Microsoft Cloud Library
Articles about Microsoft Cloud
Latest news and technical articles related to cloud computing with Windows Server. We have carefully selected articles published by industry experts, featuring Microsoft’s engineering team.
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Adobe Flash support on Windows Server 2016
With the changes that have occurred to further align the Windows Server and Client desktop experiences, one of the most commonly asked questions is “Does Windows Server 2016 ship with Adobe Flash?” Answer: Adobe is included and does ship on ... continue reading

MSRT November 2016: Unwanted software has nowhere to hide in this month’s release
We came across a browser modifier that sports rootkit capabilities. Not only does the threat, detected as BrowserModifier:Win32/Soctuseer, cross the line that separates legitimate software from unwanted, it also takes staying under the radar to the next level. Rootkit capabilities, ... continue reading

Demo: Setup extended network monitoring
In this video tutorial you will see how to setup extended network monitoring in System Center 2016 Operations Manager. Using the new Network Monitoring MP Generator tool you can generate management packs to get extended monitoring for your SNMP-enabled devices ... continue reading

Virtual Machine Load Balancing in Windows Server 2016
Join Elden Christensen, Principal PM Manager in the High Availability & Storage team, for an overview and demo of VM (Virtual Machine) Load Balancing, an exciting new feature built right into Windows Server 2016. VM Load Balancing analyzes the compute ... continue reading

How to Simplify Device & Apps Management using Microsoft Intune
Microsoft Intune provides mobile device management, mobile application management and PC management capabilities from the cloud. Join Lex Thomas as he welcomes Ilya Beynenson to the show as they discuss the many benefits Intune can bring to an IT organization’s ... continue reading

The case of the unexplained – ConfigMgr 1606: Office365 inventory data doesn’t replicate to CAS.
Hi Folks, I happen to document this enough working on an issue and hence posting this out to revive my unexplained series that was dormant for quite a while. Issue: We introduced this new class in ConfigMgr 1606, I believe ... continue reading

Building a Windows Server 2016 Domain Controller #winserv #Hybrid #cloud #Azure #powershell
Building a Domain Controller is not that Difficult but what about building this with Powershell and use the 2016 Bits. Well lets take a peek at the Technet site https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh974720(v=wps.630).aspx nothing about 2016. -DomainMode<DomainMode> Specifies the domain functional level of ... continue reading

Learn #JSON with Microsoft #Azure Resource Manager and Visual Studio #Code for #AzureStack #Cloud
The infrastructure for your application is typically made up of many components – maybe a virtual machine, storage account, and virtual network, or a web app, database, database server, and 3rd party services. You do not see these components as ... continue reading

Windows Server 2016 NLB Network Load Balancing non-SDN or Software Load Balancing (SLB) for SDN #NLB #SLB #SDN
Windows Server 2016 Network Load Balancing. You can use Network Load Balancing to manage two or more servers as a single virtual cluster. Network Load Balancing enhances the availability and scalability of Internet server applications such as those used on ... continue reading

Monitoring your home IP security cameras with OMS Log Analytics
Summary: Monitor devices, like home IP security cameras, with OMS Log Analytics without installing an agent! Hi folks, In this blog post I would like to share with you how you can monitor devices with Log Analytics without the need ... continue reading

Getting Started with Windows Containers
Join Lex Thomas and Ryan Berry as they go through a series of quick demos explaining what Windows Containers are, what you can do with them and how they can benefit you and your organization.[0:52] What are Containers and why ... continue reading

Beware of Hicurdismos: It’s a fake Microsoft Security Essentials installer that can lead to a support call scam
(Note: Our Tech support scams FAQ page has the latest info on this type of threat, including scammer tactics, fake error messages, and the latest scammer hotlines.) Wouldn’t it be a shame if, in trying to secure your PC, you ... continue reading

The new .LNK between spam and Locky infection
Just when it seems the Ransom:Win32/Locky activity has slowed down, our continuous monitoring of the ransomware family reveals a new workaround that the authors might be using to keep it going. The decline in Locky activity can be attributed to ... continue reading

Security baseline for Windows 10 v1607 (“Anniversary edition”) and Windows Server 2016
Microsoft is pleased to announce the release of the security configuration baseline settings for Windows 10 version 1607, also known as “Anniversary edition” and internally as “Redstone 1”. The downloadable attachment to this blog post includes importable GPOs, tools for ... continue reading

