 server example, I create three LUNs in the SAN and zone them for the 2 nodes in the SOFS cluster:

1. Witness disk for quorum (512 MB)
2. Disk for CSV1
3. Disk for CSV2

Some have tried to be clever, creating lots of little LUNs on iSCSI to try simulate JBOD and Storage Spaces.  This is not supported.

Create The Cluster

Prereqs:

• Windows Server 2012 is installed on both nodes.  Both machines named and joined to the AD domain.
• In Network Connections, rename the networks according to role (as in the diagrams).  This makes things easier to track and troubleshoot.
• All IP addresses are assigned.
• NIC1 and NIC2 are top of the NIC binding order.  Any iSCSI NICs are bottom of the binding order.
• Format the disks, ensuring that you label them correctly as CSV1, CSV2, and Witness (matching the labels in your SAN if you are using one).

Create the cluster:

1. Enable Failover Clustering in Server Manager
2. Also add the File Server role service in Server Manager (under File And Storage Services – File Services)
3. Validate the configuration using the wizard.  Repeat until you remove all issues that fail the test.  Try to resolve any warnings.
4. Create the cluster using the wizard – do not add the disks at this stage.  Call the cluster something that refers to the cluster, not the SOFS. The cluster is not the SOFS; the cluster will host the SOFS role.
5. Rename the cluster networks, using the NIC names (which should have already been renamed according to roles).
6. Add the disk (in storage in FCM) for the witness disk.  Remember to edit the properties of the disk and rename if from the anonymous default name to Witness in FCM Storage.
7. Reconfigure the cluster to use the Witness disk for quorum if you have an even number of nodes in the SOFS cluster.
8. Add CSV1 to the cluster.  In FCM Storage, convert it into a CSV and rename it to CSV1.
9. Repeat step 7 for CSV2.

Note: Hyper-V does not support SMB 3.0 loopback.  In other words, the Hyper-V hosts cannot be a file server for their own VMs.

Create the SOFS

1. In FCM, add a new clustered role.  Choose File Server.
2. Then choose File Server For Scale-Out Application Data; the other option in the traditional active/passive clustered file server.
3. You will now create a Client Access Point or CAP.  It requires only a name.  This is the name of your “file server”.  Note that the SOFS uses the IPs of the cluster nodes for SMB 3.0 traffic rather than CAP virtual IP addresses.

That’s it.  You now have an SOFS.  A clone of the SOFS is created across all of the nodes in the cluster, mastered by the owner of the SOFS role in the cluster.  You just need some file shares to store VMs or SQL databases.

Create File Shares

Your file shares will be stored on CSVs, making them active/active across all nodes in the SOFS cluster.  We don’t have best practices yet, but I’m leaning towards 1 share per CSV.  But that might change if I have lots of clusters/servers storing VMs/databases on a single SOFS.  Each share will need permissions appropriate for their clients (the servers storing/using data on the SOFS).

Note: place any Hyper-V hosts into security groups.  For example, if I had a Hyper-V cluster storing VMs on the SOFS, I’d place all nodes in a single security group, e.g. HV-ClusterGroup1.  That’ll make share/folder permissions stuff easier/quicker to manage.

1. Right-click on the SOFS role and click Add Shared Folder
2. Choose SMB Share – Server Applications as the share profile
3. Place the first share on CSV1
4. Name the first share as CSV1
5. Permit the appropriate servers/administrators to have full control if this share will be used for Hyper-V.  If you’re using it for storing SQL files, then give the SQL service account(s) full control.
6. Complete the wizard, and repeat for CSV2.

You can view/manage the shares via Server Manager under File Server.  If my SOFS CAP was called Demo-SOFS1 then I could browse to \\Demo-SOFS\CSV1 and \\Demo-SOFS\CSV2 in Windows Explorer.  If my permissions are correct, then I can start storing VM files there instead of using a SAN, or I could store SQL database/log files there.

As I said, it’s a rough guide, but it’s enough to give you an oversight.  Have a read of the above linked posts to see much more detail.  Also check out my notes from the Continuously Available File Server – Under The Hood TechEd session to learn how a SOFS works.

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There have been a number of concerns when it comes to virtualising domain controllers.  The biggest of these is KB888794, which is an updated version of an article that I first encountered years previously, maybe in 2004.

USN Rollback

Basically, we had to treat any virtual domain controller like it was a physical installation.  That meant:

• No snapshots
• No recovering the DC from VM (host/storage level) backups
• Don’t do anything to manipulate the virtual DC’s VM storage, such as copy/clone/etc

This was because the VM would “time travel”, effectively screwing up the USNs that are used to track AD object replication and possible cause the reuse of RID pools – in other words, completely frakking your AD and making you wish that you had paid up for that Microsoft Premier support contract.

Physical DC Required

One of the frustrating things, especially for small medium enterprises (SMEs) or smaller branch offices was that they need a local physical domain controller to enable a Hyper-V cluster.  This company might only need to hosts, but had to add another physical machine (small as it was) to enable the cluster to function.

That was the scenario up to now.  Enter Windows Server 2012.

Bootstrapping

Windows Server 2012 Failover Clusters have a new feature called bootstrapping.  It’s been mentioned in public but I’ve not seen any documentation on it yet.  In short, this allows a failover cluster to power up and start working without the presence of a physical domain controller.  The premise is that you instead run virtual domain controllers, hosted on the Hyper-V cluster itself.

That means that you don’t need the physical domain controller.  That’s a major saver for the SME or the branch office.

Virtual DCs are OK

If we’re OK with the idea of virtual domain controllers, then how do we deal with them?  How do we back them up easily?  In a true cloud where there might be a one-size-fits-all backup policy, how do admins (with zero knowledge of VM contents/roles) safely backup virtual domain controllers that might be created legitimate by the cloud’s tenants?

VM-GenerationID and Safe DC Virtualisation

Microsoft has come up with a new mechanism called VM-GenerationID (also seen documented on TechNet and blogged as Generation ID, VM Generation ID, VM-Generation ID and GenID).  It is an attribute called msDS-GenerationID of the DC’s computer object in AD.  This is normally kept in sync with the directory information tree (DIT) if everything is OK with the replication of the DC.

If something happens to the DC VM like a snapshot is applied or a backup of the VM is restored, then the VM effectively travels back in time, potentially causing a USN rollback and enabling RID reuse.  But, the DC compares the VM-GenerationID and the DIT version number.  If they are different then the DC is aware there is a problem.  The RID pool is discarded, a new one created, and a USN rollback is prevented.

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V is the only hypervisor at this time to support this feature, and the virtual DCs must be running Windows Server 2012.

But There’s More – Rapid Deployment of DCs

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could clone domain controllers?  Normally you cannot.  But this new VM-GenerationID feature, combined with some other work done by Microsoft in WS2012, enabled you to export/import virtual DCs to clone new DCs with very little effort.

