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Windows Admin Center version 2103 is now generally available!
Published Mar 02 2021 06:57 AM 81.5K Views
Microsoft

Today we are excited to announce the general availability of Windows Admin Center version 2103! A big THANK YOU to the Windows Admin Center community, customers, partners and fans! We have continued to listen to your feedback and, as a result, developed Windows Admin Center into a unique, multi-purpose management tool that just keeps getting better 

 

We have several new features in this release, including in-app updates for both the Windows Admin Center platform and extensionsWe expect this update feature to deliver continuous functionality updates and an improved user experience. Additionally, we’ve made improvements to both accessibility and to core tools like the Events tool, the Virtual Machine tooland to Azure hybrid centerOur partners have also begun releasing their integrated snap-in experiences for Azure Stack HCI workflowsproviding a seamless driver and firmware update mechanism. This ensures that IT Administrators keep their Azure Stack HCI systems up to date. 

 

Here’s a video demoing the new features in Windows Admin Center version 2103. 

 

Download Windows Admin Center v2103 today! 

 

New features and updates

 

Windows Admin Center supports Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows

Early this year, the Azure IoT Edge team announced the public preview of Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows. IoT Edge for Linux on Windows works by running a Linux virtual machine on a Windows host. The Linux virtual machine comes pre-installed with the IoT Edge runtime. The IoT Edge extension for Windows Admin Center facilitates installation, configuration, and diagnostics of IoT Edge on the Linux virtual machine. By using Windows Admin Center, you can deploy IoT Edge for Linux on Windows on the local device or can connect to target devices and manage them remotely.

 

Prasidh_Arora_0-1614649784056.png

 

For more information about IoT Edge for Linux and how to get started, check out this video and see this documentation. 

 

Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal is now in public preview

 

In addition to the general availability announcement of Windows Admin Center v2103, today we also announced the public preview of Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal. This new capability enables seamless and granular management of your Windows Server Azure IaaS virtual machines (VMs) from within the Azure Portal. The user interface in this experience is the same as the Windows Admin Center you know and lovewhich allows you to configure, troubleshoot, and perform maintenance tasks in a familiar way, all while providing cloud capabilities that were once only available to on-premises users.

 

To read more about Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal, see this documentation or visit the Azure Portal to start using it today.

 

What's new in Windows Admin Center v2103

 

Platform updates

 

Automatic in-app updates

We are happy to share that we are addressing one of our oldest User Voice requests! Windows Admin Center is introducing in-app and automatic updates. Your Windows Admin Center instances are always going to be up to date with seamless auto-updating for both your gateway and extensions. This will not only allow you to get updates faster, but also reduce the bi-yearly struggle of filling out our evaluation form to get the latest updates. 

 

Please note that this feature is currently in preview and will be improving over our next few releases. 

 

Automatic platform updates: 

  1. Navigate to the Settings menu using the gear on the top right corner 
  2. Select Updates 

Prasidh_Arora_1-1614649985236.png

 

Automatic extension updates 

This new feature allows you to keep all your extensions up-to-date, even between releases of the Windows Admin Center platform, all by using a toggle. Manage your automatic extension updates by following these steps: 

  1. Navigate to the Settings menu using the gear on the top right corner 
  2. Select Extensions 
  3. Select the toggle near the top of the page to enable or disable automatic extension updates 

Prasidh_Arora_2-1614650260887.png

 

Gateway proxy support

Windows Admin Center can now redirect your outbound traffic through a proxy. This means you can access Azure services, extensions, and internet communication through your custom proxy. This has been a widely requested feature for many years so we’re glad to bring this to you. Set a proxy server by navigating to the Proxy tab in settings: 

 

Prasidh_Arora_13-1614652625749.png

 

Pop-out tools

Each of the tools in Windows Admin Center can now be managed in a pop-up window. You can “pop out” the tool by hovering on the tool name in the tools list.  

