Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

For the past few years (longer than I can remember) I've been running Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2, an application that installs on their Server operating systems, to allow you to host multiple Virtual Machines on the one Physical Server. So for Slickhouse, the mail; web; database; and domain controller servers are all located on the one physical box.

However, Virtual Server 2005 does have its drawbacks - it's not a pure Virtualisation platform, as it installs on top of an operating system layer. It also doesn't perform as well as other solutions on the market - namely VMWare. Microsoft released Hyper-V as an add-on to Server 2008 and as a free standalone hypervisor - Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. The compatability with Virtual Server is there, but it is a better competitor to VMWare's ESX platform.

Hyper-V does have a few advantages compared to VMWare's ESX/ESXi platform, which I was also looking into. Firstly, the hardware requirements are a lot less strict and you'll find that Hyper-V runs on many modern 64-bit servers that Server 2008 successfully installs on. There are specific CPU requirements, but most AMD/Intel CPUs on the market now support Virtualisation at a hardware level. Secondly, it fits into an existing Microsoft network very well and supports migration from Virtual Server 2005.

I chose to upgrade my main server to Hyper-V at the same time as consolodating the storage for the network. Previously, I had the virtual servers housed on one box, with 4 x 250GB drives in a RAID array within another, acting as a NAS. As with most computer technology, the price of storage has decreased as the capacity has increased over the years. Whereas back in 2005 the 250GB drives cost ~£50 each (~£200 per TB), in 2010 I've purchased a 2TB drive for ~£100 (~£50 per TB), so it made sense to drop the NAS for 24/7 use and put the 2TB drive on the server housing the virtual machines.

I opted for another Samsung Spinpoint HDD, as I've had 9 running smoothly for a few years now, so it made sense to add a tenth. Their 2TB F3 Eco Green drive runs at a slower 5400rpm speed, but I'd say it performs as well as the older generation 250GB SATA Spinpoints, running at 7200rpm. A copy of around 630GB of data (various file sizes) took hours rather than days over a gigabit connection from the original NAS.

The 2TB drive itself is purely for holding all of the data served via the NAS. I was originally intending to connect it to the host and setup shares on it, but Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 only offers Hyper-V, no other Windows Server Services (hence the free price). Server Fault's community suggested that I setup a VM as a NAS and that I wouldn't notice any performance hits.

As for Hyper-V, the installation is very straight forward - much the same as their Server 2008/Vista/Windows 7 installation process, with all the prompts located at the start, rather than strewn throughout during previous Windows installations. Once the install is complete, you can configure the server using the command line interface once the server completes a reboot. This screen remains the same throughout use of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 with the actual management occuring on a client machine via the Hyper-V Management snap-in.

Hyper-V Management GUI
Hyper-V Management GUI

In usual setups, managing Hyper-V should be fairly straight forward. Install the Remote Administration Tools for Windows 7, then connect to the Hyper-V Server and away you go. However, as all my main servers are now virtualised, including the domain controller - I could only run the Hyper-V Server in Workgroup mode, not as part of the Active Directory domain. As my Windows 7 machines are part of the domain, it meant that I spent 3 evenings back-to-back pulling my hair out to try and get it all working. Virtual PC Guy has a great tool, HVRemote that cuts out many of the headaches involved with the initial setup. I finally managed to successfully connect to the host after plugging in the 2nd NIC, which picked up a dynamic IP via DHCP - so it appears to have been a DNS/routing issue.

Once Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 has been installed and configured, it's a case of either migrating VMs across, or building new ones. Migrating from Virtual Server 2005 proved to be a fairly easy procedure with Server 2003 VMs - uninstall the Virtual Server additions and shutdown the VM before copying the VHD across to the Hyper-V host and creating a new machine (using the copied VHD). When it came to migrating my Server 2008 Web Server across though, things were a little different. The Integration Services wouldn't fully install and a quick check of Device Manager warned me that the Virtual Machine Bus could not find enough resources. As with 99% of IT related problems though, Google netted me a solution.

Hyper-V Console
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 console view

Once all the virtual machines had been migrated across, full network connectivity and services were restored. Performance appears to have improved from the upgrade: VMs are a lot more responsive after booting or logging on; the sites also appear to load much quicker and SQL Server queries are instant - though I don't have raw figures to back up my claims, but if you have a Virtual Server host, Hyper-V is definately worth looking into, especially if your existing server supports it.

comments Posted: Monday 31st May 2010, 22:46pm
Categories: Computers and Technology, Slickhouse
Tags: hyper-v, microsoft

slckit, a url shortener

In the Web 2.0 era of the Internet, there's a lot more social interaction and exchanging of information. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to interact with each other and share links to the rest of the Web.

However, there's a common problem that's been solved by several services. Take the following Url as an example:

http://serverfault.com/questions/34465/what-are-your-favorite-open-source-tools-that-is-not-very-famous/

It's ideal for SEO purposes - search engines will index it well, as it's keyword rich. It's also very readable to us Humans, but can prove to be hard to remember or exchange with others, particularly with Twitter's 140 character limit.

Then there's Urls such as the following:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470097825/ref=s9_wishx_gw_ir03?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3U7JRBR10ENKF&colid=3KM21255W1DIA&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1NA1EHC6QE95D007YYER&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Not only is it awkward for search engines to crawl, as it contains no useful information - it's merely Amazon specific codes. But, it's also completely useless for us to read and share to others. Sure, you can highlight the string, then copy/paste it - or click it if it's a clickable anchor link. But what if you're on the phone to a friend and suggesting they look at this great product you've found? Do you start reading out forward-slash g-p forward-slash product forward-slash 0, 4, 7...?

Obviously, the first Url is the preferred SEO/Human friendly option, but it's not ideal. So sites like bit.ly and tinyurl.com have cropped up over the past few years to overcome this and provide users with short, easy to remember, easy to use Urls.

Take the first example, in it's bit.ly format: http://bit.ly/9EJLFT

Now take the second: http://bit.ly/a411nG

Regardless of where the Url actually takes you, the bit.ly version is perfect for exchanging over the 'net. That phone call is not only shorter (saving you money) but also isn't prone to misspellings, resulting in a 404. Twitter will thank you for providing it with a short Url and will let you type a further 120 characters. Your memory might actually be able to remember that short 6 character key if needed and you'd easily be able to write it down quickly if required.

So I wanted to have a go and roll my own Url shortening/redirection service: alt text

Behold: slck.it, a url shortener. Simply paste your long, ugly, unfriendly Url into the box and click the button slck.it - my previous examples then become: http://slck.it/m6ITl8 - What are your favorite open source tools? and http://slck.it/l52Skw - Professional IIS 7 (Programmer to Programmer): Amazon.co.uk: Kenneth Schaefer, Jeff Cochran, Scott Forsyth, Rob Baugh, Mike Everest, Dennis Glendenning: Books

In much the same way bit.ly et al work, slck.it takes your long Url and shortens it into a memorable and succint version. Each time someone clicks on your shorter version, they are 301 redirected to the original. Simple.

I'll be using slck.it myself from now on, to shorten my Urls as I contribute on the Internet - feel free to do the same!

Oh, and if you were wondering, the domain slck.it is a hack of slick in slickhouse using an Italian extension. Slck.it itself is also going to be released in the near future for others to roll their own - and it's my first ASP.NET 4.0 application, built in Visual Studio 2010.

comments Posted: Thursday 29th April 2010, 22:46pm
Categories: Slickhouse
Tags: twitter

Spam Free

Slickhouse has been live for almost a week now and I'm yet to receive a spam comment. In comparison, each time I logged into the WordPress Admin on v8 of the site, I was greeted with over 200 spam comments to moderate, that Askimet had trapped.

So it seems that OpenCAPTCHA is working as intended and preventing spammers from submitting comments.

When selecting a Captcha provider for SlickCMS, I had several criteria including:

OpenCAPTCHA was the only one I came across that met all my requirements. Although no formal sample code is provided in ASP (SlickCMS' language of choice), the PHP code was easy enough to grasp and develop the same.

