In my last MVPLAB Serie blogpost, I wrote about setting-up a Microsoft Domain mvplab.local and making a Windows Server Insider Cluster with an iSCSI Target Host Server for Shared iSCSI Storage provisioning. First thing I did was Installing Windows Admin Center for Hybrid IT Management. With WAC we can Manage the Cluster Nodes but also the Cluster, Installing new features via Windows Admin Center like Kubernetes for running Containers and microservices. But first we start with Microsoft Cluster Aware Updating to keep your Cluster up-to-date.
Windows Admin Center Cluster Manager
Installing Cluster Aware Updating
In the following steps you can see how easy it is to install Cluster Aware Updating with Windows Admin Center on your Windows Server Cluster, in my case mvpcl01.mvplab.local
Go to your Windows Server Insider Cluster
In Cluster Manager, go to Updates.
Click on Add Cluster Aware Updating Role
Microsoft Windows Admin Center is the Administrator Management tool to use in your hybrid datacenter. You see how easy it is to configure Cluster Aware Updating (CAU) on your Cluster. When you use Windows Server Core or Azure Stack HCI then Windows Admin Center is really handy instead of command-line tools or PowerShell scripting. here you can find more information about Cluster Aware Updating requirements and Best Practices
I have made a new MVPLAB with Microsoft Windows Server Insider Preview Build 25158 to install Services and Features for learning but also to give Microsoft feedback about the products. When the MVPLAB domain and Clusters are ready in basic then I can use new Microsoft Azure Hybrid solutions as well, like Azure Arc Kubernetes services and Azure Cloud Defender for Servers and SQL.
Before we start, you need to become a Windows Server Insider so that you can download the newest Windows Server Insider Builds ISO.
Here you get more information for the Windows Server Insider Program registration
After the free registration you can download the new Microsoft Windows Server Insider Builds here :
To Build your Test and innovation LAB with the newest Microsoft technologies, you need a platform to Build on. Of course Microsoft Azure Cloud Services is Awesome to work with and Great to make test environments but I like to make a Azure Hybrid scenario with Azure Cloud and On-premises datacenter services like for example a Microsoft SQL Cluster with Cluster resources / Instances.
So my MVPLAB will be Azure Hybrid and for On-premises I use Windows Server Hyper-V to make virtual servers.
It’s Great when your hardware provider like Dell is Microsoft Azure Stack HCIcompliant to build your Hyper Converged Infrastructure in your on-premises datacenter.
Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Solution
When you work with Microsoft Azure and Azure Stack HCI, you really need Windows Admin Center for Hybrid IT Management.
This is a Great Administrator tool for managing your Windows Servers, Clusters, Azure Stack HCI, and Azure VM’s in a Hybrid environment.
Windows Admin Center Cluster Overview
Now that we have everything and Hyper-V is running, we will build the Following Windows Servers with the Insider Preview Build:
MVPDC01 ( the first domain controller for mvplab.local domain )
MVPStore01 ( ISCSI Target Host for deploying ISCSI Virtual Disks to my Cluster)
MVPFS01 ( Cluster Node 01 of Cluster MVPCL01 )
MVPFS02 ( Cluster Node 02 of Cluster MVPCL01 )
I install all the virtual servers with 50GB local harddisk for OS and start with 4GB of Dynamic Memory and a Nic.
Only the Cluster nodes get two Nics (One for Heartbeat of the Cluster)
This is for my MVPLAB, but for Production environments I always start with 3 Nics ( 1 = Production 2 = Heartbeat 3 = Storage )
In Hyper-V we make a New Virtual Machine with these specifications and we attach the Windows Server Insider Preview Build ISO.
We install Windows Server Insider Preview Build default and after the installation we set the NIC IP-Address on static and gave the Server the name MVPDC01. Then I installed all the Windows Updates, and after that I started Server Manager to install the Active Directory Feature :
Active Directory just follow the wizard and don’t forget to run DCPromo to
build your domain.
