Are you looking for an affordable hosting service? Are you looking for good service at affordable prices? Try HostForLife.eu, only with € 3.00/month, you can get a reasonable price with best service. This topic contains only brief information about Windows Server 2008, if you want to be more familiar with Windows Server 2008, you should try HostForLife.eu.

Virtual Machine Additions are a very important component of Virtual Server 2005 (and Virtual PC 2007). Running VM Additions on a VM is not a must, but you'd better do it as soon as possible, even as the first thing to do right after finishing the installation phase of the OS itself.

Virtual Machine Additions adds the following enhancements to a guest operating system:

- Improved mouse cursor tracking and control
- Greatly improved overall performance
- Virtual machine heartbeat generator
- Optional time synchronization with the clock of the physical computer

You can use several methods to install the VM Additions:

- Through the Virtual Server administrative website
- Through VMRC Plus
- Unattended installation
- Through scripting

Additionally, if you've got Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) installed, you can also:

- Install the VM Additions from the VMM console
- Use PowerShell

Let's see how each method is carried on:

Using VMRC Plus to Install the VM Additions

If you've got VMRC Plus installed you can easily install VM Additions by performing these steps:

1. In the VMRC Plus console, point to the virtual machine you want to install the VM Additions on, and then double-click it to turn it on.

2. Once the virtual machine has started, point to the virtual machine name, and then double-click it to remote control it.

3. Log on to the virtual machine as an administrator or member of the Administrators group.

4. Once the guest operating system is loaded, in the Console Manager window click Media > Install Current VM Additions.

5. Inside the VM, follow the prompts and perform the installation.

6. You must reboot the guest virtual machine in order for the VM Additions to function properly.

Using the Virtual Server administrative website to Install the VM Additions

To install Virtual Machine Additions through the Virtual Server administrative website please follow these steps:

1. Open the Virtual Server Administration website.

2. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Machines, point to Configure and then click the appropriate virtual machine.

3. In Status, point to the virtual machine name, and then click Turn On.

4. Once the virtual machine has started, point to the virtual machine name, and then click Remote Control.

5. Log on to the virtual machine as an administrator or member of the Administrators group.

6. Once the guest operating system is loaded, press the HOST KEY to release the mouse pointer, and then in the lower-left corner under Navigation, click Configure virtual_machine_name, where virtual_machine_name is the name of the VM you wish to install the VM Additions on.

7. In Configuration, click Virtual Machine Additions, click Install Virtual Machine Additions, and then click OK.

8. Under Status, point to the virtual machine name, and then click Remote Control.

9. Click in the Remote Control window to return to the guest operating system. The Virtual Machine Additions installation wizard will start. Proceed through the wizard.

10. Once the wizard is complete, you will be prompted to restart the virtual machine to complete the installation.

Using Unattended Installation to Install the VM Additions

To perform an unattended installation, place the Virtual Machine Additions image file (.ISO) to a location where it can be accessed by the virtual machines. Logon to the VM and in a command prompt window from within the VM type the following command:

setup.exe –s –v”/qn [Reboot=ReallySurpress]”

Using the SCVMM Administrator Console to Install the VM Additions

First, it is recommended that you add the Virtual Machine Additions to your VMM Library. This will allow you to use the same ISO image for all of your virtual machines.

To add Virtual Machine Additions to your VMM Library:

1. Copy the VMAdditions.iso file to a share in the Virtual Machine Manager library and then refresh the library server. The default location is C:'Program Files'Microsoft Virtual Server'Virtual Machine Additions.

2. If you do not see the VMAdditions ISO file in Library view or when you browse for a known image file, disable any filters and manually refresh the library.

To install Virtual Machine Additions on an existing virtual machine:

1. In Virtual Machines view, right-click the virtual machine on which you want to install Virtual Machine Additions, and then click Properties

2. In the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box, display the Hardware Configuration tab.

3. If there is no DVD drive, add a DVD drive to the IDE device by clicking DVD on the New menu bar to add one.

4. Click Known image file, click Browse to open the Select ISO dialog box, click the VMAdditions.iso file, and then click OK.

5. Start the virtual machine. Virtual Machine Additions will install from within the running virtual machine.

Using SCVMM and PowerShell to Install the VM Additions

Here is a PowerShell script you can run on the VMM server that will do that. It assumes that you have an ISO called VMAdditions.iso in a library share managed by VMM. The VM Additions are installed with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 in the <yourinstalldrive>'Program Files'Microsoft Virtual Server'Virtual Machine Additions folder. So you first either copy this ISO to the library for use on all VMs, or modify the script to use the copy local to the host your VM is on.

Copy the following text and save it as Install-VMAdditions.ps1:

 # Install-VMAdditions.ps1
Svm = $args[0]
if (Svm.Status –eq ‘Running’ )
{
$vmadditions = get-iso | where { $_.Name –eq ‘VMAdditions’ }
Set-VirtualDVDDrive –VirtualDVDDrive $vm.VirtualDVDDrives[0] –Link –ISO
$vmadditions
}
else
{
write-host “The VM must be Running before you can install VM Additions.”
}

To use this script:

$vm = get-vm –Name “My VM”
C: ‘Scripts’Install-VMAdditions.ps1 $vm

The VM Additions installer will launch automatically inside the guest OS.

Notes:

- The VM does not need to be running order to attach an ISO to a Virtual DVD drive, but the VM does need to be running in order to install VM Additions.

- On the Set-VirtualDVDDrive lines, the –Link¬ parameter means: Point to the ISO inside the library instead of copying it to the host.

Reinstalling Virtual Machine Additions for use with Virtual PC

If you move a virtual machine that was created with Microsoft Virtual PC to Virtual Server, we recommend that you reinstall Virtual Machine Additions, even if it was installed in Virtual PC. This is because the version of Virtual Machine Additions included with Virtual Server has been updated.

Current VM Addition versions are:

- VM Additions in VS 2005 R2 SP1 = 13.813
- VM Additions in VPC 2007= 13.803

Top Reasons to host your ISS 7.5 Website with HostForLife.eu

There are many reasons why so many people choose HostForLife over any other web hosting provider each year. Whether you’re beginner or an experience webmaster, HostForLife offers the perfect solution for everyone.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added-benefits you can find when hosting with us:

1. World-class 24x7 Customer Support
Will your hosting company promptly answer questions and resolve issues - at 3 am on a Sunday? Even some providers claiming “24x7” support will not - but HostForLife will. Our outstanding uptime is backed by true 24x7 customer support. An expertly trained technician will respond to your query within one hour, round the clock. You will also get qualified answers. Other hosting companies typically have very low - level support staff during the night or weekends. HostForLife always has knowledgeable, top - level  support standing by, day or night, to give you the answers you need.

