Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the future of Internet and soon all the domains will switch to it. Many Governments OR ISP’s has already implemented IPv6 in their countries and reasons. All the Operating Systems which are coming in market by default supports IPv6. Microsoft Windows Vista, 7 and 2008 server editions also supports IPv6 but recently while working on one Windows 2008 Server I have faced many problems with DNS as IPv6 records where inserted in DNS zone. I have disabled IPv6 from Network properties but it didn’t helped.

After searching on Google and Microsoft website I found that to disable IPv6 components you have to make changes in Windows Registry i.e. you have to add new DWORD value “DisabledComponents“ at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters (Hard way.. isn’t it cause you have navigate to TCPip6 parameters). As I have to do it on 6 servers it was going to be a time consuming process so I have opened notepad
1) Open Notepad (Start >> Run >> notepad)

2) Copy Paste Following

3) Save it on Desktop with .reg extension (I have saved it as disip6.reg). Make sure you save it with .reg extension and not like disip6.reg.txt as by default windows hide extensions of every file.

4) Double click on it and it will show you a warning like below. Press Yes

5) If you get following screen; all required changes and updates have been made in Registry

FYI: Following are the other values which you can use to configure the IPv6 protocols (From Microsoft Website)

1. Type 0 to enable all IPv6 components. The value “0″ is the default setting.
2. Type 0xffffffff to disable all IPv6 components, except the IPv6 loopback interface.
3. Type 0×20 to use IPv4 instead of IPv6 in prefix policies.
4. Type 0×10 to disable native IPv6 interfaces.
5. Type 0×01 to disable all tunnel IPv6 interfaces.
6. Type 0×11 to disable all IPv6 interfaces except for the IPv6 loopback interface.

In previous two parts i.e. Part-I: Installing Windows Server Backup and Part-II: Configuing Hyper-V VM Backups using WSB I have tried to provide the steps to configure HyperV VM backups on a External USB Drive. Today, in this Post I will explain the steps to recover a VM from the Backup which we have configured.

3) Recovering a Virtual Machine Using Windows Server Backup

1) Open the Windows Server Backup console and select “Recover” from Action panel.

2) On the Getting Started page, select “This Server” and press Next.

3) Select the backup date which you want to recover the VM

4) Select the Recovery typer: Select “Files and Folders” and press Next

5) Now, Select the VM which you want to recover (from left panel) and select the VHD file of respective VM (Right panel).

6) Specify the recovery options as per your reuirement. I have selected “Original Location” as Recovery Destination.

7) Confirmation: This screen will provide a summary of all the options which you have selected; Press Recover to start the recovery process

In my previous article (Part-I) I have explained how to install Windows Server Backup on Microsoft Windows 2008. Today via this article I will explain how to configure Windows Server Backup to take backups of Hyper-V VM’s without any recource usage or affecting the performance of VM.

Hyper-V Server Configuration:

CPU: Intel Xeon X5550 @2.67Ghz (2 Processors)
RAM: 24 GB
Disk: 500 GB [C:\= 50GB (OS), D:\= 450GB (VM Data)]
250 GB External USB Disk

2) Configuring Windows Server Backup to take VM Backups.

Before configuring Windows Server Backup to work with Hyper-V, we have to register Hyper-V VSS Writer GUID in Windows Registry.

Registering Hyper-V VSS Writer GUID in Registry.

1) Open “Registry Editor” (Start >> Run >> Regedit)

2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\

3) Check if Key Named “WindowsServerBackup” is available or not. If not then create a new Key (name is “WindowsServerBackup”) under Currnet version as soon in below image.

4) Inside “WindowsServerBackup” Key add new Key Named “Application Support“

5) Right-click the “Application Support” key and add new Key with name “{66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}“. You will get something like below image and make sure that you are navigating HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WindowsServerBackup\Application Support\{66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}

6) Create new String Value to create a REG_SZ string in “{66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}” with following details

Name: Application Identifier
Type: REG_SZ
Data: Hyper-V VSS Writer

Now you will get something like below image.

7) Reboot the server.

Use caution when you modify the registry. Corrupting the registry can cause system instability, as well as cause the operating system to be unable to boot.

