Windows Server 8 AD Cloning, Virtualization, and Snapshots Warning

Windows Server 8 Beta has a lot of nice features.  Two features that are getting a lot of buzz in the Active Directory World are the ability to easily clone domain controllers and the support to restore Active Directory using snapshots.

Using snapshots can cause USN Rollback and other problems.  Mark Ramey from the Microsoft AD team has an excellent blog entry that you can read for more info.

I added the word Warning to the title of this blog because I've seen a few blogs, posts, and articles that may lead people to believe that this can all be done with a few mouse clicks.  This is not the case, it is not hard but there are some major prerequisites and steps that people have to be aware of.

A few screenshots from my lab using VMware workstation.  These options exist in most hypervisor  products.

Cloning in VMware Workstation 8

Snapshot in VMWare Workstation 8

***WARNING***  You can't just use the GUI and start cloning and taking snapshots without causing issues in a domain/forest with multiple DCs.  You can't manually copy the virtual machine files.  VMWare workstation 8 and the current VMWare products don't support these features.

To take advantage of these features the virtualization host must support VM Generation ID.   I'm guessing by the time Windows 8 is released all major vendors will support this but that means most folks will have to upgrade their hypervisor.

Microsoft currently has two really good documents that are a must read for anyone interested in these new features

Test Lab Guide:  Demonstrate Virtualized Domain  Controller (VDC) in Windows Server "8" Beta

Understand and Troubleshoot Virtualized Domain Controller (VDC) in Windows Server "8" Beta  - written by Ned Pyle - Outstanding document!!

I won't repeat the documents but some important sections


Steps to deploy a cloned virtualized domain controller

1.       Create the customized DcCloneConfig.xml file on a source domain controller

2.       Detect incompatible programs on the source domain controller

3.       Ensure the PDC emulator runs Windows Server "8" Beta, is not the clone source, and is available

4.       Authorize the source domain controller for cloning

5.       Shutdown the source domain controller and copy its disk

6.       Create a new clone virtual machine using the copied disks

7.       Start the source and cloned domain controller, then allow cloning to occur

For those that are fans of the GUI

There is no task-oriented graphical management program for VDC cloning in Windows Server "8" Beta; the provisioning steps are performed manually or using Windows PowerShell 

 Steps to restore a DC snapshot

1.       Take snapshot of DC

2.       Create a new Group Policy

3.       Validate GP replication (SYSVOL replication)

4.       Restore DC Snapshot

You can read the the documents to get a lot more info.   Ned's document is 162 pages...Ned is the king of documentation and writing :)

As I start using this feature more and eventually use this in production in the future I hope to write more on these features.  I won't try to replicate Ned's excellent document but there is going to be more to come.

Windows Server 8 & VMware Workstation

In a previous post I outlined installing Windows Server 8 Developer preview and all the current testing and screenshots have been done in a virtual box environment.

I also run VMware workstation and was running VMware workstation 7.1. I currently don't have a dedicated Hyper-V box at home but that will change in the future when I'm running Windows 8 as my desktop OS.

I tried installing Windows Server 8 on VMware 7.1




Initially it looked like it was going to start installing. Since Windows 8 was not an option I chose Windows 2008 R2 as the OS.






As you can see I also tried Windows 7 with no luck. I also tried other scenarios and they all didn't work. I figured this was a pre-beta release of Windows 8 so no big deal but I was a bit disappointed. If anyone has gotten this to work please comment.

On Septmember 14 VMware released Workstation 8

I decided to spend the $99 for the upgrade. Once I received the verification email I went to the download site and noticed there was only one executable for the full version and no upgrade version.

I wasn't sure if the full version would work or even let me download it. The VMware workstation team on twitter was really helpful and let me know to install the full version. It would uninstall 7.1 and then install 8.0 without losing any virtual machines. That worked fine so now the moment of truth would VMware workstation 8 support Windows Server 8 Developers Preview.

I started off with a typical install



This version still could not detect the OS but I'm guessing that will change in future release and as Windows 8 gets close to RTM.



I chose Windows Server 2008 R2 as my guest OS.




There is no license key for this version of Windows 8 so that is left blank.





I named my machine and set the location. I just use an external drive attached via USB 3.0. I would like a better storage system but I also don't want to break the bank.



I gave myself 40 GB and finished the process of configuring the virtual machine.





After reboot I was stuck in an endless loop telling me that the product key could not be read from the answer file. This had me worried as there is no product key



The endless loop was no fun so I shut the machine down and looked at the configuration again. I noticed the floppy drive there and I definitely don't need that. I removed the floppy drive





After removal of the floppy drive the installation proceeded with no issues.



There are some features such as cloning that I like in VMware that I don't get in Virtualbox but both are adequate for testing Windows 8 right now.

Thanks to the @vmw_workstation guys for their tips.

The normal caveat applies and that is that this is still a pre-beta release of Windows 8....but have fun.

Not sure if I'll be going to VMware workstation 9 down the road. I may have all Windows 8 boxes with Hyper-V by then :)