Windows Server 2019 – Now available in preview

On March 20th, 2018 the Microsoft Windows Server Team announced that Windows Server 2019 was now available in preview. This is the one of the first times we’ve heard about the new server operating system and it has certainly been met with mixed reactions. It is expected for release sometime in the second half of 2018.

Today is a big day for Windows Server! On behalf of the entire Windows Server team, I am delighted to announce Windows Server 2019 will be generally available in the second half of calendar year 2018. Starting now, you can access the preview build through our Insiders program. -Erin Chapple, Director of Program Management, Windows Server

This new edition of Windows Server seems to have come at at time where most enterprises are just now starting to deploy Windows Server 2016. This is primarily due to Microsoft’s updated release schedule channels.

Microsoft has indicated that Windows Server 2019 release will be part of the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), which also includes Windows Server 2016. Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) formerly called the “Long-Term Servicing Branch” is Microsoft’s release model where a new major version of Windows Server is released every 2-3 years. Users are entitled to 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support. This channel is appropriate for systems that require a longer servicing option and functional stability. Continue reading…

Tuning Large Windows DHCP Servers

I’ve been involved in setting up some very large Windows DHCP deployments during my time working as a Consultant at Long View Systems. Along the way I’ve found some interesting challenges and caveats of using Windows DHCP, especially so anytime your working with DHCP enabled dynamic DNS updates. I wanted to have a quick post about this for my own reference and hopefully might come in handy for others as well.

  • DHCP Failover Scopes
  • Administration Overhead
  • DhcpLogFilesMaxSize
  • DynamicDNSQueueLength
  • DnsRegistrationMaxRetries

DHCP Failover Scopes

I’ve covered this topic extensively in my Windows Server 2012 R2 – DHCP High Availability / Fail-over Setup Guide series. Basically, if you are deploying Windows DHCP on a 2012+ server then you should be using DHCP Failover (not to be confused with split-scope or ms-clustering).

Administration Overhead

If you’re working with more than 100 scopes using only the default DHCP MMC-snap in’s, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Almost 1,000 DHCP scopes, 150k+ IP addresses

Performing administration tasks in the console with a large number of scopes becomes very repetitive and time consuming as each task normally requires many clicks. Making mass-changes is also very difficult or next to impossible. You may find yourself becoming familiar with Powershell scripting to resolve this problem. The DHCP Server Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell are very easy to use and Microsoft has great documentation on this. I found myself making Powershell scripts to make mass-changes much easier and less vulnerable to human error due to the very repetitive nature of the default GUI. Continue reading…

Firewall Swap & Windows Telemetry Data

I recently switched over from Sophos UTM to Untangle NG for my personal use firewall at home. During the process I basically had to rebuild all of my firewall rules and general network policy configurations. This allowed to me “start fresh” as my previous configuration had gotten quite bloated and complicated over time.

It’s clear that Microsoft has no intentions of telling us what exactly is sent in this telemetry data, how long it’s stored, and why when it’s disabled it continues to send data. Not to mention which obvious third parties have access to the data. For this reason, part of the new network policies I wanted to include was blocking telemetry data from getting sent back to the Microsoft mother-ship. Continue reading…

Windows Server 2016 – Technical Preview 5

Install

Microsoft has released Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 (build #14300). You can see what’s new here. This could probably be one of the last few TP (tech preview) builds that we will see. Especially so if Microsoft is still firm on their plans to officially launch Windows Server 2016 this summer (Q3 2016).

As long as you are running VMware ESXi 5.5 or higher (6.0 or later is recommended) then Windows Server 2016 is an supported operating system on VMware. You can even select it as an option for the guest OS on virtual machine version 11 or higher. Keep in mind that VMware VM version 11 restricts you to using the web client ONLY. When moving from a previous version of Windows Server to Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5, you will need to uninstall the previous version for a clean installation of Technical Preview 5. You can download TP5 as an ISO, however Nano server is only available in VHD format. See Getting Started with Nano Server for full details.

Personally I was never a fan of Windows 8.x or Server 2012. So far I think that Windows Server 2016 is already step in a better direction. Even in technical preview it offers many improvements of it’s predecessor. Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 provides a wide range of new and enhanced features and capabilities spanning server virtualization, storage, software-defined networking, server management and automation, web and application platform, access and information protection, virtual desktop infrastructure, and more. The GUI version or what is now referred to by Microsoft as the “Desktop Experience” is my current de-facto standard. If you use or have seen Windows 10 then right out of the box you will notice that Server 2016 is a stripped down, optimized, server version of Windows 10.