Configure Backup a Virtual Machine Using Windows Server Backup

1) Open the Windows Server Backup console from the Administrative Tools and select Backup Schedule from Action Panel.

2) On the Getting Started page of the Backup Schedule Wizard, click Next.

3) Select “Custom” on Backup Configuration Page and Press Next

4) Select C:\ (default) and D:\ on Backup Items

5) Specify the Time on when you want to Run the backups of the VM.

6) Select Backup Destination: Select the USB Disk and press Next. It will show warning, press “Yes” to continue.

7) Press Next on Label Destination Disk

8) On the Confirmation page, review your selections, and click Finish.

9) In the Summary page, click Close.

Enkompass is a Windows Control Panel provided and support by cPanel which is the leading Control Panel provider for Linux. Enkompass can be installed on a Single Server or on a Distributed System. In Single Server every component i.e. IIS, Mail Server, MSSQL, MySQL will be installed on single System where the distributed system is a combination or network of few servers on which Mails, MySQL, MSSQL, IIS are running on different Servers. In this Post I will explain how you can install Enkompass on a stand alone server (HyperV VM) without cluster.

I have configured Standalone System on a HyperV VM having Following Configuration
1) CPU: 1 CPU (Intel Xeon e5520 on host server)
2) RAM: 2 GB
3) HDD: 30 GB
4) OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (x64)

Installation of Enkompass includes two parts which are:

1) Configuration of Microsoft Windows 2008
2) Installation and Configuration of Enkompass.

Configuration of Microsoft Windows 2008

Before we proceed with the installation of Enkompass we need to install and configure some softwares and Windows components. Following is the list of components which need to be installed or configured (I will explain steps)
a) Install Active Directory
b) Install IIS
c) SmarterMail Server
d) MySQL Server
e) Microsoft SQL Server

a) Install Active Directory.
On Microsoft Windows Server 2008 you can install Active Directory using command “dcpromo” and follow the steps. You can refer the article “Step-By-Step Guide for Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller” () where I have explained the steps to install Active Directory on a Windows Server 2008.

b) Install IIS.
IIS (Internet Information Services) is the default Web-server which comes with Microsoft Windows Platform. Following are the steps to install IIS on Windows Server 2008

1) Open/Expand Server Manager, click on Roles.
2) Click on “Add Roles” which will open Roles installation wizard. Press next to continue.
3) Now Select Web Server (IIS) from the list as shown in below Image

4) On next step it will ask for Role Services just like below image.

Select the following Services for Enkompass
1. All Common HTTP Features
2. Application Development

• ASP.Net
• .Net Extensibility
• ISAPI Filters
• ISAPI Extensions
• Server Side Includes

3. Health and Diagnostics

• HTTP Logging
• Request Monitor

4. Security

• Basic Authentication
• Windows Authentication
• URL Authorization
• Request Filtering
• IP and Domain Restrictions

5. Performance

• Static Content Compression

6. Management Tools

• IIS Management Console
• IIS Management Scripts and Tools
• Management Service
• ALL IIS 6 Management Compatibility (If using MailEnable)

5) Press Next start the installation.

c) Installation SmarterMail Server
SmarterMail is a Email Server product from smartertools.com, SmarterMail strives to revolutionize the way you host e-mail. With an intuitive interface, flexible spam options that include Bayesian Filtering, and live server diagnostics, SmarterMail becomes the best mail server solution you will find. Features include a web mail and administration interface, an active sidebar that allows for easy navigation, live server diagnostics that show you real time health and activity for your server, easy spam administration, smart hosting to allow easy setup of a backup server, multi-language support for the Web interface and spell check, folder auto-clean to keep junk Email and deleted items under control, advanced content filtering etc. Following are the installation steps of SmarterMail.