Active Directory and DNS is running locally like
mvplab.local
So now is my domain and DNS running in my MVPLAB, but what do I need more first to build a Windows Server Insider Cluster?
We need Shared storage, so we build a Windows Server Insider ISCSI Target Host to provision Shared VHD’s via ISCSI Initiator to the Cluster Nodes.
The Next member Windows Server Insider is MVPStore01.mvplab.local joined in our new domain. Here I installed the iSCSI Host features:
Start Server Manager and the Add Server role : – iSCSI Target Server – iSCSI Target Storage Provider
Click on Install
In Hyper-V Settings of the Virtual Machine MVPStore01, I have installed a extra disk of 25GB so that we can use that for iSCSI Target Host which is now running on this Server. Now we can provision storage when the new Windows Server Insider Cluster MVPCL01.mvplab.local is installed with the iSCSI Initiator to get Cluster storage. So now we are first going to build a Windows Server Insider Cluster and after that we will provision the Cluster Storage.
Installing a Windows Server Cluster with Insider preview Build 25158.
I deployed two member servers MVPFS01.mvplab.local and MVPFS02.mvplab.local into the new domain. they have static IP-Address and are working fine with DNS resolving. On both Servers I installed the Feature Failover Clustering
Failover Clustering Installed.
from here we are going to install the new Windows Server Insider Cluster MVPCL01.mvplab.local
Start Failover Cluster Manager.
Create Cluster.
Click on Next
select the two new Cluster Nodes
Click on Next
Select Yes, run configuration validation tests
Click on Next
Click on Next
Run all tests
Click Next
Confirmation
Click Next
Type in the new Cluster name => mvpcl01
IP-Address => 192.168.2.43
Click Next
Confirmation
Click on Next
Creating Cluster….
We now have a Cluster mvpcl01.mvplab.local running, but without storage and without the witness disk. the iSCSI initiator is running on both Cluster nodes, so now we have to provision storage to the Cluster via the iSCSI Target Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local.
iSCSI Storage provisioning to Windows Server Insider Cluster
via the Server Manager of the iSCSI Target host, we are going to create a new iSCSI Virtual Disk for both Cluster Nodes :
Click on New iSCSI Virtual Disk
iSCSI Virtual Disk Name
Click on Next
Type in the Size I’m using 20GB of 24,9 because I need also a Quorum disk for the Cluster.
Select Fixed Size.
Click on Next.
New iSCSI Target
Click on Next
Give the iSCSI Target a Name
Click on Next
Add the Access Servers via iSCSI Initiator
Click on Next
Here you can set Authentication if you want.
Click on Next
Confirmation
Click on Create
the iSCSI Virtual Disk is successfully created.
the iSCSI Target VHD is not connected yet.
Now we connect with iSCSI Initiator from the Cluster Nodes.
The work on iSCSI Taget Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local is Done.
When you start the iSCSI Initiator it will set the services and the firewall settings on the Server.
You have to do this on both Cluster nodes.
First we add the Target portal and that is our iSCSI Taget Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local with
IP-Address 192.168.2.46 with port 3260.
This is under the discovery tab.
Select Targets tab
you see the Target mvpstore01 Inactive.
Select and click on Connect.
If you had Multi-path IO running, you could enable Multipath too.
Click on Ok
The iSCSI Taget Virtual Disk is connected.
On the iSCSI Target Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local is the target now also in Connected status.
You now can now bring the 20GB disk Online via Disk Management and give it a drive letter
for the Cluster.
Then you can add the 20GB disk via Storage of Cluster Manager tool.
You can make Cluster Shared Volume.
I made a Cluster for a SQL Instance and I made
a 2GB iSCSI Taget VHD for the Witness Disk.
So Now we have Cluster storage running and failovers are working, now we need to configure Quorum witness disk via
Failover Cluster Manager.
Go to more actions on the Cluster.
