15 CMD Commands Every Windows User Should Know

Microsoft has slowly but surely pushed the command line aside in the Windows interface. This is not without reason, as it’s an antiquated and mostly unnecessary tool from an era of text-based input that has long passed.

But there still are some commands that remain useful, and Windows 8 even added new features. Here are the commands every Windows user needs to know.

In case you’re not sure how to access the command prompt, forgot basic commands, or would like to know how to see a list of switches for each command, you can refer to our beginners guide to the Windows command line for instructions.

ASSOC

Most files in Windows are associated with a specific program that is assigned to open the file by default. At times, remembering these associations can become confusing. You can remind yourself by entering the command “assoc” to display a full list of file extensions and the programs they’re connected with.

You can also extend the command to change file associations. For example, “assoc .txt=” will change the file association for text files to whatever program you enter after the equal sign. The ASSOC command itself will reveal both the extension names and program names, which will help you properly use this command. You can probably do this more easily in the GUI, but the command line interface is a perfectly functional alternative.

Cipher

Deleting files on a mechanical hard drive doesn’t really delete them at all. Instead, it marks the files as no longer accessible and the space they took up as free. The files remain recoverable until they’re overwritten with new data, which can take some time.

The cipher command, however, can be used to wipe a directory by writing random data to it. To wipe your C drive, for example, you’d use the command “cipher /w:c”, which will wipe free space on the drive. The command does not overwrite undeleted data, so you will not wipe out files you need by running this command.

There’s also a host of other cipher commands, however, they are generally redundant with Bitlocker enabled versions of Windows.

Driverquery

Drivers remain among the most important software installed on a PC. Improperly configured or missing drivers can cause all sorts of trouble, so its good to have access to a list of what’s on your PC. That’s exactly what the “driverquery” command does. You can extend it to “driverquery -v” to obtain more information including the directory in which the driver is installed.

File Compare

This command can be used to identify differences in text between two files, and is particularly useful for writers and programmers trying to find small changes between two versions of a file. Simply type “fc” and then the directory path and file name of the two files you want to compare.

You can also extend the command in several ways. Typing “/b” compares only binary output, “/c” disregards the case of text in the comparison, and “/l” only compares ASCII text.

So, for example, you could use the following:

fc /l "C:\Program Files (x86)\example1.doc" "C:\Program Files (x86)\example2.doc"

to compare ASCII text in two word documents

Ipconfig

This command relays the IP address that your computer is currently using. However, if you’re behind a router (like most computers today), you’ll instead receive the local network address of the router.

Still, ipconfig is useful because of its extensions. “ipconfig /release” followed by “ipconfig /renew” can force your Windows PC into asking for a new IP address, which is useful if your computer claims one isn’t available. You can also use “ipconfig /flushdns” to refresh your DNS address. These commands are great if the Windows network troubleshooter chokes, which does happen on occasion.

Netstat

Entering the command “netstat -an” will provide you with a list of currently open ports and related IP addresses. You’ll also be told what state the port is in – listening, established or closed. This is a great command if you’re trying to troubleshoot the devices your PC is connected to or you’re afraid you’re infected with a Trojan and are trying to locate a malicious connection.

Ping

Sometimes, you need to know whether or not packets are making it to a specific networked device. That’s where ping comes in handy. Typing “ping” followed by an IP address or web domain will send a series of test packets to the specified address. If they arrive and are returned, you know the device is capable of communicating with your PC; if it fails, you know that there’s something blocking communication between the device and your computer. This can help you decide if an issue is caused by improper configuration or a failure of network hardware.

Pathping

This is a more advanced version of ping that’s useful if there are multiple routers between your PC and the device you’re testing. Like ping, you use this command by typing “pathping” followed by the IP address, but unlike ping, pathping also relays some information about the route the test packets take.

Tracert

The “tracert” command is similar to pathping. Once again, type “tracert” followed by the IP address or domain you’d like to trace. You’ll receive information about each step in the route between your PC and the target. Unlike pathping, however, tracert also tracks how much time (in milliseconds) each hop between servers or devices takes.

Powercfg

Powercfg is a very powerful command for managing and tracking how your computer uses energy. You can use the command “powercfg /hibernate on” and “powercfg /hibernate off” to manage hibernation, and you can also use the command “powercfg /a” to view the power-saving states currently available on your PC.