Introducing the Nano Server Image Builder
Hi there, Scott Johnson here to talk about the new Nano Server Image Builder tool, my new favorite time-saver. The Nano Server Image Builder helps you create a custom Nano Server image and bootable USB media with the aid of ... continue reading

Demo: Deploy Network Controller
In this video tutorial you will see how you can use the service template-based mechanism, provided by VMM 2016, for deployment and horizontal scaling of Software Defined Networking components - Network Controller, Gateway, and Software Load Balancer. Network Controller is ... continue reading

Demo: Setup hyper-converged cluster
In this video, you will see how you can use VMM 2016 to seamlessly deploy hyper-converged Storage Spaces Direct cluster that provide highly available and scalable storage solutions using local disks. You will see how the existing cluster creation wizard ... continue reading

Demo: Create & set Port ACLs
In this video tutorial, you will see the how Port ACLs help you control the network traffic going in/out of your datacenter and will learn how you can create and set Port ACLs in VMM 2016. Port ACL serves as ... continue reading

Demo: Cluster Rolling Upgrade
Using Cluster Rolling Upgrade functionality in SCVMM 2016, you can now upgrade your Windows Server 2012 R2 clusters to Windows Server 2016 clusters with no downtime to running workloads. Watch this video to learn about the pre-requisites and the see ... continue reading

Demo: Increase memory of a running VM
With VMM 2016, you can now modify the memory configuration of a running VM that uses static memory. This functionality helps in eliminating downtime to running workloads due to memory reconfiguration. You can increase or decrease the memory allocation, or ... continue reading

Demo: Create & set Storage QoS
With VMM 2016 you can set the quality of service (min or max IOPS, max bandwidth) for virtual machine storage so that applications running on the VMs receive the performance they require. This video tutorial provides a walkthrough of how ... continue reading
Nano Server in the Azure Gallery and VM Agent Support
As part of Windows Server 2016 General Availability, there are new Nano Server images in the Azure Gallery. In addition to the new image, there is also a helper script attached to this blog post that can be used to ... continue reading
Step-by-Step: Capturing Azure Resource Manager (ARM) VNET Gateway Diagnostic Logs
*** UPDATED for Azure PowerShell 2.x and 3.x *** A while back, I published an article that stepped through capturing diagnostic logs for v1 “Classic” virtual network gateways (aka VNET Gateways or VPN Gateways) on Azure via the Azure Service Management ... continue reading

Deploying a Highly Available File Server in Azure IaaS (ARM) with SIOS DataKeeper
In this post we will detail the specific steps required to deploy a 2-node File Server Failover Cluster in a single region of Azure using Azure Resource Manager. I will assume you are familiar with basic Azure concepts as well ... continue reading
Updating Nano Server
[Edit 3/6/2017]: Information in this post has been added to our official Nano Server documentation on TechNet which is more current: https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-server/get-started/update-nano-server Now that the Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 was released on September 26, 2016 (KB3192366), some people ... continue reading
Appreciating the Windows Server 2016 Desktop Experience
We’ve talked a lot about Nano Server in this blog, but we know many customers will still appreciate the full desktop experience on Windows Server. Here’s what you get when you install that option and why you would want to ... continue reading

Time Improvements in Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2016 time accuracy has been improved. These updates are targeted to meet accuracy regulations in the US and EU. Learn about the improvements and how to achieve this benefit in your environment.For more detailed information see http://aka.ms/WS2016Time ... continue reading

The MSS settings
You can download the custom Administrative Template for the “MSS (Legacy)” settings here: MSS-legacy. Note that it is available only for “en-us” (US English). Explanation: Many years ago, before the advent of Trustworthy Computing, some Microsoft security experts identified about ... continue reading

Windows Server 2016: Credential Theft Mitigation Features
Lex Thomas welcomes back Brantley Whitley to the show as they discuss the new Credential Theft Mitigation Features found in Windows Server 2016. Learn how you can use the new Active Directory Domain Services features to improve your organization’s ability ... continue reading

Cluster OS Rolling Upgrades in Windows Server 2016
Learn about Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade, a new feature in Windows Server 2016 that enables an administrator to seamlessly upgrade the operating system of the nodes in a Failover Cluster from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016 ... continue reading