Configure Cluster Quorum
Click on Next
Select the quorum witness
Click on Next
You can configure your witness on different locations.
I will select our 2GB witness disk on our Cluster
Select the Quorum disk
Click on Next
Confirmation
Click on Next
You have successfully configured the quorum settings for the Cluster
Click on Finish
Witness disk is running.
So my Microsoft Windows Server Insider Cluster is ready for workloads, if you want to you can run a Cluster validation to see
if everything is okay. Now my MVPLAB is ready for the next installation on my Cluster and that is :
Installing the Newest SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on my Windows Server Insider Cluster.
But that will be a next Blogpost : Installing SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on a Windows Server Cluster 😉
Follow me on Twitter : @Jamesvandenberg
Ps. I downloaded the VHDX file for Hyper-V, but you can get also the ISO file here.
Getting started with the Windows Insider Program for Windows Server
Get exclusive access to Windows Server Insider Previews and Remote Server Administration tools and help shape the future of Windows Server in the Windows Insider Program for Windows Server.Register here for the Windows Server Insider program
From here you can build your own local domain and Clusters in your LAB to test all the Features Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Build 25140 has. Checking new Security features and doing your own pen tests.
Testing security with Kali Linux Rolling distro in WSL 2.0 against Windows Server Insider
in my Lab. And give feedback about features and or issues on Windows Server Insider :
And of course don’t forget Windows Admin Center for your LAB to manage your Servers, Azure Virtual Machines and your Clusters. You can download WAC here
What is new in preview is Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal with Azure Arc Enabled Servers.
Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal for Arc Enabled Servers 😉
Manage your Servers from the Cloud.
Conclusion
With Windows Server Insider Builds and Windows Admin Center, you can test and make your own LAB environment together for free. You can give the Microsoft product group feedback to make the product better. In the mean time your are learning new features and security in Windows Server Insider Preview Build and WAC before you go into production 🙂 I say a good win win situation and it’s fun to setup your own hybrid LAB.
Windows Admin Center Version 2110.2 Build 1.3.2204.19002
Windows Admin Center is a customer-deployed, browser-based app for managing servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure, and Windows PCs. It comes at no additional cost beyond Windows and is ready to use in production. Learn more aboutWindows Admin Center.
Benefits
Simple and modern management experience
Hybrid capabilities
Integrated toolset
Designed for extensibility
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch (Netherlands), English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish (Sweden), Turkish
In the following step-by-step guide I will deploy Windows Server 2022 Insider Build 25099 Core Edition with Windows Admin Center tool together with some great features for managing Windows Servers in a secure hybrid way with Microsoft Azure Cloud services. Like Azure Defender for Cloud, Azure Backup Vault, Azure Monitor, Security and more.
So I have Windows Admin Center 2110.2 installed and I have a Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V Server for my Virtual Machines in my MVPLAB Domain.
Now we will deploy the new Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Build 25099.
In WAC on my Hypervisor in Virtual Machines
When you explore and open your Hyper-V Host and go to Virtual Machines, you can Click on Add and then on New for Creating your Windows Server Insider VM.
Create a New Windows Server Insider VM called StormTrooper01
Here you can configure your new Windows Server 2022 Insider VM with the following :
What kind of Generation VM (Gen 2 Recommended)
The path of your Virtual Machine and the path of your virtual disk(s)
CPU and you can make nested Virtualization too
Memory and use of Dynamic Memory
Network select the Virtual Switch
Network Isolation by VLAN
Storage, Create the size of the Virtual Disk. Choose an ISO or Select an existing VHD(x)
I Created a New 70GB OS Disk
and I want to Install the New Windows Server Insider OS from ISO.
Click on Browse
Here you Browse Default on your Hyper-V Host and select the ISO.
When the Windows Server ISO is selected you can hit Create
We get the Notification that the virtual machine is successfully created.
Only the Virtual Machine is now made with your specs and visible on the Hyper-V Host.