The process is simple enough:

1. Have a PDC Emulator that is running WS2012.  This DC will not be cloned.
2. Create a new virtual DC running WS2012. 
3. Add the new template DC to a domain security group called Cloneable Domain Controllers.  This allows domain admins to restrict which (if any) DCs can be cloned.
4. On the template DC Run Get-ADDCCloningExcludedApplicationList to see if any installed programs/services on the DC can be cloned (check with vendors).  Uninstall any that cannot support cloning.
5. Run Get-ADDCCloningExcludedApplicationList –GenerateXml on the template DC
6. Back on the template DC, run New-ADDCCloneConfigFile to create an XML answer file to configure name, IP, etc, for the new DC VM that you are about to create.#
7. The last step creates a file called DCCloneConfig.xml.  Place this in either the directory where the DIT resides, %windir%\NTDS, or the root of a removable media drive (maybe a SCSI attached blank VHD?)
8. Stop and export the template VM.
9. Import the VM to crate a new DC VM.
10. Start the new VM, and you should now have a new DC.

I haven’t had a chance to try this out yet.  I’ll try to update this if I find the MSFT TechNet page is lacking.

Summary

What all this means is that with Windows Server 2012 and a hypervisor that is VM-GenerationID aware (WS2012 Hyper-V) then you can safely virtualise your domain controllers, and treat them just like any other VM, something that is of great importance in a true cloud.

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There is an alarming story on TechCentral.ie this morning where that majority of IT managers are admitting that they do not adequately manage the quality of service that their data centres (or clouds) are delivering.

A survey of over 400 European data centre managers found that while 93% of them acknowledged the criticality of optimising application performance across their data centres and networks, the large majority said they were failing to do so

Sounds like they need to start using System Center Operations Manager to monitor network, storage, hardware (servers/blades/chassis/etc), operating systems, applications, code, services, and service level agreement from a component and a service perspective.

Embracing automation (System Center Orchestrator) and self-service (System Center Service Manager and the entire suite) frees up engineer/operator time in the cloud where data centres are filled with centralised, broadly available, and measured/controlled/secured infrastructure and services.  It is the responsibility of the data centre, as the “hosting company” of this cloud, to guarantee SLAs.  SLAs cannot be measured or met without adequate systems management.

So here’s my advice if you are setting company strategy for the cloud:

• If you’re implementing private cloud then ask your tech staff, IT Manager, CIO (or whatever) what complete and deeply integrated/automated systems management solution they are using.  Nagios is not the correct answer because it meets none of the criteria (complete, deep, integration, automation, etc).  Make sure you’re going to see quarterly/annual reports appearing automatically in your inbox or on a SharePoint site for you to review.
• If you’re about to place your services in a public cloud, ask the same question.  And make sure you have visibility of the monitoring for yourself.

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You might have heard that the EU is upset with Microsoft because the Browser Chooser that MSFT agreed would be included in Windows 7 for European Union customers was not active in Windows 7 SP1.  Strangely enough, I (a Chrome browser user) noticed this in my last few builds.

The EU forced Microsoft into introducing the Browser Chooser in Windows 7 for local markets.  This would prevent Microsoft from abusing a then monopoly position and enable other browsers to enter the market.  Fair enough I thought, and it worked well.  When you logged into a new PC, you could pick your default browser.  Some joked that IE was the browser you used to download your preferred browser. 

Then the news broke this week that the EU is investigating an issue where this browser chooser was not working in Windows 7 SP1.  And further, the EU could fine Microsoft up to 10% of their earnings over the 18 or so months period: $7 or $8 billion!

Interesting, because although IE still leads worldwide, I’d been hearing over the months that IE had lost the top position in Europe.  What do the stats say?

According to StatCounter, IE is #3 in Europe:

According to GetClicky. IE has continued to decline globally, despite the lack of the browser chooser:

According to W3Counter, IE also continues to decline globally, despite the lack of a browser chooser:

In other words, with a browser chooser or not, IE continues to lose market share even if Microsoft owns some 95% of the “PC” market.  We could question Microsoft’s monopoly position (IDC reckon they’ll sell 350 million PCs in 2012) too: Apple have 4% or so of the “PC” market, are set to sell 116 million iPhones ad 54 million iPads, almost exclusively using Safari.

Do we really need a Browser Chooser on Windows?  People have figured out what browser they want and IE is sliding.

And where is the EU mandated chooser for IOS devices?

It will be interesting to see what happens with Windows RT where IE and Office run on the desktop and no other programs can be installed there.  I wonder if the decision to include the limited desktop at all in Windows RT will backfire?  But that’s a whole other story and the lawyers/Eurocrats will decide that one (I’m not saying that this is good at all).

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A lot of organisations are interested in introducing tablets as information consuming devices or as laptop alternatives.  That’s understandable.  But if you know that Windows 8, an application platform that spans PC, tablet (pro and consumer), and phone, is on the way, why would you rush through an introduction now?

Maybe we should ask the gombeen on the left (above) that question.  He’s Enda Kenny, Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland.  The Oireachtas (Irish parliament) has reportedly launched a tender to acquire tablets for every TD (member of parliament) to play work with.

Huh!  OK, I understand using tablets.  But why now.  Why not wait until September when the options will double with new Windows 8 devices.  Application development costs would be reduced with only 1 platform needing to be supported.  But that’s not how Irish politicians and civil service decision makers think.  No wonder Irish tax payers are being screwed over by the political and banking classes.

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Steven Sinofsky announced yesterday at the MSFT MGX conference (for MSFT employees who are sales people) that Windows 8 will be available via retail channels and generally available on October 26th. 

That means you’ll be able to walk into Harvey Normans, PC World, Best Buy and so on, to buy a new Windows 8 PC, laptop, or ARM tablet (if the manufacturers do their part), or get Windows 8 upgrades (going for $14 or $40 depending on when you last bought Windows).

And remember that volume license customers will get their hands on the ISOs sometime soon after the RTM which was previously announced as being in the first week of August, just 2 weeks away.

Watch out for news of local launch events in a few months time.

Meanwhile, the Microsoft Store where you can download and buy Metro apps for Windows 8 will “go live” when RTM rolls around.  There’s some interesting stuff (free and limited trial) on there already and it appears that there is more that will be available at RTM time.

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I installed Office 2013 on my Windows 8 Build slate PC on Monday night.  Here are some early impressions:

• It’s very different looking.  The layout has been optimized to make it touch friendly, but still appears to be mouse friendly.
• The new control that everyone is talking about reminds me of something in the Star Trek’s of the last 20 years.
• I really like where Word has gone.  Becoming a consumer of information is a great idea.  It is now also a reader, can scale the doc to your tastes, and can remember where you left off.  That makes it very Kindle-like.  It can also open and edit PDF.  Bye-bye Adobe Reader; you and your constant patching requirements (that are usually not done) won’t be missed.
• As a person who writes the occasional white paper, I like how Word now allows flexible placement of images.  Note that we never embed images when writing books; the editors do that in the later PDF stages.
• I love the new presenter view in PowerPoint.  I’ve been dreaming of presenting from my slate PC in the past.  I hate being tied to behind a podium when presenting and I don’t like looking back to the screen to remind me of what I’m talking about on this slide.  Plus being able to use “ink” to highlight things will be useful.
• I haven’t looked into Lync or Outlook too much yet.  I have them working with Office365 with no extra work other than signing in (as usual).

Don’t ask me about Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange servers.  I haven’t a clue what’s new yet.  To be honest, they are usually outside of my scope of work.  There is a boat load of new documentation on download.microsoft.com for the “wave 15” betas of Office.