 

Prasidh_Arora_4-1614650316365.png

 

Privacy

We’re bringing your Windows Admin Center privacy settings front and center. We know that your privacy is very important. To help you manage these settings, we have a new page for you to toggle the amount of data your Windows Admin Center instance sends to Microsoft. In this release, you will see two new screens for privacy management: one in your gateway settings (Diagnostics & feedback) and one in the installer itself.

 

Prasidh_Arora_5-1614650350565.png

Core management tools

 

Events tool redesign

We know the Event Viewer is a staple for IT Administrators and is regularly used by customers to better understand what is going on with their systems. When you need to investigate or troubleshootthere’s no better place to turn to than Event Viewer. The classic Event Viewer interface was introduced in 1993 and hasn’t changed much since. We, on the Windows Admin Center team, believed it was about time you got an upgrade. That’s why in this release, we’ve enhanced the way in which you understand how features, apps, and devices are workingYou can access our new and improved Event Viewer by enabling the preview toggle in the top right corner of the tool. 

 

With this look and feel, you can tailor your experience to the specific events and severity levels you’re interested in and display the data over a period in the form of both a list and a new stacked bar format. Like our Performance Monitor tool, you can create and save workspaces, allowing you to bring up all your desired data quickly and easily. You are no longer restricted to viewing events one at a timewhich was the case in the previous Events toolNow you can easily group events from different channels. 

 

This tool is under active development and is still missing some crucial features. The original event viewer will remain accessible.

 

Prasidh_Arora_14-1614653089958.png

 

 

Virtual Machine tool

Virtual Machine management continues to be a large area of investment for the team. We are working to continuously improve the experience and bring you new features. In this release, new and improved features include:

 

  • Integration services settings – There is now an Integration Services tab in the VM settings menuYou can use this tab to configure settings like time synchronization, heartbeat, and shutdown. 
  • Editable columns and groupings – The ability to edit your columns and groupings is here. As an IT admin, you now have full control of which information about our virtual machines you are interested in and what your view looks like, whether in the server or cluster view. Just like in some of the other tools, the button is on the top right corner of the tool. 

Prasidh_Arora_7-1614650516754.png

 

 

  • Edit virtual switches during VM move – In the past, your virtual machine migration would fail if the name of the virtual switches between the source and destination were not the same. Not anymore! When migrating a VM with a virtual switch configured between nodes or clusters, you now have the option to reassign your virtual switches using a simple drop down. 

Prasidh_Arora_8-1614650516759.png

 

 

  • Bug fixes – We’ve fixed several bugs in this tool, including an error that would result when you attempted to load a cluster with a large number of nodes and a large number of clustered VMs. 

 

Azure hybrid center

We’re investing in improving Windows Admin Center’s Azure services, and we’re starting off with the main tool—Azure hybrid center. In this release, you’ll notice we modified the UI to make your experience of setting up Azure services more streamlined. We now recommend you onboard to Azure Arc prior to onboarding to other Azure services for the best user experience. 

 

Azure Stack HCI

 

Cluster deployment

We’ve also made improvements to networking in the deployment wizard of Windows Admin CenterSome of these improvements include addressing issues with adapter detection, management adapter teamingdetection of RDMA supportability and storage spaces configuration.  

 

The announcement that we are most excited about in this space is the release of integrated snap-in experiences by some of our Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) partners. These extensions provide a seamless integrated experience in the deployment wizard. If you are running HCI clusters on a validated OEM partner hardware, the WAC partner snap-in will bring in the latest firmware and drivers to keep your cluster nodes up to date. 

 

These snap-in integrations are also available as part of Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU). If you’re planning on trying out a snap-in experience, make sure you have the latest version of the Cluster Manager extension. 

 

Partner Ecosystem

Windows Admin Center is built to be an extensible platform, and we value the contributions of our partners to the Windows Admin Center ecosystem. Our partners have been hard at work developing their integrated snap-ins for Azure Stack HCI workflows. As of today, four partners have released extensions containing snap-ins. 

