Robert Koritnik's questions

I've setup a virtual development machine with Windows Web Server 2008 R2 and installed SQL Server 2008 R2 Express on it as well. I didn't install any SQL tools on it, because I have them on the host machine.

Virtual machine is running on VMWare Workstation 8.

VM has 2 NICs

• Bridged so others (testers) can access web application in development
• Host-only so I can have faster communication with this machine on my host

I'm not running SQL Browser and am connecting to it directly using machine\instance,port name. This way I can connect to it even though SQL is not discoverable.

I've opened SQL Engine's network port on the firewall.

Facts

I can access my SQL using bridged IP address, but not host-only IP address. I've checked Protocols for SQL Express and enabled TCP/IP and checked IP Addresses tab which shows 5 IPs:

• 2 for bridged network (v6 and v4)
• 2 for localhost (v6 and v4)
• one v6 IP address (fe80::100:7f:fffe%12) that is not related to either bridged or host-only network.

This somehow explains it why I can't access my SQL using host-only network. Even if I change these settings and change bridged IP to host-only one, I still can't access my SQL.

it seems as if host-only network is not visible to SQL. Although it's working.

Another fact is that if I ping my VM from my host I get a response on bridged network but not on host-only one.

Question

I suspect this must be somehow related to VM's host-only network settings. Or maybe not. Hence this question. The question is of course How can I setup SQL server on my VM so that I will be able to access it via my host machine and from localhost (because web application is running on the same machine)? But I don't want SQL server to accessible via bridged network so nobody else will be able to access it.

Suppose a company has a set of web+data servers that are load balanced, but sometimes the application gets a burst that goes beyond server capabilities.

This would nicely mitigate the cost of cloud services to only use them when you actually need them. Otherwise in-house hardware suffices.

Question
Has anybody done load balancing of such bursts to cloud services? Is it at all possible? WHat would one have to think about to achieve such configuration?

I've created a web application that uses a SQL Server 2008 R2 database in the background. Application uses integrated security SSPI connection to database so users need granted access to database server.

All users that should be using the app are members of a particular AD domain group.

This is what I've done

1. I've added a new Security Login on SQL Server level and provided AD domain group name which gets displayed as a group (based on icon)

   

2. Then I've opened this server login properties dialog and opened User Mapping settings where I checked my particular database that I want users of this AD domain group to access (see below in the image)

3. In the list below are displayed Database role memberships where public is checked.

4. I created all objects in my database as a separate SQL Server user with securityadmin permission and provided schema dbo with every object as in:

    create table dbo.SomeTable ...
    create procedure dbo.SomeProcedure ...
   

5. All database manipulation is done via stored procedures only. No table is directly accessed by the application.

Based on these facts (dbo schema with my objects, AD domain group security login, stored procedure execution only) I wonder which role membership should be set on AD domain group server login to use my database.

Users should have permission to execute stored procedures. These on the other hand do everything else. CRUD operations on tables, execute user defined functions and call each other as well.

Question

Setting db_datareader and db_datawriter (as seen below) isn't sufficient as implied by the error screen my users get (stored procedures supposedly don't exists)?

How do I set security permissions on my AD domain group so it will be able to see dbo objects and execute those stored procedures?

I would like to setup a test staging virtual server. If at all possible I'd like to use just one virtual machine. These are the software requirements:

• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Domain controller
• Web Server
• SQL Server 2008 R2
• Sharepoint Foundation 2010

I know this is possible to setup on a single machine. The question is: Is it possible to set this up on a server core machine?

If I open Sharepoint Foundation 2010 Central Administration web and
select Application Management and
click on Manage Applications

I can see all my Sharepoint 2010 applications. But How can I rename one of them? Is that at all possible?

Why do I want this?
By default Sharepoint installed default web site on port 80. I successfully moved it to port 81 (since I need port 80 for something else), but the name remain the same and is very misleading. The name is Sharepoint - 80.

