WIN_TIPS AND TRICKS UPDATE NEW_ Penton Media October 19, 2009 If you want to view this on the web go to: http://enews.penton.com/enews/windowsitpro/v/1087 JOHN SAVILL'S FAQ FOR WINDOWS --Q. I heard that with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, there's almost no difference in performance between dynamic and fixed virtual disks. Is this true? John Savill A. In Server 2008, writing to dynamically expanding disks (which allocate space to the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) as needed) took about three times as long as writing to fixed-size VHDs (in which all space is allocated when the VHD is created). This performance difference is mostly because of the limited metadata caching performed for dynamic disks. This has been remedied with Server 2008 R2. The performance of dynamic disks is essentially equal to that of fixed disks. There's no significant performance disparity. This means you can now seriously look at using dynamic disks in a production environment instead of fixed disks. However, you should still pay very close attention to how much disk space you're committing to on each volume. You don't want to be in a situation where you stage lots of dynamic disks that grow beyond the size of the underlying physical volume. ---------------------------------------- ADVERTISEMENT Argent Replace SCOM In ONE Day with ARGENT COMPLETE monitoring of Windows, Linux, all Unixes, and SNMP -- all from one vendor. Over 18 years experience and 2,000 HAPPY customers. AUTOMATE all monitoring TODAY. Argent engineers tune your worldwide environment onsite AT NO COST. Replace SCOM now with PROVEN Argent. http://www.Argent.com/clicks/witpro_scom.php ---------------------------------------- --Q. How do I enable or disable Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs) from PowerShell in Windows Server 2008 R2? A. You should usually use the Failover Cluster Management Microsoft Management Console snap-in to enable or disable CSVs, but you can also do it with PowerShell. To enable, run the following commands: $cluster = Get-Cluster $cluster.EnableSharedVolume="Enabled" To disable CSVs, first make sure no disks are enabled for CSV, then run the following commands: $cluster = Get-Cluster $cluster.EnableSharedVolume="Disabled" If you get an error when you're enabling CSVs and are prompted for a complete syntax, use the following command instead: $cluster.EnableSharedVolume="Enabled/NoticeRead" --Q. How do I access Resource Monitor in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2? A. Resource Monitor is available in the System Tools folder under Accessories in the Start menu. You can also run resmon.exe. The tool works similarly to the Windows Vista version, with some redesign and additional information. Shown here is the Server 2008 R2 version of Resource Monitor. You can see some detail on the tabs and additional view sizes for the overall graphs. (http://www.windowsitpro.com/Common/adforceimages/1029552008r2resmon.jpg) Click to expand. --Q. When will the final versions of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 be available? A. Microsoft has announced that the XP virtual machine used for XP Mode and the final version of Windows Virtual PC will be available on the day Windows 7 releases to general availability, October 22, 2009. --Q. Are there any password auditing programs that work on 64-bit versions of Windows? A. Most password auditing programs use a process that works on 32-bit platforms but fails on 64-bit platforms. It fails because of the additional memory protection capabilities of 64-bit OSs, which prevent dumping password hashes from memory. I'm glad to report that the latest version of Proactive Password Auditor from ElcomSoft works great on a 64-bit OS. Passwords can be dumped on any 64-bit platform. In the example shown here, I'm on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server core read-only domain controller. (http://www.windowsitpro.com/Common/adforceimages/102948rodc2008r264bitppa.jpg) Click to expand. ---------------------------------------- This issue is sponsored by Argent (http://www.Argent.com/clicks/witpro_scom.php). ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Still Doing Nightly Exchange Backups? If your Exchange Server isn't continuously protected, four words - data loss/unhappy end-users. http://windowsitpro.com/whitepapers/Index.cfm?fuseaction=ShowWP&wpid=7e376ca8-18e2-4c42-9bea-58fbd007fd58&code=EUEWAGoogleAppsSept09WP01101209 Virtualization Can Be Easier Than the Bunny Slope! 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