Powered by System Center
Hans Vredevoort
Altaro Starts New Blog for Hyper-V & Windows Administrators
Jan 31st
New Hyper-V Blog
Altaro who introduced an easy to use backup product for Hyper-V in 2011, informed us they have just launched a new Hyper-V blog. Their first article goes into good detail about Hyper-V Dynamic Memory and can be found here: http://www.altaro.com/blog/hyper-v-dynamic-memory-explanation-and-recommendations-2/
Version 3 of Altaro Hyper-V Backup
We can also announce that version 3 of Altaro Hyper-V Backup will be released on February 7.
Some of the new features are:
-
Central Management console on CSV Cluster
-
Increased backup performance with ReverdeDelts V2
-
Great new ‘Schedule Groups’ – allows easier backup scheduling
-
Live backup of Linux VMs
-
5Drive Swap / Rotation.
Currently beta 2 is available here:
Windows 8 Storage and Hyper-V – Part 2: VHDX and PowerShell
Jan 24th
This blog is part of a series that started with Windows 8 Storage and Hyper-V Part 1 – Introduction:
http://www.hyper-v.nu/archives/hvredevoort/2012/01/windows-8-storage-and-hyper-v-part-1-introduction/
VHD HISTORY
If you have been working with any of the Microsoft virtualization products, you are familiar with the Virtual Hard Disk format. VHD was introduced with Microsoft’s acquisition of Connectix and their Virtual PC product in 2003. Seven years ago Microsoft decided to make the VHD Image Format Specification available to third parties under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise.
In June 2005 Microsoft promised that the VHD file format would have a future well beyond the then prevalent virtualization products ….. and boy did they keep their promise!
The Microsoft VHD file format specifies a virtual machine hard disk that can reside on a native host file system encapsulated within a single file. The format is used by Virtual PC 2007, Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Hyper-V and the format will be used by future versions of Microsoft Windows Server that includes hypervisor-based virtualization technology. Beyond that, the VHD format is broadly applicable, because it is agnostic to the virtualization technology, host operating system, or guest operating system with which it is used.
Customers and partners who invest the VHD file format will have a clear path forward to future Windows virtualization technologies. In addition, Microsoft plans to design its systems management tools around the VHD file format for improved patching and manageability.
Since the release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the VHD format became even more versatile when Microsoft promised not only to standardize the variety of container files, but also introduced native VHD. This technology made it very easy to boot from VHD and have multiple operating systems on one machine. Since then VHD’s could not only be created via the Hyper-V manager but also via the inbox Disk Manager and Diskpart. Because the VHD format was opened up a multitude of VHD tools surfaced (vhdtool, disk2vhd, wim2vhd and many more). There was no easy way to just mount the VHD from the command line so 3rd parties jumped on this as well. I should not forget to mention James O’Neill’s awesome Hyper-V PowerShell Management Library which he created when he still worked for Microsoft.
The VHD related commands in that library are:
Get-VHDDefaultPath, Get-VHDInfo, New-VHD, Compact-VHD, Test-VHD, Convert-VHD, Merge-VHD, Mount-VHD, Unmount-VHD
VHDX
During the \\build conference we learnt that Microsoft will introduce a new advanced version of the Virtual Hard Disk format called VHDX in Windows 8 (both client and server). What do we currently know about this VHDX?
Windows 8 Storage and Hyper-V – Part 1: Introduction
Jan 21st
If you are a server, storage or network vendor, please also read the last section.
Now that the Windows Server 8 beta can be expected any time now – but promised before the last week of February 2012 – it might be a good idea to start looking at several of the groundbreaking storage related technologies that could turn up in Windows 8. I stress the word could because we must always be careful since functionality shown in Pre-RTM builds is never guaranteed to be in the GA release.
I am planning to write a couple of blogs about Windows 8 Storage which in many cases is related to the new version of Hyper-V.
If you are running a SAN but also if your company simply can’t afford a SAN, chances are that you will see significant performance increases when reading, writing, copying, moving data with Windows Server 8. In-box storage manageability with PowerShell will strongly contribute to making Windows 8 Storage one of the major pillars of the Microsoft Private Cloud Fabric. As I have looked at it so far, storage is handled extremely well in Windows Server 8. Mind you this is only what I have determined based on what I have heard and seen on \\build and have personally tested since September 2011 with the Windows 8 Developer Preview.
