Note: Please go to docs.rightscale.com to access the current RightScale documentation set. Also, feel free to Chat with us!
Home > Release Notes > ServerTemplates > 2012-04-17

2012-04-17

Table of Contents

  1. General Release Information
  2. New Features
    1. Licensing Scripts
    2. Security Improvements
    3. Added Cloud Support
  3. ServerTemplates
    1. Base ServerTemplate for Windows
    2. Microsoft Active Directory
    3. Database Manager for Microsoft SQL Server
    4. Microsoft IIS App Server
  4. MultiCloud Images
  5. Known Limitations
    1. RDP Button in the Dashboard

General Release Information

Release Date: April 17, 2012

Release Time: Close of business (Pacific Standard Time)

Release Highlights:

  • Added cloud support for Windows ServerTemplates.
  • Improved security features.

  • Scripts to simplify Windows licensing.

Contact Information:

Terminology:

  • Alpha - Feature that has undergone simple testing and is expected to change, possibly significantly, before going into "beta" or "general release." Recommended for early access to new features and prototyping of new deployments/architectures. Only eligible for limited technical support. Service-level response times are not applicable to Alpha components.
  • Beta - Feature that has undergone significant testing and is not expected to significantly change before "general release." Recommended for non-production deployments.
  • General release - Feature that has undergone testing and field experience or is a minor upgrade from prior releases. Recommended for production upgrade after testing. Also known as general availability (GA).

 

 

- Disclaimer -

recently_intro_icon.gifThe following new ServerTemplates have been added to the RightScale MultiCloud Marketplace. Be sure to read the documentation, follow best practice principles, and thoroughly test any new functionality before making any changes to your production deployment. 

New Features

Licensing Scripts

A Windows licensing script has been created to activate Windows from a KMS license server. This can be used on Logicworks or private clouds to activate a Windows machine. In addition, there is a SQL Server licensing script that can be used in Logicworks or private clouds to set a volume license key for a SQL Server instance.

Security Improvements

RightImages for AWS have been updated with new default firewall settings. The firewall settings now enable only Core Networking and RDP input rules by default. This enhances host-based security while continuing to allow Remote Desktop-based administration. Also, RightImages for AWS have been updated to require NLA-based (Network Level Authentication) authentication for RDP sessions. This is the Microsoft-recommended setting to reduce the risk of remote code execution to authenticated users.

Added Cloud Support

There is added support for new clouds for each of the released ServerTemplates. All ServerTemplates are now supported in all Amazon regions and on Logicworks. Additionally, limited support for Datapipe now exists. See the below for more information on the added cloud support for each ServerTemplate.

ServerTemplates

The following ServerTemplates and MultiCloud Images can be found in the RightScale MultiCloud Marketplace. (Design -> MultiCloud Marketplace).

Note: The numbers in parentheses included at the end of some entries are internal tracking numbers and can be ignored.

Base ServerTemplate for Windows

Description: This ServerTemplate is a starting point for custom ServerTemplate development in Windows.

Key Features:

  • Basic set of PowerShell scripts for setting up an Administrator password, common monitoring, and alerts.
  • MultiCloud Images that reference the latest supported images.

  • Examples of system-required input variables.

Supported compute clouds:

  • Amazon Web Services EC2
  • Citrix CloudStack
  • Datapipe
  • Logicworks

  • Rackspace

Supported MultiCloud Images:

  • Windows 2008R2 - Amazon, CloudStack, Datapipe, Logicworks, Rackspace

  • Windows 2008 - Amazon, Rackspace

MultiCloud Marketplace Link: http://www.rightscale.com/library/se...r-Window/35244

Supported OS: Windows 2008; Windows 2008R2

RightLink Version: 5.7

Additional Documentation:

  • Added support for Logicworks
  • Added support for Datapipe.
  • Added support for AWS - Brazil
  • Added support for AWS - Oregon

Microsoft Active Directory

Description: Configures a Microsoft Active Directory server or additional Directory Controllers. This ServerTemplate supports Microsoft best practices for Active Directory. You can launch a standalone server or a set of multiple servers. It leverages volumes for the Active Directory database and logs with optional scheduled continuous backups. 

Supported compute clouds:

  • Amazon Web Services EC2
  • Citrix CloudStack (XenServer)

  • Logicworks

Supported backup clouds:

  • Amazon Web Services S3

Supported MultiCloud Images:

  • Windows 2008R2 - Amazon, CloudStack (XenServer), Logicworks

  • Windows 2008 - Amazon

MultiCloud Marketplace Link: http://www.rightscale.com/library/se...irectory/35232

Supported OS: Windows 2008; Windows 2008R2

RightLink Version: 5.7

Additional Documentation:

  • Added support for Logicworks
  • Added support for AWS - Brazil
  • Added support for AWS - Oregon
  • CloudStack - VMWare is no longer supported

Database Manager for Microsoft SQL Server

Description: This is a premium ServerTemplate that configures a Microsoft SQL Server stand-alone database server or pair of servers in a high-availability (HA) configuration (synchronous mirroring).