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I think I’ve talked about how VDI makes no financial sense once or twice before.  The Register has a story on how Gartner has analysed the costs of implementing and owning VDI.  Long story short: it costs as much if not more (I say much more) than buying and owning PCs.  The reason to implement VDI isn’t simplified management, it isn’t reduced costs.  It is the side effects of centralisation such as easier data access and stricter security. 

Personally I think RDS Session Hosts (Terminal Servers) are a much more cost effective way of getting these same results, possibly with App-V to prevent application silos.

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After a 2 week snafu by the local An Post office in my town and me being abroad, I finally gotten my copies of Microsoft Private Cloud Computing this morning.

This is the point when you can finally say “it’s finished”.  Now on to other things …

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I was off in Norway for several days taking a few pictures of White-Tailed Sea Eagles catching fish in the fjords of Norway.  I was in Flatanger, about half way up the coast, about 120 KM from the Artic circle.

This beauty (one of my photos from the trip) is like a North American Bald Eagle, but bigger.

I’m back in the office today playing catch-up.  I guess nothing happened over the last week while I was gone?

Oh … wait …

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A few of us proclaimed it last September: Windows Server 2012 is to VMware as Windows 2000 was to Novell.  Evidence that others agree?

Gigaom reports that:

VMware left its core business exposed, they say, first by announcing heavy-handed vSphere price hikes last year that, in the words of one VMware watcher, “kicked the door open for Microsoft Hyper-V.” VMware has yet to recover from that, in his view.  Silicon Valley is baffled at how easy VMware has made it for Microsoft to come in and take all the easy stuff.

TechCrunch reports that:

Paul Maritz is out as the CEO of VMware and will be replaced by EMC COO Pat Gelsinger.

In my opinion, investing in a VMware solution right now would be like investing in IntraNetware in 2000.  You’ll have buyers remorse come September when Windows Server 2012 goes GA.

According to Google, the VMW stock on the New York Stock Exchange is also trending downwards over the past 3 months.  Meanwhile MSFT is running it’s usual unexciting steady.

I guess the people have figured out what the Emperor has been wearing for a while.

Meanwhile, the VMware marketing engine is doing their best to tell us how well they did in the past.  Yes, Novell was a market leader once.  So was Netscape.  So was Lotus Notes.  Spotting the trend here?

I’m happily waiting to moderate (aka delete) the VMware marketing/fanboy comments on this one unless they’re so badly informed that I’ll gladly approve to shoot them down with cold hard correct facts

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I just received an email informing me that MAP 7.0 is live, and it now supports assessment to help you plan the deployment of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.  You can start planning now, with the products coming down the pipe soon.

The new version which you can download now allows you to:

• Understand your readiness to deploy Windows Server 2012 in your environment
• Determine Windows 8 readiness
• Investigate how Windows Server and System Center can manage your heterogeneous environment through VMware migration and Linux server virtualization assessments
• Size your desktop virtualization needs for both Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and session-based virtualization using Remote Desktop Services
• Ready your information platform for the cloud with the SQL Server 2012 discovery and migration assessment
• Evaluate your licensing needs with usage tracking for Lync 2010, active users and devices, SQL Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012

You should know that I believe that assessment is a critical early step in a virtualisation project, be it XenServer, VMware, or Hyper-V.  Without it, you’re shooting blind, and you’ll end up being an anecdote in a presentation on how to do a crap project.

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Microsoft Partners have not been quiet about some of their displeasure with Office 365.  O365 committed a cardinal sin in business; in the eyes of some partners, Microsoft stole the business relationship with the customer from the partner by direct invoicing the customer.  In some parts of New Jersey, that’d get you swimming with the fishes, capiche?

I work with Microsoft partners.  I have had more than a few tell me that they wouldn’t bring Microsoft in on a meeting because of the Office 365 and cloud first strategy that would be pitched, attempting to “steal” that relationship.  To be honest, I felt their pain.  He who owns the invoice, owns the customer’s business.  And therefore, many partners continued to steer the customer away from Microsoft’s public cloud services.  Remember, in this world, the MSFT partner is the IT department, they are the trusted advisor, they are the ones presenting the viable solutions and discrediting the “bad ones”.  You have to bring the partner on board to have a hope of getting Office 365 to be the norm in this space.

Throw in the disquiet about the disappearance of SBS (with on premises Exchange/SharePoint) as a product, left with Windows Server 2012 Essentials (designed to work with Office 365), and the MSFT partner working in the SME space was left like they were not loved.

And what do you get?  Angry partners who saw Microsoft as competing with them.  That was never going to win for Microsoft.

Microsoft had to change.

And today they announced Office 365 Open Program.

Key points of this new partner friendly program are:

• Microsoft partners can invoice their customers for Office 365, bundling in additional value added services
• Partners can earn up to 23% margin in the first year, way above the 11% that currently is available

I use Office 365 for my own stuff.  I like it.  It has been trouble free for me.  It was a pity that the only obstacle to the product was legal crappola (see The Curse of Zune).  I’ll be very interested to see when this new program will launch, and what the actual details of it will be.

I want to hear from MSFT partners that are selling Office 365.  What do you think?

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I was actually under a rock, busy delivering some training, so I missed the WPC keynotes and the announcements today. 

• Windows 8 is on track to RTM on the first week of August, assuming that there are no showstoppers between now and then.
• Customers with Software Assurance will have access to the downloads via the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) by the end of August.
• The Windows 8 Store will go live (in other words, go commercial) at RTM time.
• GA will be by the end of October.  That’s when you’ll see designed-for-Windows 8 machines for the first time in the stores.

Windows Server 2012 will RTM in August and be “available to customers worldwide through multiple channels in September”.  Yes, Windows Server 2012 will be GA before the desktop.  That’ makes sense actually, because the OEMs will need more time with the desktop OS than they will with the server OS.

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For those of you who have criticised my reaction to blog copiers then I ask you this …

How many of you spend countless hours of your personal time at night and at the weekends learning this stuff and sharing it freely, then to find someone taking credit for your work?  How many of you spent 6 months writing a book to find it on warez sites 2 weeks after it was published?

Sure, I reacted very strongly.  Absolutely I did.  And you know why?  These people who blatantly copy other someone else’s work to get hits on their sites should have more than enough common sense to know it is wrong.  The previous individual was in the IT business and in his 50’s or 60’s.  The latest “poor baby” is in university, and even ignored the copyright I now place on every single blog post.  They know better and still feel OK with ripping off other people’s work.

If you’re having pity on criminals then I’m sure there’s some poor misunderstood gang members on a local street corner you can go adopt.  Come talk to me after you’ve hugged a hoodie in your home.

Until then, if I catch ‘em, I’ll cripple ‘em with the truth.

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Since this post, the individual in question sent me a sincere apology and removed the content in question.  I appreciate this, and in return, have removed their identity from the post.

Meet: Name, Job Title, University Name 
Tel: Was here
LiveID: Was here

Live Spaces : Was here
Blogs: Was here

Photo of the person was here

You see this student doesn’t want a job in IT.  Instead, he wants to steal the work of other people.  Hey dude, guess what people will find when they get your CV/resume and the go check your online reputation?  Tada!  You’re welcome!  Hey prospective employer; does the man sitting across the table look like the above picture.  Did you know he was a thief and like to associate the XYZ program and his university, ZFD University, with his crimes?  And who says crime doesn’t pay?