2. Commitment to Outstanding Reliability
Reliability, Stability, and Performance of our servers remain out TOP priority. Even our basic service plans are equipped with standard service level agreements for 99.99% uptime. Advanced options raise the bar to 99.99%. Our state-of-the-art data centers combine servers and SAN storage with full redundancy and operational tools with proprietary service management techniques. Full backup and recovery capabilities are implemented, including redundant power supplies, cooling and connectionsto major data networks.

3. “Right-size” plans for maximum value
HostForLife offers a complete menu of services. IT professionals select only what they need - and leave behind what they don’t. The result is an optimal blend of cost and performance. We offer IT professionals more advanced features and the latest technology - ahead of other hosting companies.

4. Profitable, Stable, Debt-free Business
Financial stability is the bedrock of a hosting provider’s ability to deliver outstanding uptime, cost-effective service plans and world-class 24x7 support.  HostForLife’s customers are assured of our financial integrity and stability - a stark contrast to the ups and downs they may have experienced with other providers.

5. The Best Account Management Tools
HostForLife revolutionized hosting with Plesk Control Panel, a Web-based interfaces that provides customers with 24x7 access to their server and site configuration tools. Some other hosting providers manually execute configuration requests, which can take days. Plesk completes requests in second. It is included free with each hosting account. Renowned for its comprehensive functionally - beyond other hosting control panels - and ease of use, Plesk Control Panel is available only to HostForLife’s customers.

6. 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
HostForLife 30 day money back guarantee ensures you have the ability to cancel your account anytime within your first 30 days under our full 30 day money back guarantee (less one-time account setup free). So what are you waiting for? Sign up today, risk free…

7. Simplicity with FREE 1-Click Installation
HostForLife was designed with ease of use in mind. From one click installations of your favourite website applications to our much talked about drag and drop website builder, you can rest assure your stay with us is going to be a smooth one. HostForLife offers the most extensive set of scripts on the web allowing you to build complicated websites with little or no programming knowledge at all. From blogs to forums to powerful e-commerce solutions, Super Green has something that is right for you.

Are you looking for an affordable hosting service? Are you looking for good service at affordable prices? Try HostForLife.eu, only with € 3.00/month, you can get a reasonable price with best service. This topic contains only brief information about Windows Server 2008, if you want to be more familiar with Windows Server 2008, you should try HostForLife.eu.

Considerations when Installing a new Windows Server 2008 domain in an existing Windows 2000/2003 forest

When you install AD to create the first domain controller in a new Windows Server 2008 domain, you must keep the following considerations in mind:

- Before you create a new Windows Server 2008 domain in a Windows 2000/2003 forest, you must prepare the forest for Windows Server 2008 by extending the schema (that is, by running ADPREP /forestprep).

- You must make domain functional level decisions that determine whether your domain can contain domain controllers that run Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, or both. To read more about forest and domain functional levels please refer to the links below.

- We recommend that you host the PDC emulator operations master role in the forest root domain on a domain controller that runs Windows Server 2008.

Installing Active Directory Domain Services (AD-DS)

In Windows Server 2008, unlike previous server operating Systems, there is an additional step that needs to be taken before running DCPROMO to promote the server to Domain Controller and installing Active Directory on it. This step is the installation of Active Directory Domain Services (AD-DS) role on the server. In fact, the AD-DS role is what enables the server to act as a Domain Controller, but you will still need to run DCPROMO the regular way.

AD-DS can be installed in one of 3 methods:

Method 1 – Server Manager/Initial Configuration Tasks

Roles can and should be added from Server Manager (but they can also be initiated from the Initial Configuration Tasks wizard that auto-opens the first time you log on to the server).

1. Open Server Manager by clicking the icon in the Quick Launch toolbar, or from the Administrative Tools folder.

2. Wait till it finishes loading, then click on Roles > Add Roles link.

3. In the Before you begin window, click Next.

4. In the Select Server Roles window, click to select Active Directory Domain Services, and then click Next.

5. In the Active Directory Domain Services window read the provided information if you want to, and then click Next.

6. In the Confirm Installation Selections, read the provided information if you want to, and then click Next.

7. Wait till the process completes.

8. When it ends, click Close.

9. Going back to Server Manager, click on the Active Directory Domain Services link, and note that there's no information linked to it, because the DCPROMO command has not been run yet.

10. Now you can click on the DCPROMO link, or read on.

Method 2 – Servermanagercmd.exe

Servermanagercmd.exe is the command prompt equivalent of the Add Roles and Add Features wizards in Server Manager. Through the use of various command line options, you can quickly and easily add or remove features and roles to or from your server, including the AD-DS role.

To install AD-DS by using Servermanagercmd.exe, simply enter the following command in the Command Prompt window:

Servermanagercmd.exe –I ADDS-Domain-Controller

Let the command run and when it finishes, AD-DS will be installed on the server.

Method 3 – Letting DCPROMO do the job

Oh yes. If you forget to install AD-DS or simply want to skip clicking on some windows, you can run DCPROMO from the Run command and before it is executed, the server will check to see if the AD-DS binaries are installed. Since they are not, they will auto-install.

After you complete the Add Roles Wizard, either click the link to start the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard, or close Server Manager and manually run DCPROMO from the Run command.

Running DCPROMO

After installing the AD-DS role, we need to run DCPROMO to perform the actual Active Directory database and function installation.

1. To run DCPROMO, enter the command in the Run command, or click on the DCPROMO link from Server Manager > Roles > Active Directory Domain Services.

2. Depending upon the question if AD-DS was previously installed or not, the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard will appear immediately or after a short while. Click Next.

3. In the Operating System Compatibility window, read the provided information and click Next.

4. In the Choosing Deployment Configuration window, click on "Create a new domain in a new forest" and click Next.

5. Enter an appropriate name for the new domain. Make sure you pick the right domain name, as renaming domains is a task you will not wish to perform on a daily basis. Click Next.

6. Pick the right forest function level. Windows 2000 mode is the default, and it allows the addition of Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers to the forest you're creating.

7. Pick the right domain function level. Windows 2000 Native mode is the default, and it allows the addition of Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers to the domain you're creating.

8. The wizard will perform checks to see if DNS is properly configured on the local network. In this case, no DNS server has been configured, therefore, the wizard will offer to automatically install DNS on this server.

9. It's most likely that you'll get a warning telling you that the server has one or more dynamic IP Addresses. Running IPCONFIG /all will show that this is not the case, because as you can clearly see, I have given the server a static IP Address. So, where did this come from? The answer is IPv6. I did not manually configure the IPv6 Address, hence the warning. In a network where IPv6 is not used, you can safely ignore this warning.

10. You'll probably get a warning about DNS delegation. Since no DNS has been configured yet, you can ignore the message and click Yes.

11. Next, change the paths for the AD database, log files and SYSVOL folder. For large deployments, carefully plan your DC configuration to get the maximum performance. When satisfied, click Next.

