First, let me introduce how this gadget will look like after getting it installed from Microsoft Download Center (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27747)

Desktop Gadget Interface

Search Feature on TechNet Desktop Gadget
First feature that I’m going to write about is the Search capability which is available with this tool. In the search field, a user can specify any search keywords which will do a search within TechNet forums and provide results in a web page as shown below.

Desktop Gadget Options

Next let me talk about gadget options which are available on this Desktop Gadget. If you select Options it will open Gadget options menu which provide below mentioned configurable options. These options are related to thread Updates and also favorite forums selection helps you to identify forums in which you can post questions using “Ask a Question” button.

We need to select favorite forums using “Choose your favorite forums”section. This will help you to Post questions in relevant forums and also you can use favorite forums to view feed updates from “Thread Updates” section.

I will configure few forums as my favorite forums and also leave the option “Show updates from my favorite forums”. We will come back to this section and see what will be the result if we select “Show updates from my threads” by providing a Display Name.

If I now select Thread updates button, we can see all updated thread from my favorite forums and this is an easy way to keep updated about questions or activities in favorite forums.

Let’s jump back to Options and see what results we get if we set the option to “Show Updates from my Threads

After selecting “Thread Updates” I can see all the threats which we have replied or subscribed easily within the gadget.

Ask a Question

After selecting favorite forums, I can now go ahead and post questions in my favorite forums using TechNet Desktop Gadget.

After selecting a forum in which I need to post, gadget will open a web page which will allow me to post a query directly in to the forum.

Priority Support

Priority Support is an option which is available for TechNet/MSDN Subscribers, which provides two business days response time by Microsoft Engineers. For more information relating to Priority Subscriber support please visit (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ms788697.aspx)

Forum FAQ

Forum FAQ provides frequently asked questions for Forum users which now can be easily accessed using this Desktop Gadget Tool

Please find below link to download TechNet/MSDN Desktop Gadget from Microsoft Download Center.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27747

Download Links

• Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell (32-bit version)
• Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell (64-bit version)

After installing Online Services Module, we can run Online Services Module from the start menu –> Programs –> Microsoft Online Services

Once you open PowerShell Online Services module it will import Online Services modules in to PowerShell

As the first step, we need to get connected to our Office 365 account and for that we need to use “Connect-MsolService” cmdlet

soon after you will be prompted to enter your user credentials which you are using to Administrate Office 365 account

after entering your credentials, you will successfully get connected to your Office 365 account. Now you can administrate your Office 365 account using Powershell

let’s try with “Get-MsolUser” cmdlet and see whether we can get a list of users whom I have created.

find below reference link to get information about more PowerShell cmdlets which are available for you to administrate your Office 365 Account.

http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/hh125002.aspx

Step 01 -> visit https://portal.microsoftonline.com

Step 02 –> Use Office 365 Username & Password to login to Office 365 Portal

Step 03 –> After successfully logging in to Office 365 Portal, navigate to “Outlook” section to access your emails (Outlook Link highlighted in Yellow)

Step 04 –> Select your time zone – in this example I have selected UTC+5:30 which is the time zone for Sri Lanka

Step 06 –> Access your Inbox

You will notice that you are also logged in to LYNC which you can use to IM with your colleagues.

find below link to access this new web site

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/

Description of Update Rollup 5

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2582113

Download link for Update rollup 5

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27193

When trying to install WebsitePanel 1.2 on Windows Server 2008 R2, I got an error saying that there’s no appropriate permission to perform the installation when using the shortcut which gets created on the desktop.

I noticed that this problem is caused due to not having proper permissions to install the product

I managed to navigate towards the temporary installation directory and run Websitepanel.silentinstaller as an administrator

I will proceed to allow websitepanel to run

you will notice that after running as an administrator I was able to install WebsitePanel Installer and install required components.

After configuring two nodes with IIS, let’s go ahead and install Windows Network Load Balancing feature using the Server Manager.

Using Server manager, we can add new features by right clicking on the features section and selecting “Add features”. After selecting add features options it will initiate “Add Features Wizard” which will allow us to select “Network Load Balancing” features to be installed in our system. We need to install Network Load Balancing feature on both nodes.

After we click next, we will get a confirmation page to install Network Load Balancing Feature

Now that we have installed Network Load Balancing Feature, a summary page is given.

We have now completed, installation procedure, which will allow us to start Network Load Balancing Manager from administrative tools

You should receive a similar interface which enables you to create Network Load Balancing Clusters using Network Load Balancing Manager

Next, let’s go ahead and create a new Network Load Balancing Cluster

We need to connect to our First Node and select an interface. Since I’m having only one interface, I will proceed to the next step

Next we need to provide Host parameters. ip address of my selected network adapter will be automatically added in to this section.

