New free tool ..COREFIG from codeplex

I have created a new GUI powershell Hyperv manager called PSHVM .. PSHVM.codeplex.com and I also intergrated it with corefig1.1, check it out or see my post about it http://stephanco.blogspot.com/2013/08/pshvm30-preview-and-it-releases-8162013.html

Corefig 1.1 for Windows Server 2012 Core and Hyper-V 3.0

Building on the foundation provided by the CoreConfig team on Core Configurator 2.0 (http://coreconfig.codeplex.com), Corefig is a PowerShell-based GUI tool to configure the 2012 releases of Server Core and Hyper-V Server.

The application structure remains largely intact from the CoreConfig product but introduces several enhancements and leverages several of the new cmdlets.

Features carried forward:

• Server renaming and domain joining
• Role and feature management
• Service control
• Remote Desktop Host and WinRM configuration
• Windows Update settings
• Display settings configuration
• Windows firewall settings
• Driver installation
• Regional settings (keyboard, date and time)
• Add Programs
• Network card settings, including TCP/IP
• Proxy configuration
• Local group membership
• Share management
• iSCSI Configuration (connecting to remote targets)
• View, start, and stop virtual machines
• Windows Server licensing

I found it to be helpful but not overly so.... I has some weirdness to it that makes it awkward to use and yes it does some things that sconfig (the blue screen menu tool) does not do, it just lacks polish and still does not really get into the creation and management of hyper-v VM's
for that go to pshvm.codeplex.com.

You will need to:

Open Powershell prompt

Type Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted and press Enter, answer Yes to allow the change.

This will allow you to run the PS1 files.

Nirsoft freeware Event Viewer.. for those of you wanting to see the server events

This has now been added to pshvm.codeplex.com a free powershell hyper-v manager project.

So windows free core server 2012 has no event viewer built into it that I can find and it was requested that I find something to view the events. I have done just that, a product from Nirsoft called MyEventViewer so easy to use it is scary. No install just download the zip file, unzip it. Map to \\YOURSERVER\C$, create ad directory C:\software\eventviewer,Copy the unzipped files to C:\software\eventviewer\ and then create a shortcut within Codyssey to C:\software\eventviewer\MyEventViewer.exe.

for further information on how to log or create alerts of of event logs go to http://www.howtogeek.com/69551/how-to-create-your-own-windows-event-log-notification-system/  

I am guessing this will require and command line emailer, and there are tons of them out there and I am not going to explain how they work since the website you download one from should have all the explanations you will ever need.

For those of you who wish to view events that and hate the GUI method this is for you.

Export Event Viewer Log from Server Core

1. To query for event log available on server Core to C:\eventlog.txt
wevtutil el > “C:\eventlog.txt”

Above command will give you event viewer name that you can export out. Let say we want to export System Log.

2. Export System Log
wevtutil epl System C:\ExportSystemLog.evtx

3. To Clear System Log
wevtutil cl System

Question was raised about auto starting a vm at boot up

In hyper-v manager it looks like this:

Options are Do nothing? Automatically start it if was running when the server went down or always start the VM and wait X number of seconds before you do so. This last option is if you have a large number of VM's it gives a pause instead of loading them all at once.

In VT Utilities it looks like this:

Options are None = Nothing, Auto start if it was previously running, and always start and hidden under the choices is the startup delay option. So it is the same, just worded different and located in a different tab.

As far as I have been able to tell all the same features or tick boxes are in VT utilities as are in Hyper-v manager they are just worded different or located in a different tab.

NOTE: Unlike VMware where you can use a GUI to set the start up order of your VM's in Hyper-v  you can use the start up delay for each VM in the same manner:

• First VM to start: set Startup delay to 0 seconds in the settings (AKA Domain Controller1)
• Second VM to start: set Startup delay to 60 seconds in the settings (AKA Domain Controller2)
• Third VM to start: set Startup delay to 120 seconds in the settings (DNS, etc)
• Etc.

Creating replica's of VM's in Hyper-v 3.0

Ok I cannot take credit for this one... It is a feature of core server 2012 that you can create replica's for redundancy or failover. This guy just wrote it up so well I had to point you to it. So read up and learn.

Deciding how to configure a VM

Lets say I have a Physical Server that has 1 dual core CPU with 4gb or RAM and a 146gb Mirrored drive, running windows 2008r2 and I want to make it a VM running on Hyper-V.

I would configure it this way:
I would look at the disk space used and then add some to spare (say 10 to 20 gb) and make my new VM drive that size and make it STATIC. You can always make it bigger or add another drive later.
I would keep the RAM the same size, but you could reduce it to 2gb if not too heavily used.
I would keep the vCPU the same.

Things to do to optimize my new VM.
I would delete the temp files and then defrag the HD
Set my swap file size to twice that of the RAM
I would then defrag the swap file, there is a tool from sysinternals that will allow to defrag a swap file

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545046

I would stop any unwanted or unused items for loading in startup or services.

Lastly if it is an older machine that has has lot of programs installed and uninstalled, I would clean the registry and compact it, then defrag it as well.

Very last I would re-run HD defrag again just to make sure it is defragged as best as it can be.

However before I did any of the above I would make a copy of the server VHD file just in case you mess something up.

Patching Windows Free Core server 2012

Well I this is very straight forward and easy.. Simply read this blog post and it will all be clear.  I found it to be down right easy and works rather well.

Newbie emailed and asked how to build VM

This has now been added to pshvm.codeplex.com a free powershell hyper-v manager project.

Rather than re-invent the wheel I will point you at a site that does just that..

Step by Step Guide to Create Windows Hyper-V Virtual Machine

Step by Step Guide to Install Windows Hyper-V Guest Operating System

This guy does a great job with pictures. Hope that helps. If ever in doubt google it! or youtube it! they have never failed me yet.