What’s New in Windows Server 2016 version 1709 #Winserv #Hyperv #Containers

Application containers and micro-services

• The Server Core container image has been further optimized for lift-and-shift scenarios where you can migrate existing code bases or applications into containers with minimal changes, and it’s also 60% smaller.
• The Nano Server container image is nearly 80% smaller.
  • In the Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel, Nano Server as a container base OS image is decreased from 390 MB to 80 MB.
• Linux containers with Hyper-V isolation

For more information, see Changes to Nano Server in the next release of Windows Server and Windows Server, version 1709 for developers.

Modern management

Check out Project Honolulu for a simplified, integrated, secure experience to help IT administrators manage core troubleshooting, configuration, and maintenance scenarios. Project Honolulu includes next generation tooling with a simplified, integrated, secure, and extensible interface. Project Honolulu includes an intuitive all-new management experience for managing PCs, Windows servers, Failover Clusters, as well as hyper-converged infrastructure based on Storage Spaces Direct, reducing operational costs.

Compute

Nano Container and Server Core Container: First and foremost, this release is about driving application innovation. Nano Server, or Nano as Host is deprecated and replaced by Nano Container, which is Nano running as a container image.

For more information about containers, see Container Networking Overview.

Server Core as a container (and infrastructure) host, provides better flexibility, density and performance for existing applications under a modernization process and brands new apps developed already using the cloud model.

VM Load Balancing is also improved with OS and Application awareness, ensuring optimal load balancing and application performance. Storage-class memory support for VMs enables NTFS-formatted direct access volumes to be created on non-volatile DIMMs and exposed to Hyper-V VMs. This enables Hyper-V VMs to leverage the low-latency performance benefits of storage-class memory devices.

Storage-class memory support for VMs enables NTFS-formatted direct access volumes to be created on non-volatile DIMMs and exposed to Hyper-V VMs. This enables Hyper-V VMs to leverage the low-latency performance benefits of storage-class memory devices. Virtualized Persistent Memory (vPMEM) is enabled by creating a VHD file (.vhdpmem) on a direct access volume on a host, adding a vPMEM Controller to a VM, and adding the created device (.vhdpmem) to a VM. Using vhdpmem files on direct access volumes on a host to back vPMEM enables allocation flexibility and leverages a familiar management model for adding disks to VMs.

Virtualized Persistent Memory (vPMEM) is enabled by creating a VHD file (.vhdpmem) on a direct access volume on a host, adding a vPMEM Controller to a VM, and adding the created device (.vhdpmem) to a VM. Using vhdpmem files on direct access volumes on a host to back vPMEM enables allocation flexibility and leverages a familiar management model for adding disks to VMs.

Container storage – persistent data volumes on cluster shared volumes (CSV). In Windows Server, version 1709 as well as Windows Server 2016 with the latest updates, we’ve added support for containers to access persistent data volumes located on CSVs, including CSVs on Storage Spaces Direct. This gives the application container persistent access to the volume no matter which cluster node the container instance is running on. For more info, see Container Storage Support with Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV), Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), SMB Global Mapping.

Container storage – persistent data volumes with SMB global mapping. In Windows Server, version 1709 we’ve added support for mapping an SMB file share to a drive letter inside a container – this is called SMB global mapping. This mapped drive is then accessible to all users on the local server so that container I/O on the data volume can go through the mounted drive to the underlying file share. For more info, see Container Storage Support with Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV), Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), SMB Global Mapping.

Security and Assurance

Windows security baselines have been updated for Windows Server and Windows 10. A security baseline is a group of Microsoft-recommended configuration settings and explains their security impact. For more information, and to download the Policy Analyzer tool, see Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit 1.0.

Network encryption enables you to quickly encrypt network segments on software-defined networking infrastructure to meet security and compliance needs.

Host Guardian Service (HGS) as a shielded VM is enabled. Prior to this release, the recommendation was to deploy a 3-node physical cluster. While this ensures the HGS environment is not compromised by an administrator, it was often cost prohibitive.

Linux as a shielded VM is now supported.

For more information, see Guarded fabric and shielded VMs overview.