Is it possible to define all users in Active Directory so they are also hierarchically related between each other?

In other words: Is it possible to define managers from top of my firm and all the way to the bottom users that don't manage anyone...

Possble? How?

Additional info

I'm building an application where users will be able to manage other user's data. So root of user tree is the admin, that can manage all other users (because all of them are in the subtree). But other users will only be able to manage their own subtree of users... That's why I need to define managers somehow. If I won't do it in the AD I will have to define managers in my application referencing certain AD user accounts and having that data in my data store which seems a bit cumborsume. But I may select whatever tree DB structure I want. Probably one that is very fast with reading subtree nodes, because this operation will be by far the most frequent. If I can't read all nodes at once from AD it would work slower anyway. But managing this structure will be pain in th a@@...

I'm trying to run the non-GUI version of configuration wizard using power shell because I would like to set config and admin database names. GUI wizard doesn't give you all possible options for configuration (but even though it doesn't do it either).

I run this command:

New-SPConfigurationDatabase
    -DatabaseName "Sharepoint2010Config"
    -DatabaseServer "developer.mydomain.pri"
    -AdministrationContentDatabaseName "Sharepoint2010Admin"
    -DatabaseCredentials (Get-Credential)
    -Passphrase (ConvertTo-SecureString "%h4r3p0int" -AsPlainText -Force)

Of course all these are in the same line. I've broken them down into separate lines to make it easier to read. When I run this command I get this error:

New-SPConfigurationDatabase : Cannot connect to database master at SQL server a
t developer.mydomain.pri. The database might not exist, or the current user does
not have permission to connect to it.
At line:1 char:28
+ New-SPConfigurationDatabase <<<<  -DatabaseName "Sharepoint2010Config" -Datab
aseServer "developer.mydomain.pri" -AdministrationContentDatabaseName "Sharepoint
2010Admin" -DatabaseCredentials (Get-Credential) -Passphrase (ConvertTo-SecureS
tring "%h4r3p0int" -AsPlainText -Force)
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...urationDatabase:
   SPCmdletNewSPConfigurationDatabase) [New-SPConfigurationDatabase], SPExcep
  tion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletNewSPCon
   figurationDatabase

I created two domain accounts and haven't added them to any group:

• SPF_DATABASE - database account
• SPF_ADMIN - farm account

I'm running powershell console as domain administrator. I've tried to run SQL Management studio as domain admin and created a dummy database and it worked without a problem.

I'm running:

• Windows 7 x64 on the machine where Sharepoint Foundation 2010 should be installed and also has preinstalled SQL Server 2008 R2 database
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core is my domain controller that just serves domain features and nothing else

I've installed Sharepoint according to MS guides http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869%28office.14%29.aspx installing all additional patches that are related to my configuration.

Any ideas what should I do to make it work?

Windows 7 x64 comes with all sorts of signed drivers so there's high probability that all drivers for your machine will be installed during system setup.

On the other hand Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn't. Event though it's practically the same OS when it comes to drivers. I know there's a very good reason for this difference. It's a server product, not a desktop one. But the thing is that many power users and developers use server OS on their workstations which are usually desktop machines (a bit more powerful though) and would benefit from the whole driver spectrum that Windows 7 offers...

Question

I know I've been reading on the internet about some trick where you

1. install Windows 7 that will install correct drivers for your HW
2. do something to get/backup either all Windows 7 drivers or just those installed
3. re-install your machine with Windows Server 2008 R2 and drivers from step 2.

The thing is I can't find these instructions on the internet any more. If anybody knows where they are please provide the link for the rest of us.

What's the purpose of all this?

My purpose is to spend less time searching for appropriate drivers which in the end don't work as expected. My notebook is my main development machine because I'm moving around quite a bit. I reinstall it from the bottom up every time I start developing a new major project. I used Windows Server 2008 R2 for months but some drivers never worked as they should. When I installed Windows 7 few weeks ago, everything just worked. Without a single problem. And I doubt these drivers were as huge as manufacturer's are (ATI graphics for instance).

