Backup Exec RALUS Add-On integrates a ReadyNAS with Backup Exec

The Backup Exec RALUS Add-On integrates a ReadyNAS with Backup Exec, improving performance and eliminating annoying error messages.


download Link: Backup Exec RALUS Add-On

NETGEAR, Inc. today announced that its award-winning ReadyNAS® line of storage appliances for Small- to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs) now supports the Remote Agent for Linux and UNIX Servers (RALUS) for Symantec Backup Exec™ for Windows Servers. Installed directly on the ReadyNAS appliance, the Symantec-produced Backup Exec agent communicates directly with Symantec Backup Exec software, providing significant performance improvements for backup, restore, archive and disaster recovery solutions in Backup Exec environments. NETGEAR is the first vendor delivering sub-$5,000 storage systems to partner with Symantec on such functionality.

You can view the full press release here: NETGEAR Improves Data Backup and Recovery for SMBs.

The following is a how-to on installing the Symantec Backup Exec™ RALUS agent with the ReadyNAS. This how-to is based on Backup Exec 12.5, but you can use it as a general reference for other versions as well.

The RALUS Add-On is supported by Backup Exec versions 12.5 and newer. It is only compatible with the ReadyNAS x86 Platform, which currently includes the Pro, NVX, 2100, and 3200 models. This add-on will not work on the NV+ and 1100.

Step 1 – Download the add-on on the ReadyNAS

Navigate to the RAIDiator x86 add-on page, and download the RALUS agent to your desktop, as seen below:

Step 2 – Install the add-on in FrontView

Navigate in FrontView to System>Update>Local. Browse for the newly downloaded add-on, and click Upload. Once it has been verified, click the Perform System Update button. Reboot the NAS if prompted.

Step 3 – Configure add-on in FrontView

Only one configuration item is needed, the Backup Exec Host, this is the Backup Exec server that the RALUS agent will announce itself to.

Step 4 – Find the agent in Backup Exec

Once the add-on has been installed and configured, it will then appear in your Backup Exec underFavorite Resources, where you can then use it as a selection in your backup jobs.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) What version of Backup Exec is supported by this RALUS agent?
1a) It was believed that versions v10.5 and newer were compatible, but from user reports, it appears only v12 and newer really are.

2) I get ‘Logon Access Denied‘ when trying to access the RALUS agent.
2a) Please add the FrontView admin user to the Backup Exec Account Selection page, as seen below.

3) I have installed the agent, and the NAS shows up, but I am unable to expand the device to view files and folders. (VX_FindDrives – RALUS Agent not authorized)
3a) Please verify that you have the RALUS agent licensed on the Media Server. Symantec article: Doc ID 307919

4) I have problems using the RALUS agent.
4a) Please contact Symantec technical support. NETGEAR has only made the Symantec RALUS agent available as a ReadyNAS add-on for ease of use. Any support issues still need to go through Symantec.

Folder C:\InetPub\LogFiles are filling up the C drive

The C drive of your Small Business Server 2008 or 2011 is filling rapidly and when you look with a disk analyzer tool like treesize or windirstat you see that the folder C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC and a 9 or 10 digit number is several or even dozens of GB. When you open one of the logfiles you see only lines with “POST /ApiRemoting30/WebService.asmx – 8530” in it.

The log file directory belongs to the WSUS Administration IIS website, this is using port 8530. But it is not WSUS that is filling these logfiles rapidly but they are filled if you let the SBS console open. Beside closing the SBS console when not needed, there are 2 option to keep the log files under control.

Option 1:
Open Administrative Tools – Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, browse through Sites and select the WSUS Administration site and open Logging.

You have 2 options, first you can set the “maximum file size (in bytes):” option under Log file rollover to limit the maximum log file size.
Second option is to completely disable logging, by choosing “Disable” on the Actions menu on the right.

Make sure after you changed anything choose Apply on the upper right and do a iisreset.