Storage

Storage Replica: The disaster recovery protection added by Storage Replica in Windows Server 2016 is now expanded to include:

• Test failover: the option to mount the destination storage is now possible through the test failover feature. You can mount a snapshot of the replicated storage on destination nodes temporarily for testing or backup purposes. For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions about Storage Replica.
• Project Honolulu support: Support for graphical management of server to server replication is now available in Project Honolulu. This removes the requirement to use PowerShell to manage a common disaster protection workload.

 

SMB:

• SMB1 and guest authentication removal: Windows Server, version 1709 no longer installs the SMB1 client and server by default. Additionally, the ability to authenticate as a guest in SMB2 and later is off by default. For more information, review SMBv1 is not installed by default in Windows 10, version 1709 and Windows Server, version 1709.
• SMB2/SMB3 security and compatibility: Additional options for security and application compatibility were added, including the ability to disable oplocks in SMB2 for legacy applications, as well as require signing or encryption on per-connection basis from a client. For more information, review the SMBShare PowerShell module help.

 

Data Deduplication:

• Data Deduplication now supports ReFS: You no longer must choose between the advantages of a modern file system with ReFS and the Data Deduplication: now, you can enable Data Deduplication wherever you can enable ReFS. Increase storage efficiency by upwards of 95% with ReFS.
• DataPort API for optimized ingress/egress to deduplicated volumes: Developers can now take advantage of the knowledge Data Deduplication has about how to store data efficiently to move data between volumes, servers, and clusters efficiently.

Remote Desktop Services (RDS)

RDS is integrated with Azure AD, so customers can leverage Conditional Access policies, Multifactor Authentication, Integrated authentication with other SaaS Apps using Azure AD, and many more. For more information, see Integrate Azure AD Domain Services with your RDS deployment.

For a sneak peek at other exciting changes coming to RDS, see Remote Desktop Services: Updates & upcoming innovations

Networking

Docker’s Routing Mesh is supported. Ingress routing mesh is part of swarm mode, Docker’s built-in orchestration solution for containers. For more information, see Docker’s routing mesh available with Windows Server version 1709.

New features for Docker are available. For more information, see Exciting new things for Docker with Windows Server 1709.

Windows Networking at Parity with Linux for Kubernetes: Windows is now on par with Linux in terms of networking. Customers can deploy mixed-OS, Kubernetes clusters in any environment including Azure, on-premises, and on 3rd-party cloud stacks with the same network primitives and topologies supported on Linux without the need for any workarounds or switch extensions.

Core network stack: Several features of the core network stack are improved. For more information about these features, see Core Network Stack Features in the Creators Update for Windows 10.

• TCP Fast Open (TFO): Support for TFO has been added to optimize the TCP 3-way handshake process. TFO establishes a secure TFO cookie in the first connection using a standard 3-way handshake. Subsequent connections to the same server use the TFO cookie instead of a 3-way handshake to connect with zero round trip time.
• CUBIC: Experimental Windows native implementation of CUBIC, a TCP congestion control algorithm is available. The following commands enable or disable CUBIC, respectively.

netsh int tcp set supplemental template=internet congestionprovider=cubic

netsh int tcp set supplemental template=internet congestionprovider=compound

• Receive Window Autotuning: TCP autotuning logic computes the “receive window” parameter of a TCP connection. High speed and/or long delay connections need this algorithm to achieve good performance characteristics. In this release, the algorithm is modified to use a step function to converge on the maximum receive window value for a given connection.
• TCP stats API: A new API is introduced called SIO_TCP_INFO. SIO_TCP_INFO allows developers to query rich information on individual TCP connections using a socket option.
• IPv6: There are multiple improvements in IPv6 in this release.
  • RFC 6106 support: RFC 6106 which allows for DNS configuration through router advertisements (RAs). You can use the following command to enable or disable RFC 6106 support:

netsh int ipv6 set interface <ifindex> rabaseddnsconfig=<enabled | disabled>

• Flow Labels: Beginning with the Creators Update, outbound TCP and UDP packets over IPv6 have this field set to a hash of the 5-tuple (Src IP, Dst IP, Src Port, Dst Port). This will make IPv6 only datacenters doing load balancing or flow classification more efficient. To enable flowlabels:

netsh int ipv6 set flowlabel=[disabled|enabled] (enabled by default)

netsh int ipv6 set global flowlabel=<enabled | disabled>

• ISATAP and 6to4: As a step towards future deprecation, the Creators Update will have these technologies disabled by default.