Choose Standard or Datacenter edition, depending on the features you need:

  • Windows Server 2016 Standard
    • Up to 2 VM’s or Hyper-V containers
    • Unlimited Windows containers
    • New Nano Server deployment option for “just enough OS”
  • Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
    • Unlimited VM’s and Hyper-V containers
    • Unlimited Windows containers
    • New Nano Server deployment option for “just enough OS”
    • Shielded VM’s and Host Guardian Service
    • Storage features, including Storage Spaces Direct and Storage Replica
    • New networking stack

Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 Gallery:

Overall Technical Preview 5’s new features seem to be focused on Hyper-V, Networking, Storage, Nano Server and Security. In Server 2016 you will also find Windows Defender and “Windows Server Antimalware” is installed and enabled by default.

The introduction of Host Guardian Service (HGS)’s new feature Shielded Virtual Machines which focuses on the security of virtual machines running in the Hyper-V environment. The goal of shielded VMs and Guarded Fabric is to help provide service providers and cloud operators the ability to offer their tenant administrators a hosted environment where protection of tenant virtual machine data is strengthened against threats from compromised storage, network, and host administrators, as well as malware.

This is just a quick post showcasing the new tech preview build. I will have a more in-depth view of all of these features and more when a release candidate build is finally available.

What do you think of Windows Server 2016 so far? Comment below!

Worried about Windows 10 privacy issues? Group/Local policy to the rescue!

win10privacy

I hear and see all over the Internet that people have privacy concerns about Windows 10 and for good reason. For any security concious person, like myself, they’re probably not very happy about many of the decisions that were made for Windows 10. Microsoft seems to be very tight lipped about their updates and what information is actually shared in their “learning” and “telemetry” information that is sent back to the Microsoft mother ship. There are also many other features included in Windows 10 that are, or could be seen as, a privacy concern; such as the advertising ID, WiFi Sense, Cortana, and the list goes on…

One of the biggest worries, though, is Microsoft’s policy on disclosing or sharing your personal information. The following is an excerpt from the privacy policy:

“We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services.”

I’m sure many from the IT community are aware of Microsoft’s direct involvement with Government spying programs – so make no mistake, you are being watched. Continue reading…

Microsoft support and security updates for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 end on January 12, 2016

Internet-Explorer-centered-header-664x374

Microsoft has announced that they will no longer provide security updates or technical support for older versions of Internet Explorer. Running older versions of Internet Explorer after January 12, 2016 may expose you to potential risks.

The latest version of Internet Explorer will continue to follow the component policy, which means that it follows the support lifecycle and is supported for as long as the Windows operating system for which it is installed on. Focusing support on the latest version of Internet Explorer for a supported Windows operating system is in line with industry standards.

Most customers are already using the latest version of Internet Explorer for their respective Windows operating system, however we have found there is still fragmentation across the install base which poses problems for web developers and support staff. Microsoft recommends customers upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer available in order to experience increased performance, improved security, better backward compatibility, and support for the modern web technologies that power today’s websites and services.

Beginning January 12, 2016, only the most current version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates, as shown in the table below:

Windows Desktop Operating Systems Internet Explorer Version
Windows Vista SP2 Internet Explorer 9
Windows 7 SP1 Internet Explorer 11
Windows 8.1 Update Internet Explorer 11

 

Windows Server Operating Systems Internet Explorer Version
Windows Server 2008 SP2 Internet Explorer 9
Windows Server 2008 IA64 (Itanium) Internet Explorer 9
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Internet Explorer 11
Windows Server 2008 R2 IA64 (Itanium) Internet Explorer 11
Windows Server 2012 Internet Explorer 10
Windows Server 2012 R2 Internet Explorer 11

 

Windows Embedded Operating Systems Internet Explorer Version
Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) Internet Explorer 7
Windows Embedded Standard 2009 (WES09) Internet Explorer 8
Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 Internet Explorer 8
Windows Embedded Standard 7 Internet Explorer 11
Windows Embedded POSReady 7 Internet Explorer 11
Windows Thin PC Internet Explorer 8
Windows Embedded 8 Standard Internet Explorer 10
Windows 8.1 Industry Update Internet Explorer 11

 

For customers running on an older version of Internet Explorer, such as Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft recommends customers plan to migrate to one of the above supported operating systems and browser combinations by January 12, 2016.

Customers have until January 12, 2016, to upgrade their browser after which time the previous versions of Internet Explorer will reach end of support. End of support means there will be no more security updates, non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates.

 

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