 

Dell EMC OpenManage

The Dell EMC OpenManage extension has been updated with an integrated snap-in for both the Azure Stack HCI cluster deployment flow and Cluster-Aware Updatesas well as performance improvements. The Dell EMC OpenManage extension for Windows Admin Center enables IT administrators to manage Dell EMC PowerEdge servers as hosts, Microsoft failover clusters created with PowerEdge servers, Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, and Dell EMC HCI Solutions for Microsoft Windows Server with Dell EMC Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes or AX Nodes. This simplifies the tasks of IT administrators by remotely managing PowerEdge servers, clusters, HCI and Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI throughout their life cycle. 

 

Prasidh_Arora_9-1614650828475.png

 

Version 2.0.0 of the Dell EMC OpenManage extension contains several major updates and feature improvements, including:  

  • Support for the management and monitoring of Azure Stack HCI version 20H2 OS 
  • Hardware, firmware, and BIOS updates in the Windows Admin Center Azure Stack HCI cluster create wizard through snap-in integration 
  • Full stack Cluster-Aware Updating through the integration of a snap-in, which provides hardware, BIOS, and firmware updates in addition to the operating system updates available in Windows Admin Center 
  • Schedule Cluster-Aware Updating for hardware updates 
  • Numerous enhancements, including support for target nodes running Windows Server Core, an improved Update Source catalog selection view, improvements in compliance generation, and a new way to view license details 

Prasidh_Arora_10-1614650850325.png

 

For a complete list of new features and updates, check out the Dell EMC OpenManage version 2.0.0 release notes 

 

Lenovo XClarity Integrator

The Lenovo XClarity Integrator extension has been updated with an integrated snap-in for the Azure Stack HCI Cluster create wizard and several new featuresThe Lenovo XClarity Integrator for Windows Admin Center provides IT administrators a smooth and seamless management experience across Windows Server hyper-converged and physical infrastructure. This standalone Windows Admin Center solution extends Server Manager, Failover Cluster Manager, Firmware Update, and Hyper-Converged Cluster Manager in a single unified UI to enable simple server management. 

 

Version 3.0.5 of the Lenovo XClarity Integrator extension includes the following improvements and updates: 

  • Firmware/driver update snap-in for Azure Stack HCI cluster creation 
  • Firmware/driver updates without the need for Lenovo XClarity Administrator installation 
  • Firmware/driver update package repository management 
  • HTTP proxy settings 
  • Log settings 
  • Native OS management settings 
  • Support for previous versions of Windows Admin Center and XClarity Integrator 

Prasidh_Arora_15-1614653418446.png

 

DataON MUST Pro

The DataON MUST Pro extension is now generally available. DataON MUST Pro integrates with the Windows Admin Center cluster deployment flow and cluster-aware updating functionality to simplify deployment and updates to Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, with minimal disruptions to your infrastructure. MUST Pro automatically compares your DataON Integrated Systems for Azure Stack HCI against DataON’s latest quarterly validated server component image baseline. It also ensures that servers have the same OS version, drivers, firmware, BIOS, and BMC, and checks the drivers and firmware for network cards, host bus adapters, and SSD and HDD drives. 

 

This extension release includes the following features:

 

  • Support initial HCI Cluster creation flow via full integration WAC   
  • Support maintenance update flow via Microsoft cluster aware update features for bios, firmware, drivers and BMC 
  • Support both Online and Offline mode 
  • Update MUST Inventory Page to support bios, firmware, drivers and BMC comparison between existing cluster hardware to latest golden image built  
  • Support DataON Integrated Systems for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI 

Prasidh_Arora_11-1614651034526.png

 

SecureGUARD Blazics Updates

The SecureGUARD Blazics Updates extension is now generally availableThe SecureGUARD Blazics Update extension for Windows Admin Center provides an easy-to-use interface to select and install SecureGUARD-approved updates for SecureGUARD Blazics servers. The mechanisms for driver and firmware updates are directly integrated into the workflow when creating a hyperconverged cluster based on Azure Stack HCI OS 20H2 as well as the workflow for cluster-aware updates (CAU). 

 

This extension is a snap-in and will appear when using the cluster create wizard or cluster-aware updating (CAU) flows.

