Windows Server 2008 - Top 5 Extraordinary Features

Server 2008 is one of Microsoft Windows' server series of operating systems. It is the successor to Windows Server 2003. Like Windows Vista and Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 is built on Windows NT 6.x. In this blog we’ll discuss some of its extraordinary features.
NTFS - Windows’s server 2008 used an improved version of NTFS, a new system service works in the background that can identify a file system error, and perform an automatic healing process without anyone taking the server down.
Address Space Load Randomization (ASLR) -Probably one of the most divisive included features already, especially since it’s introduced with Vista, ASLR makes sure that no two subsequent instances of an operating system load the same system drivers in the same location in memory each time.
Powershell - It's a part of the shipping operating system: the completely new command line tool that can either supplement or completely replace GUI-based administration.
Server-Core - Windows Server 2008 introduces a variation of installation called Server Core. Server Core is a radically scaled-back installation where no Windows Explorer shell is installed. All configuration and maintenance is performed completely through command line interface windows, or by connecting to the machine remotely using Microsoft Management Console. However, Notepad and some control panel applets, such as Regional Settings, are available.
Windows System Resource Manager- It offers resource management and can be very handy to control the amount of resources a process or a user can use based on business priorities. Process Matching Criteria, which is defined by the name, type or owner of the process, imposes restrictions on the resource usage by a process that matches the criteria. CPU time, bandwidth that it can use, number of processors it can be run on, and allocated to a process can be restricted. Restrictions can be set to be imposed only on certain dates as well.

Windows Server Security 2008 Support Services

This post provides Windows Server 2008 Security Guide. This guide provides instructions and recommendations to help strengthen the security of computers running Windows Server® 2008 that are members of an Active Directory® domain.

In addition to the guidance that the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide prescribes, this Solution Accelerator provides tools, step-by-step procedures, recommendations, and processes that significantly streamline the deployment process. This guide not only provides you with effective security setting guidance. It also provides you with a reproducible method that you can use to apply the guidance to both test and production environments.

The key tool that this Solution Accelerator provides for you is the GPOAccelerator. The tool enables you to run a script that automatically creates all the Group Policy objects (GPOs) you need to apply this security guidance. The Windows Server 2008 Security Guide Settings workbook that accompanies this guide provides another resource that you can use to compare and evaluate the Group Policy settings.

Microsoft engineering teams, consultants, support engineers, partners, and customers have reviewed and approved this prescriptive guidance to make it:
• Proven. Based on field experience.
• Authoritative. Offers the best advice available.
• Accurate. Technically validated and tested.
• Actionable. Provides the steps to success.
• Relevant. Addresses real-world security concerns.

Microsoft has published security guides for Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server. This guide references significant security enhancements in Windows Server 2008. The guide was developed and tested with computers running Windows Server 2008 joined to a domain that uses Active Directory® Domain Services (AD°DS).

Running Exchange Server 2007 in a virtual environment

With the release of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft began supporting Exchange Server 2007 in virtual environments. However, not every scenario is supported, and Microsoft only recommends and supports a virtual environment if specific conditions are met.

First of all, as I implied, only Exchange 2007 SP1 can run virtually. SP1introduced further improvements to Exchange’s I/O footprint, which, I imagine, led to Microsoft’s easing of restrictions on the installation in virtual environments. Second, your Exchange servers must be running under Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2003-based Exchange servers are out of the question.

Next, your virtual environment needs to be running on Hyper-V or a third-party virtualization provider validated by Microsoft. Validated third-party products include VMware (fortunately!) ESX 3.5 updates 2 and 3 and Citrix Xen Server, among others. Microsoft prefers that you use Hyper-V as your virtualization platform, but it’s nice to see that it isn’t excluding other major players.

One major item of note: If you intend to use unified messaging, that role is not supported in a virtual environment. In fact, it’s not recommended that you use virtualization for any services for which real-time communication is required. I have tested the unified messaging role in a virtual lab and can safely say that this role really needs to run on its own physical server.

There are a number of other items to take into consideration when it comes to running Exchange in a virtual environment. The list below is just a few of the major items. Microsoft provides a complete list of requirements and limitations on TechNet.

* Don’t forget to account for the processing and disk needs of the virtual host, particularly if you’re using Hyper-V. Under Hyper-V, the root machine needs processors assigned to it, and the root machine will consume processing resources and RAM. As you build your virtual hosts and add virtual machines, makes sure that the virtual processor-to-physical core ratio is no greater than 2:1. That is, if you have a four core machine, do not assign more than eight cores worth of processor to the running virtual machines.

* Understand that Exchange’s high-availability features, such as continuous cluster replication, don’t mix well with hypervisor-based clustering, such as Hyper-V’s quick migration or VMware’s VMotion. Microsoft doesn’t support combining these technologies. If you choose to forgo VMotion or quick migration on your root server or virtual host, then Exchange’s clustering capabilities are fully supported in a virtual environment, although you do lose a significant server availability feature. Of course, you can always run clustered mailbox servers on different virtual hosts as a way to mitigate some of this downside. This limitation would only affect the virtual machines hosting the mailbox server role. The servers housing the other roles should not be limited.