12. Enter the password for the Active Directory Recovery Mode. This password must be kept confidential, and because it stays constant while regular domain user passwords expire (based upon the password policy configured for the domain, the default is 42 days), it does not. This password should be complex and at least 7 characters long. We strongly suggest that you do NOT use the regular administrator's password, and that you write it down and securely store it. Click Next.

13. In the Summary window review your selections, and if required, save them to an unattend answer file. When satisfied, click Next.

14. The wizard will begin creating the Active Directory domain, and when finished, you will need to press Finish and reboot your computer.

Note: You can automate the rebooting process by checking the Reboot on Completion checkbox.

Top Reasons to host your ISS 7.5 Website with HostForLife.eu

There are many reasons why so many people choose HostForLife over any other web hosting provider each year. Whether you’re beginner or an experience webmaster, HostForLife offers the perfect solution for everyone.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added-benefits you can find when hosting with us:

1. World-class 24x7 Customer Support
Will your hosting company promptly answer questions and resolve issues - at 3 am on a Sunday? Even some providers claiming “24x7” support will not - but HostForLife will. Our outstanding uptime is backed by true 24x7 customer support. An expertly trained technician will respond to your query within one hour, round the clock. You will also get qualified answers. Other hosting companies typically have very low - level support staff during the night or weekends. HostForLife always has knowledgeable, top - level  support standing by, day or night, to give you the answers you need.

2. Commitment to Outstanding Reliability
Reliability, Stability, and Performance of our servers remain out TOP priority. Even our basic service plans are equipped with standard service level agreements for 99.99% uptime. Advanced options raise the bar to 99.99%. Our state-of-the-art data centers combine servers and SAN storage with full redundancy and operational tools with proprietary service management techniques. Full backup and recovery capabilities are implemented, including redundant power supplies, cooling and connectionsto major data networks.

3. “Right-size” plans for maximum value
HostForLife offers a complete menu of services. IT professionals select only what they need - and leave behind what they don’t. The result is an optimal blend of cost and performance. We offer IT professionals more advanced features and the latest technology - ahead of other hosting companies.

4. Profitable, Stable, Debt-free Business
Financial stability is the bedrock of a hosting provider’s ability to deliver outstanding uptime, cost-effective service plans and world-class 24x7 support.  HostForLife’s customers are assured of our financial integrity and stability - a stark contrast to the ups and downs they may have experienced with other providers.

5. The Best Account Management Tools
HostForLife revolutionized hosting with Plesk Control Panel, a Web-based interfaces that provides customers with 24x7 access to their server and site configuration tools. Some other hosting providers manually execute configuration requests, which can take days. Plesk completes requests in second. It is included free with each hosting account. Renowned for its comprehensive functionally - beyond other hosting control panels - and ease of use, Plesk Control Panel is available only to HostForLife’s customers.

6. 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
HostForLife 30 day money back guarantee ensures you have the ability to cancel your account anytime within your first 30 days under our full 30 day money back guarantee (less one-time account setup free). So what are you waiting for? Sign up today, risk free…

7. Simplicity with FREE 1-Click Installation
HostForLife was designed with ease of use in mind. From one click installations of your favourite website applications to our much talked about drag and drop website builder, you can rest assure your stay with us is going to be a smooth one. HostForLife offers the most extensive set of scripts on the web allowing you to build complicated websites with little or no programming knowledge at all. From blogs to forums to powerful e-commerce solutions, Super Green has something that is right for you.

Are you looking for an affordable hosting service? Are you looking for good service at affordable prices? Try HostForLife.eu, only with € 3.00/month, you can get a reasonable price with best service. This topic contains only brief information about Windows Server 2008, if you want to be more familiar with Windows Server 2008, you should try HostForLife.eu.

There are a myriad of both subtle and fundamental differences in the basic architecture of Windows Server 2008, which could dramatically change not only the way it's used in the enterprise, but also the logical and physical structure of networks where it's the dominant OS.

The abilities to consolidate servers, to manage hardware more effectively, to remotely manage hardware without the graphical traffic, and to radically alter the system security model, could present a more compelling argument for customers to plan their WS2K8 migrations now, than the arguments for moving from Windows 2000 to Server 2003.

Based on the information we gathered last week at WinHEC 2007 in Los Angeles, we decided that rather than list a bunch of mind-jarring new categories and marketing terms that sound like rejected gadgets from the Bat-Cave, we'd select what we believe to be the ten most influential and important new technologies to find their way into WS2K8, with the help of Microsoft software engineers such as Mark Russinovich to explain their relevance. We begin at the end with our #10 entry:

10. The self-healing NTFS file system

Ever since the days of DOS, an error in the file system meant that a volume had to be taken offline for it to be remedied. In WS2K8, a new system service works in the background that can detect a file system error, and perform a healing process without anyone taking the server down.

9. Parallel session creation

Prior to Server 2008, session creation was a serial operation. If you've got a Terminal Server system, or you've got a home system where you're logging into more than one user at the same time, those are sessions. And the serialization of the session initialization caused a bottleneck on large Terminal Services systems. So Monday morning, everybody gets to work, they all log onto their Terminal Services system like a few hundred people supported by the system, and they've all got to wait in line to have their session initialized, because of the way session initialization was architected.

8. Clean service shutdown

One of Windows' historical problems concerns its system shutdown procedure. In XP, once shutdown begins, the system starts a 20-second timer. After that time is up, it signals the user whether she wants to terminate the application herself, perhaps prematurely. For Windows Server, that same 20-second timer may be the lifeclock for an application, even one that's busy spooling ever-larger blocks of data to the disk.

In WS2K8, that 20-second countdown has been replaced with a service that will keep applications given the signal all the time they need to shut down, as long as they continually signal back that they're indeed shutting down.

7. Kernel Transaction Manager

This is a feature which developers can take advantage of, which could greatly reduce, if not eliminate, one of the most frequent causes of System Registry and file system corruption: multiple threads seeking access to the same resource.

In a formal database, a set of instructed changes is stored in memory, in sequence, and then "committed" all at once as a formal transaction. This way, other users aren't given a snapshot of the database in the process of being changed - the changes appear to happen all at once. This feature is finally being utilized in the System Registry of both Vista and Windows Server 2008.

6. SMB 2 network file system

Long, long ago, SMB was adopted as the network file system for Windows. While it was an adequate choice at the time, we believe, "SMB has kind of outlived its life as a scalable, high-performance network file system."

So SMB2 finally replaces it. With media files having attained astronomical sizes, servers need to be able to deal with them expeditiously. Russinovich noted that in internal tests, SMB2 on media servers delivered thirty to forty times faster file system performance than Windows Server 2003. He repeated the figure to make certain we realized he meant a 4000% boost.

5. Adress Space Load Randomization (ASLR)

Perhaps one of the most controversial added features already, especially since its debut in Vista, ASLR makes certain that no two subsequent instances of an operating system load the same system drivers in the same place in memory each time.

4. Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA)

That's right, Microsoft has actually standardized the error - more accurately, the protocol by which applications report to the system what errors they have uncovered. You'd think this would already have been done.

One of the problems facing error reporting is that there's so many different ways that devices report errors. There's no standardization across the hardware ecosystem. So that made it very difficult to write an application, up to now, that can aggregate all these different error sources and present them in a unified way. It means a lot of specific code for each of these types of sources, and it makes it very hard for any one application to deliver you a good error diagnostic and management interface.

Now, with hardware-oriented errors all being reported using the same socketed interface, third-party software can conceivably mitigate and manage problems, reopening a viable software market category for management tools.

3. Windows Server Visualization

Even pared down a bit, the Viridian project will still provide enterprises with the single most effective tool to date for reducing total cost of ownership...to emerge from Microsoft. Many will argue virtualization is still an open market, thanks to VMware; and for perhaps the next few years, VMware may continue to be the feature leader in this market.

But Viridian's drive to leverage hardware-based virtualization support from both Intel and AMD has helped drive those manufacturers to roll out their hardware support platforms in a way that a third party - even one as influential as VMware - might not have accomplished.

2. PowerShell

At last. For two years, we've been told it'll be part of Longhorn, then not really part of Longhorn, then a separate free download that'll support Longhorn, then the underpinning for Exchange Server 2007. Now we know it's a part of the shipping operating system: the radically new command line tool that can either supplement or completely replace GUI-based administration.

We'll be seeing some new examples of PowerShell in the WS2K8 work environment - hopefully unhindered now that the product is shipping along with the public Beta 3...at least unless someone changes his mind. We hope that phase of PowerShell's history is past it now.

1. Server Core

Here is where the world could really change for Microsoft going forward: Imagine a cluster of low-overhead, virtualized, GUI-free server OSes running core roles like DHCP and DNS in protected environments, all to themselves, managed by way of a single terminal.

If you're a Unix or Linux admin, you might say we wouldn't have to waste time with imagining. But one of Windows' simple but real problems as a server OS over the past decade has been that it's Windows. Why, admins ask, would a server need to deploy 32-bit color drivers and DirectX and ADO and OLE, when they won't be used to run user applications? Why must Windows always bring its windows baggage with it wherever it goes?

Beginning with Windows Server 2008, the baggage is optional. As product manager Ward Ralston told BetaNews in an interview published earlier this week, the development team has already set up Beta 3 to handle eight roles, and the final release may support more.

What's more, with the proper setup, admins can manage remote Server Core installations using a local GUI that presents the data from the GUI-less remote servers. You can install that enable [TCP] port 3389, so you can administer it with Terminal Services. [So] if you're sitting at a full install version and let's say we bring up the DNS, we can connect to a Server Core running DNS, and we can administer it from another machine using the GUI on this one. So you're not just roped into the command line for all administration. We see the majority of IT pros using existing GUIs or using PowerShell that leverages WMI [Windows Management Instrumentation] running on Server Core, to perform administration."

PowerShell can run on Server Core...partially, Iain McDonald told us. It won't be able to access the .NET Framework, because the Framework doesn't run on Server Core at present. In that limited form, it can access WMI functions.

But a later, more "component-ized" version of .NET without the graphics functionality may run within Server Core. This could complete a troika, if you will, resulting in the lightest-weight and most manageable servers Microsoft has ever produced. It may take another five years for enterprises to finally complete the migration, but once they do...this changes everything.

Top Reasons to host your ISS 7.5 Website with HostForLife.eu

There are many reasons why so many people choose HostForLife over any other web hosting provider each year. Whether you’re beginner or an experience webmaster, HostForLife offers the perfect solution for everyone.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added-benefits you can find when hosting with us:

1. World-class 24x7 Customer Support
Will your hosting company promptly answer questions and resolve issues - at 3 am on a Sunday? Even some providers claiming “24x7” support will not - but HostForLife will. Our outstanding uptime is backed by true 24x7 customer support. An expertly trained technician will respond to your query within one hour, round the clock. You will also get qualified answers. Other hosting companies typically have very low - level support staff during the night or weekends. HostForLife always has knowledgeable, top - level  support standing by, day or night, to give you the answers you need.

2. Commitment to Outstanding Reliability
Reliability, Stability, and Performance of our servers remain out TOP priority. Even our basic service plans are equipped with standard service level agreements for 99.99% uptime. Advanced options raise the bar to 99.99%. Our state-of-the-art data centers combine servers and SAN storage with full redundancy and operational tools with proprietary service management techniques. Full backup and recovery capabilities are implemented, including redundant power supplies, cooling and connectionsto major data networks.

3. “Right-size” plans for maximum value
HostForLife offers a complete menu of services. IT professionals select only what they need - and leave behind what they don’t. The result is an optimal blend of cost and performance. We offer IT professionals more advanced features and the latest technology - ahead of other hosting companies.

4. Profitable, Stable, Debt-free Business
Financial stability is the bedrock of a hosting provider’s ability to deliver outstanding uptime, cost-effective service plans and world-class 24x7 support.  HostForLife’s customers are assured of our financial integrity and stability - a stark contrast to the ups and downs they may have experienced with other providers.

5. The Best Account Management Tools
HostForLife revolutionized hosting with Plesk Control Panel, a Web-based interfaces that provides customers with 24x7 access to their server and site configuration tools. Some other hosting providers manually execute configuration requests, which can take days. Plesk completes requests in second. It is included free with each hosting account. Renowned for its comprehensive functionally - beyond other hosting control panels - and ease of use, Plesk Control Panel is available only to HostForLife’s customers.

6. 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
HostForLife 30 day money back guarantee ensures you have the ability to cancel your account anytime within your first 30 days under our full 30 day money back guarantee (less one-time account setup free). So what are you waiting for? Sign up today, risk free…

7. Simplicity with FREE 1-Click Installation
HostForLife was designed with ease of use in mind. From one click installations of your favourite website applications to our much talked about drag and drop website builder, you can rest assure your stay with us is going to be a smooth one. HostForLife offers the most extensive set of scripts on the web allowing you to build complicated websites with little or no programming knowledge at all. From blogs to forums to powerful e-commerce solutions, Super Green has something that is right for you.

Follow this procedure to install Windows Server 2008:

1. Insert the appropriate Windows Server 2008 installation media into your DVD drive.

2. Reboot the computer.

3. When prompted for an installation language and other regional options, make your selection and press Next.

4. Next, press Install Now to begin the installation process.

5. Product activation is now also identical with that found in Windows Vista. Enter your Product ID in the next window, and if you want to automatically activate Windows the moment the installation finishes, click Next.

If you do not have the Product ID available right now, you can leave the box empty, and click Next. You will need to provide the Product ID later, after the server installation is over. Press No.

6. Because you did not provide the correct ID, the installation process cannot determine what kind of Windows Server 2008 license you own, and therefore you will be prompted to select your correct version in the next screen, assuming you are telling the truth and will provide the correct ID to prove your selection later on.