 

Prasidh_Arora_12-1614651154081.png

 

Other partner extension updates

  • QCT Management Suite – The new version of this extension includes an added firmer/driver download list. 
  • DataON MUST – The new version of this extension includes bug fixes.

 

Download today!

We hope you enjoy this latest update of Windows Admin Center, the various new functionality in preview, and all the extensions now available. Learn more and download today! 

 

As always, thanks for your ongoing support, adoption, and feedback. Your contributions through user feedback continue to be very important and valuable to us, helping us prioritize and sequence our investments. 

 

<3,  

 

Windows Admin Center Team (@servermgmt) 

 

 

 

41 Comments

Nice! I'll test it already! Beautiful work @Prasidh_Arora!

excellent news for new version 2103 @Prasidh_Arora 

What a curve of improvements from 2012 preview to this 2103 release in such a short time. If this is not rapid and modular development at a glance, I cannot help myself. 

It will put me in a position to revisit 60+ items in uservoice some time, but from what's offered here it looks very very good. Upgrading in my lab now. Thank you @servermgmt Team!

Deleted
Not applicable

Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal is now in public preview  - enough said :D Well done guys!!! This is AWESOME!!!

 

Happy Azure Stacking!!!

Dear @Prasidh_Arora unfortunately the long standing issue of wrong ASCII redirection in WAC RDP window is not fixed. All locales other than en-us are affected.

Some people dislike use of RDP - and certainly that's why have WAC in the first place - but it is still important for certain tasks even on Server Core. thanks for a high priority
[Bug] [RD] localized keyboard – Windows Server (uservoice.com) it is been around since the start in 2018.

 

Copper Contributor

What is the upgrade procedure for an existing WAC install? I checked for updates in the server settings, but this one did not show up.

@William_Fields for this version you can install the latest over the existing one. It should preserve all settings.

Mind that you should not enable WinRM via Https if the setup is not ready otherwise you will lock yourself out.

Copper Contributor

@kwester-ebbinghaus-business  Thanks.

Do you mean that the WAC install/upgrade will ask me if I want to enable WinRM via Https?

When I run the following on the server WAC is installed on, I get these results. Does that mean I have WinRM via Https enabled?

 

PS C:\Windows\system32> winrm get winrm/config
Config
MaxEnvelopeSizekb = 500
MaxTimeoutms = 60000
MaxBatchItems = 32000
MaxProviderRequests = 4294967295
Client
NetworkDelayms = 5000
URLPrefix = wsman
AllowUnencrypted = false [Source="GPO"]
Auth
Basic = false [Source="GPO"]
Digest = false [Source="GPO"]
Kerberos = true
Negotiate = true
Certificate = true
CredSSP = true
DefaultPorts
HTTP = 5985
HTTPS = 5986
TrustedHosts = *
Service
RootSDDL = O:NSG:BAD:P(A;;GA;;;BA)(A;;GR;;;IU)S:P(AU;FA;GA;;;WD)(AU;SA;GXGW;;;WD)
MaxConcurrentOperations = 4294967295
MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser = 1500
EnumerationTimeoutms = 240000
MaxConnections = 300
MaxPacketRetrievalTimeSeconds = 120
AllowUnencrypted = false [Source="GPO"]
Auth
Basic = false [Source="GPO"]
Kerberos = true
Negotiate = true
Certificate = false
CredSSP = false
CbtHardeningLevel = Relaxed
DefaultPorts
HTTP = 5985
HTTPS = 5986
IPv4Filter = *
IPv6Filter = *
EnableCompatibilityHttpListener = false
EnableCompatibilityHttpsListener = false
CertificateThumbprint
AllowRemoteAccess = true
Winrs
AllowRemoteShellAccess = true
IdleTimeout = 7200000
MaxConcurrentUsers = 2147483647
MaxShellRunTime = 2147483647
MaxProcessesPerShell = 2147483647
MaxMemoryPerShellMB = 2147483647
MaxShellsPerUser = 2147483647

PS C:\Windows\system32>

@William_Fields it will ask you if you want to use WinRM SSL (optional) If it does not work for you you can still run the setup again and untick it. I had some issues to make it work with WinRM SSL while it is more secure of course. 