1) Download the free edition of SmarterMail from Smartertools website i.e. https://www.smartertools.com/
2) Run the downloaded executable and follow the steps (which is quite similar to any software installation in Windows).
3) Once the installation gets complete SmarterMail will pop-up for it’s configuration like License, Admin login Details, Spam Options etc. Select the options as per your requirements, Also if you want to use free edition press next when Screen ask for License.
4) Open Port 9998 in Windows Firewall so you can access the SmarterMail admin Panel on Internet as well.

d) Installation MySQL Server
1) Download MySQL 5.1 or greater from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/
2) Run the downloaded executable and follow the steps
3) Open Port 3306 in Windows Firewall.

e) MSSQL Server Installation
1) Download MSSQL 2005 or 2008 Express Edition from Microsoft or install License copy.
2) If you install MSSQL Express Edition don’t use a named version.
3) Install it using Mixed Mode.

f) Turn off User Account Control
1) Go to Control Panel >> User Accounts
2) Click on “Turn User Account Control on or off”

3) Press OK to disable User Account Control

4) Reboot the System to apply the changes.

Please check Installation and Configuration of Enkompass (Part-II) of this Article here.

In my previous Article “Configuration of Microsoft Windows Server 2008” I have explain the components which are requires by Enkompass. Once you done all the configuration you are ready to install Enkompass on your Server.

Installation and Configuration of Enkompass

1) Download the latest version i.e. Enkompass 1 from http://layer1.cpanel.net/

2) Run the installer, and follow the instructions to complete the installation. Enkompass will install its prerequisites.

3) Following is the very first screen of Enkompass installer which will tell you about the information components which need to be installed before Enkompass installation. Press next to continue

4) Enkompass will now start installing Third Party Components like Enkompass Prerequisite files and ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extension. Accept the EULA to install these Components.

5) Once the Third Party installation gets complete Main Enkompass Setup Wizard will start. Press Next to continue

6) Accept the EULA and Press Next.

7) Destination folder:- Select the Folder where you want to install Enkompass.

8) User Information:- Enkompass need a Domain Administrator Account and if the user you mentioned doesn’t exists Enkompass will create it. Make sure to note down the password.

9) Admin Contact Information:- Insert Admin Contact Email Address and Pager (optional) and press Next

10) Server IP:- Insert the Main IP of the Server and press Next to continue

11) DNS Server:- Enter the Primary DNS for Enkompass; Next to continue

12) Website Share Path:- Here you will have to mention the path where data of the website will be saved. Just like /home in Linux Cpanel

13) Folder for Website Data:- Website Data folder stores the data of all the website. I have kept it to default and press next.

14) Backup Location:- Mention the path where Enkompass will save the backups of all the accounts

15) IIS Share Configuration:- Enkompass setup IIS to use shared configuration. I have created and shared one folder (named iis) on the same server and mentioned \\[IP ADDRESS]\iis in the field.

16) IIS Encryption Password:- Enkompass creates a password to protect the IIS Shared Configuration file. Make sure to note down the password.

17) PHP on IIS:- If you want IIS to be configured to host PHP select the option “Configure IIS to host PHP” and Enkompass will configure it for you.

18) Ready to Install:- Press Next to install

19) Finish:- Enkompass has been installed successfully but make sure to open Server Administrator Interface so you can configure Enkompass.

20) Once you press finish Enkompass will open on local browser of the server and you will get following Screen

Here, you will have to mention details of server, Database, Mail Server etc. Once you finished, Enkompass is installed. You can access it using http://[IPaddress]:2086 and after login you will get following screen
final

Thats All…

Recently, I have configured backups of Hyper-V VM using “Windows Server Backup (WSB)” utility. Windows Server Backup (WSB) uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to provide backup and restore support for W2K8 volumes, folders, and files. To make this tutorial Easy and understandable to everyone, I will explain everything in following three parts

• Installation of Windows Server Backup.

• Configuring Windows Server Backup to take VM Backups.
  
• Restoration of Hyper-V VM.

1) Installation of Windows Server Backup.

Windows Server Backup need to be installed as Feature using Server Manager as it is not installed by default. Following are the steps to install Windows Server Backup on Microsoft Windows Server 2008.

1) Open Server Manager >> select Features >> click Add Features.

2) In the Add Features Wizard, expand Windows Server Backup in the Features tree.

3) Select Windows Server Backup and also select Command-Line Tools.

4) After you make your selections, click Next.

5) Press Install to continue.

6) If you get following screens, you have installed Windows Server Backup (WSB).

I will post Part II and Part III soon… thanks for your Patience.