What did this thieving little muppet do?  He picked the one blog post that was the most moronic one of all to steal from:

Image of blog and post was here

Yes, he stole from my WS2012 Hyper-V Features list, something that has taken me many hours to assemble.  You, son, are one serious dumbass of the highest order.  Details removed.

Hey ABC DEF, ABC- GFI University, you are forever going to be recognised on the Internet as a lazy thief.

Hey ABC DEF, have you tried to Google yourself (did show how I impacted the person’s digital reputation) today?

Remove my content from your blog NOW.  .

Quite sincerely,

Aidan Finn.

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These are my notes from VIR307 at TechEd NA 2012, with Bob Combs.

Cloud Demands

• Integration of security and protection
• Ability to add traffic tools
• Unification of management tools
• Blur distinction between physical and virtual networks

My experience: anything manual (setting up VLANs, firewall rules, etc) prevents self-service, and slows down deployment of traditional service.  Also adds a great deal of complexity because traditional systems not designed for the scale (networks, rules, tenants) of cloud computing.  Anything done in software is automatable and flexible, and could make self-service possible.

The Hyper-V Switch

Replaces the virtual network.  Same GUI, does the same basic role (connect virtual network cards to physical networks) … but more:

Remember that the switch port is an attribute of the virtual network card.  Therefore your policy moves with your VM.

• PVLAN: Use 2 VLAN addresses to scale out with flatter networks and achieve some level of isolation
• Trunk Mode: The ability to allow multiple VLANs to go to a single VM port.
• Port Mirroring: Forward traffic from one NIC to another. Could be useful for virtual IDS.
• Unified Tracing: Trap packets for analysis.

Interesting note: if you apply a policy on an SR-IOV vNIC then the channel will be rerouted via the virtual switch to apply the policy, thus disabling SR-IOV for that vNIC.

Extensibility

3rd party extensions, not replacements, add extra stuff that MSFT doesn’t do in the switch.  The extensions have to be logo tested and certified to make them reliable.  The system is “open” to encourage growth in the ecosystem.  Already more networking extensions than vSphere has replacements.

Extensions

The extensions are filters – NDIS-based Windows Filtering Platform Providers.  Configuration is unique to each instance of an extensible switch on a machine.

3 types of extension:

• Capture: inspect traffic and generate new traffic for report purposes, but cannot modify or drop traffic.  Can have multiple capture extensions.  They can be ordered/reordered.  inMon sFlow Traffic Monitoring is an example for monitoring virtual traffic.
• Filtering: Can inspect (everything that capture can do), drop, modify, and insert packets.  5Nine Virtual Firewall v3.0 is an example. 
• Forwarding: Direct traffic, defining destination(s) of each packet.  Forwarding extensions can capture and filter traffic.  Think of it as all encompassing.  What if you wanted the Hyper-V switch to look like another switch?  That’s what this type allows.  NEC OpenFlow for Hyper-V is an example of this.  The Cisco Nexus 1000V is another example. 

SCVMM

VMM agent can manage the extensions via extensions to VMM.

PowerShell

VM Based Traffic Tools

• Can run in VM, as a switch extension, or as a host service
• Monitoring Port copies traffic to VM
• Traffic trunked to VM before distributing to other VMs (trunk mode on port)
• Capture extension echo traffic to service
• Extension pipe/tunnel traffic to a destination

Extensible Switch ETW Tracing Example

Tracing events.

Extensible Switch Unified Tracing Example

Capturing packets.

Summary of Extensible Switch Benefits

There were a bunch of demo videos featuring the partner extensions that I did not take notes on.

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The goal of the product is to give an economic server OS for small businesses, with the flexibility to choose between on-premises (such as Exchange) and cloud (such as Office365) solutions.

SBS 2011 Essentials becomes Windows Server 2012 Essentials, a similar product that scales up to 25 users and 50 devices.  A small percentage of SBS customers had more than 25 users.

The question is: will you migrate your customers to Office 365, another cloud, or find an alternative to Exchange?

Available Roles and Features

Out of the box, the following roles/features are available in WS2012 Essentials:

• AD Certificate Services (installed/configured)
• AD Domain Services (installed/configured)
• AD Lightweight Directory Services
• AD RMS (requires RMS CALs)
• Application (installed/configured)
• DHCP Server
• DNS Server
• Fax Server
• File Services (installed/configured)
• Network Policy and Access Services (installed/configured)
• Print and Doc Services
• Remote Desktop Services (installed/configured and requires RDS CALs)
• UDDI Services
• Web Services (installed/configured)
• Windows Deploy Services
• WSUS

Normally WS2012 Essentials does not require CALs.  The only exceptions are if you choose to use Remote Desktop Services (RDS – widely used) or Rights Management Services (RMS – rarely used).

Features described in the FAQ

Here are some features of Windows Server 2012 Essentials from the WS2012 Essentials FAQ:

• Windows Phone App: Remote Web Access provides a stream-lined, touch-friendly browser experience for accessing applications and data from virtually anywhere they have an Internet connection using almost any device. Windows Server 2012 Essentials also provides an updated Windows Phone app and a new Metro app for Windows 8 clients, allowing users to intuitively connect to, search across, and access files and folders on the server.
• VPN: Windows Server 2012 Essentials turns setting up virtual private networking (VPN) into a painless wizard-driven process of just a few clicks, and simplifies the management of VPN access for users. Client computers can leverage a VPN connection to remotely join the Essentials environment without the need to come into the office.
• Choose our email solution: customers can take advantage of the same integrated management experience whether they choose to run an on-premises copy of Exchange Server, subscribe to a hosted Exchange service, or subscribe to Office 365.
• Storage Spaces: [this] feature allows customers to aggregate the physical storage capacity of disparate hard drives, dynamically add hard drives, and to create volumes with specified levels of resilience.
• Improved Backup: Windows Server 2012 Essentials can perform complete system backups and bare-metal restores of the server itself as well as the client computers connected to the network – now with support for volumes larger than 2 terabytes [thank VHDX for that!].
• Windows Online Backup: The Microsoft Online Backup Service can be used to protect files and folders in a cloud-based storage service that is managed by Microsoft.
• Windows 8 File History: Essentials also centrally manages and configures the new File History feature of Windows 8 clients, helping users to recover from accidently deleted or overwritten files without requiring administrator assistance.

Some Upgrade Paths from SBS with Software Assurance

• If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Essentials license.
• If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Standard edition, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license and one Exchange Server Standard 2010 license.
• If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-on edition, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license and one SQL Server 2012 Standard edition license.

I’m no SBS expert, but it seems to me that existing customers with SA will retain the same functionality through the upgrade.  But I can envision there being a price jump if they are on annuity licensing for SBS Standard/Premium (we’ll have to see the price lists to judge it).  They will have to choose between existing on-premises product and cloud-based product.

Opinions of the SBS Community?

It’s the MSFT partners that are this community.  Based on the online comments, let’s just say they aren’t too pleased.  It’s early days so I’ve yet to hear from local partners.

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In September 2011, attendees of the Build conference received a slate PC.  I thought I’d summarise my experience of Windows 8 over this time as we close in on the RTM.