Another useful command is “powercfg /devicequery s1_supported” which displays a list of devices on your computer that support connected standby. When enabled, these devices can be used to bring your computer out of standby – even remotely. You can enable this by selecting the device in Device Manager, opening its properties, going to the Power Management tab and then checking the “Allow this device to wake the computer” box.

“Powercfg /lastwake” will show you what device last woke your PC from a sleep state. You can use this command to troubleshoot your PC if it seems to wake from sleep at random.

The “powercfg /energy” command can be used to build a detailed power consumption report for your PC, which is output to a directory indicated after the command finishes. This report will let you know of any system faults that might increase power consumption, like devices that are blocking certain sleep modes, or which aren’t properly configured to respond to your power management settings.

Windows 8 added “powercfg /batteryreport”, which provides a detailed analysis of battery use, if applicable. Normally output to your Windows user directory, the report provides details about the time and length of charge and discharge cycles, lifetime average battery life, and estimated battery capacity.

Shutdown

As of Windows 8/8.1 there is now a shutdown command that – you guessed it! – shuts down your computer. This is of course redundant with the already easily accessed shutdown button, but what’s not redundant is the “shutdown /r /o” command, which restarts your PC and launches the Advanced Start Options menu, which is where you can access Safe Mode and Windows recovery utilities. This is useful if you want to restart your computer for troubleshooting purposes.

System File Checker

System File Checker is an automatic scan and repair tool that focuses on Windows system files. You will need to run the command prompt with administrator privileges and enter the command “sfc /scannow”. If any corrupt or missing files are found, they’ll be automatically replaced using cached copies kept by Windows for just that purpose. The command can require a half-hour to run on older notebooks.

Recovery Image

Virtually all Windows 8/8.1 computers ship from the factory with a recovery image, but the image may include bloatware you’d rather not have re-installed. Once you’ve un-installed the software you can create a new image using the “recimg” command. Entering this command presents a very detailed explanation of how to use it. You must have administrator privileges to use the recimg command, and you can only access the custom recovery image you create via the Windows 8 “refresh” feature.

Tasklist

The “tasklist” command can be used to provide a current list of all tasks running on your PC. Though somewhat redundant with Task Manager, the command may sometimes find tasks hidden from view in that utility.

There’s also a wide range of modifiers. “Tasklist -svc” shows services related to each task, “tasklist -v” can be used to obtain more detail on each task, and “tasklist -m” can be used to locate .dll files associated with active tasks. These commands are useful for advanced troubleshooting.

Taskkill

Tasks that appear in the “tasklist” command will have an executable and process ID (a four-digit number) associated with them. You can force stop a program using “taskkill -im” followed by the executable’s name, or “taskkill -pid” followed by the process ID. Again, this is a bit redundant with Task Manager, but may be used to kill otherwise unresponsive or hidden programs.

Conclusion

This article doesn’t cover every Windows command available. There are literally hundreds of them when all variables are included. Most, however, are no longer useful because they’ve been replaced by more convenient menus in the Windows GUI or simply aren’t commonly used (telnet, for example).

Hyper-V 3.0 in Windows Server 2012

Microsoft delivers a new version of its Hyper-V virtualization technology with Windows Server 2012. This version offers several improvements compared with its predecessor, and because the technology is included in the server operating system, companies can use Hyper-V 3.0 with no additional cost. In this article, I give an overview of the most important innovations in the new Hyper-V. Those who want to try out Windows Server 2012 can download the release candidate online.

More Memory

Future Hyper-V hosts can use 2TB of RAM and manage 160 CPUs; virtual machines themselves use 512GB of RAM. Virtual machines can be prioritized in Hyper-V clusters, and with live migration, they can be moved between cluster nodes while in full operation. If one node breaks down, Hyper-V 3.0 first moves the virtual machines with the highest priority.

Snapshots allow virtual servers to be backed up and restored to a specific point in time. On domain controllers, snapshots also back up the Active Directory (AD) database. Until now, resetting to a snapshot on a domain controller (DC) could lead to inconsistencies in the AD database, which also influenced other domain controllers because, in an Active Directory, all objects have a specific Update Sequence Number (USN). Every DC keeps a list of these USNs and is also in this list. If a snapshot is restored, the DC changes the USNs of many objects, which will very probably lead to inconsistencies. In any case, the other DCs will disconnect the restored DC from the network.