7. If you did provide the right Product ID, select the Full version of the right Windows version you're prompted, and click Next.

8. Read and accept the license terms by clicking to select the checkbox and pressing Next.

9. In the "Which type of installation do you want?" window, click the only available option – Custom (Advanced).

10. In the "Where do you want to install Windows?", if you're installing the server on a regular IDE hard disk, click to select the first disk, usually Disk 0, and click Next.

If you're installing in a Virtual Machine environment, make sure you read the "Installing the Virtual SCSI Controller Driver for Virtual Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008"If you're installing on a hard disk that's connected to a SCSI controller, click Load Driver and insert the media provided by the controller's manufacturer.

If you must, you can also click Drive Options and manually create a partition on the destination hard disk.

11. The installation now begins, and you can go and have lunch. Copying the setup files from the DVD to the hard drive only takes about one minute. However, extracting and uncompressing the files takes a good deal longer. After 20 minutes, the operating system is installed. The exact time it takes to install server core depends upon your hardware specifications. Faster disks will perform much faster installs… Windows Server 2008 takes up approximately 10 GB of hard drive space.

The installation process will reboot your computer, so, if in step #10 you inserted a floppy disk (either real or virtual), make sure you remove it before going to lunch, as you'll find the server hanged without the ability to boot (you can bypass this by configuring the server to boot from a CD/DVD and then from the hard disk in the booting order on the server's BIOS)

12. Then the server reboots you'll be prompted with the new Windows Server 2008 type of login screen. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log in.

13. Click on Other User.

14. The default Administrator is blank, so just type Administrator and press Enter.

15. You will be prompted to change the user's password. You have no choice but to press Ok.

16. In the password changing dialog box, leave the default password blank (duh, read step #15…), and enter a new, complex, at-least-7-characters-long new password twice. A password like "topsecret" is not valid (it's not complex), but one like "T0pSecreT!" sure is. Make sure you remember it.

17. Someone thought it would be cool to nag you once more, so now you'll be prompted to accept the fact that the password had been changed. Press Ok.

18. Finally, the desktop appears and that's it, you're logged on and can begin working. You will be greeted by an assistant for the initial server configuration, and after performing some initial configuration tasks, you will be able to start working.

Next, for the initial configuration tasks please follow my other Windows Server 2008 articles found on the Related Windows Server 2008 Articles section below.

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There are many reasons why so many people choose HostForLife over any other web hosting provider each year. Whether you’re beginner or an experience webmaster, HostForLife offers the perfect solution for everyone.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added-benefits you can find when hosting with us:

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Microsoft SQL Server does not support the installation or use of SQL Server Failover Clustering on Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based server clusters or on Windows Server 2008-based server clusters if the server clusters have Terminal Server installed. This configuration was known as Application Mode in Microsoft Windows 2000. However, SQL Server 2000 instance installation is supported as a stand-alone instance for Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Mode (Application Mode).

For Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server Remote Desktop for Administration Mode, SQL Server 2000 installation is fully supported as both a clustered instance and a stand-alone instance.

Note Cluster instances for the versions of SQL Server that are listed in the "Applies To" section are currently not supported on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server Server Cluster installations.

Terminal Server provides remote computers with access to Windows-based programs running on the following systems:

1. Windows Server 2003 Standard Server
2. Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Server
3. Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Server
4. Windows Server 2008 Standard Server
5. Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Server
6. Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Server

With Terminal Server, you can provide a single point of installation that gives multiple users access to any computer that is running one of the operating systems listed earlier. Users can run programs, save files, and use network resources, all from a remote location as if these resources were installed on their own computers. This functionality is now available on server clusters in Windows Server 2003.

Remote Desktop for Administration is another part of the Terminal Services technology that is offered in Windows Server 2003 or in Windows Server 2008. You can enable remote administration of servers with Remote Desktop for Administration on any computer that is running the Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 family of products, even if Terminal Server is not installed.

Note In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, the Terminal Server component is named Terminal Services in Application Server mode. In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, the Remote Desktop for Administration component is named Terminal Services in Remote Administration mode.

To determine whether the Terminal Server service is running on the computer, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. On the left side of the screen, double click Add/Remove Windows Components.
4. Under Components, scroll down the list until you find Terminal Server. If Terminal Server is not selected, the service that is running is the "Remote Desktop" service and you can continue with your SQL Server installation. If Terminal Server is selected, you must clear the check box to remove the Terminal Server service in the application before you continue with the SQL Server installation.

What is so SPECIAL on HostForLife.eu IIS 7.5 Hosting?

We know that finding a cheap, reliable web host is not a simple task so we’ve put all the information you need in one place to help you make your decision. At HostForLife, we pride ourselves in our commitment to our customers and want to make sure they have all the details they need before making that big decision.

We will work tirelessly to provide a refreshing and friendly level of customer service. We believe in creativity, innovation, and a competitive spirit in all that we do. We are sound, honest company who feels that business is more than just the bottom line. We consider every business opportunity a chance to engage and interact with our customers and our community. Neither our clients nor our employees are a commodity. They are part of our family.

The followings are the top 10 reasons you should trust your online business and hosting needs to us:

- FREE domain for Life - HostForLife gives you your own free domain name for life with our Professional Hosting Plan and 3 free domains with any of Reseller Hosting Plan! There’s no need to panic about renewing your domain as HostForLIfe will automatically do this for you to ensure you never lose the all important identity of your site
- 99,9% Uptime Guarantee - HostForLife promises it’s customers 99.9% network uptime! We are so concerned about uptime that we set up our own company to monitor people’s uptime for them called HostForLife Uptime
- 24/7-based Support - We never fall asleep and we run a service that is opening 24/7 a year. Even everyone is on holiday during Easter or Christmast/New Year, we are always behind our desk serving our customers
- Customer Tailored Support - if you compare our hosting plans to others you will see that we are offering a much better deal in every aspect; performance, disk quotas, bandwidth allocation, databases, security, control panel features, e-mail services, real-time stats, and service
- Money Back Guarantee - HostForLife offers a ‘no questions asked’ money back guarantee with all our plans for any cancellations made within the first 30 days of ordering. Our cancellation policy is very simple - if you cancel your account within 30 days of first signing up we will provide you with a full refund
- Experts in IIS 7.5 Hosting - Given the scale of our environment, we have recruited and developed some of the best talent in the hosting technology that you are using. Our team is strong because of the experience and talents of the individuals who make up HostForLife
- Daily Backup Service - We realise that your website is very important to your business and hence, we never ever forget to create a daily backup. Your database and website are backup every night into a permanent remote tape drive to ensure that they are always safe and secure. The backup is always ready and available anytime you need it
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Introduction

Evaluating Windows Server 2008 software does not require product activation. Any edition of Windows Server 2008 may be installed without activation, and it may be evaluated for 60 days. Additionally, the 60-day evaluation period may be reset (re-armed) three times. This action extends the original 60-day evaluation period by up to 180 days for a total possible evaluation time of 240 days.