Next we need to set a Cluster IP(Virtual IP) for clients to connect to our Load Balancing Cluster. by pressing Add button we can add an IP Address

We need to specify Cluster IP in the below mentioned window

After we add a new IP, it will be visible in “Cluster IP Addresses” Section and we can proceed to the next step

Next we need to specify Cluster Parameters. In the Cluster operation mode I will be selecting Multicast operation mode as I have only one adapter. For more information relating to Cluster operations Mode please visit Technet article (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc782694(WS.10).aspx). I will also explain in a different blog post more on Unicast and Multicast Client IP request distribution methods.

Next we can configure port rules. By default from 0 to 65535 ports will be opened. We will keep this as it is and continue

Now that we have completed creating a Network Load Balancing Cluster, we can review configuration from Network load balancing manager.

As we have already configured the first NODE, let’s go ahead and add the second node to this cluster

Similar to our configuration with the first node, we need to run through the wizard and add the second node to our cluster.

We will also leave out port rules console as it is and proceed

After we finish adding the second node, we can refresh and see whether both nodes are working without any issues. It’s possible for us to see that the status of both nodes are now set to converged state.

We can now connect to the cluster IP or name and access IIS web page utilizing load balancing capabilities between both nodes.

If I disable a network adapter or shutdown a node, it’s reflected in the NLB Manager and shows that the node is “unreachable”

I hope you find this post on configuring a TWO node IIS Network Load Balancing Cluster useful.

Using Failover Cluster Management Console, we can create a new cluster as you can see below

After, selecting Create Cluster option, Create Cluster Wizard will appear, which will guide you through the process of creating a new cluster.

Next, we need to add servers which we are planning to include in this cluster.

I will search from my active directory and add two nodes which I have already validated as my cluster nodes.

Next, we need to specify an IP Address and also a name for Cluster Administration

After providing necessary information, next we have a summary/confirmation page

After selecting next, wizard will start creating a cluster based on information which we provided

As the final step, we can see a summary page which contains information relating the cluster which we created. We can also select “View Report” which will give us a more detailed overview of all the configuration which was created by the Create Cluster Wizard

Next let’s see how we can verify successful creation of the cluster. we can visit Failover Cluster Management Console to verify whether we can access Cluster1 which we just created. After accessing Cluster1, you can see that there’s a summary page which provides us with an overview of cluster configuration.

We can also validate cluster creation process by looking at the report which is located at the system drive\Windows\Cluster\Reports

You will find CreateCluster.mht which contains information relating Cluster Creation process

now that we have successfully completed creating a cluster, let’s look at quorum configuration in my next blog posts. if you want to have a look at PART 01 and PART 02 please feel free to visit below mentioned links

http://cluster101.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/step-by-step-guide-to-implementing-a-two-node-failover-cluster-part-01/

http://cluster101.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/step-by-step-guide-to-implementing-a-two-node-failover-cluster-part-02/

https://connect.microsoft.com/site1044/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=5055&InvitationID=DIT-DKPH-BWTH

there are few notable changes which gets added with this services pack. Before evaluating this service pack in my test lab, I thought of providing a general overview of new features which gets added

1) Set Expiry of Virtual Machine -> this is a new capability which gets added after applying SP1 Beta. This feature will allow administrators to set expiry on a virtual machine, and the virtual machine will automatically get deleted after a specified time period.

2) Notifications for Administrators -> it’s now possible to notify Business Unit Administrator or Datacenter Administrators regarding various events

3) Move Infrastructure between different business units -> this features provides capability to move infrastructure from one business unit to another

4) Import Virtual Machines -> Datacenter Administrators can import machines which were created using VMM and also re-import machines which were removed from self-service portal

I will be evaluating this beta and hoping to provide more details in my future blog posts.

References:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2011/03/05/system-center-virtual-machine-manager-2-0-sp1-beta-is-now-available.aspx

Cluster Validation tool is a wizard found on Failover Cluster Management Console. Following tests are carried out when you perform cluster Validation Tool

· Inventory Validation

· Network Validation

· Storage Validation

· System Configuration

We will look at what are exact components or sub-tests that takes place during validation testing in another post.

First we need to go to administrative tools and then open Failover Cluster Management Console

After selecting Failover Cluster Management option, it will open Failover Cluster Management Console

We can right click on Failover Cluster Management and then select “Validate a configuration” option to initiate Cluster validation wizard

As you can see below, first screen provides us with a description relating to Cluster validation wizard.

Next we need to add what are the NODEs which we need to validate.

I will add my Cluster NODE01 and Cluster NODE02

After I select both NODEs, it gets added to my Cluster validation wizard

Next, we need to decide, whether are running all tests, or whether we are going to run a selective test. For this demonstration, I will be running all tests to validate NODE01 and NODE02

Next we have a confirmation summary screen. We can review what are the tests which will be performed against NODE01 and NODE02

After I select next, validation wizard will start validation my cluster configuration

once this is completed, it’s possible for us to view a report

We can open this report as a web page and we can see results.

In my next post, we will create a cluster and let’s see how we can configure it