• Dead Gateway Detection (DGD): The DGD algorithm automatically transitions connections over to another gateway when the current gateway is unreachable. In this release, the algorithm is improved to periodically re-probe the network environment.
• Test-NetConnection is a built-in cmdlet in Windows PowerShell that performs a variety of network diagnostics. In this release we have enhanced the cmdlet to provide detailed information about both route selection as well as source address selection.

Software Defined Networking

• Virtual Network Encryption is a new feature that provides the ability for the virtual network traffic to be encrypted between Virtual Machines that communicate with each other within subnets that are marked as “Encryption Enabled”. This feature utilizes Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) on the virtual subnet to encrypt the packets. DTLS provides protection against eavesdropping, tampering and forgery by anyone with access to the physical network.

Windows 10 VPN

• Pre-Logon Infrastructure Tunnels. By default, Windows 10 VPN does not automatically create Infrastructure Tunnels when users are not logged on to their computer or device. You can configure Windows 10 VPN to automatically create Pre-Logon Infrastructure Tunnels by using the Device Tunnel (prelogon) feature in the VPN profile.
• Management of Remote Computers and Devices. You can manage Windows 10 VPN clients by configuring the Device Tunnel (prelogon) feature in the VPN profile. In addition, you must configure the VPN connection to dynamically register the IP addresses that are assigned to the VPN interface with internal DNS services.
• Specify Pre-Logon Gateways. You can specify Pre-Logon Gateways with the Device Tunnel (prelogon) feature in the VPN profile, combined with traffic filters to control which management systems on the corporate network are accessible via the device tunnel.

Release Notes: Important Issues in Windows Server, version 1709

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Jeff Woolsey in action Talking about Windows Server 2016 Security and Containers
Thanks Jeff Great Sessions !

Of course It’s a tradition that @ClusterMVP & @WSV_GUY  & @Jamesvandenberg are on a Picture 😉
Cloud and Datacenter Management Rocks

#MVPbuzz Time with Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions at the Microsoft Tech Summit 2017
Great questions and feedback on Microsoft :

Azure
AzureStack
Windows Server 2016
Hyper-V
System Center
Operations Management Suite (OMS)
Containers

Microsoft Tech Summit 2017 Amsterdam Dutch MVP’s at the Booth
#MVPbuzz

Multitasking showing of the Microsoft Surface Studio and supporting the Microsoft Tech Community
Thanks Ladies !

Microsoft Tech Summit 2016-17

Build your cloud and infrastructure skills with a two-day free technical training event
Here you can see in which cities the Microsoft Tech Summit 2017 is

Thank you Microsoft and Community for these Awesome two Cloud and Infrastructure Days in Amsterdam !  😉

Microsoft #Containers for Application Development #Docker #Hyperv #ACS #DevOps #Cloud

Containers for Developers

From a developer’s desktop to a testing machine to a set of production machines, a Docker image can be created that will deploy identically across any environment in seconds. This story has created a massive and growing ecosystem of applications packaged in Docker containers, with DockerHub, the public containerized-application registry that Docker maintains, currently publishing more than 180,000 applications in the public community repository.

When you containerize an app, only the app and the components needed to run the app are combined into an “image”. Containers are then created from this image as you need them. You can also use an image as a baseline to create another image, making image creation even faster. Multiple containers can share the same image, which means containers start very quickly and use fewer resources. For example, you can use containers to spin up light-weight and portable app components – or ‘micro-services’ – for distributed apps and quickly scale each service separately. 

Because the container has everything it needs to run your application, they are very portable and can run on any machine that is running Windows Server 2016. You can create and test containers locally, then deploy that same container image to your company’s private cloud, public cloud or service provider. The natural agility of Containers supports modern app development patterns in large scale, virtualized and cloud environments.

With containers, developers can build an app in any language. These apps are completely portable and can run anywhere – laptop, desktop, server, private cloud, public cloud or service provider – without any code changes.

Containers helps developers build and ship higher-quality applications, faster.

 To begin with Windows Containers, I advice to manage them with Docker and do .NET Docker Development with Visual Studio 2017

Prerequisites: 

• One computer system (physical or virtual) running Windows Server 2016.
• Configure this system with the Windows Container feature and Docker. For a walkthrough on these steps, see Windows Containers on Windows Server.
• QuickStart Windows Containers on Windows 10
• A Docker ID, this will be used to push a container image to Docker Hub. If you do not have a Docker ID, sign up for one at Docker Cloud.

