ptg6432687 190 6 Managing, Administering, and Maintaining a Hyper-V Host Server FIGURE 6.19 The Event Viewer filter. Some warnings and errors are normal because of bandwidth constraints or other environ- mental issues. The more you monitor the logs, the more familiar you will become with the messages and, therefore, the more likely you will be able to spot a problem before it affects the user community. TIP You might need to increase the size of the log files in Event V i e wer t o a c c o m m o d a t e a n increase in logging activity. The default log sizes are larger in Windows 2008 than in earlier versions of Windows, which were notorious for running out of space. Weekly Maintenance Maintenance procedures that require slightly less attention than daily checking are catego- rized in a weekly routine and are examined in the following sections. Checking Disk Space Disk space is a precious commodity. Although the disk capacity of a Windows 2008 system can be nearly endless, the amount of free space on all drives should be checked at least weekly if not more frequently. Whereas a single server may grow disk space demands at a steady pace, with several virtual guest sessions running on a Hyper-V host server the use of disk space can occur exponentially. Serious problems can occur if there isn’t enough disk space, so checking both guest session available disk space and the host server system Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 191 Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Systems 6 will ensure an image or server won’t unexpectedly run out of disk space to cache files, queue up messages, or buffer database growth required by the system. One of the most common disk space problems occurs on data drives where end users save and modify information. Other volumes such as the system drive, and partitions with logging data can also quickly fill up. As mentioned earlier, lack of free disk space can cause a multitude of problems including the following: . Application failures . System crashes . Unsuccessful backup jobs . Service failures . The inability to audit . Performance degradation To prevent these problems from occurring, administrators should keep the amount of free space to at least 25%. CAUTION If you need to free disk space, you should move or delete files and folders with cau- tion. System files are automatically protected by Windows 2008, but data is not. Verifying Hardware These days, hardware systems tend to be pretty reliable unlike a decade or two ago when the quality control on memory chips, hard drives, and the like dictated that a burn-in period was required for all servers to work through faulty components. However, even though reliability is much better today than years past, this doesn’t mean that they’ll always run continuously without failure. Hardware availability is measured in terms of mean time between failures (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). This includes down- time for both planned and unplanned events. These measurements provided by the manufacturer are good guidelines to follow; however, mechanical parts are bound to fail at one time or another. Therefore, hardware should be monitored weekly to ensure efficient operation. Hardware can be monitored in many different ways. For example, server systems might have internal checks and logging functionality to warn against possible failure, Windows 2008’s System Monitor might bring light to a hardware failure, and a physical hardware check can help to determine whether the system is about to experience a problem with the hardware. If a failure has occurred or is about to occur, having an inventory of spare hardware can significantly improve the chances and timing of recoverability. Checking system hardware on a weekly basis provides the opportunity to correct the issue before it becomes a problem. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 192 6 Managing, Administering, and Maintaining a Hyper-V Host Server Monthly Maintenance It is recommended that you perform the tasks examined in the following sections on a monthly basis. Testing the UPS An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can be used to protect the system or group of systems from power failures (such as spikes and surges) and keep the system running long enough after a power outage so that an administrator can gracefully shut down the system. It is recommended that an administrator follow the UPS guidelines provided by the manufacturer at least once a month. Also, monthly scheduled battery tests should be performed. Validating Backups Once a month, an administrator should validate backups by restoring the backups to a server located in a lab environment. This is in addition to verifying that backups were successful from log files or the backup program’s management interface. A restore gives the administrator the opportunity to verify the backups and to practice the restore proce- dures that would be used when recovering the server during a real disaster. In addition, this procedure tests the state of the backup media to ensure that they are in working order and builds administrator confidence for recovering from a true disaster. Updating Documentation An integral part of managing and maintaining any IT environment is to document the network infrastructure and procedures. The following are just a few of the documents you should consider having on hand: . Server build guides . Disaster-recovery guides and procedures . Checklists . Configuration settings . Change configuration logs . Historical performance data . Special user rights assignments . Special application settings As systems and services are built and procedures are ascertained, document these facts to reduce learning curves, administration, and maintenance. It is not only important to adequately document the IT environment, but it’s often even more important to keep those documents up-to-date. Otherwise, documents can quickly become outdated as the environment, processes, and procedures change as the business changes. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 193 Performing Management Tasks with Server Manager 6 Quarterly Maintenance As the name implies, quarterly maintenance is performed four times a year. Areas to main- tain and manage on a quarterly basis are typically fairly self-sufficient and self-sustaining. Infrequent maintenance is required to keep the system healthy. This doesn’t mean, however, that the tasks are simple or that they aren’t as critical as those tasks that require more frequent maintenance. Checking Storage Limits Storage capacity on all volumes should be checked to ensure that all volumes have ample free space. Keep approximately 25% free space on all volumes. Running low or completely out of disk space creates unnecessary risk for any system. Services can fail, applications can stop responding, and systems can even crash if there isn’t plenty of disk space. Changing Administrator Passwords Administrator passwords should, at a minimum, be changed every quarter (90 days). Changing these passwords strengthens security measures so that systems can’t easily be compromised. In addition to changing passwords, other password requirements such as password age, history, length, and strength should be reviewed. Performing Management Tasks with Server Manager Server Manager is a tool that comes with Windows Server 2008 that provides a central location for managing roles and features on a Windows 2008 system. Server Manager has been used several times already in this chapter for the installation of Windows Backup features or to enable Remote Desktop connections. The balance of this chapter covers other tasks within Server Manager specific to Hyper-V and its server components. Server Manager in general enables the administrator to complete the following steps: . Add and remove roles and features from the server . Monitor and manage the server . Administer the roles and features on the server Server Manager is a one-stop shop for all the administrator management and monitoring needs. The features of Server Manager are available via the Server Manager console. Selecting the server name in the folder tree will show the Server Manager main window in the Details pane. This consists of several section windows. The Server Summary window (shown in Figure 6.20) shows computer information such as the computer name, network- ing information, and whether Remote Desktop is enabled. It also shows security informa- tion such as whether Windows Firewall is enabled and the Windows Updates status. The Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 194 6 Managing, Administering, and Maintaining a Hyper-V Host Server FIGURE 6.20 Server Manager Server Summary window. window also has active links that enable the administrator to launch wizards to change the configuration or get help. Server Manager launches automatically when the Initial Configuration Wizard is closed and each time a user logs on to the server. The next sections discuss the components and features of Server Manager. Server Manager Roles Page The Server Manager console has a folder tree dedicated to the roles of the server. When the Hyper-V role was installed on the host system as covered in Chapter 3 of this book, the Hyper-V Server role was added to the Roles folder in Server Manager. Selecting the Roles folder in the console tree shows a summary of the roles installed on the server (which Hyper-V will be shown) and a summary page for each of the roles. The summary page for each role shows the role status, such as the status of the system services and the events for the role. However, selecting the folder for a specific role shows the Server Manager role-specific page for that role. The role-specific pages are dedicated to the role and contain operational Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 195 Performing Management Tasks with Server Manager 6 information about the role. The following sections discuss the sections included in the role-specific page. Events Section There is a problem with going to the full Event Viewer and seeing all the events for all roles, services, and the operating system. There is usually so much information that it ends up overloading the administrator, making it difficult to see real problems. The Events section in the role-specific page addresses this by presenting only the role-specific events. From the Events section, the administrator can see a summary of the events that pertain to the role, review the details of the events, and filter the events as needed. The default filter shows only events in the past 24 hours, but this can be adjusted via the Filter Events control. The full Event Viewer can also be launched from this section. System Services Section The System Services section lists the services that the role depends on and their status. It also describes each service and includes control links to stop, start, restart, and to config- ure preferences. The Preferences control allows the administrator to adjust the dependency services. For example, in Hyper-V, some of the corresponding services used for Hyper-V that may be displayed in the System Services section include the following: . Microsoft Hyper-V Image Management Service . Microsoft Hyper-V Networking Management . Virtual Machine Management Resources and Support Section The Resources and Support section is a useful section. It provides a brief recommendation on configurations, best practices, and links to resources. The recommendations are listed in a window; highlighting the recommendation shows a brief explanation of the recom- mendation with a link to a more detailed explanation. This is great for researching the recommendations. The section also includes links to online resources, such as the appro- priate TechCenter and Community Center for the role. For example, the Resources and Support section for Hyper-V role (shown in Figure 6.21) includes five different recommendations on configuration optimization. One of the recommendations is “Increase the availability of your virtual machines by using clustering to configure failover for the physical computer.” Highlighting this recommendation shows a brief paragraph explaining the recommendation and includes a link to get more detailed information about the recommendation. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 196 6 Managing, Administering, and Maintaining a Hyper-V Host Server FIGURE 6.21 Resources and Support section. An important note is that these recommendations are static and don’t adjust to changes in the environment. Server Manager Diagnostics Page The Diagnostics page in Server Manager consolidates three different consoles into a conve- nient location. The three consoles are as follows: . Event Viewer . Reliability and Performance . Device Manager The next sections review the various features of the three consoles on the Diagnostics page. Event Viewer The Windows 2008 Event Viewer functionality has been improved over the previous version of Windows Server. The version in Windows 2008 is the version that released in Windows Vista. The event logs can contain an overwhelming volume of information, which the new Event Viewer summarizes and drills into very effectively. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 197 Performing Management Tasks with Server Manager 6 Selecting the Event Viewer folder under Diagnostics shows the Overview and Summary page. The Summary of Administrative Events section on this page shows a high-level summary of the administrative events, organized by level: . Critical . Error . Warning . Information . Audit Success . Audit Failure The view shows the total number of events in the past hour, 24 hours, 7 days, and the total. Each of these nodes can be expanded to show the counts of particular event IDs within each level. Double-clicking the event ID count shows a detailed list of the events with the matching event ID. This is useful for drilling on the specific events to see when they are occurring. The Overview and Summary page also has a Log Summary section, which shows a list of all the various logs on the server. This is important because there are now more than 100 different logs in Windows 2008. In addition to the standard system, security, and applica- tion logs, there is a setup log and a forwarded events log. Then there are the numerous application and services logs, which include logs for each application, service, and a huge number of diagnostic and debugging logs. For each of the logs, the Log Summary section shows the log name, current size, maximum size, last modification, if it is enabled, and what the retention policy for the log is. This allows the administrator to quickly see the status of all the logs, which would be a daunting task otherwise. Of course, the logs can be viewed directly by expanding the Windows Logs folder or the Applications and Services Logs folder. The Windows Logs folder contains all the standard application, security, setup, system, and forwarded events logs. The applications and services logs contain all the other ones. Custom views can be created to filter events and combine logs into a coherent view. There is a default Administrative Events view, which combines the critical, error, and warning events from all the administrative logs. There is also a custom view created for each role that is installed on the server. New ones can be created by the administrator as needed. Subscriptions can collect events from remote computers and store them in the forwarded events log. The events to be collected are specified in the subscription. The functionality depends on the Windows Remote Management (WinRM) and the Windows Event Collector (Wecsvc) services and they must be running on both the collecting and forward- ing servers. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 198 6 Managing, Administering, and Maintaining a Hyper-V Host Server FIGURE 6.22 Resource Overview graph. Server Manager Reliability and Performance Monitor The Reliability and Performance monitor is incorporated into Server Manager, too. The Reliability and Performance Monitor was introduced with the Windows Vista platform. This diagnostic tool enables the administrator to monitor the performance of the server in real time and to save the performance data to logs for analysis. The top-level folder of the Reliability and Performance monitor displays the Resource Overview. This gives a comprehensive overview of the CPU, disk, network, and memory utilization during the past 60 seconds (shown in Figure 6.22). The graph shows the server overall usage for each of the four categories. In addition, a Details pane for each of the categories shows the utilization by process. The Monitoring Tools in the Reliability and Performance monitor contain the Performance Monitor and the Reliability Monitor. These tools enable you to monitor the performance and reliability of the server. The Performance Monitor has not really changed from earlier versions of Windows. It allows you to select performance counters and add them to a graph view for real-time monitoring. The graph can be configured to be a line graph, a bar graph, or even a simple text report of the counters being monitored. The monitor shows the last, average, minimum, maximum, and duration of the windows (1 minute 40 seconds by default). Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 199 Performing Management Tasks with Server Manager 6 The Reliability Monitor tracks events that could potentially affect the stability of the server, such as updates, installs, and hardware issues. It uses this information to generate a System Stability Index, which is a number between 1 (least stable) to 10 (most stable). The index tracks the following: . Software Installs/Uninstalls . Application Failures . Hardware Failures . Windows Failures . Miscellaneous Failures It plots all these events on the chart and uses them to compute the System Stability Index. This is useful for assessing the overall health of the server and for troubleshooting. You can see these events on the chart over time and see how they potentially impact the stability of the server, and then correlate the events to actual stability issues. Finally, for longer-term tracking, the Data Collector Sets can be used. Data Collector Sets can log data from the following data sources: . Performance counters . Event traces . Registry key values This data can be logged over an extended period of time and then reviewed. Device Manager The Device Manager node shows the hardware that is installed on the server. It shows the hardware grouped by type of device, such as disk drives, display adapters, and network adapters. Each instance of the device type is listed in a node underneath the device type. The Device Manager can be used to update the device drivers of the hardware, to change settings, and to troubleshoot issues with the hardware. Specifically, you can perform the following tasks: . Scan for new hardware . Identify hardware problems . Adjust configurations . View device driver versions . Update the device drivers . Roll back device driver upgrades . Enable or disable hardware For example, sometimes older video drivers or network card drivers will cause problems with the system. It is easy to check the Microsoft online driver repository using Device Download at www.wowebook.com . basis. Testing the UPS An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can be used to protect the system or group of systems from power failures (such as spikes and surges) and keep the system running. volumes have ample free space. Keep approximately 25% free space on all volumes. Running low or completely out of disk space creates unnecessary risk for any system. Services can fail, applications. for a specific role shows the Server Manager role-specific page for that role. The role-specific pages are dedicated to the role and contain operational Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 195 Performing