Note In the Windows Server 2008 Evaluation DVD package, there is a 120-day initial evaluation period. You can extend the evaluation period to 240 days. To extend the initial evaluation and testing period, follow the steps in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

How to install Windows Server 2008 without activating it

1. Run the Windows Server 2008 Setup program.

2. When you are prompted to enter a product key for activation, do not enter a key. Click No when Setup asks you to confirm your selection.

3. You may be prompted to select the edition of Windows Server 2008 that you want to evaluate. Select the edition that you want to install.

Note After Windows Server 2008 is installed, the edition cannot be changed without reinstalling it.

4. When you are prompted, read the evaluation terms in the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then accept the terms.

5. When the Windows Server 2008 Setup program is finished, your initial 60-day evaluation period starts. To check the time that is left on your current evaluation period, run the Slmgr.vbs script that is in the System32 folder. Use the -dli switch to run this script. The slmgr.vbs -dli command displays the number of days that are left in the current 60-day evaluation period.

How to manually extend the evaluation period

When the initial 60-day evaluation period nears its end, you can run the Slmgr.vbs script to reset the evaluation period. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.

2. Type slmgr.vbs -dli, and then press ENTER to check the current status of your evaluation period.

3. To reset the evaluation period, type slmgr.vbs –rearm, and then press ENTER.

4. Restart the computer.

This resets the evaluation period to 60 days.

What is so SPECIAL on HostForLife.eu IIS 7.5 Hosting?

We know that finding a cheap, reliable web host is not a simple task so we’ve put all the information you need in one place to help you make your decision. At HostForLife, we pride ourselves in our commitment to our customers and want to make sure they have all the details they need before making that big decision.

We will work tirelessly to provide a refreshing and friendly level of customer service. We believe in creativity, innovation, and a competitive spirit in all that we do. We are sound, honest company who feels that business is more than just the bottom line. We consider every business opportunity a chance to engage and interact with our customers and our community. Neither our clients nor our employees are a commodity. They are part of our family.

The followings are the top 10 reasons you should trust your online business and hosting needs to us:

- FREE domain for Life - HostForLife gives you your own free domain name for life with our Professional Hosting Plan and 3 free domains with any of Reseller Hosting Plan! There’s no need to panic about renewing your domain as HostForLIfe will automatically do this for you to ensure you never lose the all important identity of your site
- 99,9% Uptime Guarantee - HostForLife promises it’s customers 99.9% network uptime! We are so concerned about uptime that we set up our own company to monitor people’s uptime for them called HostForLife Uptime
- 24/7-based Support - We never fall asleep and we run a service that is opening 24/7 a year. Even everyone is on holiday during Easter or Christmast/New Year, we are always behind our desk serving our customers
- Customer Tailored Support - if you compare our hosting plans to others you will see that we are offering a much better deal in every aspect; performance, disk quotas, bandwidth allocation, databases, security, control panel features, e-mail services, real-time stats, and service
- Money Back Guarantee - HostForLife offers a ‘no questions asked’ money back guarantee with all our plans for any cancellations made within the first 30 days of ordering. Our cancellation policy is very simple - if you cancel your account within 30 days of first signing up we will provide you with a full refund
- Experts in IIS 7.5 Hosting - Given the scale of our environment, we have recruited and developed some of the best talent in the hosting technology that you are using. Our team is strong because of the experience and talents of the individuals who make up HostForLife
- Daily Backup Service - We realise that your website is very important to your business and hence, we never ever forget to create a daily backup. Your database and website are backup every night into a permanent remote tape drive to ensure that they are always safe and secure. The backup is always ready and available anytime you need it
- Easy Site Administration - With our powerful control panel, you can always administer most of your site features easily without even needing to contact for our Support Team. Additionally, you can also install more than 100 FREE applications directly via our Control  Panel in 1 minute!

Happy Hosting!

One of the most frustrating tasks for system administrators in Windows Server 2000 and 2003 is performing a restore of a server to new hardware. Nearly always the new hardware differs from the original server. If a direct restore is done from the backup (whether it be file-based or image-based), the new server often will BSOD, complaining about errors with HAL.SYS. This occurred because of driver and HAL differences between the old and new hardware.

This meant that a market developed for 3rd party solutions that enable the restore to dissimilar hardware by patching the registry and installing additional drivers before the newly restored system started. Such products, like Backup Exec System Recovery and Acronis True Image often cost upwards of $1000.

However, using the standard built-in Backup and Restore infrastructure in Windows Server 2008 and derivatives (SBS 2008 and EBS 2008), it is possible to restore an entire system to dissimilar hardware. In a presentation he gave at SMB Nation 2008, Jeff Middleton MVP stated that hardware independent restore was actually part of the design specification of Windows Server 2008.

And we tried really hard to break it. We did all sorts of ridiculous bare metal restores - from AMD to Intel, from single core to dual core to quad core, from single to dual CPUs, RAID to no RAID and vice versa.

And it worked flawlessly each time.

Our tests- restoring to dissimilar physical hardware

Windows Vista installation tests:

- Acer Aspire 1340 Laptop (AMD) > AMD Sempron Desktop

Windows Server 2008 installation tests:

1. Intel Xeon Dual CPU Dual Core Server w. RAID > AMD Phenom Single CPU Quad Core Desktop

2. AMD Phenom Single CPU Quad Core Desktop > Intel Xeon Dual CPU Dual Core Server w. RAID

3. 3rd test - Specs to get off Linus' Server 2008 DEV and Mel's DEV desktop >

Test results- restoring to and from virtual hardware

For the purposes of testing virtualisation, we used the free version of VMware Server 1.0.6 - freely downloadable from the VMware website.

Windows Server 2008 installation tests:

1. AMD Phenom Quad Core > VM on AMD Sempron Single Core

2. VM on AMD Sempron Single Core > Intel Xeon Dual Core Dual CPU w. RAID

and the reverse path:

3. Intel Xeon Dual Core Dual CPU w. RAID > VM on AMD Sempron Single Core

4. VM on AMD Sempron Single Core > AMD Phenom Quad Core

Conclusion

We certainly couldn't fault the bare metal restoration features in Windows Server 2008. After conducting so many tests, we feel confident that it will work when required. Another good feature of Microsoft's restore wizard is the "Have disk" button that allows you to load additional drivers at restore-time. This means that if you're restoring to hardware that's new, such as a RAID array, you can load up the drivers (especially important for RAID controllers, given that without the driver, you can't see the disk array and thus can't restore), perform the restoration, and then the new drivers are automatically on the newly restored system.

What is so SPECIAL on HostForLife.eu IIS 7.5 Hosting?

We know that finding a cheap, reliable web host is not a simple task so we’ve put all the information you need in one place to help you make your decision. At HostForLife, we pride ourselves in our commitment to our customers and want to make sure they have all the details they need before making that big decision.