Thanks to Active Directory improvements in Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V 3.0, virtualizing domain controllers with Windows Server 2012 is easier, and creating snapshots for domain controllers is not a problem.

To clone a virtual domain controller with Windows Server 2012, you don’t need additional tools. Administrators can just copy the virtual machine and give the clone a new name. On the basis of the new Generation ID in Windows Server 2012 and support for it in Hyper-V 3.0, the new server recognizes the Active Directory and integrates itself without problem.

Hyper-V Replica in Windows Server 2012 makes it possible to replicate and synchronize virtual hard disks and entire servers asynchronously between various Hyper-V hosts on the network. The replication takes place via the filesystem – a cluster is not needed. Replication can be done manually, automatically, or according to a timetable. This way, virtual servers can also be operated with high availability without the need to install expensive clusters. The Hyper-V Manager includes a wizard for the setup.

Easier Replication

In contrast to the current version of VMware products, Hyper-V can perform this replication regardless of the storage system employed; additionally, the function is provided free of charge. Thanks to this new technology, virtual servers can be replicated easily between various Hyper-V hosts during full operation.

Replication is controlled with a wizard that is called up via the context menu of a virtual server in the Hyper-V Manager. For a Hyper-V host to be available for replication in the first place, the administrator must activate it on the server under Replication Configuration in the Hyper-V Settings dialog (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Activating replication on a Hyper-V host.

If this step is not completed before activating the replication, the replication wizard recognizes that the host has not been activated and suggests that the destination server first be configured. This configuration can also be done over the network, but it is advisable to complete it before the replication is set up.

Bigger Disks

Once the source server has verified the target server successfully, the administrator can configure other settings for the replication and specify the authentication that the target and source servers will use to connect with each other. For example, you can select the virtual disks on which the target server is to be replicated. For virtual disks, Windows Server 2012 uses VHDX files, which can reach a size of 16TB – in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, VHD files are limited to 2TB.

You can also specify whether the replication should include snapshots or only the server itself. Besides the latest, you can choose any number of restore points. However, doing so increases resource consumption markedly. The last option controls the first replication of the server. These settings allow you to initiate an immediate replication or set a specific time for it (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Setting the options for the initial replication.

If you purchase new machines for Hyper-V, make sure they are equipped with enough network adapters. The adapters also must support the new features in Hyper-V. In the network settings, calculations for IPsec can be moved from the processor of the virtual server to the network adapter, among other things.

Single-Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) is also new in Hyper-V. Under this specification, Hyper-V can also use hardware features of network adapters. To this end, compatible network adapters provide I/O channels implemented for virtualized environments with which, to a virtual server, a network adapter appears to be multiple separate network adapters. SR-IOV is especially interesting for I/O-intensive applications, such as for SQL servers.

Virtual Switches

Before you install a virtual server on a Hyper-V host, the first step is to configure the virtual switches – in Hyper-V these are also called vSwitches. To help with this step, the Hyper-V Manager includes a Virtual Switch Manager. You first create a virtual switch for each individual physical network adapter in the server. Under MAC Address Range, the dynamic MAC range can be defined for the virtual network cards on the server.

Static MAC addresses can also be specified for virtual servers. This is especially important for operation in a cluster. If virtual servers are moved between the cluster nodes, the MAC addresses change on restart because each node has its own pool. This process can cause problems with Windows activation, as well as with Network Load Balancing clusters.

Virtual switches act as Layer 2 network switches and also allow integration of NDIS (Network Device Interface Specification) filters and of WFP (Windows Filtering Platform) drivers. In this way, third-party plugins that offer advanced network and security settings for virtual servers can be integrated into Hyper-V (Figure 3). The corresponding settings for each individual vSwitch can be reached via the Plugins menu item.

Figure 3: The plugins for virtual switches in Windows Server 2012 provide log and filter functions with the Windows Filtering Platform.

Once the physical network adapters of the server have each been assigned a virtual switch, they can be allocated to the individual virtual servers. You can do this while creating the virtual machine or afterward in the settings under Network Adapter. The first setting is the allocation of a virtual switch. The bandwidth control is found directly on the start page. In this way, the network usage of the virtual servers can be controlled more closely than in Windows Server 2008 R2.

