Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Tag: Windows Server

Setting up Windows Server Failover Cluster shared storage on AWS Outposts rack

In this blog post, I will highlight how to use Microsoft Windows Server Storage Spaces Direct to create Clustered Shared Volumes when running Windows Server Failover Clusters on an AWS Outposts rack. Introduction Customers advancing in their cloud migration journey are utilizing the cloud for nearly every type of workload. However, some use cases still […]

Accelerate Remote Desktop Gateway deployments with AWS Launch Wizard

Introduction In this blog post, I am going to show you how easy it is to deploy a secure infrastructure to manage your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances for Microsoft Windows Server through the automation provided by AWS Launch Wizard. AWS Launch Wizard offers a guided way of sizing, configuring, and deploying AWS […]

Use AWS Systems Manager to enable CloudWatch memory metrics for Windows Server Amazon EC2 instances

In this blog post, we will show how to reduce the administrative burden of enabling Amazon CloudWatch memory metric monitoring on Windows Server EC2 instances using AWS Systems Manager automation. Once enabled, we will show how memory monitoring benefits downstream services like AWS Compute Optimizer to provide accurate cost savings recommendations. Monitoring is an important […]

How to bring existing Windows Server and SQL Server licenses to Amazon EC2

Disclaimer: The use of Microsoft software is subject to Microsoft’s terms. When using Microsoft Software as a customer of AWS, you are fully responsible for complying with Microsoft licensing terms. This information is only provided as a guide for your convenience, and you should not rely on its descriptions nor consider it any form of […]

Update AWS Tools for PowerShell at scale with AWS Systems Manager

In this blog post, I will show you how to update AWS Tools for PowerShell at scale within your environment by using the AWS Systems Manager Run Command. Manually updating AWS Tools for PowerShell across multiple instances can be time-consuming, inefficient, and error prone. These manual operational efforts typically result in a logistical nightmare, especially […]

How to generate TLS certificates for a highly available Remote Desktop Gateway Farm

Introduction In this blog post, I am going to show you how to generate, import, test, and troubleshoot a properly created Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate for a Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) farm. Secure management of your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances for Microsoft Windows Server is a top priority for any […]

Accelerate Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling for Microsoft Windows workloads

In this blog post, we will present a sample solution and provide recommendations on how to reduce both the cost and time associated with a Microsoft Windows Server instance joining an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Auto Scaling group up to 78%. Customers using Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling often desire faster scale-out times to […]

How to deploy a SQL Server failover cluster with Amazon EBS Multi-Attach on Windows Server

Updated on February 15, 2024. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through creating a Microsoft SQL Server failover cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS) with Amazon Elastic Block Storage (Amazon EBS) Multi-Attach, using the recently introduced Amazon EBS Multi-Attach on io2 volumes with persistent reservations feature. We will also highlight the potential for cost […]

Configure Microsoft Active Directory to use Amazon Time Sync

In this blog post, I will explain how to utilize Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to configure Microsoft Active Directory (AD) to use the Amazon Time Sync Service for time synchronization. Additionally, I will explain how to monitor and alert on the time synchronization health of the domain with Amazon CloudWatch and Amazon Simple Notification Service. […]

Exporting the Windows Failover Cluster log to CloudWatch

In this deep-dive blog post, we will go through a step-by-step guide on how to capture Windows Failover Cluster Event Viewer logs using Amazon CloudWatch agent and send alerts using Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS). Introduction Windows Event Viewer logs are a crucial aspect of monitoring and troubleshooting Windows systems. However, manually reviewing these […]