Containers 101 poster

Windows Containers Infrastructure

Microsoft Windows Container with Nano server :

Docker pull microsoft/nanoserver

Docker PS

Docker run -t -I microsoft/nanoserver

Now you are inside the Windows Container on the Nano Server

If you want a Windows Container with Nano Server and IIS running for a website checkout this Docker Pull

More Microsoft images on Docker Hub repositories

Docker run reference

Docker runs processes in isolated containers. A container is a process which runs on a host. The host may be local or remote. When an operator executes docker run, the container process that runs is isolated in that it has its own file system, its own networking, and its own isolated process tree separate from the host.

This page details how to use the docker run command to define the container’s resources at runtime

Containers can run anywhere !

 

Free Windows Server 2016 Virtual Labs – #Education #Winserv #Hyperv #Containers #Nanoserver

Gain hands-on experience with the new version of Windows Server in security, software-defined datacenter and containers, using the latest virtual labs.

Guided labs make it easy to check out what’s new without spending time and money to install and configure an environment. Using the virtual labs for Windows Server 2016 you can learn about what the new technology does and how to configure it. It’s not a video, a demo you watch, or a simulator; it’s you connecting with your browser, on your PC, to our lab for free.

When you sign in with your Microsoft account you’ll be able to access any of the individual labs in a private, sandboxed environment. It all adds up to about 6 hours of content, and you can come back later if you need to.

Check out each of these 60-minute experiences:

• Breach resistant security and Shielded VMs
• Storage Spaces Direct
• Nano Server
• Windows Server and Hyper-V Containers
• Failover clustering and rolling cluster upgrades

Example of TechNet Virtual LAB Managing Windows Server 2016 :

Virtual LAB information before you begin 😉
JUST push Launch Lab to begin.

Let the Virtual LAB Windows Server 2016 Nano Server Begin 😉

Here you go to the Microsoft Virtual Lab of Windows Server 2016

#Learning
#MVPbuzz

Running #NanoServer in a #Container on Windows Server 2016 with #Docker in Powershell #DevOps

What are Containers

They are an isolated, resource controlled, and portable operating environment. 

Basically, a container is an isolated place where an application can run without affecting the rest of the system and without the system affecting the application. Containers are the next evolution in virtualization. 

If you were inside a container, it would look very much like you were inside a freshly installed physical computer or a virtual machine. And, to Docker, a Windows Server Container can be managed in the same way as any other container.

Windows Container Types

Windows Containers include two different container types, or runtimes. 

Windows Server Containers – provide application isolation through process and namespace isolation technology. A Windows Server container shares a kernel with the container host and all containers running on the host.

Hyper-V Containers – expand on the isolation provided by Windows Server Containers by running each container in a highly optimized virtual machine. In this configuration the kernel of the container host is not shared with the Hyper-V Containers. 

Container Fundamentals

When you begin working with containers you will notice many similarities between a container and a virtual machine. A container runs an operating system, has a file system and can be accessed over a network just as if it was a physical or virtual computer system. That said, the technology and concepts behind containers are very different from that of virtual machines.

The following key concepts will be helpful as you begin creating and working with Windows Containers.  

Container Host: Physical or Virtual computer system configured with the Windows Container feature. The container host will run one or more Windows Containers.

Container Image: As modifications are made to a containers file system or registry, such as with software installation they are captured in a sandbox. In many cases you may want to capture this state such that new containers can be created that inherit these changes. That’s what an image is – once the container has stopped you can either discard that sandbox or you can convert it into a new container image. For example, let’s imagine that you have deployed a container from the Windows Server Core OS image. You then install MySQL into this container. Creating a new image from this container would act as a deployable version of the container. This image would only contain the changes made (MySQL), however would work as a layer on top of the Container OS Image.

Sandbox: Once a container has been started, all write actions such as file system modifications, registry modifications or software installations are captured in this ‘sandbox’ layer.

Container OS Image: Containers are deployed from images. The container OS image is the first layer in potentially many image layers that make up a container. This image provides the operating system environment. A Container OS Image is Immutable, it cannot be modified.