New Guards

Two new settings are found under Advanced Features: DHCP guard and Router guard prevent uncontrolled use of virtual servers as DHCP servers or routers (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Under the advanced network settings, you’ll find the DHCP and Router guards, which prevent troublemakers from disrupting the network.

This is to prevent virtual servers from undesirably acting as a DHCP server or router and disrupting the network.

Windows Server 2008 R2 can transfer only one server at a time, which usually isn’t very efficient, especially in cluster environments hosting multiple virtual servers. Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V 3.0 can now perform multiple live migrations at once. These settings are found in the Hyper-V settings of the host under Live Migrations.

Conclusions

Hyper-V 3.0 is an outstanding feature of Windows Server 2012. With this version, Microsoft has corrected many weaknesses and efficiently developed the virtualization platform. The new Hyper-V replication offers significantly better possibilities for utilizing virtual network adapters, and the new capabilities for live migration provide a genuine improved value. For the foreseeable future, VMware will probably remain the top dog in the virtualization jungle, but Microsoft is slowly catching

Sourceadmin-magazine.com

The 12 Best Tricks for Windows Server 2012

While users are still debating about the usability of Windows 8, administrators are worrying about the use of Windows Server 2012, which is available either tiled or totally without a GUI on request. Underneath its new clothes, the new Windows Server variant has treasures to offer, as shown by the following tricks.

Trick 1: Efficient Use of Server Manager

Windows Server 2008 R2 in part already allowed administrators to manage the network with Server Manager. However, that was all fairly rudimentary. For example, Server Manager in Windows Server 2008 R2 could not install roles over the network, and the management of server roles was not very efficient. Windows Server 2012 is vastly improved. For example, in Windows Server 2012, you can install server roles and features over the network on other servers (Figure 1).

         Figure 1: Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 provides centralized management of roles and features.

Microsoft has combined the wizards for installing server roles and features into a single wizard. This approach makes the process easier and faster because only a single install is necessary. Server Manager automatically groups installed server roles together with the appropriate servers. Server Manager lists management tools directly in the Tools menu, and you can even edit the Tools menu. To do this, open the Control Panel and look for System and Security | Administrative Tools. Server Manager shows all of the links in this area in the Tools menu. At this point, you can add more links, remove links, and even create a folder structure.

To use Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 to connect to more servers, just click on Manage and then Add Servers. In the window, you can then search for servers, so you can manage them in your local Server Manager. In this way, you also create your own groups of servers, which you can combine in Server Manager. You can then view event messages for these groups. Note that you can only install server roles and features if you have previously connected to the appropriate server.

Trick 2: NIC Teaming

Windows Server 2012 can combine up to 32 compatible network cards in teams without additional tools. During setup, you can select whether you want to use the individual adapters in the team as standby adapters to improve availability, or whether you want to combine the speed of the adapters to increase performance. You can only combine Ethernet connections in teams. Bluetooth and WLAN are not supported. Additionally, all network cards must be connected with the same speed.

To create a NIC team, launch Server Manager and click Local Server. By default, NIC Teaming is disabled. To enable the feature, click on the Disabled link. A new window will appear. Here, in the lower right area you can see which network adapters in the server are compatible with NIC teaming. To create a team, just right-click in the Adapters and Interfaces window and select Add to New Team.

The Properties link lets you define additional settings for your NIC team. Windows Server 2012 uses the MAC address of the primary NIC as the MAC address of the team. Core servers also support NIC teams. You can handle the setup either with Server Manager on another server, or you can use PowerShell. In PowerShell, you can use Get-NetAdapter to view the individual team adapter candidates and use Enable-NetAdapter or Disable-NetAdapter to enable or disable individual adapters.

All commandlets for managing NIC teams can be listed using Get-Command -Module NetLbfo. To create a new team, use the New-NetLbfoTeam commandlet. A list of comma-separated NICs is required here. Windows Server 2012 removes the IP binding from the physical network interface cards and binds them to the new virtual adapter which the wizard created for the team. You can view the status of the team in the Server Manager Local Server section by clicking on the Enabled link by NIC Teaming (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Viewing the NIC Teaming status.