We will work tirelessly to provide a refreshing and friendly level of customer service. We believe in creativity, innovation, and a competitive spirit in all that we do. We are sound, honest company who feels that business is more than just the bottom line. We consider every business opportunity a chance to engage and interact with our customers and our community. Neither our clients nor our employees are a commodity. They are part of our family.

The followings are the top 10 reasons you should trust your online business and hosting needs to us:

- FREE domain for Life - HostForLife gives you your own free domain name for life with our Professional Hosting Plan and 3 free domains with any of Reseller Hosting Plan! There’s no need to panic about renewing your domain as HostForLIfe will automatically do this for you to ensure you never lose the all important identity of your site
- 99,9% Uptime Guarantee - HostForLife promises it’s customers 99.9% network uptime! We are so concerned about uptime that we set up our own company to monitor people’s uptime for them called HostForLife Uptime
- 24/7-based Support - We never fall asleep and we run a service that is opening 24/7 a year. Even everyone is on holiday during Easter or Christmast/New Year, we are always behind our desk serving our customers
- Customer Tailored Support - if you compare our hosting plans to others you will see that we are offering a much better deal in every aspect; performance, disk quotas, bandwidth allocation, databases, security, control panel features, e-mail services, real-time stats, and service
- Money Back Guarantee - HostForLife offers a ‘no questions asked’ money back guarantee with all our plans for any cancellations made within the first 30 days of ordering. Our cancellation policy is very simple - if you cancel your account within 30 days of first signing up we will provide you with a full refund
- Experts in IIS 7.5 Hosting - Given the scale of our environment, we have recruited and developed some of the best talent in the hosting technology that you are using. Our team is strong because of the experience and talents of the individuals who make up HostForLife
- Daily Backup Service - We realise that your website is very important to your business and hence, we never ever forget to create a daily backup. Your database and website are backup every night into a permanent remote tape drive to ensure that they are always safe and secure. The backup is always ready and available anytime you need it
- Easy Site Administration - With our powerful control panel, you can always administer most of your site features easily without even needing to contact for our Support Team. Additionally, you can also install more than 100 FREE applications directly via our Control  Panel in 1 minute!

Happy Hosting!

Using the Windows Recovery Environment on Windows Server 2008 you can perform a bare-metal restore to recover your server operating system or the entire server itself. An operating system restore will only recover critical drive volumes that contain system components. If you would like to restore all volumes, you will need to conduct a full server recovery.

Before attempting to complete an operating system or full server restoration from a drive image backup created with BackupAssist, make sure of the following:

- You have a Windows Server 2008 setup/installation disc.

- If you are recovering to a new hard disk, make sure the disk is at least as big as the disk that contained the volumes that were backed up, regardless of the size of those volumes. For example, if there was only one volume that was 100 GB on a 1 TB disk during backup, you should use a disk that is at least 1 TB when restoring.

- If you are recovering just the operating system, make sure that you have a backup available that contains at least the critical volumes of the server. If you are recovering the full server, make sure that you have a backup available that contains all volumes of the server.

Performing a bare metal recovery- step by step

1. Boot the Windows Server 2008 from the installation media and select the appropriate settings for:

- Language to install
- Time and currency format
- Keyboard or input format

When you've selected your settings, click on the Next button.

2. In the next window, select the Repair your Computer option from the lower left corner of the console.

3. From the System Recovery Options window, you can choose to load any drivers required by your hard disk at this stage.  After loading any necessary drivers, such as RAID drivers, click on the Next button.

Note that if you are performing a bare-metal restore to a brand new hard-disk, you will not see any Operating Systems listed as shown on the right.

If you are restoring a backup to a machine that already has Windows 2008, then it will be listed under Operating Systems.

4. Under the System Recovery Options window, select the Windows Complete PC Restore option. This will invoke the Windows Recovery Environment.

5. Windows will then scan your machine for available backups. Please ensure that the media with your backup is connected to the machine. If Windows Complete PC Restore is unable to find the backup, please try un-connecting and re-connecting the backup device.

6. Once your backup disk has been detected, you may choose to restore the latest backup or another backup. Windows 2008 will automatically choose your latest backup by default.

Select the backup you want to restore from and click on the Next button.

7. In the Choose how to restore your backupwindow, you have the following options:

- Install any drivers for the disk you are restoring to by clicking on the Install Drivers button.

- Exclude disks that you don't want formatted by clicking on the Exclude disks button.

- Choose to restart the computer after the restore process and to automatically check and update error information by clicking on the Advanced button.

Once you have added the extra options, click on the Next button.

8. Select the location of your backup and click on the Next button.

9. Confirm your settings and click on the Finish button.

10. Windows Recovery Environment will ask you whether you want to let Windows Complete PC Restore format the disks and restore the backups you have chosen. Click on the OK button.

11. Your bare-metal restore of Windows Server 2008 should begin. Once done, your system should reboot and Windows will load. Congratulations - the procedure is complete!

What is so SPECIAL on HostForLife.eu IIS 7.5 Hosting?

We know that finding a cheap, reliable web host is not a simple task so we’ve put all the information you need in one place to help you make your decision. At HostForLife, we pride ourselves in our commitment to our customers and want to make sure they have all the details they need before making that big decision.

We will work tirelessly to provide a refreshing and friendly level of customer service. We believe in creativity, innovation, and a competitive spirit in all that we do. We are sound, honest company who feels that business is more than just the bottom line. We consider every business opportunity a chance to engage and interact with our customers and our community. Neither our clients nor our employees are a commodity. They are part of our family.

The followings are the top 10 reasons you should trust your online business and hosting needs to us:

- FREE domain for Life - HostForLife gives you your own free domain name for life with our Professional Hosting Plan and 3 free domains with any of Reseller Hosting Plan! There’s no need to panic about renewing your domain as HostForLIfe will automatically do this for you to ensure you never lose the all important identity of your site
- 99,9% Uptime Guarantee - HostForLife promises it’s customers 99.9% network uptime! We are so concerned about uptime that we set up our own company to monitor people’s uptime for them called HostForLife Uptime
- 24/7-based Support - We never fall asleep and we run a service that is opening 24/7 a year. Even everyone is on holiday during Easter or Christmast/New Year, we are always behind our desk serving our customers
- Customer Tailored Support - if you compare our hosting plans to others you will see that we are offering a much better deal in every aspect; performance, disk quotas, bandwidth allocation, databases, security, control panel features, e-mail services, real-time stats, and service
- Money Back Guarantee - HostForLife offers a ‘no questions asked’ money back guarantee with all our plans for any cancellations made within the first 30 days of ordering. Our cancellation policy is very simple - if you cancel your account within 30 days of first signing up we will provide you with a full refund
- Experts in IIS 7.5 Hosting - Given the scale of our environment, we have recruited and developed some of the best talent in the hosting technology that you are using. Our team is strong because of the experience and talents of the individuals who make up HostForLife
- Daily Backup Service - We realise that your website is very important to your business and hence, we never ever forget to create a daily backup. Your database and website are backup every night into a permanent remote tape drive to ensure that they are always safe and secure. The backup is always ready and available anytime you need it
- Easy Site Administration - With our powerful control panel, you can always administer most of your site features easily without even needing to contact for our Support Team. Additionally, you can also install more than 100 FREE applications directly via our Control  Panel in 1 minute!