Option 2:
The another way for controlling these logfiles is, in SBS 2011 there is by default a scheduled task configured that cleans the logfiles older than 100 days. The same task is added to SBS 2008 by installing Update Rollup 5 (KB2458094) only the default setting with this task is to delete the logfile older than 30 days.

You can change the number of days by opening Administrative Tools, Task Scheduler, go to Microsoft, Windows, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, right click the WSUSLogCleaner task and choose properties. Go to the tab Actions and choose Edit…

The value given by Add arguments (optional) is the value for the number of days the logfiles will be kept. So if your logfile directory is stil really big you can decrease the number of days to something more manageable like 30 days or if this is still to much to something like 14 days.

Conclusion:
The grown of the logfiles is caused by not closing the SBS console. My logfiles have shrunken to 20% of the original size with the console open whole day. There are 2 options to control the growth of these logfiles, IIS to disable logging or maximize the logfile size or the task added in sbs 2008 rollup 5 or sbs 2011 to control the maximum number of days logfiles are kept.

Finding users who have Send-As or Full Access permissions to mailboxes

The following one-liner lists all mailboxes where another user has Send-As permissions, and who that user is:

Get-Mailbox -Resultsize Unlimited | Get-ADPermission | ? {($_.ExtendedRights -like "*send-as*") -and -not ($_.User -like "nt authority\self")} | ft Identity, User -auto

And this one-liner displays all mailboxes where another user has Full Access permissions, and who that user is:

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Get-MailboxPermission | ? {($_.AccessRights -match "FullAccess") -and -not ($_.User -like "NT AUTHORITY\SELF")} | ft Identity, User

Both of these one-liners are very useful to determine who has access to other people's mailboxes.

Error 2927 creating VM in VMM

Error (2927)
A Hardware Management error has occurred trying to contact server tools-hun-wsd.wsd.edu.
(Unknown error (0x8033811e))

Recommended Action
Check that WinRM is installed and running on server tools-hun-wsd.wsd.edu. For more information use the command "winrm helpmsg hresult".
I also ran the following
winrm helpmsg 0x8033811e
The WS-Management service cannot process the request. The WMI provider returned
an 'invalid parameter' error.

I've checked that winrm is installed and running on host servers as well as the VMM server.


For Hyper-V, you need to set up constrained delegation so the vm-host can access the necessary iso remotely. constrained delegation authorizes the proper impersonation required between the library server and the HYper-v host.

Constrained Delegation Checklist:
1. Verify that the VMM Server service (vmmservice.exe) is running under a domain account and not the LocalSystem account.
2. Open dsa.msc and connect to a Domain Controller
3. Locate the computer account of the server running Hyper-V, right-click and select Properties
4. Select 'Trust this computer for Delegation to Specified services Only'.
5. Select Use Any Autenthication Protocol
6. Click the Add button, click users or computers and search for the computer account of the server with the VMM library
7. Select the cifs service type
8. Accept the changes and close the windows. You`ll nedd to repeat these steps for each Hyper-V host that you want to link ISOs to the vmm library.

