Server 2008 R2 beta: Upgrade functionality available

Microsoft folks have made it very clear that they are excited about Windows Server 2008 R2. Here's a look at the beta's new upgrade functionality.

The base release of Windows Server 2008 came with upgrade functionality. The feature was unavailable, yet the button was there, so we knew it was coming.

Among the Windows Server 2008 R2 beta's functionality improvements on Windows Server 2008 is that the upgrade functionality is now available.

For most upgrade scenarios, the process would occur in a currently running version of Windows. The upgrade option is shown in Figure A.
Figure A

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In-place upgrades of Windows server systems are very rare, but they do happen. This functionality is currently only applicable to systems running an x64 operating system; the upgrade will not function on x86 editions of Windows Server. This effectively means that the base release of Windows Server 2008 was the last server operating system with an x86 option.

The upgrade functionality option fits well in the IT landscape right now. For new Windows Server 2008 installations, be sure to select the x64 edition during your initial build, so the migration to R2 will be rather seamless when it comes out. Many general purpose servers that are on x86 editions are not offered a native upgrade option.
Visit the Microsoft Web site for more information on the upcoming Windows Server 2008 R2 release.

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Enabling the Active Directory Recycle Bin

Find out what feature in the Windows Server 2008 R2 is set to make IT administrators' lives easier.

When Windows Server 2008 R2 becomes available, the Active Directory Recycle Bin feature may make many administrators' lives easier.
The base release of Windows Server 2008 comes with a nice safeguard for organizational unit deletion, and now with R2, there is additional protection functionality.
The Recycle Bin feature allows objects to be restored via the Active Directory PowerShell environment. For the beta release, this functionality is turned off by default, so the first step is to enable the feature.
Figure A shows this step.
Figure A

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Once this is complete, you can view the contents of the Active Directory Recycle Bin. This special location exists as a container that holds the objects as they are deleted.
In my first looks at Windows Server 2008 R2 beta, I set up a test domain running at that function level. The domain, dev.tld, had nothing in the Recycle Bin after it was created. I deleted two objects: one user and one group.
Figure B shows the query of what is in the Recycle Bin before the two objects were deleted, then another query after they were deleted.
Figure B

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Notice that some fields were cut off in the display, notably the full GUID (which is needed for the restore). To display the entire GUID and object name, you would run this query:

Get-ADObject -SearchBase "CN=Deleted Objects,DC=dev,DC=tld" -ldapFilter 
"(objectClass=*)" -includeDeletedObjects | FT ObjectGUID,Name  -A

Then, the full GUID is displayed, so a copy and paste operation will allow an easy restore. From the list above, to restore the single user named test, the following command will perform the restore:

Restore-ADObject -Identity 6ff46162-15c2-4d42-8e15-2fcac5c8422e

The object is instantly returned to full existence in Active Directory.
This will be a very desired feature for the Windows Server administrator, so be sure to get a look to the R2 beta. The Windows Server 2008 R2 Reviewers Guide has more information on the Recycle Bin feature and the other features of R2.
Rick Vanover is a systems administrator for Safelite AutoGlass in Columbus, Ohio. He has more than 12 years of IT experience, and he focuses on virtualization, Windows-based server administration, and system hardware.

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