How to build a (modern) Windows Server

http://jeremywaldrop.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/how-to-build-a-windows-2008-vmware-esx-vm-template/

Excellent. I think some of the decisions are little odd (turn off the firewall?!?), but this covers a lot of ground.

Further Time Machine-esque behaviour

My earlier post on Time Machine-esque backups ( http://lastinfinitetentacle.blogspot.com/2009/06/backups-for-lazy.html )  has some useful links for getting regular differential backups going. However, it can be done more neatly, particularly when it come to Windows, and I've come across a nifty solution here http://www.robgolding.com/blog/2009/01/14/leveraging-vss-and-robocopy-for-robust-backups/

This approach requires the vshadow.exe application, which is its own can of worms. Typically, vshadow ships with a/the Windows SDK - ServerFault has some info ( http://serverfault.com/questions/137126/vss-error-521-when-attempting-backup/137254#137254 ) which suggests getting the Vista era SDK (v6.1, from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e6e1c3df-a74f-4207-8586-711ebe331cdc&displaylang=en ). You will only need to install the "Win32 Developer Tools" component; you can ignore everything else.

Using VSS (Volume Shadow Service) will allow an internally-consistent copy to be made of a Windows drive. All I then need to do is port the script here ( http://serverfault.com/questions/27397/sync-lvm-snapshots-to-backup-server/168034#168034 ) to Windows. I could use the script to push the image onto the file server, where it can update SVN repository (a physical backup, for bare metal recovery). Handling the (Windows) shadow drive can be achieved using the Windows-native 'dd' from http://www.gmgsystemsinc.com/fau/ . The same dd tool can be used for an 'easy' recovery. If I get this right, it should be Windows native, and easy to install/maintain.

A separate job will pick out user directories for the Time Machine treatment (more of a logical backup, also on my file server, for basic file recovery) via the mercifully short script I previously linked to, thus: http://blog.interlinked.org/tutorials/rsync_time_machine.html

Technically, I could use Zumastor/ddsnap on the file server to get snapshots/revisions, and I still might...

Virtualisation and Service Oriented Architecture

I was reading over at the TIBCOmmunity site regarding the impact of virtualisation on architecture
( http://www.tibcommunity.com/blogs/soa-architecture/2009/07/24/virtualization-and-its-affect-on-architecture ). There's some handy information here, but it feels a bit lost under a heading of "SOA architecture"; so I thought I'd have a go, under the heading of "I think...".

Virtualisation is the capability to encapsulate arbitrarily complex environments (by adding yet another layer of abstraction, naturally). Virtualisation is a means of utilising commodity hardware in ways that were previously the preserve of esoteric, expensive, proprietary systems.

What does this mean in the context of SOA?

I think the eventual result is that services can/will be built as software appliances. The moves around OSGi are heading in this direction, allowing a more 'focussed' environment to be built. I'll expand on my view of a software appliance life cycle in a later post.

I do believe that the eventual goal around a SOA (at a technical level) should be something like an AMI virtual machine (the lingua franca of the cloud), with defined "production", and management,  services. This could/should be hosted in some cloud (public/private), or combination of clouds. The services/VMs may depend on other defined services (provided in a SaaS, or other, manner). Some overarching management environment will be required to manage the relationships between services (and I believe that this is where VMware is heading, fast).

Vista and VMWare network irritation

I've been working with VMWare a bit recently, on my machines. As both the machines I use are relatively new, they came with Vista. Vista has been irritating, but less so than a downgrade.

Vista wants to describe and categorize all the network interfaces. Unfortunately, that includes the virtual network adapters that VMWare sets up (and probably the same for Windows qemu users fiddling with openvpn for its TAP implementation); and it gets its knickers in a twist because they don't seem to lead anywhere. The solution for Vista (pre-SP1) was to take advantage of a bug and add bogus default gateways to the virtual interfaces. The solution for Vista SP1 is more involved, but at least seems more "proper".

Essentially, you need to hack the Windows registry and tell Vista that these interfaces aren't leading anywhere. This seems a bit odd, as there may be an extensive network infrastructure of VMs; but that's it.

Use the registry editor of your choice and follow this:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/916766#916766