If the team and the associated adapters are shown as active, you can adjust the network settings for the team. To do this, open the adapter settings by entering ncpa.cpl on the welcome page. You can then see the new team. On Hyper-V hosts you can create multiple virtual switches on the basis of the various physical adapters and then create NIC teams within virtual servers. They use the individual virtual switches of the Hyper-V host as their basis.

Trick 3: Virtual Domain Controller – Cloning and Snapshots

In Windows Server 2012, Microsoft has optimized the use of virtual domain controllers.

In contrast to previous versions, snapshots and cloned domain controllers no longer pose a risk to the entire Active Directory. To virtualize and also clone your domain controllers optimally, at least the following conditions must be met:

- The PDC emulator must be on a domain controller with Windows Server 2012. You cannot clone the PDC emulator; it must always be available during the cloning process.

- The domain must already have at least two domain controllers with Windows Server 2012 because you can only clone the second. The first one provides the PDC emulator.

- The virtualization solution must support this new technology (VM generation ID). Currently, this is only Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012.

To discover whether the virtualization solution you use supports the new VM generation ID, check out the Device Manager on a virtualized server with Windows Server 2012. The driver for system devices must be the Microsoft Hyper-V Generation Counter with the vmgencounter.sys driver file.

Before you clone a virtual domain controller, you need to run the

Get-ADDCCloningExcludedApplicationList

commandlet on the server. This cmdlet checks whether there are applications on the virtual server that do not support cloning.

If the cmdlet discovers incompatible services, for example, the DHCP service or an antivirus scanner, a message appears telling you this.

The configuration for cloning is created in the DCCloneConfig.xml file. The sample file, SampleDCCloneConfig.xml, is located in C:\Windows\System32.

After creating the DCCloneConfig.xml file, you can copy this to the folder with the Active Directory database, which is normally the C:\Windows\NTDS folder. You can only clone source domain controllers that are members of the Clonable domain controllers group in Active Directory. You also can only clone domain controllers that are not switched on. That is, you must shut down the appropriate domain controller before you can clone it.

Before adding the new domain controller to Active Directory, you must copy the DCCloneConfig.xml file customized by the cloning process from the source computer to the folder with the Active Directory database – that is, normally from the source computer to C:\Windows\NTDS on the target computer. Windows modifies the name of the file to show that a cloning process has taken place. Change the name back to DCCloneConfig.xml.

Next, you can either create a new virtual machine and use the copied hard drive, or you can import the exported server with the Hyper-V Manager or PowerShell. When you import, select the option Copy the virtual machine. When you start the domain controller, it parses the DCCloneConfig.xml file and prepares itself for the cloning. You will also receive a corresponding message when Windows starts up (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Windows Server 2012 cloning Active Directory on the new virtual domain controller.

Trick 4: Modifying the Server Name, Server Manager View, and IE

Many of the tasks that are part of the basic server configuration can be handled directly in Server Manager. To do this, click on Local Server. In the middle panel you will see the different tasks and can launch the corresponding wizards by clicking on the links.

In the View menu, you can disable the Welcome Tile; then, in Manage | Server Manager Properties enable the option Do not start Server Manager automatically at logon. Normally you need Internet Explorer to install drivers. In Windows Server 2012, advanced security is automatically enabled for Internet Explorer, which can interfere with downloading the drivers. You can disable advanced security for Internet Explorer in Server Manager as follows: Open Server Manager and on the left side, click Local Server. On the right side, click the On link next to IE Enhanced Security Configuration in the Properties section. In the dialog box that then appears, disable the option for Users or Administrators only.

After advanced security is disabled, you should be able to download drivers with no trouble.

Trick 5: Managing Windows Server 2012 with Windows 8

Microsoft provides the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) to let administrators manage Windows Server 2012 with Windows 8. Installing the tools on a workstation with Windows 8 gives you all of the administration tools you need for managing Windows Server 2012.

In addition to the various management tools for the server roles, the RSAT installation wizard also adds the new Server Manager from Windows Server 2012 to Windows 8. Using Server Manager, you can connect the various servers on which Windows Server 2012 is installed to the network. You also can use Server Manager on a Windows 8 workstation to install server roles on servers.

The Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 include Server Manager, management tools for server roles and features of Windows Server 2012, PowerShell cmdlets, and command-line tools for the management of roles and features. The Remote Server Administration Tools can be downloaded as a .msu file directly in the Download Center. To use Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 to connect to more servers, click on Manage and then Add Server. In the window, you can then search for servers and manage them in your local Server Manager.