It was based on the Samsung Series 7 (available as retail) but it had a different spec: i5 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, and lots of sensors that weren’t in the original.  Notice the “prototype hardware” sticker on the side.

I don’t want to talk about the hardware too much, that’s because it is not representative of what built-for-Windows 8 hardware will be.  It was a prototype built on Intel chipsets that were available last year.  For example, it has 3.5-4 hours battery life and the new Lenovo W530 with an i7 CPU and a 9 slice battery claims to get over 20 hours.  There’s no comparison.  Check out the recently announced Microsoft Surface to see what can be done now with tablets and slate PCs.  Instead, I want to focus on my Windows 8 experience.

Windows 8 Developer Preview

The name says it all; it was intended to give app/drivers something to start on.  As a user experience, the DevPrev was ropey (a term we use to describe a state of hangover).  It worked but it needed improvement.  The performance was good.  Yes, it crashed quite a bit.  I did my share of resets.  I installed the feedback tool and I remember one night of posting feedback that I’d built up over time.

There were some interesting apps to play with that were built-into the OS.  The app store was not live.  Most of the apps were built by students and were basic enough; but they existed to demonstrate the capabilities of the OS in terms of UI, design, and sensor utilisation.  We quickly got bored of the apps; we needed a store.

As a touch UI, it really only took a 10-15 minutes of trying things out to learn.  Swipe from the edges and see what’s there.  You can show a person this in less than 5 minutes.

I had a boot-from-VHD on my work laptop.  I was not a big fan of the keyboard/mouse experience at first, but I really liked having Hyper-V in an end user OS.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

There was no traditional beta with a page on Connect.  The Consumer Preview was a smoother build, ready for IT Pros and end users to play around with.  The UI was pretty much finished, with some improvements from user feedback.

The big news was that the CP build included access to a live Microsoft Store.  Some of the apps were poor.  The Twitter apps were dreadful, making very poor use of the space.  Some apps were excellent; the Tube Rider boat racing game was a great demonstration of what could be done with the hardware.  And traditional big names appeared such as Cut The Rope.  SkyDrive was available too, and this started to show of the 3-screens-and-a-cloud concept, unifying the user’s cloud-based experience across many devices.

I upgraded the slate the day that the CP release went public, using an online updater that Build attendees could use.  It was a seriously smooth upgrade.  I guess that’s what people will experience when they avail of the $40 upgrade to Windows 8.

My work laptop VHD build also was upgraded.  I started to warm to the experience of using it via keyboard and mouse.

Windows 8 Release Preview

Now we’re cookin’ with diesel!

My work laptop was wiped and rebuilt with Windows 8 with Hyper-V enabled.  I leverage the SSD and hybrid drive to demo deployment stuff like System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.  I installed an old Samsung N150 (single core Atom CPU) netbook to Windows 8 RP and it’s pretty responsive.  By now I’m used to using the Metro UI with keyboard and mouse, and it’s started to become muscle memory.

The Build slate was upgraded too.  The UI is so snappy. The on-screen keyboard is much better than the iPad one (typing speed). The Microsoft Store was updated. Some apps were removed, and new ones were added. The list is increasing still. Of the games, there is an adventure game (can’t remember the name) that shows a blend of pretty graphics with touch UI. MetroTwit appeared as a beta and showed how to do a Twitter app on Metro; it’s similar to the ordinary desktop version but different, taking advantage of the possibilities of a touch UI.  I also like a news app called Discourse which allows you to create your own news feeds based on lots of news sites (could do with more sports stuff!).

On 2 of the 3 nights I’ve been home this week (the 3rd night I was busy blogging), I’ve found myself reaching out for the Slate PC and using it for several hours while watching TV while browsing, checking email, etc.  That’s a good sign; it means that the Metro UI works.

I have SkyDrive up and running, MetroTwit works pretty well (for a beta), and I’ve connected the People app to the various social apps that I’m on.  The only reason I go to the desktop UI is to launch VLC (I don’t like the Videos app) or to view web sites with plugins such as Netflix (a Netflix app is already announced for post-RTM).

I showed the slate with the RP build to some folks at work.  They were impressed.  The current batch of apps show off much more potential than what was in the original DevPrev build.

The Future

We know that there are more apps lined up for post-RTM.  Tube Rider is “coming soon” in one of the XBox apps.  Netflix was shown at the Surface announcement.  App availability is the key to Windows 8.  Microsoft obviously plans to make money from the apps; notice how cheap the upgrades are for new Windows 7 sales ($15) or existing Windows owners ($40).  Microsoft won’t make a profit there, but they will make a profit from games (did you know Xbox 360 is sold at cost or at a loss?). 

We think the RTM will be end of July or August and GA will be October.  That is pure speculation but Steven Sinofsky has a reputation as a stickler for predictable schedules and this would tie in with Windows 7.  Plus this what clued-in reporters like Mary Jo Foley are hearing.

I will upgrade my build slate and my work laptop as soon as I can.  My ultrabook will be another matter; I have a project going on and I might not want to rock the boat until that project completes.  I would hope that the touchpad in my UX31 can support Windows 8 gestures – there’s a chance that it will because it has basic gesture support on Windows 7.  Who knows!

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The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is in Toronto next week.  I won’t be going; it’s more important for networking and sales folks.  But there are a few reasons that it is of interest to me.

• Keynotes: Last year we got some snippets such as the early announcements on Hyper-V replica and the then scalability figures.  On Monday it is Steve Ballmer headlining and it looks like we’re getting cloud-cloud-cloud.  On Tuesday … I really can’t figure out a theme other than cloud-cloud-cloud.  On Wednesday it is the Microsoft Partner Network – maybe the website has been burned to the ground?  Kevin Turner will also be talking compete on Wednesday.  Some hippie will also be smoothing your chakras – incense optional.
• No SBS 2012: A lot of Irish MSFT partners specialise in the SBS space so I want to hear what they thing of the move to Windows Server 2012 Essentials.
• What’s the plan for Windows 8/Server 2012: What will MSFT be telling partners about the enterprise and retail spaces?

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Microsoft has launched the beta for VMST 2012.  This tool is used in conjunction with System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) to update offline virtual machine resources from ConfigMgr/WSUS.

VMST 2012 helps you more effectively—and safely—manage the workflow of updating you offline virtualization environment. Using VMST 2012, you can now service:

- Offline virtual machines in a SCVMM library.

- Stopped and saved state virtual machines on a host.

- Virtual machine templates.

- Offline virtual hard disks in a SCVMM library by injecting update packages.

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I am not answering any more questions on this post - to be honest, there have been too many for me to have the time to deal with them. Don’t bother asking – I’ll ignore/delete it.  My recommendations are:

1. Re-read this post if you do not understand it after the first or second reads. To be honest, most of the questions have been from people who are just trying to make things complicated. Just license the hosts for the maximum number of Windows Server VMs that can ever run on that host, even for 1 second. It is that simple!
2. Ask your LAR/distributor/reseller – that’s their job and that’s why you pay them

This post follows my dissertation on Windows Server 2012 licensing, which is essential reading before proceeding with this post.

