Zxian

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with remote task scheduling or job scheduling on Windows machines. My work is using an in-house piece of software for our simulations, and we currently have a system of batch files that we use in order to run the many different scenarios needed for our analysis (people still have to manually run the batch files on each workstation before going home for simulations to run). I was wondering if anyone knew of a scheduling system for us to install on our machines where we could schedule jobs through a master scheduler which would then distribute the individual jobs to available workstations. Ideally, system resource availability would change throughout the day (e.g. 4 out of 8 cores are available for tasks during the day, while all 8 cores are available at night), but that's not strictly a requirement. I've setup similar systems on Linux machines before (using Maui/Torque), but I haven't been able to easily find a similar setup for Windows yet. Any help or options would be much appreciated. All of our workstations are running Windows 7 Enterprise, and our group has local administrative rights to our machines.

I might see about restoring the roles to a VM under Hyper-V once the new build is completed. I had been told by a particular Quebecois friend that I shouldn't run Hyper-V on my DC, so that role wasn't added until after everything else was setup. I was mostly planning on replacing the core hardware (mobo/CPU/RAM/SSD), but I should be able to find a spare case and PSU somewhere for a temporary arrangement while migrating. The storage solution would be moved from one system to another. It's my trusty 3ware 9650SE-8LPML card running my storage array. I was planning on disconnecting it from the current system, migrating the main roles over (file services are pretty simple), and then attaching it to the new server once it's up and running again. I should be able to assign the raid controller to be managed by the "guest" VM, correct? This would allow me to keep the file services role completely virtualized, if my understanding is correct. On a similar note, would it be possible to migrate the settings to a VM on the current setup, and then simply export the VM to the new box once it's assembled?

I'm going to be upgrading my server to some updated hardware and I'm wondering what's the best way of retaining all of my settings regarding the roles I have installed under my server. Will Windows Backup be sufficient if I use it to save the current system state? I'm planning on doing a fresh install of 2008 R2 Standard on the system, since there will also be new storage for the OS. Ultimately, what's going to be the most painless method of getting all my roles back up and running again as they are now? Here is a list of the currently installed roles: AD* DHCP DNS File Services Hyper-V* Print and Document Services Any tips and tricks would be much appreciated. * I know running Hyper-V and AD on the same box isn't recommended due to timesync issues, but this is my home network and hasn't given me any trouble thus far. If there's a really big fat red flag as to why I shouldn't continue doing this, please let me know and I'll reconsider my options.

jaclaz is trying to make a bit of a joke, which is sadly being lost in translation here. The simple fact is that hard drive failures can be difficult to predict, and usage characteristics may or may not be the cause of failure in your particular hard drive. I've had many, many hard drives in my systems over the past few years, some of which I use constantly (I've got a pair of hard drives that I write and delete about 1-2TB of data to each week), and others that I only write to occasionally. What jaclaz was trying to say was that, in my situation, it could be any one of my drives that fails next. The ones that I write to more often may last me another 3-4 years, or they may die tomorrow. The fact that I write a lot of data to them is often moot.

You have your new computer, which should be considerably faster than your old system. Again, I'd suggest that you don't do anything related to overclocking until you've read through some more material on the subject and understand the various consequences that may happen (i.e. complete hardware failure). If you overclock your system, the manufacturer will NOT replace it under warranty.

How long have you been running Windows7? If this is just you having used it for a matter of hours, stick with it for a while (a week at least). Get used to things like Aero Peek (you say you don't care about visual effects - this one is genuinely useful) or integrated search (which is way faster than any third-party solution I've tried on XP). Not having to bother with the Start Menu flying out across the screen is another nice perk as well. If you're going for new hardware get the new operating system. There are hardware features that simply aren't supported well under a 10 year old OS such as XP, and you'll likely get better performance from Windows7, especially if you go with an SSD for your boot drive.

I would advise against overclocking altogether until you are more familiar with assembling, installing, and testing your computer. It can be exciting to get into, but at the same time it can lead to system instability or hardware failure.

I was having similar troubles recently after waking my system from sleep or hibernation. Loading StarCraftII or World of Warcraft would usually result in a lockup, followed by a BSOD pointing at the ATI drivers. I'm not sure if ATI's latest drivers are playing nicely with that feature on the latest cards. See if the trouble continues after you stop using sleep/hibernate for a while. Furthermore, run a CHKDSK on your system drive. If, for some reason, the system files became corrupt, it could cause instability like this.