Recommended post W2K8R2 SP1 Clustering and Hyper-V Hotfixes

One of the visitors of this blog asked the question if we could publish a list of recommended post Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 hotfixes related to either Clustering or Hyper-V. Well here it is!
For a complete overview of what was rolled-up in SP1 take a look at the Excel sheet (Updates in Win7 and WS08R2 SP1.xls) which can be found on here.
Note I. Microsoft will release hotfixes if a issue occurs that needs to fixed before releasing a roll-up update or a service pack. However, the hotfix in question is intended to correct only the problem that is described in the article. Apply the hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem that is described in the articles. The hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.
Note II. Updates can be applicable to Windows Server 2008 R2 (RTM) and/or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Title	Type	Required	IC Version
KB976932: Windows 7 en Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1	Service Pack	Yes	6.1.7601.17514
KB2446607: You cannot enable BitLocker on a disk volume in Windows Server 2008 R2 if the computer is a failover cluster node	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2462576: The NFS share cannot be brought online in Windows Server 2008 R2 when you try to create the NFS share as a cluster resource on a third-party storage disk	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2485543: You cannot access or mount a Windows Server 2008 R2-based NFS share after a failover if the NFS share uses Krb5 or Krb5i authentication	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2494162: The Cluster service stops unexpectedly on a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster node when you perform multiple backup operations in parallel on a cluster shared volume	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2485986: An update is available for Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer for Windows Server 2008 R2	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2519946: Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) randomly occurs in a virtual machine that uses the RemoteFX feature in Windows Server 2008 R2	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2520235: "0x0000009E" Stop error when you add an extra storage disk to a failover cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2517329: Performance decreases in Windows Server 2008 R2 when the Hyper-V role is installed on a computer that uses Intel Westmere or Sandy Bridge processors	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2460971: MPIO failover fails on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2494036: A hotfix is available to let you configure a cluster node that does not have quorum votes in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2523676: GPU is not accessed leads to some VMs that use the RemoteFX feature to not start in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2521348: A virtual machine online backup fails in Windows Server 2008 R2 when the SAN policy is set to "Offline All"	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2494016: Stop error 0x0000007a occurs on a virtual machine that is running on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster with a cluster shared volume, and the state of the CSV is switched to redirected access	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2531907: Validate SCSI Device Vital Product Data (VPD) test fails after you install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2512715: Validate Operating System Installation Option test may identify Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core installation type incorrectly in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2	Windows Update	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2525835: MS11-047: Vulnerability in Microsoft Hyper-V could cause denial of service: June 14, 2011	Security Bulletin	Yes
KB2549448: Cluster service still uses the default time-out value after you configure the regroup time-out setting in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2549472: Cluster node cannot rejoin the cluster after the node is restarted or removed from the cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2552040: A Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster loses quorum when an asymmetric communication failure occurs	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2496034: Cluster service stops when an error occurs in the registry replication process of a failover cluster in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows Server 2008	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2550569: "0×20001" Stop error when you start a Linux VM in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2580360: A heap memory leak occurs when an application or service queries the MSCluster_Resource WMI class in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2582281: Slow failover operation if no router exists between the cluster and an application server	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2575625: Cluster service initiates a failover after a delay of about 80 seconds when you shutdown the active node in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2578113: The Cluster service takes about 30 seconds to fail over IPv6 IP addresses in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2579052: New registration entries are added to the Persistent Reservation table when the physical disk resource that is associated with the CSV is taken offline on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based Failover Cluster	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2550886: A transient communication failure causes a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to stop working	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2550894: Cluster service leaks memory when the service handles state change notifications in Windows Server 2008 R2	Cluster Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2547551: Hyper-V Export function consumes all available memory in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Server 2008 R2	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation
KB2550894: Cluster service leaks memory when the service handles state change notifications in Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 NEW!	Hyper-V Hotfix	Yes, only applicable to described situation

The information is gathered from a number of places. First of all the from the monthly or two-monthly “released knowledge base articles” that we publish on this blog which can be found here: February, March, April, May-Juneand July-August (yet to be unpublished). Besides these overviews I used these websites for layout and checks: “List of Hyper-V Packages Updated After the Release of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)” and “List of Cluster Hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2”.

Google Plus

Google+ ist ja momentan in aller Munde, somit gibt es auf Youtube auch bereits einen Google+ Song, der ganz amüsant ist. Wer noch eine Einladung für Google+ benötigt kann diesen Link benutzen. Wer mich auf Google+ zu den Circles adden möchte kann dies hier tun.
Viel Spass mit dem Video.

Mac OS X Lion: create a bootable USB or DVD support with one click

A new open-source application called Lion DiskMaker will let you create that with just one click.

Lion DiskMaker is a very simple to use and fast application.

After launching the app, it will locate your Mac OS X Lion installer in the ~/Applications folder, or tries to find it usingSpotlight.

Once located you can create your own bootable OS X Lion Installer on a DVD or on a USB key or SD-Card.

Great tool, highly recommended.

This is the developer’s site where you can find more info and the download link.