I’m putting Hyper-V aside for just a few minutes to talk about how you will license virtualisation of Windows Server 2012 in virtual machines no matter what virtualisation you use, be it vSphere, Hyper-V, XenServer, or whatever tickles your fancy.  BTW, the counting here also applies to:

• System Center 2012
• Core Infrastructure Suite (CIS)
• Enrolment for Core Infrastructure (ECI – minimum of 25 hosts)

Please read this post s-l-o-w-l-y and let it sink in.  Then read it again.  If you have been eating bowls full of VMware FUD then read it a third time – slowly.

FAQ

• VOSE or virtual operating system environment is a licensing term for virtual machine (VM).  It is used when talking about licensing a VM for Windows Server.
• When you buy a license for virtualisation you legally buy and assign it to hardware, not to VMs.  The virtualisation rights of Windows Server licenses the VMs on the licensed host for Windows Server.
• There is no mobility with OEM.
• You can move a volume license and it’s virtualisation rights once every 90 days.  If you want to use HA (clustering), Live Migration/vMotion, DRS/Dynamic Optimization/PRO, then you need sufficient virtualisation rights on each host to support the maximum number of VMs that is possible on that host, even for 1 second.
• You cannot split a license or it’s virtualisation rights across hosts.
• Virtualisation rights are 2 VOSEs for a host licensed by Windows Server 2012 Standard and unlimited VOSEs for a host licensed for Windows Server 2012 Datacenter.
• Virtualisation rights covers the host for the assigned edition of Windows Server 2012 and lower versions/editions of Windows Server.  It does not include Windows 8/7/Vista.
• You can assign more than 1 license to a host

In other words, you license a host for the maximum number of Windows Server VMs that it could host.

1 Host, 1 CPU, 2 VMs

Here you want to run a single host that has 1 CPU.  The host will run 2 Windows Server virtual machines.  You will assign a single Windows Server 2012 license to this host.  The license covers 2 CPUs (there is only 1) and provides virtualisation rights for 2 virtual operating system environments (VOSEs).  In other words, you get rights to install Windows Server 2012 Standard (or previous versions) in 2 VMs on this host.

1 Host, 2 CPUs, 4 VMs

The Standard edition covers 2 VOSEs, but the customer wants 4 VMs running Windows Server Standard 2008 R2.  A single copy of WS2012 Standard will not suffice.  2 copies are bought to provide the 4 (2 * 2 VOSEs) VMs with licensing.

1 Host, 2 CPUs, 10 VMs

There are two options; do you go with the Standard or Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2012?

The Standard edition covers 2 VOSEs, but the customer wants 10 VMs running Windows Server Standard 2008 R2. A single copy of WS2012 Standard will not suffice. 5 copies are bought to provide the 10 (5 * 2 VOSEs) VMs with licensing.  Based on USA Open NL pricing the licensing of these VMs will cost $882 * 5 = $4,410.

The Datacenter edition of WS2012 gives unlimited VOSEs and covers 2 CPUs in the host.  This solution will require a single Windows Server 2012 Datacenter license which will cost $4,809.

Decision: If you will not go over 10 VMs on this host then Windows Server 2012 Standard edition is the way to go.  If you estimate that there is a good chance of the VM numbers growing then spend an extra $399 and pick up the easier to account-for Windows Server 2012 Datacenter with it’s unlimited VOSE rights.

10 is the magic number using USA Open NL pricing. Once you reach 10 VOSEs on a 1 or 2 CPU host, you need to consider the Datacenter edition because it is cheaper once you hit 11 VOSEs.

1 Host, 4 CPUs, 4 VMs

It’s an unusual configuration but a valid one for the demonstration.  The WS2012 Standard/Datacenter SKUs cover 2 CPUs each.  In this case there are 4 CPUs.  This will require 2 copies of Windows Server 2012 Standard, which also covers the 4 VMs.

Let’s pretend that 300 VMs will run on this host with 4 physical CPUs.  Then we would assign 2 copies of Windows Server Datacenter on it.  2 copies will cover 2 CPUs each (4 CPUs) and unlimited VOSEs.

That Host with 320 Logical Processors – 10 CPUs with 16 Cores with Hyperthreading

The maximum specification for Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V is 320 logical processors in the host.  That could be 10 Intel CPUs, each with 16 cores, with Hyperthreading enabled.  We don’t count cores or logical processors when we license.  We count CPUs, sockets, or plain old processors – pick the term you prefer.  There are 10 CPUs/sockets/processors in this server.  That requires 5 copies of either Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter, depending on the required number of VOSEs.

Clusters

Let’s move on to the clusters, where people usually get things wrong because they don’t understand (or don’t want to understand) the mobility rights.  VOSEs licensed by OEM cannot move.  VOSEs licensed by VL can move once every 90 days.  The correct solution is to license each host for the maximum number of VOSEs that it can have for even one second.  And when I say “correct” I mean legal.  Software Asset Management professionals (auditors) are not stupid and the “tricks” I hear people proposing are neither original or unknown to these auditors.

Reminder: This applies even to you non-Hyper-V folks.

2 Hosts, 1 CPU each, 4 VMs

Don’t get fooled!  This is not one host with 3 VMs and 1 host with 1 VM.  This is 2 hosts, each of which can have up to 4 VMs.  In the past we would have used Enterprise edition on each host.  That has been replaced by Windows Server 2012 Standard edition, that now has all the features and scalability of the Datacenter edition.

Take each host and size it for 4 VOSEs.  That means we need to assign 2 copies of Windows Server 2012 Standard edition to each host.  That’s 4 copies of WS2012 Standard.

2 Hosts, 2 CPUs each, 10 VMs

10 VMs with 2 hosts means that it is possible to have all 10 VMs on a single host.  You have two options to license each host for up to 10 VOSEs.

Firstly you could license each of the hosts with 5 copies of Windows Server 2012 Standard.  That will give you 10 (5 * 2) VOSEs.  This requires 10 (5 * 2 hosts ) copies of Standard at a cost of $8,820 using USA Open NL.

Alternatively you could license each host with 1 copy of Windows Server 2012 Datacenter, at a cost of $9,618.  The extra $798 will allow you to burst beyond 10 VOSEs to unlimited VOSEs.  Switching to licensing hosts using the Datacenter edition means we don’t have to count VOSEs and we have unrestricted mobility between hosts.

2 Hosts, 2 CPUs each, 20 VMs

We have exceed the magic number of 10, and now it is cheaper to license with the Datacenter edition with it’s unlimited VOSEs per host.  Each host has 2 CPUs, so each host requires 1 copy of Datacenter.  There are 2 hosts so we require 2 copies of Windows Server 2012 Datacenter.

You could add more hosts to this cluster and each could have unlimited VMs.  As long as the hosts have 1 or 2 CPUs each, each additional host requires only 1 copy of Windows Server 2012 Datacenter to license it for unlimited installs of Windows Server for the VMs on that host.

Lots of Hosts, Lots of VMs, 4 CPUs per Host

The magic number of 10 VOSEs is a dot in the rear view mirror.  We now have lots of hosts with lots of VMs flying all over the place.  Each host has 4 CPUs.  To license the VOSEs on each host, we will require licensing for 4 CPUs.  This will require 2 copies of Windows Server 2012 Datacenter per host, each covering 2 CPUs.