Just one simple example: I never managed my Microsoft Presenter Mouse 8000 to work without the provided Bluetooth dongle on server OS even though my notebook has a built-in Bluetooth device. On Windows 7 I can. I just paired it directly. No dongle needed. On server OS pairing without keys or similar doesn't work at all. At least not with provided manufacturer's drivers, they don't.

Since this is a notebook where my resources are limited (even though I maxed them out) I also like to avoid virtualisation. Right now (Windows 7 x64) I have a separate VM with Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core act as DC/DNS/AD because I need it for the development project I'm working on. Having installed Windows Server 2008 R2 I could avoid this easily and install everything on one real machine. It's true that my server core has min. memory requirements (512MB RAM) but still.

My purpose is therefore not spending more time with installation/maintenance, but less because I know Microsoft provides exactly what's needed for my notebook. I could just backup al the drivers I have now, reinstall server OS and use them. No time spent searching and trying whether they work or not. I often have to try drivers out, because server drivers are usually not provided by manufacturer since this is a notebook.

Addendum

I've found that software DriverMax would do the trick of backing up all the drivers on my Windows 7 machine and I could easily install them on the Windows Server 2008 R2. Has anybody done something like this? Does it work as expected?

Where could I get best step by step instructions (with some simple explanations) how to setup domain controller on Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core?

I don't know what do I need? Do I need DNS as well and AD and so on and so forth. I don't know enough about these things, but I need to set them up to prepare development environment. I would also like to know how to configure firewall on DC machine, to make it visible on other machines because I've setup DC somehow but I can't connect to it...

This is my HW config:

• Linksys internet router with DHCP
• my dev machine is Windows 7
• my DC machine is a VM in my dev machine
• my dev machine has a hw network adapter to linksys and a virtual network adapter to DC
• DC machine has two network adapters: one to linksys (to be internet connected so it can be updated etc.) and one to host (my dev Win7 machine)

Edit

My development machine should access domain controller and logon using domain credentials. Development machine would access internet directly via Linksys router. My domain controller machine would only serve authentication (and if I'm able to configure it right) should also have Active Directory Federation Services in a workable condition. I hope this is a bit more clear now. At least a small bit.

I'm an MSDN subscriber. I would like to install Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core, but when I insert MSDN #4629 DVD there're only full versions of Windows Server 2008 R2. How am I supposed to install Server Core then? Any suggestions? Is it possible to covert it back to server core when a GUI version's already installed?

I would like to setup a machine with Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core and install following server roles:

• Active Directory Domain Services
• Active Directory Federation Services
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (I'm not sure whether I actually need this one - see note below)

I'm obviously going to install Enterprise Edition.

Question

Can I have an AD administration graphical user interface to manage Active Directory on Server Core machine? I would really like to have it, because I'm not so keen to do stuff using power-shell, because I've never managed AD as well, so a GUI would be much more helpful, because I could at least visualize it a bit better and maybe understand AD structures.

Note: I'm setting up development environment machine as well and installing Sharepoint Foundation 2010 on in so it would use this AD machine.

I've seen lots of folks having problem with hardware reserved memory issue in Windows 7/Server 2008 R2. I have it myself but not as huge as others have.

Problem description

When you install Windows 7 (or its bigger brother Windows Server 2008 R2) your memory may not be fully utilised. If you look at

Task Manager >
    Performance Tab >
        Resource Monitor >
            Memory Tab

And scroll to the bottom of the list you will see a graphical representation of your memory. Some of it may be hardware reserved. Previous Windows versions didn't have this problem. System was able to utilise all memory available.

Question

Is there any solution to lower/remove hardware reserved memory?

Sidenote

I tried installing 32 and 64 bit versions but to no avail. I also tried both Windows: 7 and Server 2008 R2. But always get the same amount reserved by HW. On previous Windows versions I had more memory available because I'm simultaneously running 2 VMs on host (so three machines all together). And my memory peaks much higher now as it did on older versions.