So, if you're looking for a spam prevention tool for your next web project, consider OpenCAPTCHA.

comments Posted: Tuesday 2nd March 2010, 22:46pm
Categories: Slickhouse
Tags: slickcms

V9 and SlickCMS is live

Version 9 of Slickhouse.com is now live and I've switched from WordPress to my very own Content Management System, SlickCMS.

The theme has gone a bit darker this time around, but should hopefully tie everything together well. I've decided to drop the 2 sidebars and have increased the main content width, to allow for bigger images within future Posts.

It's been tested working in all the major browsers and has taken about a week's worth of evenings, after I'd released version 2.6.147 of SlickCMS to the public.

Overall, you should find the site closely resembles the previous version in terms of functionality and content. From a technical point of view, SlickCMS utilises Microsoft's ASP, ASP.NET and SQL Server platforms, rather than WordPress' PHP/MySQL.

Let me know if you come across any issues with the new site. I'll be closely monitoring the logs over the coming days, to ensure everything's running as planned.

Lastly, expect a lot more on this site in future - as after completely every line of code, I can concentrate on some content.

comments Posted: Wednesday 24th February 2010, 22:46am
Categories: SlickCMS, Slickhouse
Tags: slickcms

The Setup

Inspired by the site over at usethis.com, the following is a brief interview between me and, well, me.

Matthew Juffs
Web Developer, Techie

Who are you and what do you do?

I'm Matt, Husband to Anneka and Daddy to Lily (18 months) and Mia (15 weeks to go). By day I'm a Web Developer for IOCEA.com Ltd, the creators of Cshop and by night I develop my own sites and tinker with my servers.

I code primarily in ASP (Classic and .NET) with Microsoft SQL Server, but have been known to dabble in PHP and MySQL. Then I used a splashing of XHTML/CSS to bring it altogether and a sprinkling of Javascript if required.

My personal project, SlickCMS is nearing completion for a public release, over a year after embarking on it. I'm still contemplating going Open Source with it, or simply making it freely available.

When I'm not developing for work or my own kicks, I try to improve my measly XBOX 360 Gamer Score; Fallout 3 is proving to be engaging.

What hardware do you use?

At work, a Dell Optiplex 320 with 2GB RAM and an Intel Pentium D. It has lasted me nearly 3 years of development without any problems. It has 2 Sony 17" LCDs connected to it, with a Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 - an older gaming mouse I found to be perfect for me, a lefty.

At home, a Sony VAIO, again with 2GB RAM and an Intel Pentium (M). It runs Windows 7 fine and my only complaint is the loud fan.

I also run several servers in the loft, including a mini-itx Firewall and an AMD Athlon X2 with 6GB RAM as a Virtual Host.

And what software?

My work desktop and laptop run pretty much the same set of software, with the former using Vista and the latter Windows 7. Visual Studio 2008; Microsoft SQL Server 2008; Office 2007; Notepad++ and 7Zip amongst others.

Browser wise, it's Internet Explorer 8 at work, with Google Chrome at home. I prefer the minimalist approach of Chrome for browsing websites and the Web Developer toolbar of IE8 for development purposes.

The Firewall uses Smoothwall and the Virtual Host uses Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, with the VMs a mix of Server 2003/2008.

Lastly, I am a fan of Star Wars, so my Servers are named after planets: Bespin for the Host; Talus, Hoth and Corellia (amongst others) for the VMs and Tatooine for the NAS.

What would be your dream setup?

At work, a 30" Dell monitor, with the Sonys either side would work well - all powered by a Intel Xenon workstation.

Laptop wise, a bleeding-edge Lenovo, Sony or Dell would be good. Maybe a high-end netbook or lightweight laptop for browsing the Internet when not developing too.

My servers could do with an upgrade and consolidation - there's no need to run all 4 of them 24/7, when just the one with a bunch of Virtuals would suffice.

I used to roll with a desktop at home, for PC Gaming and occasional developing - but have since found a laptop to be ideal for sitting on the sofa whilst coding.

comments Posted: Tuesday 26th January 2010, 22:46pm
Categories: Articles, Computers and Technology, SlickCMS, Slickhouse, Web, Work
Tags: asp, microsoft