Live Migration Outside the Cluster

And new for WS2012 thanks to Live Migration living outside the cluster: you must ensure that the destination host is adequately licensed for VOSEs to accommodate the new VM. If this is an infrequent move then you could avail of the VL 90 day mobility right to reassign a license, ensuring the the old host is sufficiently licensed for remaining VOSEs and physical CPUs.

Hyper-V Server 2012

Hyper-V Server has no virtualisation rights and includes no free licensing for VOSEs.  Therefore it is irrelevant in this conversation.

Economically Speaking – Why Hyper-V Makes Sense

If you buy Windows Server licensing for a host to license your VMs, then you are a tickbox (or PowerShell cmdlet) and a reboot away from having Hyper-V.  Buying another product is just more money spent.  And let’s be honest, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V is not what you might have used/looked at before.

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New, Simpler, Better Value Licensing Announced For WS2012 and Some SBS Changes

Note: I saw the announcement when it first came out and have been waiting & digesting.  More information came out since then so I thought a single post would be best. Make sure you follow this post by reading my post on licensing for virtualisation of Windows Server 2012.  I will not be answering any further questions on this post. Please ask your reseller, distributor, or LAR your scenario specific questions; that’s why you pay them.

In case you don’t know, I happen to work for a distributor of Microsoft licensing. My job is to work with our sales people, supporting Microsoft partners who resell product to end customers. My focus is on System Center (and that brings in Hyper-V) and Forefront, but anything that is anyway technical tends to find its way to my desk. And you know what? I’ve been amazed at the complexity that is involved. Some questions are part licensing/legal and part technical. And these issues confuse the hell out of people. And trust me; I’ve let well known executives in Microsoft know what I thought of the complexity.

The recent changes to System Center 2012 licensing simplified our conversations quite a bit. To use a Henry Ford analogy, System Center SMLs come in 2 sizes and in black:

• SML Standard: 2 CPUs in the physical server, all of System Center, licensing 2 physical CPUs in the server + 2 VMs running Windows Server on the licensed host
• SML Datacenter: 2 CPUs in the physical server, all of System Center, licensing 2 physical CPUs in the server + unlimited VMs running Windows Server on the licensed host

There is nothing to restrict you from creating hundreds of VMs on WinServ Std. The VOSE rights restrict your rights to install Windows Server. Make sure you follow this post by reading my post on licensing for virtualisation of Windows Server 2012.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SKUs

Currently on the Windows Server front it’s more like 2005 General Motors than early Ford. We have the following SKUs in Windows Server:

1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter
2. Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
3. Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
4. Windows Web Server 2008 R2
5. Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite
6. Windows Server 2008 R2 HPS Edition
7. Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 Enterprise
8. Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems
9. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium
10. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard
11. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials
12. Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation
13. Windows Storage Server 2008 R2
14. Windows Home Server 2011

Phew! No wonder people get confused.

Windows Server 2012 SKUs

This evening Microsoft released the details of Windows Server 2012 licensing. There is also a datasheet and a FAQ with more details.  There will be 4 (count ‘em … four) 5 (count ‘em again … five) SKUs:

See EDIT#2 below … Windows Storage Server will also be released.

Please, do not panic if you are a HPC customer or an Enterprise customer. Here’s why:

• HPC will be a free download/add-on for Standard/Datacenter customers
• Standard will have the same scalability and features as the Datacenter edition … yes, you can build clusters with Windows Server 2012 Standard … and at a fraction of the cost that you did it with Enterprise edition (as you’ll see next)!

You see, IT Pros, not all change is bad J [Did I just say that?]

Pricing & Changes

I want to focus on the 2 computer room/data centre products for a while: Datacenter and Standard. What were the shelf prices before with 2008 R2?  Bear in mind that the shown prices are the from the Open NL price list, the most expensive of the volume license types.  They are shown to give an indication of past and present.  What you will pay your reseller/LAR/distributor will probably be less:

So, Datacenter cost $4,809 (for 2 copies – you’ll see why in a sec) and came with unlimited virtualisation rights on the host … or in simple language you could install as many VMs on that licensed host as your hardware would allow, and then install Windows Server 2008 R2 or lower, any edition, into those VMs at no extra cost. The funny thing with Datacenter was that it was per processor, with a minimum of 2 processors … hence I’ve shown $4,809 per host with 2 procs.

Enterprise came with all the same features and scalability, with a limit of technical limit of 8 CPUs in the physical server. Licensing-wise, it allowed 4 VMs on the licensed host to run Windows for free. You could double the licensing for the host to get 8 VMs for free … but do the math and you might as well buy Datacenter edition then. However, Enterprise was $2,358 per server with no processor counting required.

Standard Edition had limited scalability and features, e.g. 32 GB RAM even for Hyper-V. At $726 you licensed a server, and it came with 1 free license for a VM on that host.

Enter Windows Server 2012 and we have:

For Datacenter there is 1 change: You buy 1 copy of Datacenter and it includes 2 processors. The whole minimum-of-2-procs-per-host thing confused people. So Microsoft consolidated the 2 licenses into 1 and left the price at $4,809. We continue to have the unlimited virtualisation licensing. That means if you buy 1 copy of Datacenter for a 2 CPU host (any virtualisation) and you get unlimited installations of Windows Server 2012 or lower (any edition) for unlimited VMs on that host … no changes there!

Let’s move on to Standard before we cover the gap that was Enterprise. Standard is going from $726/server to $882 for 2 physical CPUs in a server. For that, you’re getting:

• A huge leap in capabilities and scalability in the Standard edition
• Rights to an additional copy of Windows for a second VM running on the physical box that is licensed using Windows Server 2012 Standard.

The other change for Standard is that it will match the Datacenter model. The Standard license will cover you for 2 CPUs in a server. If you want 4 CPUs, then you need 2 copies of Standard. I do not envision that being a problem because I’ve never seen Standard installed on anything more than 2 CPUs.

If you’re about to complain because you have a bunch of Standard edition physical servers, the price is going up, and you don’t need the additional features/scalability, then I will respond with: you’ve been throwing money away for years and your boss should be asking you some questions like “Why didn’t we virtualise those servers 3 years ago?”  If you virtualise those Standard Edition servers now then you can merge them into Datacenter per host licensing and save on electricity, support, and lots of other costs over your 3 year cycles.

Windows Server 2012 Foundation is OEM only and therefore there is no Open NL pricing.  Foundation is also for single CPU servers, such as a micro-server.  More on Essentials later.

Replacing the Enterprise Edition

OK Enterprise owners, just like the old Star Trek storyline, it is g-o-n-e. Here is your replacement strategy:

• If you use to buy Enterprise for clustering, then use Standard instead. You just saved $1,476 per node!
• If you bought Enterprise to have virtualisation rights for 4 VMs on a host, then buy 2 Standards for that host … hey! 2008 R2 Enterprise cost $2,358 and 2 copies of WS2012 Standard costs $1,764. You just saved $594 per host!

Where Is Small Business Server (SBS)?