Trick 6: Core Servers, Minimal Server Interface, GUI

Every installation of Windows Server 2012 has a Server Core as its basis. This provides all the essential command-line management tools, but it lacks all of the graphical management tools. You need to manage the server via some other server or with the Remote Server Administration Tools on Windows 8. During the installation, you can also opt to install Server Core mode. After the installation, you can easily install the management tools and the graphical interface on Windows Server 2012.

New in Windows Server 2012, besides the ability to install the graphical management tools on Server Cores, is the Minimal Server Interface. This installs the most important management tools for the graphical interface but is missing additional applications, such as Media Player, Explorer, and Internet Explorer. The desktop is also missing with this option. Many of the programs from the Control Panel and most of the administration tools for server roles and features, do work. The Minimal Server Interface is an intermediate stage between Server Core and servers with a graphical interface.

You can uninstall the graphical interface either in Server Manager or PowerShell. In Server Manager, use Manage | Remove Roles and Features. The Remove features page has a User Interfaces and Infrastructure field with three options:

- Graphical Management Tools and Infrastructure – This refers to the management consoles of the most important graphical tools on the server. If only this feature is installed, and not the graphical shell for server and desktop experience features, you have a server with a Minimal Server Interface.

- Desktop Experience – This feature is especially intended for Remote Desktop Servers. It converts the server interface into a Windows 8 interface and provides tools such as Media Player, Photo Manager, themes, and more.

- Server Graphical Shell – You can disable this feature together with the desktop experience to use the Minimal Server Interface. Note that this also removes Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer) and Internet Explorer from the server. You can also use this feature in PowerShell with the command:

Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell

When you install a Core Server, the server is also missing the binaries for installing the graphical interface. You will need either to configure an Internet connection for the server for the installation so that you can download the required data from Windows Update, or you need to enter the folder with the Windows Server 2012 installation files.

You can perform the install on Server Cores with PowerShell using the command

Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra

or you can connect with the server using Server Manager on a server on the network. Use the following commands in PowerShell:

Import-Module Dism

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -online -Featurename ServerCore-FullServer,Server-Gui-Shell,Server-Gui-Mgmt

Alternatively, you can do:

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt

to install the graphical interface.

Trick 7: Backing Up Virtual Servers

Veeam, the well-known vendor of virtual server backup tools, offers a free tool that lets you parse the backup of virtual Exchange Servers and restore individual objects (single-item recovery). Normal servers can also be backed up and restored in the same way.

The basis for this tool is the Veeam Backup Free Edition product. The backup software lets you back up virtual servers without any downtime – and not just virtual Exchange servers. The software also supports VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V. With Veeam Backup Free Edition, you can even connect to System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2/2012 and integrate Hyper-V clusters. If you connect a SCVMM server to Veeam backup, the software can automatically scan all the attached servers and back up the virtual servers stored on them (Figure 4). The software not only backs up individual virtualization hosts but specializes in backing up the virtual servers.

Figure 4: Free backups for virtual servers with Veeam Backup Free Edition.

Trick 8: Testing Replication in PowerShell

You can discover the status of Active Directory replication in PowerShell with the commandlet

Get-ADReplicationUpToDatenessVectorTable 

or a list of all servers with:

Get-ADReplicationUpToDatenessVectorTable* | sort Partner,Server | ft Partner,Server,UsnFilter

To view the individual sites and the domain controllers at these sites, use these two commandlets:

Get-ADReplicationSite XE "Get-ADReplicationSite" -Filter * | ft NameGet-ADDomainController -Filter * | ft Hostname,Site

To view the replication connections in the PowerShell, use the command get-adreplicationconnection. Other interesting commandlets include:

Get-ADReplicationPartnerMetadata XE "Get-ADReplicationPartnerMetadata"

Get-ADReplicationFailure XE "Get-ADReplicationFailure"Get-ADReplicationQueueOperation

You can also view detailed information on the individual sites with

Get-ADReplicationSite -Filter *

in PowerShell.