The template supports graceful (no data loss) and forceful (possible data loss) manual failover, with the latter to be used for disaster-recovery situations. Also included are built-in monitoring and alerts on CPU, memory, and disk. To set up your SQL Server environment, see Launching the Database Manager with Microsoft SQL Server (Windows).

Key Features:

  • MS Best Practices for disk and database configuration.
  • Cloud-agnostic data storage on dynamic volumes or equivalent.
  • Striped data and log volumes (on supported clouds).
  • Automatically scheduled backups with data consistency.

  • Backup and restore to/from remote storage to enable data migration between clouds.

Supported compute clouds:

  • Amazon Web Services EC2
  • Citrix CloudStack (XenServer)
  • Logicworks

  • Rackspace

Supported backup clouds:

  • Amazon Web Services S3

  • Rackspace CloudFiles (US)

Supported MultiCloud Images:

  • Windows 2008R2 - Amazon, CloudStack (XenServer), Logicworks, Rackspace

  • Windows 2008 - Amazon

MultiCloud Marketplace Link: http://www.rightscale.com/library/se...icrosoft/35381

Supported OS: Windows 2008; Windows 2008R2

RightLink Version: 5.7

Additional Documentation:

  • Added support for Logicworks
  • Added support for AWS - Brazil
  • Added support for AWS - Oregon
  • CloudStack - VMWare is no longer supported
  • The SQL Server ServerTemplate is now safe for reboot.

Microsoft IIS App Server

Description: This ServerTemplate configures an IIS (Internet Information Services) web application server. It is to be used in conjunction with a local or remote Microsoft SQL Server instance and HAProxy load balancer or Amazon’s Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) service. The Windows PowerShell-based RightScripts automatically download and deploy an application on boot in addition to connecting to a database tier. This ServerTemplate includes built-in monitoring and alerts on CPU, memory, and disk. To get started with an IIS web application server, see Launch a Microsoft IIS Application Server.

Supported compute clouds:

  • Amazon Web Services EC2
  • Citrix CloudStack
  • Datapipe
  • Logicworks

  • Rackspace

Supported MultiCloud Images:

  • Windows 2008R2 - Amazon, CloudStack, Datapipe, Logicworks, Rackspace

  • Windows 2008 - Amazon, Rackspace

MultiCloud Marketplace Link: http://www.rightscale.com/library/se...p-Server/35257

Supported OS: Windows 2008; Windows 2008R2

RightLink Version: 5.7

Additional Documentation:

  • Added support for Logicworks
  • Added support for Datapipe
  • Added support for AWS - Brazil
  • Added support for AWS - Oregon

 

MultiCloud Images

For a list of our latest images, see OS and Software Package Support.

MCI Name and Revision
 Notes  
Windows 2008    
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_sqlsvr2k8r2_v5.7 [rev 11] Released April 19, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with 64-bit architecture (x64) for 'large' and bigger EC2 instance types. AWS; Rackspace
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_iis7.5_sqlex2k8r2_v5.7
[rev 8]		 Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with 64-bit architecture (x64) for 'large' and bigger EC2 instance types. AWS; Rackspace
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_v5.7 [rev 15] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with 64-bit architecture (x64) AWS; Rackspace
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_iis7.5_v5.7 - XenServer [rev 7] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with IIS 7.5 on 64-bit architecture (x64) CloudStack; Logicworks
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_v5.7 - KVM [rev 1] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 on 64-bit architecture (x64) CloudStack; Datapipe
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_iis7.5_v5.7 - KVM [rev 2] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with IIS 7.5 on 64-bit architecture (x64) CloudStack; Datapipe
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_sqlsrv2k8r2_v5.7 - KVM [rev 3] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with SQL 2008R2 on 64-bit architecture (x64) CloudStack; Datapipe
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_v5.7 - XenServer [rev 4] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008R2 on 64-bit architecture (x64) CloudStack; Logicworks
RightImage_Windows_2008R2_x64_sqlsrv2k8r2_v5.7 - XenServer [rev 5] Released April 05, 2012; Windows 2008R2 with SQL 2008R2 on 64-bit architecture (x64) CloudStack; Logicworks
RightImage_Windows_2008_x64_sqlsvr2k8_v5.7 [rev 7] Released April 19, 2012; Windows 2008 with 64-bit architecture (x64) for 'large' and bigger EC2 instance types. AWS
RightImage_Windows_2008_x64_iis7_sqlex2k8_v5.7 [rev 8] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008 with 64-bit architecture (x64) for 'large' and bigger EC2 instance types. AWS; Rackspace
RightImage_Windows_2008_x64_v5.7 [rev 13] Released April 17, 2012; Windows 2008 with 64-bit architecture (x64) AWS; Rackspace

 

Known Limitations

RDP Button in the Dashboard

The RDP button in the Dashboard is currently not functioning.

Please report issues to: support@rightscale.com

© 2006-2012 RightScale, Inc. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy

You must to post a comment.
Last modified
23:36, 16 May 2013

Tags

This page has no custom tags.

Classifications

This page has no classifications.

Announcements

None

Powered by MindTouch ®

© 2006-2014 RightScale, Inc. All rights reserved.
RightScale is a registered trademark of RightScale, Inc. All other products and services may be trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners.