Update on TestLab/HomeLab – Feb 2019

Whats In my TestLab for February 2019:

Hosts:

ESXi1
6.0.0.
30GB memory.
3TB WD Red for VMs.

ESXi2
6.0.0.
10GB memory.
4TB WD Red for VMs.

Virtual Layer:

Running a ‘Production’ domain, which will consist of versions and products that are typically at client sites.

 Within the PROD.TestLab domain, the following Virtual Machines have been created and configured:

1x Forest Root Domain Controller – Windows Server 2003.
1x Forest Root Domain Controller – Windows Server 2008 R2.

1x Domain Controller – Windows Server 2003.
1x Domain Controller – Windows Server 2008 R2.

1x SQL Server 2014 – Windows Server 2012 R2 – for all VMWare databases.
1x vCenter 6.0.0 – Windows Server 2012 R2.

 

Plan for the next 3 months:

• Add a third ESXi host to the farm.
• Build the following servers:
  • Offline Root CA
  • Online Subordinate CA
  • IP Management Server
  • VMWare vCloud Director.
  • SCCM 1702 CAS Server
  • SCCM 1702 Primary Site Server
  • SCCM 1702 Distribution Point server.
• Build a Development domain which will be a Child of the PROD.TestLab domain. The Development domain will have new builds like Windows Server 2019 and SCCM 1902 etc etc.
• Build an Exam domain (Contoso.testlab) to prepare for upcoming Microsoft Exams.

 

End of Extended Support – Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 products are approaching extended support end of life on the 14th of Jan 2010.

Best to start planning moving off Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 this year.

I know i have a tonne of Windows Server 2008 R2 servers in the environment that i need to migrate to Windows Server 2012 R2 or even Windows Server 2016.
For example, SharePoint 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 so will be migrating to a SharePoint 2016 Farm on Windows Server 2012 R2.

The below excerpt is from Microsoft’s site – End of Support for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2

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The following Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 products are approaching End of Support:

Product	End of Extended Support
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 Foundation	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 Standard	1/14/2020
Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V	1/14/2020

Visual Studio 2015 Issues

Recently had an issue with an installation of Visual Studio 2015 that I did for some developers. Tried to resolve the issue by working through the errors in the logs, but to no avail. Uninstall

The easiest way to perform a clean uninstall is to run the force uninstall switch which will make sure that all remnants of Visual Studio are removed so a clean re-install will run without any old remnant of Visual Studio getting in the way.

Go to C:\Program Data\Package Cache.

In the search box in the top right hand side, type in vs_enterprise.exe and press enter. Right click on the search results and select Open File Location.

In the blank space, press shift then right click and select open command prompt here.

Run the following command to uninstall all components of Visual Studio no matter what:

vs_enterprise.exe /uninstall /force

Reboot the computer and then proceed to install Visual Studio 2015.