Here’s something I noticed today about zero or one length arrays:
PS C:\Users\dan> # in a powershell 2.0 console PS C:\Users\dan> (1).count PS C:\Users\dan> ($null).count PS C:\Users\dan> (1,2).count 2 PS C:\Users\dan> @(1).count 1 PS C:\Users\dan> @().count 0
So a single object doesn’t have a count defined (nor does it have a length). If you explicitly define it as an array then it does have count 1 (or 0). This is annoying since if you get a result set of length 1 (or 0) then your code must deal with it differently.
But, in Powershell 3.0:
PS C:\Users\dan> # in a powershell 3.0 console PS C:\Users\dan> (1).count 1 PS C:\Users\dan> ($null).count 0
That’s a really useful change. The about_Arrays page has a little more info. It’s worth noting that existing scripts written in PS2 will behave differently if they are run on a PS3 host.
Passed my Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert Server 2012: Server Infrastructure cert today 
So not surprisingly I was OK with the Identity and Access Solutions bit (that’s my job after all), but I knew I needed to learn more about System Center 2012, particularly Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). I bought some new kit for my lab and have learned a lot about this stuff, it’s pretty cool actually. I think it’s even ready to start displacing VMware (assuming you can get over the “Microsoft virtualization? No chance!” cries from the enterprise architecture teams). SMB 3.0 is pretty cool too, just run your VMs off a network share now (cf ESX and NFS).
All in all this “New” MCSE is tougher to achieve than the “Old” MCSE, or the MCITP for that matter, which I assume was MSFT’s intention.
I hit a snag attempting to build a 2012 server on a client’s vSphere 4.1 dev environment, where the installer hit a BSOD (now with added 2012 ‘sad face’ icon) and kept restarting. jmattson on the VMware forums suggest that you need to do a quick hack on the VM’s virtual BIOS as server 2012 doesn’t support the PIIX 4 southbridge emulation that ESXi 4.x uses.
This is done by copying the BIOS file from the link above to your virtual machine config directory and appending the following lines to the .vnx file:
bios440.filename = "bios.440.rom" mce.enable = "TRUE" cpuid.hypervisor.v0 = "FALSE" vmGenCounter.enable = "FALSE"
This won’t magically enable VM-Generation ID so you won’t be able to take advantage of the advanced virtual capabilities, but you will at least be able to install and run the OS.
I have no idea whether this is a MSFT or VMware supported config for your production environment, I have no requirement for this to be in production as the client is in the process of building a series of new ESXi 5.1-based clusters for that. YMMV so check with the vendors first.
NB if you do this for a machine which you subsequently convert to template then you will need to re-add the ROM file to the config directory of each new VM that you deploy from this template as it doesn’t copy it across automatically. Your deployed VM will not start, with an error:
Could not open bios.440.rom (No such file or directory).
An alternative is to put the ROM file in a ‘central’ location then specify the full path e.g.
/vmfs/volumes/mydatastore/bios.440.rom
MSFT have just released a study they commissioned from Forrester, on the ROI from implementing Server 2012. Handy for convincing management that now is the time to leave behind 2008 R2.
Just passed my 70-417 exam to upgrade my 2008 R2 MCITP:Enterprise Administrator to Server 2012 MCSA (Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate).
Solutions Associate doesn’t sound like much of an upgrade, but I like how MSFT are now accepting that there is no point in having easy certifications that you can pass without ever having touched the software. It takes 3 exams just to get the base cert now, and the new MCSE (Solutions Expert) should be an awful lot tougher to achieve than my NT4 one was!
VMware vSphere now supports VM-Generation ID so we can do snapshots and cloning with 2012 DCs on VMware-virtualised environments as well as Hyper-V 3. It requires vSphere 5.x though:
- VMware vSphere 5.0 Patch 4 (Build 821926, 9/27/2012)
- VMware vSphere 5.1 (Build 799733, 9/10/2012)
This has been in there since Sept last year but the vmware blog post is just in time for a client to be convinced to go 2012 for their new forest.
vSphere is the dominant technology in virtualisation, and let’s face it organisations are not going to dump their investment in VMware and switch to Hyper-V just because the AD guy says he can snapshot the DC. This now gives AD people in such organisations more leverage to say “Hey, look at all the new cool stuff we can do with 2012, let’s migrate”.
A regional centre of a large global client wants to leverage some of the new features in 2012 (particularly DC snapshots and Dynamic Access Control). The global corp forest is at 2003 Forest Functional Level (FFL), and there are no plans to raise anytime soon. I suggested we look at adding a 2012 Domain Functional Level child, but Understanding AD Functional Levels does not list this as an option. So I ran a quick test, creating a vanilla 2003 domain then trying to add a vanilla 2012 child. I first got this:
Oops, forgot a new 2003 domain gets created at 2000 Native level. I raised to 2003 domain/forest functional level and tried again:
So turns out it IS an allowed configuration. The only feature enabled by having a higher FFL is AD Recycle Bin (from 2008 R2 FFL), and sure enough when I tried with the Enable-ADOptionalFeature cmdlet it was not possible to enable this.
Initially promising then, but more testing needed to see if it meets the client’s functionality requirements.