Container Repository: Each time a container image is created the container image and its dependencies are stored in a local repository. These images can be reused many times on the container host. The container images can also be stored in a public or private registry such as DockerHub so that they can be used across many different container host.

You have to install these Windows Server 2016 Rolls and Feature first before you start with Containers :

• Hyper-V
• Containers

My Windows 2016 Server Build version.

Install Hyper-V

Install Containers

Here is an example on my Windows 2016 Server to get started with Windows Containers :

Install-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider -Repository PSGallery -Force

Install-Package -Name docker -ProviderName DockerMsftProvider

Restart-Computer -Force

Here we pull out of the Docker Hub the Microsoft Nanoserver Container.

Downloading the Image.

Automatically extract the image.

 Docker Container Image Microsoft/nanoserver is downloaded.

Docker run -i -t microsoft/nanoserver

docker ps
( you will see the container with Nanoserver is running)

Inside the container.

Running Powershell inside the container.

Containers for Developers

From a developer’s desktop to a testing machine to a set of production machines, a Docker image can be created that will deploy identically across any environment in seconds. This story has created a massive and growing ecosystem of applications packaged in Docker containers, with DockerHub, the public containerized-application registry that Docker maintains, currently publishing more than 180,000 applications in the public community repository.  

When you containerize an app, only the app and the components needed to run the app are combined into an “image”. Containers are then created from this image as you need them. You can also use an image as a baseline to create another image, making image creation even faster. Multiple containers can share the same image, which means containers start very quickly and use fewer resources. For example, you can use containers to spin up light-weight and portable app components – or ‘micro-services’ – for distributed apps and quickly scale each service separately. 

Because the container has everything it needs to run your application, they are very portable and can run on any machine that is running Windows Server 2016. You can create and test containers locally, then deploy that same container image to your company’s private cloud, public cloud or service provider. The natural agility of Containers supports modern app development patterns in large scale, virtualized and cloud environments.

With containers, developers can build an app in any language. These apps are completely portable and can run anywhere – laptop, desktop, server, private cloud, public cloud or service provider – without any code changes.

Containers helps developers build and ship higher-quality applications, faster.

Containers for IT Pro’s

IT Professionals can use containers to provide standardized environments for their development, QA, and production teams. They no longer have to worry about complex installation and configuration steps. By using containers, systems administrators abstract away differences in OS installations and underlying infrastructure. Containers help admins create an infrastructure that is simpler to update and maintain

Lot of Success with Containers and Nanoserver
#MVPbuzz

NEW Free #Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Ebook Available #Winserv #Hyperv #NanoServer #Containers

Windows Server has powered a generation of organizations, from small businesses to large enterprises. No matter what your role in IT, you can be guaranteed you that have touched Windows Server at some point in your career or at very least you have seen it from afar! This book introduces you to Windows Server 2016, which is the next version of Windows Server. No matter what your area of expertise, this book will introduce you to the latest developments in Windows Server 2016.

Here you can download the Free Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Ebook

 

#Microsoft Windows Server 2016 TP5 Comparison Guide for Download and Try #Winserv #Hyperv #NanoServer

This feature comparison guide compares selected features of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016. Its goal is to help customers understand the differences from the version they are running today and the latest version available from Microsoft.
The comparison table includes comments about each feature, as well as notation about how well each feature is supported in each release.

Download this Awesome Feature Comparison guide here

Here you can Try Microsoft Windows Server 2016 TP5

Or

Here you can Try Windows Server 2016 on Microsoft Azure

#NanoServer TP5 IaaS Image in the #Azure Gallery

Select Windows Server 2016  Technical Preview 5 NanoServer

Click Create

Choose your Server by clicking on view all

Configure your settings.

Here you find an awesome blogpost about Nano Server TP5 IaaS Image in the Azure Gallery and Powershell CMD’s

Exploring #NanoServer for Windows Server 2016 with @Jsnover #Powershell

Microsoft Chief Architect, Enterprise Cloud, Jeffrey Snover, takes a closer look at Nano server – the secure new headless deployment option for Windows Server 2016. He demonstrates how it gives you the lightest and fastest option with significantly fewer patches and reboots. Watch as he shows you how to customize Nano Server for your next generation apps and highlights your management options from PowerShell to remote management.