Trick 9: Using Hyper-V Replication

Hyper-V replicas in Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V Server 2012 let you replicate and synchronize virtual hard disks and complete virtual servers asynchronously between various Hyper-V hosts on the network. A cluster is not required. You can perform the replications manually, automatically, or on the basis of a schedule. If a Hyper-V host fails, the replicated servers can be switched online.

To make a Hyper-V host available for replicas, you will first need to enable and configure this option on the appropriate server in the Hyper-V Settings | Replication Configuration feature. Here, you define the data traffic and the servers from which the current server accepts replicas. Thus, you need to enable this feature first on all Hyper-V hosts.

If you are using Hyper-V Server 2012, you can also manage this server using the Hyper-V Manager on a different server and create the same settings in this way. There are no differences from the commercial editions of Windows Server 2012. Make sure you enable the Hyper-V Replica rule in the advanced firewall configuration (wf.msc) named Hyper-V Replica HTTP Listener. There is also a listener for HTTPS.

If you want to replicate a virtual server on another Hyper-V host with Windows Server 2012 or Hyper-V Server 2012, then after configuring the host, right-click on the appropriate virtual server and select Enable Replication (Figure 5).

This step launches a wizard, in which you specify how to replicate the selected server from the source host to the target server. The virtual server on the source server will remain the same.

In the wizard, you also set the target server and the authentication type. What authentication the destination server accepts is defined on the target server in the Hyper-V settings (Replication Configuration). You can also use the wizard to define which virtual hard drives you want to replicate. For the replication to work, you must enable the rules for the HTTP or HTTPS listener (depending on the traffic type you want to use) on the target server in the advanced settings of Windows Firewall (wf.msc). The rules are already there, just not enabled.

Trick 10: Failover with Hyper-V Replicas

The advantage of Hyper-V replicas is that you can perform a failover in the event of a server failure. To do so, click on the corresponding virtual server that you have replicated in Hyper-V Manager and select Replication | Failover in the pop-up menu. You can also launch a scheduled failover. In this case, you start the failover from the server on which you operate the source VM.

Next, select the restore point at which you want to fail over and then launch the failover. This only works if the source VM is switched off. During the failover, the wizard will start the replicated server, which then becomes available via the network, just like the source VM.

The advantage of a planned failover of the source Hyper-V host is that Hyper-V can send changes that have not yet been replicated to the target server so that it has the latest version. After completing a planned failover, the old source VM then becomes the new target VM, and the old target VM becomes the new source VM for replication. This means that you can also reverse this process.

Trick 11: Configuring DHCP for Failover

DHCP failover in Windows Server 2012 allows the deployment of a fail-safe DHCP server structure without a cluster. DHCP failover supports two servers with IPv4 configurations. The servers can also be members of a workgroup; domain membership is not strictly necessary.

The DHCP failover feature lets you provide two DHCP server IP addresses and option configurations on the same subnet or in the same range. This information is replicated between the two DHCP servers. Configuring the failover to load-balancing, in which client requests are distributed to the two servers, is also possible.

Open the DHCP console on the DHCP server, right-click the DHCP realm in which you want the fail-safe, and then click Configure Failover. On the second page, enter the Partner Server and then click Next. You can also specify a common secret key for this failover relationship. You can also select the mode with which you want to use the fail-safe: either load balancing or hot standby. By default, Load Balance is selected. This means that two servers share the requests. After you have completed the setup, you can view the failover in the Failover tab of the IP range’s properties (Figure 6).

Trick 12: Providing iSCSI Targets via Virtual Hard Drives

Windows Server 2012 can do more than access iSCSI targets, it can also serve up virtual disks as iSCSI targets on the network. To do this, you must install the iSCSI Target Server role in Server Manager with Manage | Add Roles and Features | File and Storage Services | File and iSCSI Services.

After installing the role service, you can use Server Manager and select File and Storage Services | iSCSI to create virtual disks that can be configured as iSCSI targets on the network. With the wizard, and as anywhere in Server Manager, you can also create virtual iSCSI targets on other servers on the network. For this to work, the iSCSI Target Server role service must be installed on the corresponding server.

In the scope of this setup, you can define the size and the location of the VHD(x) file. Additionally, you can use the wizard to control which server on the network is allowed to access the iSCSI target. You can also use an iSCSI target to provide multiple virtual iSCSI disks. After creating the virtual disks, you can use the context menu to change the settings.

Source:admin-magazine.com