Happy Hosting!

The new block-level backup infrastructure in Windows Server 2008 (which is also in Windows Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate) is aimed at making server recovery fast. Let's discuss how it works from a variety of angles.

Image Based Backup

For starters, the new WSB is a block-level volume image based solution. As such, it runs appreciably faster than file-level backup solutions as the usual overhead of opening and closing each file to be backed up is not required. As an image based solution, it is also geared towards fast system recovery, going the route that was pioneered by products such as Acronis, Ghost and Backup Exec System Recovery.

The specific implementation that Microsoft has provided has the following characteristics:

- You can only select entire volumes for backup, not individual files and directories.

- The resulting backup file is a VHD file

- The backup is a selective image - not a forensic clone - of the source volumes. This means that things like blank space, the page file, hibernate file, and certain folders are not backed up.

Fast differential images

By default, the backups performed are fast differentials, where only changed blocks are backed up. (Note: Microsoft refers to them as incremental, but we believe differential to be a more accurate term.)

A good way to imagine how this works is by imagining your machine's life disk volumes on the left, the backup device on the right, and an intelligent comparison machine in the middle, transferring blocks across.

There are some very important things to note:

- The backup device looks like it always contains the last full backup, even though only changed blocks were transferred

- Restores are easy - like restoring a full backup, and not having to worry about the traditional Full + Incremental + Incremental...

- Successive backups are fast in typical scenarios because only a small percentage of the disk changes on a day to day basis

Automatic disk space management

Another bonus is that you will never run out of disk space caused by the accumulation of previous backups. (Note: Of course, you will run out of space if the total data you're trying to back up exceeds the capacity of the backup device.)

Past versions are automatically discarded as the backup device fills up. This happens automatically.

VSS base file and application backup

The entire backup system is based on VSS, which is used to tell which blocks have changed. The exact way this works has not been published by Microsoft; however from our testing we believe it to be based around using persistent snapshots and comparing differences between the snapshots.

Because the system is based on VSS (unlike some other drive imaging products), it means that it's possible to backup VSS aware applications, like Exchange Server 2007, SQL Server 2005 and SharePoint Services. At the time of the backup, WSB will issue a notification to VSS that a backup is about to start, and in turn, VSS will notify the VSS aware applications to commit their data to disk. This means that the backup will be consistent, and any open databases will have their data committed and in a consistent state.

Restores

There are two different restore procedures:

- Bare metal restore - that is, restoring to a new system that does not have an OS already installed on it. This can be done by booting off the original Windows install DVD, choosing to run the Windows Complete PC Restore (yes - they forgot to rename it to Windows Server Backup restore!) and then following the wizard.

- Individual file and folder restore - by following the wizards you can restore individual files and folders -

Limitations of Windows Server Backup

As with most things that come built-into the operating system, there are limitations in what's built into Windows. Most notably, the monitoring and reporting side is extremely weak, and there are also several gaping holes in terms of hardware support.

Monitoring and reporting

- No concept of media rotation strategies
- The wizards do not show
- No such thing as emailing the backup status report
- No way to automatically see what versions of backups are available on the backup device
- The drive letter is removed from backup devices
- No centralized monitoring ability for monitoring large numbers of servers

Hardware Support

- Cannot set up automated backups to rdx and REV drives using the Microsoft wizards
- Cannot set up automated backups to NAS using the Microsoft wizards

Selection of items to backup

- Can only select entire volumes to backup, not individual files and folders
- Can only select local volumes to backup, not network shares

These matters are discussed further in the articles on this website. All of these limitations are addressed by the 3rd party product called BackupAssist.

Conclusion

The major functionality available in Windows Server Backup is undoubtedly the hardware independent server restores from bare metal. In previous operating systems, to achieve this, you'd have to spend thousands of dollars on 3rd party imaging solutions. Now, it's free.

However, there are a considerable number of limitations that can only be overcome by extensive scripting and manual scheduling, or by using a 3rd party product like BackupAssist.

What is so SPECIAL on HostForLife.eu IIS 7.5 Hosting?

We know that finding a cheap, reliable web host is not a simple task so we’ve put all the information you need in one place to help you make your decision. At HostForLife, we pride ourselves in our commitment to our customers and want to make sure they have all the details they need before making that big decision.

We will work tirelessly to provide a refreshing and friendly level of customer service. We believe in creativity, innovation, and a competitive spirit in all that we do. We are sound, honest company who feels that business is more than just the bottom line. We consider every business opportunity a chance to engage and interact with our customers and our community. Neither our clients nor our employees are a commodity. They are part of our family.

The followings are the top 10 reasons you should trust your online business and hosting needs to us:

- FREE domain for Life - HostForLife gives you your own free domain name for life with our Professional Hosting Plan and 3 free domains with any of Reseller Hosting Plan! There’s no need to panic about renewing your domain as HostForLIfe will automatically do this for you to ensure you never lose the all important identity of your site
- 99,9% Uptime Guarantee - HostForLife promises it’s customers 99.9% network uptime! We are so concerned about uptime that we set up our own company to monitor people’s uptime for them called HostForLife Uptime
- 24/7-based Support - We never fall asleep and we run a service that is opening 24/7 a year. Even everyone is on holiday during Easter or Christmast/New Year, we are always behind our desk serving our customers
- Customer Tailored Support - if you compare our hosting plans to others you will see that we are offering a much better deal in every aspect; performance, disk quotas, bandwidth allocation, databases, security, control panel features, e-mail services, real-time stats, and service
- Money Back Guarantee - HostForLife offers a ‘no questions asked’ money back guarantee with all our plans for any cancellations made within the first 30 days of ordering. Our cancellation policy is very simple - if you cancel your account within 30 days of first signing up we will provide you with a full refund
- Experts in IIS 7.5 Hosting - Given the scale of our environment, we have recruited and developed some of the best talent in the hosting technology that you are using. Our team is strong because of the experience and talents of the individuals who make up HostForLife
- Daily Backup Service - We realise that your website is very important to your business and hence, we never ever forget to create a daily backup. Your database and website are backup every night into a permanent remote tape drive to ensure that they are always safe and secure. The backup is always ready and available anytime you need it
- Easy Site Administration - With our powerful control panel, you can always administer most of your site features easily without even needing to contact for our Support Team. Additionally, you can also install more than 100 FREE applications directly via our Control  Panel in 1 minute!

Happy Hosting!