peterchen's questions

Following the instructions for making .CHM files work on a network drive, when using example 2 - setting MaxAllowedZone - I see that I have to raise it to 3 - Internet to get CHM files to work.

I would conclude that this means my main shared network folder on the file server (W2K3) is in the "Internet" security zone, even though this should be "Local Intranet".

I suspect that is alos the cause of some of the additional security checks when copying files around or opening them.

Is that an Internet Explorer Setting, or is something else amiss? Would that affect e.g. opening files from the file server through Windows Explorer? Can this setting be changed through group policies?

Local network is a domain with Active Directory running on W2K3 SBS, the file share runs on a separate (virtualized) machine on W2K3.

[edit] Client OS where observed is Windows 7 Ultimate. Other client OS'es in use are XP Pro, Win 7 Pro, and a few Vistas (that are about to be replaced).

We are experiencing spurious BSOD's (about once in 1..2 days, time varies) on a Hyper-V Server. I've come as far as this:

Bug Check code 124

e.g. 0x00000124 (0x0000000000000000, 0xfffffa800a3bf558, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000).

Parameter 1, 3 and 4 are all zero. Parameter 2 (some struct's address) varies.

(a) Memory Check Tool
Windows Memory Diagnostic only checks the first 4GB (the machine has 12GB) - can anyone recommend a memory check tool?

(b) Further Diagnosis
I don't understand how to go on with the error information. I've read a handful of articles & PDF's, but still don't know how to go on. Bug Check

System: Intel i7-920, SuperMicro X8SAX, 12GB RAM, 5 SATA drives, running Hyper-V Server.

The system was running fine for over a month with just one virtual machine on it, crashes started after migrating another physical machine (W2K3 Server) to it. Windows Updates are applied.

We are currently in the process of setting up a HyperV R2 Server machine. Though there's not a lot we need to do wihtin the HyperV Server itself, the command line is sure minimalistic.

There are a few administrative / Hardware Monitoring tools that we want to run on he machine itself (accessed through remote desktop).

I am looking for a simple program/application launcher where we can hook up these maintenance tools (and one to open a new cmd.exe window in case I habitually close the one I'm working in!)

However, all tools I tried by now more or less assume explorer is present, and fail in different ways. Before I go and write a simple one myself, any recommendations?

My rule of thumb for a physical server was fast random access disk (VelociRaptor/SSD) for OS, and large disks for data (e.g. WD Caviar).

How does that look for a Hyper-V that should run two virtual machines (File Server+Intranet, Dynamics CRM)?

• Does it still make sense to put the physical OS on a separate disk?
• How much disk space / RAM should I set apart of the physical OS?
• File Server: Is there a notable difference of a pass-through disk vs. VHD? Any preference for one or the other regarding backup, Volume Shadow Copy Service, other stuff?
• Should I split the virtual OS parts (FileServer-OS, FileServer-Data, CRM) onto separate physical disks? Say, with mirror 2x2x1TB, or 2x2TB?
• How do you backup a 'life' VHD? "as usual" from within the server?

I've read the related questions and the system requirements stated by microsft, I am more looking for practical input, from people who've done it before.

[edit] The specs are still open, I am aiming at an i7-920 quad core, board e.g. Gigabyte EX58-UD5 (open to suggestions) 8GB RAM

I am aiming at a total disk storage of about 2TB.

Idea 1: 80GB SSD for Hyper-V, 2 x 2TB WD RE4-GP in mirror for the two VM's, totals at about €850

Idea 2: 4x1TB WD RE-GP in 2 mirrors, resulting in 2x1TB storage, one pair for HyperV and first machine, the other for the second one. Totals at €520, would allow another 4GB of RAM that might make a huge difference.

[edit] A commenter asked for the final configuration, here's what I learnt (and what we did)

I decided against a hardware raid, due to bad experiences with various controllers, the low overhead of a software mirror, and the simplicity of transfer to another machine.

We put the most busy network share on pass through disks. They are "offline" in the HV host, and mirrored in the virtual machine. Performance is adequate for our purposes.

I did add a separate OS disk, simply to be more flexible about the configuraiton. (WD Raptor 300GB).

So we have configured one pair of 1TB as pass-through, the other pair is mirrored in the HV host and holds the VHD's for both servers.

Note that passthrough disks disable snapshots in Hyper-V-Console (I wish there was an option to just exclude them but proceed with the snapshot). I also learnt the hard way that snapshots were a bad idea anyway since it breaks active directory sync.

Backup is to an external disk attached to the host through e-sata.

How does the Software Mirror in Windows Server systems compare to an affordable hardware/BIOS RAID?

I've had some rather bad experiences with onboard hardware RAID controllers, so I would want to avoid them in the future. OTOH I've used XP's and W2K3's software mirror without problems so far - however, I've also never run into a recovery scenario with a completely dead disk yet.

For a new Server (currently planned as W2K8 HyperV), we want redundant disks again. From my previous experiences, I'd use the software mirror.

I would like some feedback if that makes any sense at all - regarding performance, and recoverability in the case of an actual error, suggestions for setting up, choice of disks, etc.

(I've also had trouble with an €400 RAID controller card being incompatible with the mainboard, so it's not only cheap hardware to blame)

I noticed that accessing any "Recent" lists (in %HOME%\My Recent Documents and %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\Revcent) in Windows Explorer, explorer hangs - often for a long time.

I've started digging around there, because profile sync with the DC is slow and sometimes fails (but usually works when retrying).

Explorer hangs when accessing these folders in the local profile folder, and through the network share on the server. Direkt access to the folder from the DC is not slow. Also CCleaner (a sytem/reg cleaner) doesn't have a problem removing them from the local profile.

Could that be related to the profile sync problem?

Client OS is XP Pro SP3, DC is W2K3 SBS, running Kaspersky Antivirus (but stopping it doesn't change the access delay)

Is there a utility that helps (technically apt) end users to locate driver updates for their machine?

Personally, I use SIW to determine the hardware, then scour the manufacturers web sites. I am looking for soemthing a bit more streamlined to recommend to customers.

(we sell a performance-demanding external hardware, and most of the "strange problems" apparently can be solved with a driver update)

We have an SBS server running SQL Server 2005 and Exchange, that is notoriously tight on memory. (It's a battle between the sql and exchange).

It's not the time yet to replace it completely, but I wonder if stocking up to 8GB (the maximum the board supports, it currently holds 4GB) would help.

Since it's a 32 bit OS, the additional memory would be visible through AWE only, which at least SQL Server seems to support.

• Can I expect improvements?
• What config changes (Windows, SQL Server) are necessary so it makes use of AWE?
• Can Exchange benefit from the additional memory, too?