The answer to that question was posted on the SBS blog.  SBS has been replaced by Windows Server 2012 Essentials.   Windows Server 2012 Essentials will support up to 25 users and 50 devices.  Essentials is for 1 or 2 CPU servers and cost $425 on Open NL.  The idea behind Essentials is that it will be the successor to SBS.  Quoting the blog, that also features a Windows Server 2012 Essentials FAQ:

Windows Server 2012 Essentials has been designed to give you the flexibility to choose which applications and services run on-premises and which run in the cloud. In contrast to Windows SBS Standard, Essentials offers lower up-front acquisition and deployment costs. It allows you to take advantage of cloud-based messaging offerings while enjoying an integrated management experience by subscribing to Office 365 or a hosted Exchange service. If you prefer a fully on-premises solution, you have the option of running Exchange Server on a second server (either as a physical or virtual machine) alongside Essentials with the same integrated management experience.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials can also be used as a platform to run line-of-business applications and other on-premises workloads, as well as to provide an integrated management experience when running cloud-based applications and services, such as email, collaboration, online backup, and more.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials can also be used as a platform to run line-of-business applications and other on-premises workloads, as well as to provide an integrated management experience when running cloud-based applications and services, such as email, collaboration, online backup, and more.

Windows SBS 2011 Standard, which includes Exchange Server and SharePoint Foundation, will be the final such Windows SBS offering. It will remain available through the OEM channel until December 31, 2013, and will remain available in all other current channels until June 30, 2013.

Long-story short, the small business customer is now getting a 25 user version of Windows that does not come with Exchange.  If they want Email/collaboration/chat then Microsoft is selling Office 365.  And of course, the partner is free to sell/install something else on the Essentials server, and the customer is also free to buy/install another product on the Essentials server.  They are getting a very cheap server that requires no CALs, and that’s a nice first-server starting point for a cash-strapped small business.

My analysis on this: the writing has been on the wall for a long time.  At least locally, Microsoft has made huge investments in trying to educate train partners on the strategy, sales, and technical levels.  We have to move with the times cos the times are moving.

Some upgrade paths for SBS:

• If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Essentials license.
• If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Standard edition, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license and one Exchange Server Standard 2010 license.
• If you have Software Assurance on Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-on edition, you will receive one Windows Server 2012 Standard edition license and one SQL Server 2012 Standard edition license.

This upgrade right will be reflected upon your agreement renewal but you are entitled to use the granted product upon its availability.

EDIT: I’ve another post on the SBS story.

Déjà Vu

Those of you who understand System Center 2012 licensing have thought “that looks familiar!” It should because the model matches the Datacenter/Standard license model of System Center. And that makes the Enrollment for Core Infrastructure (ECI) and Core Infrastructure Suite (CIS) licenses much easier to understand:

Buying Windows Server and a Standard System Center SML? Then buy a Standard edition of a CIS or ECI suite. Buying the Datacenter editions? Then buy the Datacenter edition of the ECI or CIS suites instead … and save even more money.

What happens if you have Software Assurance such as Open + SA, OVS, or ESA? Well there are migrations from the old SKUs to the new SKUs:

The 2:1 Datacenter edition makes sense because you’re going from 2 * 1 CPU licenses per host to 1 * 2 CPU license with no price change.

Remember that HPC is replaced by Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter plus the free HPC download. And Enterprise folks don’t lose out because they get the equivalent (features + virtualisation rights) of 2 copies of Standard (4 licensed VMs + 4 CPUs in the server).

Anyone running physical installations of Windows Web Server 2008 R2: this is your prompt to join the rest of us in the 21^st century and virtualize those web servers … NOW! If you put 2 web servers on to a host, your new Windows Server 2012 Standard edition covers you for your virtual web server licensing.

Editions Comparison

Here are how the Windows Server 2012 editions compare against each other:

Here is a feature comparison:

And here is how you can buy the different WS2012 editions:

Step-Up

For those of you running one edition and would like to upgrade to another (Standard -> Datacenter) then you can do that if you have Software Assurance. The cost is the price difference between the editions. Note that you can step up from 1 Enterprise 2008 R2 to 2 copies of Datacenter 2008 R2 now and then you get WS2012 Datacenter edition.

For Those Without Software Assurance

What if you don’t have Software Assurance on your servers?

• Attend my presentations more often and/or add my site to your RSS feeds because … I told you so! [Heh! I was right; I am one to say “I told you so”]
• If you bought your software in the past 90 days then still can attach it; contact your reseller/LAR for details.

You will continue to use the version and SKU that you bought, and you’ll miss all that lovely WS2012 goodness that the rest of us are salivating over. [Have I mentioned that I am a nerd?]

Client Access Licenses (CALs)

None of the rules change. You continue to license clients for the highest version of Windows Server that they use. For example, you could run 10 W2008 R2 VMs on a WS2012 host. You then use W2008 R2 CALs. If you upgrade a single one of those VMs to WS2012 then you need WS2012. Seriously, Software Assurance on CALs makes sense.

RDS CAL licensing is not changing.  Anyone running either Web (only) or HPC workloads (only) on their servers do not require CALs.

Neither Window Server 2012 Essentials or Windows Server 2012 Foundation require CALs.

License Mobility

No changes to report here either. OEM is tied to the machine – that’s why it’s cheaper. And a volume license can be moved once every 90 days. And that applies to you folks who think they are able to under-license their hosts (even VMware and Xen) for VMs; you have to license for the maximum number of Windows VMs on that host, even for 1 second. You can’t license 20 VMs with Standard Edition and VMotion/DRS them about every 5 minutes – mobility rules say you can move them once every 90 days because legally you license the host and use the virtualisation rights of that Standard SKU to license the VMs. The correct way to license is to stack your Standard editions on each of the hosts (allowing for the highest possible number of VMs, even for 1 second) or buy Datacenter (which makes sense once you need more than 10 VMs per host based on this retail pricing).

EDIT#1: Windows Home Server

Mary Jo Foley confirmed that there will be no more editions of Windows Home Server.  I guess I’ll be rebuilding my Microserver with Windows 8 and setting up a Storage Space.

EDIT#2: Windows Storage Server

I’ve just had it confirmed by Microsoft that there will be a Windows Storage Server 2012, giving us 5 SKUs going forward.

Summary

Watch out for the FUD that is sure to appear in blogs and forums, and the occasional “journalist” (like the ones I love to crucify on this blog from time to time). I’m sure the cynics and competitors will spin things and misquote pieces of Microsoft’s text on the changes. Before you make any decisions, read Microsoft’s original text (URL to be added) and then check with LAR or reseller … and check with another reseller if yours is a VMware fanboy because I’m sure they might have eaten the FUD.

I think the only genuine confusion will be that these changes and savings will sound too good to be true. Seriously – Windows Server licensing is changing, simplifying, and you’re saving money.  I’m bringing my ice skates with me when I go to hell.  It’s a win/win – with some concerns for SBS folks maybe.

The licensing couldn’t be simpler in the data centre. It comes in Standard or Datacenter. They both come with all the scalability and all the features, including Hyper-V. And the free Hyper-V Server 2012 comes with all the features and scalability of Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. I bet the competition’s licensing isn’t this simple, offer as good value, and include all the features in all the editions. [Stop it!]

Make sure you follow this post by reading my post on licensing for virtualisation of Windows Server 2012.

Copyright Warning

This blog post is the property of Aidan Finn (@joe_elway / http://www.aidanfinn.com) and may not be reused in any manner without prior consent of Aidan Finn. You may quote one paragraph from this blog post if you link to the original blog post.