Select the New Virtual Machine (StormTrooper01) click on Power and hit Start.
After you started the VM, you can double click on it and go to Connect. Click on Connect to the Virtual Machine.
Now you are on the console via VM Connect.
Click on Install Now
We are installing Windows Server 2022 Insider Core edition, because we have WAC 😉
Installing Windows Server 2022 Insider Core Preview Build 25099 via Windows Admin Center
Create New Administrator Password.
And here we have Sconfig of the Windows Server 2022 Core.
via Virtual Machine Connect.
Now we can add and connect the New Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Build in Windows Admin Center via IP-Address.
The Next step is to join the Windows Server 2022 Insider to my Domain MVPLAB.
Click on the Top on Edit Computer ID Click on Domain and type your domain name.
Click op Next Add your administrator account for joining the server
Reboot the VM.
Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Core edition is domain joined.
Now we have the New Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Build 25099 running in Windows Admin Center, we can use all the tooling provided by WAC also in a Azure Hybrid way. Think about Azure Defender for Cloud, Azure Monitor. In Microsoft Windows Admin Center we also have a topic Azure Hybrid Center :
Here you see all the Azure Hybrid benefit features for your Windows Server 2022 Insider.
Microsoft Azure Arc
Azure Backup
Azure File Sync
Azure Site Recovery
Azure Network Adapter
Azure Monitor
Azure Update Management
and More…
Microsoft Azure and the Windows Admin Center Team made the wizards customer friendly and easy to get those Azure Hybrid services for your Windows Server.
When you have your Server running, you want to make backups and Monitoring your Server for management. And after that you want to be in control of your security of your new Server. In the following steps you see some examples on the same Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Build:
Microsoft Azure Backup via WAC
Click on Azure Backup
Select your Azure Subscription and the Azure Backup Vault.
Select your data and make the schedule.
Enter the Encryption passphrase and Apply.
Here you have Azure Backup Vault working together with WAC.
Azure Defender for Cloud Security
Click op Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Click on Setup
Add the right Azure Subscription and Workspace
Click on Setup.
Configuring Azure Defender for Cloud agent and Subscription.
Azure Defender for Cloud in Windows Admin Center on your Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Build.
In Windows Admin Center there is also a Security tab for the Windows Server.
Here you can see if your system is supported for this security features 🙂
Enable the supported features and Restart de Virtual Machine.
And here you see my status overview.
Further more you can manage RBAC in Windows Admin Center when you have to work with different kind of users.
You can find RBAC in settings.
Conclusion
Windows Server Insider Core edition and Windows Admin Center are working better together! You have all the tools you need to startup your Windows Server and
manage it with WAC. Windows Admin Center is getting better and better to manage your Hybrid Datacenter and keep you as an Administrator in Control!
So is how I manage my MVPLAB but also for Production workloads I use Windows Admin Center and the Azure Portal together. With Microsoft Azure Arc Services
Azure Hybrid becomes your solution where Windows Admin Center can Support you with making Azure Stack HCI Clusters with Azure Kubernetes for your DevOps environment.
Packet monitoring allows you to diagnose your server by capturing and displaying network traffic through the networking stack in a log that is filtered, organized, and easy to follow and manipulate.
Secured-core – recommended for the most sensitive systems and industries like financial, healthcare, and government agencies. Builds on the previous layers and leverages advanced processor capabilities to provide protection from firmware attacks.
In Windows Admin Center Security you can Configure Secured-Core :
Secured-Core in Windows Admin Center 21.10
You can activate 6 secured-Core feature :
Hypervisor Enforced Code Integrity (HVCI)
Boot DMA Protection
System Guard
Secure Boot
Virtualization-based Security (VBS)
Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM2.0)
You now can simply activate the Security Feature.
Needs a Reboot
Hypervisor Enforced Code Integrity (HVCI) is enabled.