Unterschiedliche Teamviewer ID nach Rechner Clonen

Habe heute bei einen Pc geklont - leider mußte ich feststellen das die Teamviewer ID auch nach der Deinstallation/Installation immer die selbe ist. :-(

Lösung:

• Teamviewer beenden
• Deinstallation von TeamViewer
• Von Sysinternal VolumeID herunterladen // Link: (http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/sysinternals/bb897436)
• VolumeId ausführen Beispiel: C:\Volumeid.exe C: 1234-1234
• PC neu starten
• Teamviewer installieren

Druckprobleme mit MAC OS 10.6.8 und Xerox WorkCentre

Hatte heute bei einem Kunden folgendes Problem:

Seit dem Update 10.6.8 vom Snow Leopard (MAc OS 10.6) funktioniert das Drucken auf Xerox WorkCentre nicht mehr. Der Drucker ist angehalten!!! siehe Bild

DIE LÖSUNG
Ladet euch folgende Datei herunter - Installieren - Drucken

Konfiguration SCVMM 2008 R2's PRO Feature mit SCOM 2007 R2

Heute habe ich Unterstützung von einem Consultant von Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS). Sein Name ist Jörg Ostermann und er ist Spezialist im Bereich Virtualisierung und  Management u.a. mit den Produkten System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) und System Center Operations Manager (SCOM).
Nachdem ich den Aufbau einer Demoumgebung (http://blogs.technet.com/germanvirtualizationblog/archive/tags/Demoumgebung/default.aspx) mit Windows Server, Hyper-V, Clustering und dem SCVMM beschrieben habe geht es jetzt daran das Monitoring mit SCOM zu integrieren. Die eigentliche Installation des SCOM beschreibe ich an dieser Stelle noch nicht. Sollte ich entsprechendes Feedback bekommen, werde ich dies natürlich in der Demoumgebung nachholen.
Jetzt aber zum Artikel mit einer Step-by-Step Anleitung zur Konfiguration der Integration von SCVMM und SCOM und das Einschalten der PRO Funktionalität. Ein kurzer Satz zu PRO. PRO steht für Performance and Ressource Optimization (die deutsche Übersetzung finde ich hier nicht sehr gelungen :-)) und integriert verschiedene Bereiche in das Monitoring und Management. Dazu gehören

• Performance Daten und Werte
• Hardware Überwachung und darauf basierend Auslösen von Aktionen
• Anwendungs und Workload Überwachung und darauf basierend Auslösen von Aktionen

Step-by-Step Anleitung Konfiguration SCVMM 2008 R2's PRO Feature mit SCOM 2007 R2

Voraussetzungen und Annahmen für diese Integrationsanleitung:

• System Center Operation Manager 2007 SP1 / 2007R2 (SCOM) ist installiert und funktioniert einwandfrei
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008R2 (SCVMM) ist installiert und funktioniert einwandfrei
• SCVMM Server und HOST Systeme werden mit SCOM überwacht
• Als SCVMM Servicekonto wird das Computer-Konto des SCVMM verwendet
• Konto mit administrativen Berechtigungen im SCOM ist vorhanden
• Konto mit administrativen Berechtigungen im SCVMM ist vorhanden

Schritt 1: Import der notwendigen SCOM Management Packs

Falls nicht bereits geschehen, müssen die folgenden Management Packs im SCOM importiert werden:

• Windows Server Operating System
• SQL Server MP
• IIS 2003 und 2008 MP

Die Management Packs können unter dem folgenden Link heruntergeladen werden:
http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/systemcenter/managementpackcatalog