This edition is not at all intended to be stable and testing with de Developer Preview is a true challenge. As a preparation for the Hyper-V.nu event with several sessions on Windows Server 8, I wanted to try out and show some unique new functionality for moving living Hyper-V guests between different types of storage. I had time for building up the pre-requisites and was able to successfully show a Live Storage Migration of a guest between two SMB2 shares on a ScaleOut File Cluster. But there were several other Live Storage moves that I tested but also want to explore further:
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest from USB disk to a local disk
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest from a local disk to a new Windows 8 Pool and Spaces virtual disk
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest from local disk to shared storage on a single host
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest from a shared disk on a single host to a shared disk on a Windows 8 Hyper-V cluster
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest from a shared disk on a cluster to a CSV version 2 volume on the same cluster
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest from any location to an SMB2 file share on a ScaleOut Fileserver with Continuously Available Shares
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest between two SMB2 file shares on the same Windows 8 Hyper-V cluster while the ScaleOut Fileserver cluster is moved between nodes.
-
Live Storage Migrate a guest between an SMB2 file share used by one Windows 8 Hyper-V cluster to another Hyper-V cluster or even to another SMB2 file share on another server.
Am I now running out of options? On the contrary, I have only just started!
Microsoft Private Cloud Computing Book
Jan 17th
Today – during the announcement of System Center 2012 RC availability) – seems the perfect occasion to announce our book called Microsoft Private Cloud Computing. Mid-2011 four MVP’s decided to make a joint effort at writing a practical book on deploying a Microsoft Private Cloud. The four authors are:
-
Aidan Finn (MVP Virtual Machine @joe_elway)
-
Patrick Lownds (MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management @patricklownds)
-
Damian Flynn (MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management @damian_flynn)
-
Hans Vredevoort (MVP Cluster @hvredevoort)
Aidan writes the introductory chapters on Private Cloud, Hans deals with the Fabric Management (Servers, Storage, Network), Patrick explains the Service Management (VMM Library, Service Modeling) and Damian focuses on Private Cloud Solutions (VMM Services, Self-Service, App Controller).
Kristian Nese (@kristiannese) who is also MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management accepted the role of technical reviewer. Kristian has also written a book on Cloud Computing in Norwegian.
Big day for System Center and Microsoft Private Cloud
Jan 4th
Don’t miss the big public webcast about System Center 2012 & Microsoft Private Cloud with Satya Nadella (President of Server and Tools) and Brad Anderson (CVP of System Center and Management).
The new System Center 2012 vision will be laid out in full detail!
Register for it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/business/events/en-us/PrivateCloudExec
Date: January 17th 2012
Time: 17:30h CET
Live online training: Failover Clustering with Hyper-V
Dec 2nd
Designing a Highly Available Infrastructure for the Private Cloud
If you are new to Hyper-V and building a highly available infrastructure for the Private Cloud then don’t miss this free session by Symon Perriman and Elden Christensen on December 6, 2011. Symon was our Cluster MVP lead until early 2011 before he became a Technical Evangelist for Private Cloud traveling the globe and spreading the word. Elden is still going strong in the Cluster product team in Building 34 working as a Principal Program Manager Lead for Clustering.
If you can spare the time, I warmly recommend their 3-hour training which includes:
-
Module 1 – Introduction to clustering
-
Module 2 – Hyper-V high-availability
-
Module 3 – Private Cloud HA (System Center, Multi-Site).
Go and register as soon as you can!
Updated Linux Integration Services for Hyper-V Version 3.2
Dec 2nd
[Update: from Mike Sterling’s mail detailing the changes since version 3.1]
Microsoft released an updated version of Linux Integration Services for Hyper-V v3.2 and can be found here: http://207.46.154.156/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=216de3c4-f598-4dff-8a4e-257d4b7a1c12
When installed on a virtual machine that is running a supported Linux operating system, Linux Integration Services for Hyper-V provides the following functionality:
- Driver support: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller and the IDE and SCSI storage controllers that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.
- Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices now take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.
- Time sync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the virtualization server with the help of the pluggable time source device.
- Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager by using the “Shut Down” command.
- Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine. SMP support is not available for 32-bit Linux guest operating systems running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008.
- Heartbeat: Allows the virtualization server to detect whether the virtual machine is running and responsive.
KVP (Key Value Pair) Exchange: Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key Value Pair exchange functionality on the Windows Server 2008 virtualization server. - Integrated Mouse Support: The cursor is no longer bound to the VMConnect window when used with the Linux Graphical User Interface.
These are the changes since version 3.1:
- Synthetic Mouse Support: The virtualized mouse device is no longer bound to the VMConnect window, and can now be used with a RDP session.
- Merged Device Drivers: We now present a single device driver for both IDE and SCSI devices (hv_storvsc).
- Windows 8 Fix: The synthetic network device (hv_netvsc) can now be used with a Windows 8 host, eliminating the hang on boot that was previously seen.
- SCVMM Fix: This release fixes the issue as described in KB2586286.
- Improved Setup Experience: Users now only need to run install.sh (as root) to automatically detect the correct architecture and install the appropriate drivers.
Jaap Wesselius interviews Hans Vredevoort on Windows 8
Dec 2nd
Just before //build/ NGN invited the Hyper-V.nu crew over for a series of interviews. Jaap Wesselius who originally started the Hyper-V usergroup accepted the role of the interviewer. Peter Noorderijk, Maarten Wijsman and myself were asked to answer Jaap’s questions. Before you start clicking the links …. the interviews are in Dutch, so unless you want to pick up a few words of our beautiful language, head over to some of the other interviews that fellow MVP Carsten Rachfahl held with me this year:
In one of the previous blog you might already have seen the link to the interview with Peter Noorderijk’s on Hyper-V: http://www.ngn.nl/ngn/weblogs/hyper-v-blog/hyper-v-interview-met-peter-noorderijk/?waxtrapp=ybinfpBsHyoOtvOXEGAH
Today also my interview was published on the site of our NGN friends:
http://www.ngn.nl/ngn/weblogs/hyper-v-blog/hyper-v-interview-met-hans-vredevoort/?waxtrapp=okashpBsHyoOtvOXEGAJ
Topics: Windows 8, Hyper-V v3, storage, networking, live storage migration, VMM 2012
We expect the 3rd interview by Jaap with Maarten Wijsman to be published in the near future.
Camera work and editing by Ed Wens
How to Bare Metal Deploy a Hyper-V server via VMM2012 and HP iLO
Nov 8th
Some time ago I did a series on Bare Metal Deployment of Hyper-V servers with Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta. Back in March I tested with HP BL460 G6 servers which have an Insight Lights-Out (iLO2) Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). This time I was able to test with the RC build and HP BL490 G6 blades as well as DL360 G7 rack servers (which have a newer iLO3 onboard).
For beta there was a possibility to generate a customized Out-of-Band (OOB) protocol for HP iLO. Unfortunately that is not supported anymore and Microsoft advised me to use the IPMI protocol. After some experiments I figured out that this required a recent firmware (v2.07 of iLO2 to be precise). So after updating the firmware I was able to discover my physical servers via their iLO IP address combined with the right account/password combination which I saved as a Run As Account.
As you can see – when using IPMI with iLO2 (in this case) — there is a limited set of information returned. It lacks Manufacturer, Model, Serial Number, etc. What is worse … it returns an SMBIOS ID that is different from the one VMM2012 expects when you perform a Bare Metal Deployment of one or more Hyper-V R2 servers.
When you continue the Add Resource Wizard, the bare metal server will boot from the PXE server. This is where things go wrong.
Video: Interview with Hans Vredevoort at TEC2011 on Hyper-V V3 and Storage
Nov 4th
Carsten Rachfahl took another opportunity to interview me after my presentation Hyper-V Storage Deep Dive at The Experts Conference 2011 in Frankfurt.
The subject: Hyper-V V3 and Storage
Carsten’s blog can be found here: http://www.hyper-v-server.de/videos/videointerview-with-hans-vredevoort-about-hyper-v-v3-and-storage/
HTML5 Video: http://www.it-cast.de/alle/videointerview-hyper-v-3-and-storage-hans-vredevoort/
Twitter
RSS