Getting hyped over HyperV

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I vividly remember going to a VMWare in-person training session in the Melbourne CBD about a decade ago.  Ever since then I've been using their products to manage my individual and company environments and infrastructures.  Just about every customer site uses their products as well.  It costs money to maintain and support, which I don't like.  

I recently stepped through an MCSA study guide and there was a whole section devoted to HyperV (Microsoft's alternative to VMWare).  It was entirely new for me.  I'm impressed how easy it is to setup, use, and manage.  Since it's an integral component of Windows itself, making use of it becomes more interesting as each day arrives.  

For me the best feature is that it's included as a feature of Windows 10 and Windows Server.  That means I can create a VM on my desktop and then migrate it to a development, testing, or production environment.  I don't have to pay for a third-party product to do this.  Considering I rebuild my workstation every 3 months, it's becoming a silent blessing.

Combine that with the fact that I get powershell commands along with the management console, I can now script EVERYTHING!  

Maybe a script to create a new workgroup server virtual machine?

$envName = 'CMRamble'           #Environment Name
$serverType = 'Workgroup'       #Server Type
$vmRoot = "D:\HyperV"           #Where to put the VMs
$vmName = "$($envName) $($serverType)"   #Name of this VM as appears in HyperV
$vmPath =  "$($vmRoot)\$($envName)"    #Storage Location of VMs in Root Path
$vhdPath = Join-Path $vmPath "$($vmName)\Virtual Hard Disks\$($serverType).vhdx"    #Storage Location of HD for VM
$vSwitch = "$($envName)"        #Virtual Switch Name
$osPath = "D:\Software\en_windows_server_2016_x64_dvd_9718492.iso"   #Storage Location of Operating System
#Find existing or create new VM
$vm = Get-VM -Name $vmName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ( $vm -eq $null ) {
    New-VM -Name $vmName -Path $vmPath -MemoryStartupBytes 512MB -SwitchName $vSwitch -Generation 2
}
#Create new virtual hard disk if needed
if ( (Test-Path $vhdPath) -eq $false) {
    New-VHD -Path $vhdPath -SizeBytes 60GB -Dynamic 
}
#Attach vhd
Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $vmName -Path $vhdPath
#Get or create DVD drive
$dvd = Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName $vmName
if ( $dvd -eq $null ) {
    $dvd = Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName $vmName
}
#Set DVD to boot first
Set-VMFirmware -VMName $vmName -FirstBootDevice $dvd
#Point the DVD to the OS
if ( (Test-Path $osPath) -eq $true ) {
    Set-VMDvdDrive -VMName $vmName -Path $osPath -ToControllerNumber 0 -ToControllerLocation 1
}
#Dodgy firmware fix that seemed to fix something
Get-VM $vmName|Get-VMFirmware|ForEach {Set-VMFirmware -BootOrder ($_.Bootorder | ? {$_.BootType -ne 'File'}) $_}

Then more scripts that start it, configure the OS, install Content Manager, and copy the software configuration files to it. After running all these scripts the VM is ready to be added within the Enterprise Studio!  Pretty cool to be able to have a new environment fully ready in just a few minutes.

Moving the VM to another server is super easy.  I right-click on the VM and select Move.  Then specify the name of the destination server and select where on that server it should be placed.  I'm placing this VM on the "D:\" partition, which I happen to know is a massive SSD (makes a big difference with HyperV).  

I didn't stop-watch it, but it seems to have taken 10 minutes or so for this 20 GB VM.  Best part is that my Content Manager Virtual Machine had no down-time.  

 
Moving a VM from one server to another is quite easy

Moving a VM from one server to another is quite easy

 

 

You may get the error message below when you attempt to kick off a move.  If you did, you need to initiate the move on the source server directly (and not by connecting the HyperV console to another server).

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Adding HyperV to your workstation

First I right-click on the start-menu and select Programs and Features

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Then I click the Programs and Features link in the Related settings section of the right-hand pane.

 
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Then I click Turn Windows features on or off

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Then I find and enable both the HyperV features

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I let it finish and restart my system

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Destroy this without any delay!

in

If the retention schedule says "Keep no longer than 3 years", establishing an effective process within Content Manager becomes tricky.  We don't want to keep it very long, but we also need to be able to go through management processes for approval.  How do we accomplish that review without tacking another year onto the life-cycle of that record?   

As shown below, trigger properties now have an option for "without any delay".  It also supports a set number of days (previously only years and months).  

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This approach is most effective when storing active records within Content Manager.  Once a user creates a record the schedule is attached and the Make Inactive trigger immediately calculates for the 3 year mark.  Later the user, or a power user, can move the record to an inactive container if its' known to no longer be needed (again think of the "no longer than 3 year" retention schedule). 

Otherwise a routine saved search looking for active->inactive trigger changes would surface this record.  We'd send it to the owning unit for review and approval.  They can either move it into an inactive container, change the disposition themselves, or change the schedule.

I find it useful to now have a saved search for these types of schedules:

 
trigger:[delayType:2]

Another saved search for all of the records using a schedule having one of these triggers

 
schedule:[trigger:[delayType:2]]

A saved search to give me all of the records to be destroyed using this approach:

 
schedule:[trigger:[delayType:2]] destroyOn:1/1/1900 - today

A saved search to give me all records to be destroyed next month:

 
schedule:[trigger:[delayType:2]] destroyOn:next month

A saved search to give me all of the records to be made inactive next month using this approach:

 
schedule:[trigger:[delayType:2]] inactiveOn:next month

Checking who's searching for what

in ,

Did you know the latest version of Content Manager allows you to store user queries in the workgroup server logs?  Imagine extracting from these logs a treasure-trove of anecdotal meta-data searching tips & tricks or insight into actual product usage.  You can get quick reports of who searched for what and when.

To get this going you need to modify the properties of your workgroup server(s).

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The workgroup server has two properties that we need to enable: 

  1. Enable logging on next deployment
  2. Add user query strings to workgroup server log
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Once you click OK you have to save and deploy.

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This forces the server(s) to re-initialize using the new configuration.  I will see log files accumulating on the local server's application data directory.  If I use windows explorer I can navigate to it like shown in the image below.

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If I open that file within Notepad++ I can see a lot of information.  I just want to focus in on the search queries though.  The search itself is surrounded by the pipe character (|).  Here's what my log looked like after a few quick searches.

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Powershell is such a handy thing!  I created one that manages these logs files and extracts what I need.  I use a dictionary to track users, their queries, and relational details about the queries themselves.  For instance if the user searched by title, notes, or any word, I look-up other trim indexed words.  When the user doesn't use asterisks, I calculate what would have happened if they did.  I can then use this for targeted training one-on-one, or to guide the creation of updated training materials.

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Take the first entry where I searched for "cli".  I was able to see that there were four indexed words containing "cli" (clinic, clinics, clinic-, and clinton).  Those 4 words are used a total of 57 times (not necessarily unique records).  Yet I, as the user, received 0 results.  The user would have received results when using wildcards. 

The really nifty part is powershell has a ConvertTo-Json command.  If I output the results to a json file within my webdrawer instance, I can consume all of this new information in other places.  Like maybe within webdrawer, during an audit, or as part of a health check.

Speaking of webdrawer and indexed words..... 

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