Schritt 2: Konfiguration der Berechtigungen

1. SCVMM Server Konto in die SCOM Admin Gruppe aufnehmen
2. SCOM Action Accounts in die VMM Admin Rolle aufnehmen
3. SCVMM Server Konto in die lokale Admin Gruppe des RMS aufnehmen
4. Sollte der SCOM SDK Service unter einem Domänenkonto laufen, muss unter Umständen noch der „Service Principal Name“ im Active Directory erneut registriert werden. Abhängig von der Umgebungskonfiguration kann der SPN bei der Integration eventuell nicht korrekt aufgelöst werden. Um dies zu vermeiden, sollte die Registrierung im Vorfeld erneut durchgeführt werden. Dies geschieht mit den beiden nachfolgenden Befehlen:
• setspn -A MSOMSdkSvc/<RMS FQDN> <domain\Service Account Name>
• setspn -A MSOMSdkSvc/<RMS NETBIOSNAME> <domain\Service Account Name>
5. Neustart des NETLOGON Dienstes auf dem SCVMM Server und SCOM Root Management Server, damit die Einstellungen und Gruppenmitgliedschaften geladen werden.

Schritt 3: Integration von SCVMM und SCOM

Hinweis: Wenn SCVMM und SCOM auf demselben Server installiert sind, bitte den Punkte 1 überspringen. Die SCVMM Konsole wird dann im weiteren Verlauf installiert.

1. Installation der SCVMM Administrator Konsole auf dem SCVMM Server
2. Installation der SCOM Administrator Konsole auf dem SCVMM Server
3. Melden Sie sich am SCOM Root Management Server mit einem Konto an, dass über administrative Berechtigungen in SCOM verfügt
4. Deinstallieren Sie die evtl. vorhandenen SCVMM Administrator Konsole vom SCOM Root Management Server (Sie wird im weiteren Verlauf wieder installiert)
5. Auf dem SCOM Root Management Server starten Sie bitte das Setup von der SCVMM Installations CD und wählen Sie „Configure Operations Manager“ aus
   Das Setup führt folgende Schritte durch:
• Import des SCOM Management Packs für SCVMM, einschl. der benötigten Management Packs für die PRO Tipps
• Zuweisung der notwendigen Berechtigungen für das VMM Servicekonto (run as account) in SCOM
• Installation der SCVMM Administrator Konsole
6. Starten Sie die SCVMM Administrator Konsole und verbinden Sie sich mit dem SCVMM Server
7. Wechseln Sie in der Navigationsleiste zu „Administration“ und wählen Sie hier dann bitte den Punkt „System Center“ aus
8. Hier wählen Sie bitte den Punkt „Operations Manager Server“ aus und tragen Sie hier den SCOM Root Management Server ein.
9. Unter dem Punkt „Operations Manager Reporting URL“ können Sie, wenn verfügbar, die Webadresse Ihres SCOM Reporting Servers eintragen.
10. Auf allen SCOM Management Servern muss nun noch die SCMM Administrator Konsole installiert werden

Schritt 4: Weitere SCVMM Server integrieren

Überprüfen Sie ob:

• Das SCVMM Server Konto Mitglied in der SCOM Admin Gruppe ist
• Das VMM Server Konto Mitglied in der lokale Admin Gruppe des RMS ist

Sollte einer der Punkte noch konfiguriert werden müssen entweder den NETLOGON Dienst oder den SCVMM Server neu starten.
Anschließend führen Sie die nachfolgenden Schritte aus:

1. Starten Sie die SCVMM Administrator Konsole und verbinden Sie sich mit dem SCVMM Server
2. Wechseln Sie in der Navigationsleiste zu „Administration“ und wählen Sie hier dann bitte den Punkt „System Center“ aus
3. Hier wählen Sie bitte den Punkt „Operations Manager Server“ aus und tragen Sie hier den SCOM Root Management Server ein
4. Unter dem Punkt „Operations Manager Reporting URL“ können Sie, wenn verfügbar, die Webadresse Ihres SCOM Reporting Servers eintragen.

Zu dem Thema gibt es div. weiterführende Links auf Technet und in Blogs der Program Manager von SCVMM. Hier eine kleine Auswahl:

• http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/cc764283.aspx
• http://blogs.technet.com/m2/archive/2008/05/12/how-to-configure-the-integration-between-vmm-and-opsmgr.aspx
• http://blogs.technet.com/rakeshm/archive/2008/08/22/configuring-scvmm-2008-s-pro-feature-with-ops-manager.aspx

Viel Spaß beim Virtualisieren

Step-by-step: Using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target with Hyper-V (Standalone, Full, VHD)

Overview

In this post, I will show all the steps required to run Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V with the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target. We will cover the specific scenario of a standalone Windows Server 2008 server (as opposed to a clustered one) on a full install (as opposed to a core install) and using a VHD file (as opposed a pass-through disk).
In order to follow these instructions you will need at least two computers. One computer will run a full install of Windows Server 2008 with the Hyper-V role enabled. The other computer needs to be a Windows Storage Server (WSS) with the iSCSI pack or Windows Unified Data Storage Server (WUDSS). Optionally, you could add a Client for your Virtual Machine and a computer for remote Hyper-V Management.

Configuring the Networks

For your server running Hyper-V, you should consider having at least three Network Interface Cards (NICs). One will be dedicated to iSCSI traffic. The second will be connected to the Virtual Switch and used for traffic going to your virtual machine. The third NIC you will dedicate to remote management. This configuration is showed in the diagram below:
 

Checking the Windows Storage Server

WSS (with the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target) comes preinstalled from the hardware vendor. This special OS release is not available the Microsoft sales channels like software retailers or volume licensing. You can find more information about WSS and WUDSS at http://www.microsoft.com/storageserver. Windows Storage Server 2008 is also available from MSDN or TechNet subscriber downloads for non-production use (see details athttp://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2009/05/13/windows-storage-server-2008-with-the-microsoft-iscsi-software-target-3-2-available-to-msdn-and-technet-plus-subscribers.aspx).
You should make sure you have the proper credentials (username and password) with administrator privileges on the Storage Server. You should also make sure you have remote access to the Storage Server via Remote Desktop. Once you log on to the Storage Server via Remote Desktop, verify that you can locate the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target Management Console (MMC), which can be found in the Administration Tools menu. From a Storage Server perspective, we’ll perform all the configuration actions using the iSCSI Target MMC.
 

Checking the Server running Hyper-V

On the server running Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, you should make sure to run Windows Update to get the latest updates. This will ensure that you have the final release of Hyper-V, not the beta version that was released with Windows Server 2008.
You will also need to enable the Hyper-V role. This is done using Server Manager by right-clicking the “Roles” node on the tree on the left and selecting “Add Roles”.

This will bring up the “Add Roles Wizard”, where you will find “Hyper-V” on the list of roles:
 
While configuring the Hyper-V role on the wizard, you should see the three (or more) NICs on your server on the “Create Virtual Networks” step.
Make sure you do not select the NICs used for iSCSI traffic and Hyper-V remote management in the “Create Virtual Networks”.

You will need to restart the server after you add the Hyper-V role.

Loading the iSCSI Initiator

The next step now is to configure the iSCSI initiator on the Hyper-V server.
You can find the “iSCSI Initiator” under “Administrative Tools” in Windows Server 2008. You can also find it in the “Control Panel”.
The first time you load the iSCSI initiator, it will ask you two questions.
The first question is about loading the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service every time:

The second question is about configuring the firewall to allow the iSCSI traffic:

You should click on “Yes” for both questions.
After that, the iSCSI Initiator Properties windows will load, showing the “General” tab.
This tab gives you an important piece of information: your initiator name or IQN. We’ll need this later when configuring the target:

Configuring the target portal

The next step is configure the initiator with the address of your iSCSI target portal.
In our case, this is the computer running Windows Storage Server and the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target.
In the iSCSI Initiator Properties window, select the “Discovery” tab and add the IP address of the Storage Server to the list of Target Portals.

Click on “Add Portal…” to add the information. You will need the IP address of your Storage Server at this point. Port 3260 is the default.

Here’s the screen after the Target Portal is added:

Now, if you switch over the “Targets” tab of the iSCSI Initiator Properties windows, you will see this:

This blank list of targets is expected at this point, since we haven’t configured any targets yet.
We’ll do that next.