Installing Windows Server Insider Datacenter Azure Edition
In my last blogpost we installed Windows 11 Insider Preview Enterprise Build on a Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine. Now we do the same with Windows Server 2022 Insider build version on Microsoft Azure Cloud.
IMPORTANT
This blogpost is for testing only and not ready for production environments yet!
Before you Search for the Windows Server Insider Preview image, you need some preview features added to your azure subscription first. Here you find more information
One of the features is Inquest Hot patching, which we activate via Azure Cloud Shell with Bash Azure CLI :
az feature register –namespace Microsoft.Compute –name InGuestHotPatchVMPreview az feature register –namespace Microsoft.Compute –name InGuestAutoPatchVMPreview az feature register –namespace Microsoft.Compute –name InGuestPatchVMPreview
Register via Azure CLI with these commands.
Feature registration can take up to 15 minutes. To check the registration status:
az feature show –namespace Microsoft.Compute –name InGuestHotPatchVMPreview
az feature show –namespace Microsoft.Compute –name InGuestAutoPatchVMPreview
az feature show –namespace Microsoft.Compute –name InGuestPatchVMPreview
When registration is done, you will see this message.
Once the feature has been registered for your subscription, complete the opt-in process by propagating the change into the Compute resource provider.
Type the following Azure CLI commandline :
az provider register –namespace Microsoft.Compute
Now your Microsoft Azure Subscription is ready for the new Features with the Windows Server 2022 Insider Preview Datacenter Azure Edition Build.
You need the Core edition when you want to try hotpatching.
and you need to be a Windows Server Insider.
Add Storage to your Virtual Machine.
Because it’s for testing only I selected SSD.
Set your network settings.
Set Management settings like Hotpatch Preview.
At Advanced tab you can add Extensions and Custom scripts.
Click on Review + Create
Validation is passed, Click on Create and the
Windows Server Insider 2022 Datacenter Azure Edition will deploy.
IMPORTANT
Check the Network Security Group (NSG) of the Virtual Machine in Azure and set the security settings!
Set the Security Settings in the NSG.
Because we Installed the Windows Server Insider Core version,
Windows Admin Center (Preview) is very handy for Management.
Running Windows Server 2022 Insider Build 10.0.20348.166 in Azure
with Windows Admin Center (Preview) for Testing.
Now we wait for the Hotpatch 😉
Conclusion
Microsoft Azure Cloud platform is great for testing new products like Windows Server Insider Build versions, Windows 11 Insider Preview and the new Azure features. So when this becomes GA in the future you have already the experience and did some feedback to the Microsoft Product Team 😉
The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) gives you the most command-line tools, utilities, and applications directly on Windows. I’m using Microsoft Windows Admin Center and Windows Server Core 20H2 with Build version 19042.746 to deploy WSL 2 with Ubuntu 18.04 Linux Distro. Here you find the installation of the Windows Server Core 20H2 with Windows Admin Center
In the following steps we will install the Following :
Ubuntu 18.04 is Running in WSL2 on Windows Server Core 20H2 😉
Conclusion
First of All Microsoft Windows Admin Center is supporting me in the Installation of Windows Subsystem for Linux. We have WSL 2 Running with Ubuntu 18.04 with a lot of possibilities!
What I really like is integration, like in Windows 10 and Docker for desktop with the WSL 2 Engine. Here my Blogpost
Together with VSCode Remote WSL is Cool.
Would be awesome to run Docker Windows and Linux Containers in combination with WSL 2 integration on Windows Server Core edition. Maybe in the Future, who knows?
Windows Admin Center is a locally deployed, browser-based app for managing Windows servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure, as well as Windows 10 PCs. It comes at no additional cost beyond Windows and is ready to use in production. If you want to work more secure with Windows Server Core images without the GUI or with Microsoft Azure Stack HCI operating system then Windows Admin Center is the tool for the Administrator to manage your workloads on-premises or in the Cloud. You have one web based interface for all your Server consoles (MMC) to manage your Hybrid Datacenter.