 

Copper Contributor

@Karl_Wester-Ebbinghaus 

 

I left the WinRM SSL option as the default (unchecked) and the upgrade finished successfully. I'm very happy to see the new pop-out and event log features.

 

Thank you!

Glad to hear William. Enjoy WAC.

Copper Contributor

Error
Events
14:50:06
Source
Go to Events.
Type
Error
Message
Unable to get property 'response' of undefined or null reference

@rzdzvg please be invited to report issues on the uservoice

in WAC click on ? (help) and look for report ideas / problem attach screenshots if possible and repro steps.

Microsoft

@kwester-ebbinghaus-business Unfortunately the RDP bug has a dependency out of our control! It's definitely on our list.

Copper Contributor

I gave my user Gateway Administrators Role but still get the below error when switching off the Up to date option!!

powermator_0-1615203859972.png

 

 

 

powermator_1-1615203766856.png

 

any Ideas?

 

Iron Contributor

If you are using Edge Chromium and connecting to WAC 2103 on a Windows 2019 server, how do you confirm in the browser that HTTP/2 is in use?

Copper Contributor

Dear MS Team, 

Nice product but please tell my how do I connect to server that has http SPN on a service account?

There is no option for PSSession Option in your mighty tool WAC.

 

So your tool is wasteful in enterprise enviroment for the moment, mayby you consider to solve this issue before making other nice presentations.

 

thanks,

Iron Contributor

Hello Microsoft,

 

Why doesn't WAC (version 2103) show some Windows Updates under the "Updates" tool.  e.g. We recently applied the critical KB5000871 hf to our Windows 2019 Core servers.  KB5000871 *is not* listed under Updates although other recently installed updates *are* correctly listed under Updates.

Iron Contributor

Hello Microsoft,

 

If you are using Edge Chromium and connecting to WAC 2103 on a Windows 2019 server, how do you confirm in the browser that HTTP/2 is in use?

 

 

Copper Contributor

when will be solved the known issue "WebSocket compatibility when using a proxy service" ?

"Remote Desktop, PowerShell, and Events modules in Windows Admin Center utilize the WebSocket protocol, which is often not supported when using a proxy service."

 

This is very useful. let's think if we want to publish WAC console externally in a secure way (AppProxy + MFA); it is still not possible.....

we are waiting for this feature for a long time.

Please! 

thank you

 

Iron Contributor

Hello All.   I haven't posted in the Windows Admin Center Blog before.  Is this another one of those blogs where Microsoft never responds to questions or concerns ?

Hi @Sam_T given their limited time they try to respond. You can see that @Prasidh_Arora has replied here.
There is also techcommunity.microsoft.com Microsoft Q&A and besides you can post in the product page for Windows Server / WAC on techcommunity.microsoft.com 

 

My advice, for technical issues try the product page or Q&A or contact support if you need a solution. blog would be pretty cluttered if all technical questions would be answered here.

Iron Contributor

@Karl_Wester-Ebbinghaus Thanks for your response. Not sure how you know the personal schedules and availability of MS employees to respond to questions about their blog posts or to just ignore them.  I'm assuming you're not his manager but I could be wrong.

@Sam_T I am not their manager nor know their schedules but I have a fair understanding about their work on different platforms like there are MS internal, and public such as techcommunity questions, blogs, twitter, reddit etc. So I can assume their workload on this expierence. 

Copper Contributor

Smartcard authentication support for RDP and Powershell is really needed, the extensions currently do not work with SSO.

Powershell works if you use WAC on the same machine, but if you're connecting through a GW it won't work.

Copper Contributor

Getting SDN Monitoring errors on latest WAC.  Ajax Error 403.  On Windows 10 machine.   WAC will not run now.

Copper Contributor

Couldn't update the extension: 'SDN Logical networks'. Error: AjaxError: ajax error 403

Copper Contributor

Ok just run this update, and now i cannot access anything on it, all i get is the following errors.

ajaxerror.PNG

As a word of note, this is used just locally on my machine for me to administer local machines when we cannot get onto them, everything was working fine on previous version - but now this, any ideas? I cannot get in to change the update settings, even reinstalling without update enabled still get the same, any navigation leaves me with the error "your unauthorised to use this...."