Creating the iSCSI Target

Now we switch over the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target side, on the Windows Storage Server.
We will create the target using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target MMC we mentioned before.

After starting the wizard, skip the introduction page by clicking “Next”.

Next, you will provide the name and description for the target. We’ll be using simply “T1” for the name.

On the following screen, you need to provide the identification for the target.
Here you can use an IQN (iSCSI Qualified Name) or you can use the advanced setting to go with an IP address, DNS name or MAC address.

Since our initiator in this case already contacted the Storage Server, you can simply click on “Browse” and pick the IQN from there.

Once you get the right IQN, click “Next” to proceed.

Finally, click “Finish” to create the target.

Adding LUNs to the iSCSI Target

Now that the target is created, you need to add virtual disks or LUNs to it. These will be the logical units that will be presented to the initiator.
You will do this by right-clicking the target T1 and selecting the option to “Create Virtual Disks for iSCSI Target”.

You will start the wizard. Click “Next” on the introduction page.

Next, you will provide a path to the file to use as your virtual disk or LUN. This file will have a VHD extension.

Next, you will specify the size for the virtual disk or LUN. We’ll create a 20GB LUN here, which is enough to install Windows Server 2008 later on. The iSCSI target uses fixed-sized VHD files, but you can extend them if needed.

Next, you will specify a description for the virtual disk or LUN.

Finally, click “Finish” to create the virtual disk. Depending on the size, it could take a while.

At this point, you can see the target and its virtual disk on the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target MMC:

You can check the properties of the target, including the target IQN, by right-clicking the target name and clicking on “Properties”.

Now we go back to the initiator side.

Configuring the iSCSI Initiator targets

When we last checked the “Targets” tab of the iSCSI Initiator Properties windows, we had an empty list.
With the target properly configured, you should see the it showing after you click on “Refresh”:

Now you need to click on “Log on…” to connect to the target.
On the “Log On to Target” window, be sure to check the box to “Automatically restore this connection when the computer starts”.

Once you log on, the target status will change to “Connected”.

The LUN should also appear in the list of “Volumes and Devices” in the iSCSI Initiator Properties:

Now we need to work on that LUN to turn it into an NTFS volume with a drive letter.
That is done in Disk Management.

Preparing the Volume

If you followed all the steps so far, you should already have the LUN as an offline, uninitialized, unallocated volume in Server Manager, under Disk Management:

The first thing you need to do here is to online the volume, by right-clicking on the disk:

The volume will be onlined automatically if you are running the Standard Edition of Windows Server 2008.
After that, the volume will be online, but still uninitialized. You will then select the option to “Initialize Disk”:

At this point you need to select a partition style (MBR or GPT). The older MBR style is commonly used for small partitions. GPT is required for partitions larger than 2TB.

After this, you have a basic disk online which you could use to create an NTFS volume. If you right click it again, there will be an option to create a “New Simple Volume”.

Once you go through that wizard, format the volume and assign it a drive letter, you will have the final result in Disk Management as drive E:

We’ll use this drive E: as our storage for Hyper-V.

Creating the Virtual Machine

Last but not least, we must now create our Virtual Machine. We’ll do this in the Hyper-V Manager:

There are two places in the New Virtual Machine Wizard where you will refer to the E: disk.
The first one is when you select the location of your virtual machine configuration files:

The second one is when you specify the location of the virtual hard drive used by that virtual machine:

In this case, by using the wizard, we selected the default option of using a Dynamically Expanding VHD file that is exposed to the child partition as Virtual IDE.
You can verify that looking at the settings for the resulting Virtual Machine:

If you click on the “Inspect” button, you can see it’s a Dynamic VHD:

You could, of course, use any of the other types of VHD files or even a pass-through disk, but that’s a topic for another blog post…

Conclusion

I hope this blog post has helped you understand all the steps required to use the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target to provision storage for your Windows Server 2008 server running Hyper-V.
This post covered a scenario where Hyper-V runs on a full install of Windows Server 2008, using a VHD file on the parent and without Failover Clustering.