Teaming network adapters, or NICs, is a great way of providing load-balancing and failover capabilities for mission critical services. Windows Server 2012 allows up to 32 network adapters in a single team. You can create a team in the graphical server manager, or through PowerShell, which is very useful if you are automating server build or configurations.
In earlier versions of Windows, Microsoft included a loopback adapter. This was a virtual network interface that essentially you could use for network testing but without having a physical network card. In Windows 8 this device is a little trickier to install. Let me show you how to install the loopback adapter and how I’m using it in Hyper-V.
We’ve been looking at a number of tools for exploring WMI. The last one I want to discuss is actually a PowerShell script, but it won’t feel like any PowerShell script you’ve run before. The WMI Explorer was written back in the days of PowerShell 1.0, I believe, by former PowerShell MVP Marc van Orsouw, more familiarly known as MoW.
In my previous article I demonstrated how to use the free WMI Tools from Microsoft for exploring WMI. One of the downsides is that they aren’t officially supported for any current operating system and rely on an older version of Internet Explorer. Another option is the free WMI Explorer from SAPIEN Technologies.
In previously published articles I demonstrated how to use the free WBEMTest utility to validate connectivity and credentials. While you can use WBEMTest to browse namespaces, classes and instances it is hardly intuitive. You are better off with a WMI Explorer or Browser.
By Jeffery Hicks - Mon, May 6, 2013 - 0 comments 