Copper Contributor

I now get the following error notification every time I connect to WAC:

 

Error: Connecting to remote server localhost failed with the following error message :
The server certificate on the destination computer (localhost:5986) has the following errors:
The SSL certificate contains a common name (CN) that does not match the hostname.
For more information, see the aboutRemoteTroubleshooting Help topic.

 

It looks like it uses the localhost instead of the actual host name while trying to connect.
No issues with functionality at all, just an annoying notification.

 

hadleighs_1-1617829603240.png

 

Copper Contributor

I also have the problem with localhost:5986 error, my WAC instance works fine with the 2009 version with a HTTPS gateway and WinRM HTTPS enforced. Thoughts?

Iron Contributor

@Prasidh_Arora
Hello Microsoft,
Why doesn't WAC version 2103 show some Windows Updates under the "Updates" tool. e.g. We recently applied the critical KB5000871 and KB5001779 hotfixes to our Windows 2019 Core servers. KB5000871 and KB5001779 *are not* listed under Updates although other recently installed updates *are* correctly listed under Updates. If you use an OS with GUI and go to Control Panel --> Programs-->Updates these hotfixes *are* listed there. So this is clearly a problem with WAC. When will this be resolved?

Copper Contributor

Hello Microsoft,

Can some one explain me how to get the iis extension into this WAC and my server is not a internet connected so is it possible with out internet connection. if internet is required i may get firewall clearance for few sites can you let me know what all the sites it need access to add this iis extension(msft.iis.iis-management).

Why dont you make this iis extension by default.

When i open extensions i am getting below errors

saka_bhanuchandra_0-1619011515581.png

 

@saka_bhanuchandra I also find the integration of the IIS Management plugin of WAC is quite complicated as it needs 
please review and consider to upvote [New Tool] - IIS Management without Microsoft IIS Administration – Windows Server (uservoice.com)

@Sam_T I agree with your observations. 
Please review and and consider to upvote ISSUE - WAC 2103 - Updates - Exchange Hotfixes missing in Update history – Windows Server (uservoice...

Iron Contributor

@kwester-ebbinghaus-business 

Thanks.

I suspect that this has something to do with the different "classes" of Microsoft fixes. But that is neither here nor there - WAC should report all hotfixes as does viewing Control Panel --> Programs --> Updates. This is Microsoft's responsibility to report these and not ours to hunt for methods to try and find and display all of them.  

 

the actual output in WAC would / should be consistent with 

PowerShell > Get-Hotfix

Iron Contributor

@kwester-ebbinghaus-business The output of get-hotfix is unreliable. 

Microsoft describes get-hotfix as  "The Get-Hotfix cmdlet gets hotfixes, or updates, that are installed on the local computer or specified remote computers. The updates can be installed by Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, or manually installed."   But that's obviously not true.  

Its Microsoft's responsibility to report these hotfixes accurately and not our responsibility to hunt for methods to try and find and display all of the installed hotfixes.  Its a waste of time.  Not a problem when using Control Panel --> Programs --> Updates on the server itself.

@Sam_T I miss your point. What I say is that WAC uses either PowerShell / WMI / CIM.

Copper Contributor

Link has been dead for a little bit now. @Prasidh_Arora 

Copper Contributor

@Prasidh_Arora Grrrr.....404 error AFTER filling out the form to download.

Brass Contributor

The work that is done on event viewer is a welcome change. But: the event viewer extension still lacks color coding. As outdated the classic event viewer might be...If I open a log, I instantly get a color coded overview, making it easy to see errors or warnings. Then (!) I can further drill down and filter on errors, event ids, etc.

 

Don't get me wrong, you're doing a great job here! But loosing useful (!) functionality that's been there "forever", is never a good thing...

 

Christian

Co-Authors
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Last update:
‎Mar 02 2021 06:57 AM
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