Crucial Paradigm are one of the first to offer Windows 2008 Virtual Dedicated Servers!

That’s right! Crucial Paradigm is one of the first companies to release Windows 2008 Virtual Dedicated Servers!!! To find out more info please check out our Windows 2008 Virtual Dedicated Server page.

Unlike many other hosting providers, we provide with a True Virtual Dedicated Server, running Windows 2008 or Windows 2003 Server (we also have Windows 2003 available). We don’t utilize container based technology, but rather virtualization technology to enable you to have full control over your virtual server. Most other Windows VPS providers out there provide container based technology, which significantly limits you in what you can install – and doesn’t allow you to make changes to the system. With our Virtual Servers you have full control over Windows as though it were a dedicated server, however only at a fraction of the cost!

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 3:15 am

Preparing Windows Server 2008 to image using sysprep

If you need to prepare a Windows 2008 Server image (any version: Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter) to install on other computers of multiple Virtual Servers, it is highly recommended you use the sysprep tool to wipe the image of all unique information Microsoft assigns in the specific install.  If you are running multiple VMs in the same environment, and don’t do this you could run into problems.

Unlike previous versions of Windows, sysprep is actually located on the server and you do not need the installation CD to use it.

1. Run sysprep: c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe

2. If you are using it on  VM, select the shutdown option as you don’t want to reboot straight after.

If you wish to do it from Windows Server 2008 Core (i.e. command line interface) you can run it as follows: sysprep /OOBE /Generalize /shutdown

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 2:43 am

How to enable Remote Desktop on Windows 2008 Server

Enabling Remote Desktop on Windows 2008 Server is slightly different to enabling it on Windows 2003 Server so this has been placed in a separate article.  To enable Remote Desktop on Windows 2008 Server (Web, Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter) use the following steps:

1. Right click on My Computer, and go to Properties.

2. Click Remote Settings.

3. Select the second option, Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure).

4. Click ok, and accept the change to allow the firewall exception.

5. If you have any issues, ensure you have created an exception for any third party firewalls you might be using, and allow incoming connections to port 3389.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 8:34 am

Enabling Remote Desktop on Windows Server 2008 Core

On Windows Server 2008 Core you do not have a graphical interface, so how do you enable Remote Desktop?

1. Login to the server console.

2. To enable remote administration from Windows 2008 Server systems run:

> Cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /ar 0

3. To enable remote administration from Windows 2003/Windows XP and earlier operating systems run:

> Cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /ar 0
> Cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /cs 0

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 2:27 am

How to configure IP address, Hostname, and DNS in Windows 2008 Server Core

With Windows 2008 Server Core you don’t have a nice graphical interface to configure everything, therefor you need to configure via the command line. This article will cover how to configure an IP address, Hostname, and DNS servers in Windows 2008 Server Core.

1. Login to the server.

2. Configure your hostname:

> netdom renamecomputer %computername% /NewName:<newservername>

Where you replace <newservername> with the servername you wish to use.

3. Configure IP address:

> netsh interface ipv4 set address name=”2″ source=static address=192.168.0.5 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.0.1

4. Setup DNS:

> netsh interface ipv4 add dnssserver name=”2″ address=192.168.0.1

NOTE: We have referenced in these commands an interface name of “2″. If you want to find out what name/number your interface is, do the following:

> netsh interface ipv4 show interface

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 2:21 am

How to access a Windows (Server/XP/Vista) from Linux

If you use Linux as your primary work station, and need to login to a Windows XP, Windows Server, Windows Vista, or any flavour of Windows machine without installing something like VNC on it, this is the way to do it!

The package you need to install is rdesktop, to install on a Redhat, CentOS, or similar system you can run the following command:

# yum install rdesktop

To access a Windows server run:

# rdesktop 1.1.1.1

Where 1.1.1.1 is the IP or hostname of the server you want to access.

NOTE: You need to have X server running on your computer to do this!

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 9:46 pm

Installing IIS 7 on Windows 2008 Server

I’ve been testing our Windows 2008, and had a bit of trouble initially trying to figure out how to install IIS 7 on Windows 2008 Server. After a bit of research, I found you need do as follows:

1. Open Server Manager -> Start Menu -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Server Manager
2. Add a Server Role: In the server manager, select Roles. Click “Add Roles”
3. Click Next when you get the Add Roles Wizard.
4. Select Web Server (IIS) from the list of roles.
5. Select the options you wish to install, and click the Add Required Roles Services if/when it pops up.
6. Click next to install.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 6:24 pm