As we all know, we can create various disk types in VMWare:

• 0 : single growable virtual disk
• 1 : growable virtual disk split in 2GB files
• 2 : preallocated virtual disk
• 3 : preallocated virtual disk split in 2GB files
• 4 : preallocated ESX-type virtual disk
• 5 : compressed disk optimized for streaming

I'm interested in advantages/disadvantages of various types? For instance: why would you want to split disks in 2G chunks if you don't need portability? Are there any advantages in terms of fragmentation and disk management based on host disk format type (like NTFS/etc.)?

Installation:

• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Remote Desktop Service role

When I logon locally my command window (cmd.exe) displays with default font that is 8x12. But when I logon remotely and open command window, it opens with the smallest possible font selection. Opening window properties and setting font size, the default 8x12 font is missing from the list.

What should I do to get this font back in the list?

Following screenshots show settings when logged on locally and remotely. Local machine is not Aero capable, but remotely I can have Aero environment. I've also tried setting it to basic, but there was no change.

Local logon

Remote logon

Microsoft's Forefront Client Security doesn't install on Windows Server 2008 R2. I'm talking specifically about FCS without update server that updates via Windows Update:

clientsetup /nomom

This installation doesn't work on a server operating system. Hence the question.

So the question is: Which realtime antivirus is Windows Server 2008 R2 installable?

I'm trying to share an Excel 2007 Workbook with Sharing capability.

I already tried sharing it over the network from my computer and it worked perfectly. Multiple users were able to open/edit/save it at the same time. Excel took care of merging the data. But. My machine isn't always on, so this is not really a solution.

So I tried WebDAV. I opened an account on www.myDisk.se, and shared my workbook from there. But it works differently:

1. It only allows one user at a time to have write persmissions
2. All other users have read-only (with notify) permission
3. Saving the file isn't always working (file has been disconnected error)
4. Closing the file doesn't remove the user from the users that use the file...

My question is: Should WebDAV (if installed and configured properly) work similar to regular network share? If it should, I should try some other WebDAV hosting service because myDisk isn't working as intended.

I should point out that I don't know the details and capabilities of WebDAV protocol.

I mapped a WebDAV drive in my Windows Explorer. I can access files and browse etc.

But. When I try to open my Excel file it always opens in Read-only mode. How do I open a file so it opens with write permissions? I'm sure no-one else is working on the same file.

I'm using:

• Windows Server 2008
• Office Excel 2007

Currently I have Windows Server 2008 x64 installed on my machine. I'm about to reinstall when R2 comes out (few more days). Since I still remember all the tweaking with various device drivers, I'm thinking of installing an x86 version which has better Vista x86 driver support (that are also compatible with WinSrv2k8 AFAIK).

I have 4GB of memory which should be utilised without a problem on both platforms.

Would you suggest going to x86 or try the same driver hell all over again on x64? Would there be any significant speed issues? Memory issues?

I am/will also running several VMs of various kinds (x86 and x64). I know my hardware supports running x64 guests in x86 hosts already, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Is it possible to run x64 guests on x86 host in VMWare Workstation 6.5? It would probably make my life easier due to notebook device drivers...

Edit
Just to make it clear. I also added my CPU to tags. Based on your answers I should be able to run in this configuration because I do have support for VT in BIOS.

I'm running Windows Server 2008 Standard running in VMware. It has 2 disks:

• system disk: 16 GB
• data disk: 500 MB

I installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1 + MSDN and some small tools and libraries that don't take much space. Over time the system disk's free space has been going down (I suspect because of regular system updates - NetFx (.NET), service packs, and regular updates).

Questions 1
How do you remove Windows Update uninstall files from Windows Server 2008?

Question 2
I also found lots of files in C:/Windows/Installer folder.
Is it possible to determine which .msp file goes with which patch?
I would like to delete some of them, because they do take a lot of space.