Here you can read more about Microsoft Windows Admin Center and download the free software.
Get the best with Windows Admin Center Extensions
Windows Admin Center and the Container Extension
When you have installed Microsoft Windows Admin Center you can configure the settings and extensions for your environment. When you want the benefits of the Microsoft azure Cloud Services you can configure your Azure subscription and add the extensions to your Windows Admin Center. There are also Third Party extensions like Dell, DataOn, Fujitsu and more. Here you find more information about how extensions work.
Container Extension
In the following step-by-step guide we will work with the Container Extension of Windows Admin Center on a Windows Server 2019. You have already added the server in WAC and installed the Container extension. In my MVPLAB.CLOUD is that Windows Server 2019 datacenter Starship01.mvplab.cloud. When you open the server you will come in the Overview of the Windows Server:
Click on Containers.
Click on Install for the Docker installation on Starship01.mvplab.cloud.
This will install Docker on the Windows Server 2019 and reboot when it’s ready to use for Containers. From this moment you can work with Windows Containers on the host via Windows Admin Center.
Remote Desktop in Windows Admin Center, the docker host is installed with the Windows Filter by default.
When you want to use Docker Linux Containers with Windows Server 2019 host, you have to configure the Linux kit LCOW with a distro on the host. More info here
Containers on Starship01.mvplab.cloud
To start with containers you can create your own, or pull an image from Docker Hub with Windows Admin Center. In my case I pull Windows Server 2019 ltsc with IIS image.
mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore/iis (Image)
windowsservercore-ltsc2019 (Tag)
Click then on Pull.
Select your image and click on Run.
Give your Container a name and set your settings.
Click on Run.
Click on Containers tab and you will see your running Container
More details you see the IP-Address of the Container.
IIS is running on Windows Server 2019 ltsc in a Docker Windows Container.
That was easy right 😉
Making your Own Docker file with Windows Admin Center Container Extension
When you have your own Github repository with your software, you can make your own docker file and make a docker image on your host for deployment. To show this I have used this sample on Microsoft docs, but you can clone also a github repository and copy the dockerfile on the host.
I copied the dockerfile on the host C:\BuildImage.
—————
# Sample Dockerfile
# Indicates that the windowsservercore image will be used as the base image. FROM mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2019
# Metadata indicating an image maintainer. LABEL maintainer=”jshelton@contoso.com”
# Uses dism.exe to install the IIS role. RUN dism.exe /online /enable-feature /all /featurename:iis-webserver /NoRestart
# Creates an HTML file and adds content to this file. RUN echo “Hello World – Dockerfile” > c:\inetpub\wwwroot\index.html
# Sets a command or process that will run each time a container is run from the new image. CMD [ “cmd” ]
In Windows Admin Center comes ITpro world and DevOps world Together in One web based console like with the Container extension. Microsoft is developing really fast in Windows Admin Center to get all the right Feature for ITPro, DevOps and SecOps Administrators in one place. Awesome are the Windows Admin Center Extensions, developers makes these better and better to do the job for Administrators 🚀
Windows Server 2019 Core and Azure Stack HCI are Operating systems without a GUI, and with Windows Admin Center they are really good to manage, update and keeping in control of security.
I like Windows Admin Center a lot and it Rocks for managing your hybrid Datacenter 😉
Send your comments and feedback via Microsoft GitHub repoby opening a new issue for the Container Extension. Follow @vrapolinario on Twitter
You can Follow Windows Admin Center here on Twitter : @servermgmt
Microsoft Windows Admin Center is a web based App working in your modern browser like Edge or Chrome to manage your datacenter infrastructure. You can download it here
You can manage Windows Servers, Windows10 Desktops, Clusters, Hyperconverged Clusters, Storage Spaces Direct and more in a Hybrid environment and that’s what I like.
My Servers can be on-premises or in the Cloud like Azure and will manage them with Windows Admin Center.
Cloud and Datacenter Management Blog 