* Microsoft does not support making snapshots of full Exchange virtual servers at the virtual host level due to the fact that most hypervisor-based snapshot tools are not application aware. Snapshots could end up creating a mess if used improperly.

* Even when running in a virtual environment, you need to adhere to design recommendations when it comes to building your virtual servers. If, for example, a physical machine would require 16 GB of RAM for a particular Exchange installation, the virtual machine will too.

* Under Hyper-V, VHDs are limited to 2 TB in size. Size your mailbox stores accordingly.

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=623

Running Exchange Server 2007 in a virtual environment

With the release of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft began supporting Exchange Server 2007 in virtual environments. However, not every scenario is supported, and Microsoft only recommends and supports a virtual environment if specific conditions are met.

First of all, as I implied, only Exchange 2007 SP1 can run virtually. SP1 introduced further improvements to Exchange's I/O footprint, which, I imagine, led to Microsoft's easing of restrictions on the installation in virtual environments. Second, your Exchange servers must be running under Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2003-based Exchange servers are out of the question.

Next, your virtual environment needs to be running on Hyper-V or a third-party virtualisation provider validated by Microsoft. Validated third-party products include VMware (fortunately!) ESX 3.5 updates 2 and 3, and Citrix Xen Server, among others. Microsoft prefers that you use Hyper-V as your virtualisation platform, but it's nice to see that it isn't excluding other major players.

One major item of note: if you intend to use unified messaging that role is not supported in a virtual environment. In fact, it's not recommended that you use virtualisation for any services for which real-time communication is required. I have tested the unified messaging role in a virtual lab and can safely say that this role really needs to run on its own physical server.

There are a number of other items to take into consideration when it comes to running Exchange in a virtual environment. The list below is just a few of the major items.

• Don't forget to account for the processing and disk needs of the virtual host, particularly if you're using Hyper-V. Under Hyper-V, the root machine needs processors assigned to it, and the root machine will consume processing resources and RAM. As you build your virtual hosts and add virtual machines, make sure that the virtual processor-to-physical core ratio is no greater than 2:1. That is, if you have a four-core machine, do not assign more than eight cores worth of processor to the running virtual machines.
• Understand that Exchange's high-availability features, such as continuous cluster replication, don't mix well with hypervisor-based clustering, such as Hyper-V's quick migration or VMware's VMotion. Microsoft doesn't support combining these technologies. If you choose to forgo VMotion or quick migration on your root server or virtual host, then Exchange's clustering capabilities are fully supported in a virtual environment, although you do lose a significant server availability feature. Of course, you can always run clustered mailbox servers on different virtual hosts as a way to mitigate some of this downside. This limitation would only affect the virtual machines hosting the mailbox server role. The servers housing the other roles should not be limited.
• Microsoft does not support making snapshots of full Exchange virtual servers at the virtual host level due to the fact that most hypervisor-based snapshot tools are not application aware. Snapshots could end up creating a mess if used improperly.
• Even when running in a virtual environment, you need to adhere to design recommendations when it comes to building your virtual servers. If, for example, a physical machine would require 16GB of RAM for a particular Exchange installation, the virtual machine will too.
• Under Hyper-V, VHDs are limited to 2TB in size. Size your mailbox stores accordingly.

These are just some of the most significant limitations and items of note with regard to running Exchange in a virtual environment.

Source: http://www.builderau.com.au/program/windows/soa/Running-Exchange-Server-2007-in-a-virtual-environment/0,339024644,339294994,00.htm

Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1

This is a heads up that Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 is in the final stages of getting released and should be out in a couple of days. The next step for the Exchange team will be to release the Update Rollup onto the Download Center and then publish it to Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update publishing will happen 2-3 weeks after the Download Center publishing, due to internal policies and processes. We will let you know when this happens.

Regarding the overall patching experience, we have addressed the issue of Exchange 2007 managed services might time out during certificate revocation checks. While we will have a full list of issues fixed when the Rollup releases, some of major issues are:

• CDCR: Need an option to apply ELC policy to only the root instead of applying it recursively to root and all subfolders
• CDCR: Add generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false" to Exchange Services Config Files
• SCR does not copy logs in a disjoint namespace scenario
• SCR cannot be enabled when DNS suffixes differ on source/target in disjoint namespace scenarios
• Exchange 2007 CAS cannot copy the OAB from the OAB share on Windows Server 2008-based Exchange 2007 CCR clusters
• Messages get stuck in outbox on Windows Mobile 6.1 devices When using CAS proxy
• CDCR: MSI patching doesn't update logon.aspx if the file is modified by customer

Source:bink.nu/news/update-rollup-5-for-exchange-server-2007-sp1-is-almost-out-the-door.aspx