Now that 6 core processors are available from both Intel and AMD, the virtualisation team at Microsoft have done some analysis on how much it will cost to run Hypervisors from Microsoft and VMware on these new machines.
Refer to http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/06/28/Beware-the-VMware-Core-Tax-and-More.aspx
Microsoft has updated the support policy for running SQL server in a virtual machine that has been clustered.
Refer to Support policy for Microsoft SQL Server products that are running in a hardware virtualization environment
With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 Microsoft has released a lot of documentation that supports Hyper-V and Failover clustering.
For a consolidated list of these resources head on over to http://blogs.msdn.com/clustering/archive/2009/04/20/9557017.aspx
The past few days there has been an very robust discussion through blogs and videos about how VMware is spreading FUD about Hyper-V.
Refer to
Day 1 - http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/05/09/hyper-v-winning-daily-vmware-fud-reaching-new-heights.aspx
Day 2 - http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/05/09/day-two-of-the-scott-drummond-vmware-fud-fiasco.aspx
All I want to add to this is that customers looking to consolidate their workloads on a hypervisor need to do their own testing to validate that Hyper-V will support their requirements.
This is great new for customers who have been waiting for Microsoft to support Red Hat operating systems on Hyper-V. For details head on over to http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/02/15/Microsoft-and-Red-Hat-Joint-Technical-Support.aspx
Author Mitch Tulloch has teamed with the Microsoft Virtualization Teams to write a free e-book that is aimed at IT professionals who want to learn about Microsoft’s virtualisation solutions from the Desktop to the Datacenter. This book covers technologies like:
1. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
2. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008
3. Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5
4. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualisation
5. Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
6. Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services
7. Roaming User Profiles
8. Folder Redirection
9. Offline Folders
To get this book for free head on over to Free e-book offer on Microsoft virtualization
Microsoft is creating a raft of webcasts to cover the Virtualisation 360 story that talks about virtualisation from Desktop to Data centre.
Today, Microsoft's virtualization toolset for the data centre includes:
1. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, which consolidates server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine.
2. On the desktop side, we offer Microsoft Terminal Services, which virtualizes the presentation of entire desktops or specific applications;
3. Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), which transforms applications into centrally-managed virtual services that are never installed and don't conflict with other applications;
4. Microsoft VDI, which allows customers to centralize the storage, execution, and management of a Windows desktop in the data centre; and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V, formerly Kidaro) which, with Virtual PC, enables client-hosted desktop virtualization, where you can deploy and centrally manage VMs on Windows desktops while providing a seamless user experience.
5. To simplify management of your entire infrastructure, we offer Microsoft System Center, which lets you manage both physical and virtual assets for clients and servers, including multiple hypervisors, all with the same platform.
The webcasts are designed to cover the Microsoft Virtualisation story from Desktop to Data centre
Session List
- 01/14/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization in a Nutshell
- 01/16/2009, TechNet Webcast: Selecting the Right Candidates for Virtualization
- 01/21/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualizing Test and Development Environments for a Quick Return on Investment
- 01/23/2009, TechNet Webcast: Managing the Virtualized Test and Development Environment
- 01/28/2009, TechNet Webcast: If I Virtualize It, How Do I Manage It?
- 01/29/2009, TechNet Webcast: Consolidation and Rapid Provisioning
- 02/04/2009, TechNet Webcast: Building on Your Existing Virtual Environment
- 02/06/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization Solutions for High Availability
- 02/11/2009, TechNet Webcast: Client-Side Virtualization
- 02/13/2009, TechNet Webcast: Using Presentation Virtualization
- 02/18/2009, TechNet Webcast: Scaling Terminal Services Out (1/2)
- 02/20/2009, TechNet Webcast: Scaling Terminal Services Out (2/2)
- 02/25/2009, TechNet Webcast: Running Legacy Applications with Virtualization (1/2)
- 02/27/2009, TechNet Webcast: Running Legacy Applications with Virtualization (2/2)
- 03/04/2009, TechNet Webcast: Creating a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
- 03/06/2009, TechNet Webcast: Securing the Virtual Environments
- 03/11/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization with Centralized, Policy-Based Management
- 03/13/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization Solutions in Branch Offices
- 03/20/2009, TechNet Webcast: Road Map for the Future of Virtualization
- 03/24/2009, TechNet Webcast: Managing Virtual Solutions
Microsoft has just announced the availability of Virtual Machine Manager Configuration Analyzer 2008 (VMMCA). Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Configuration Analyzer (VMMCA) is a diagnostic tool that you can use to evaluate important configuration settings for computers that either are serving or might serve Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) roles or other VMM functions.
To download VMMCA 2008 head to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=02d83950-c03d-454e-803b-96d1c1d5be24&displaylang=en
If you are getting
VMM is unable to complete the request. The connection to the agent <Agent Managed Host> was lost. Ensure that the WS-Management service and the agent are installed and running and that a firewall is not blocking HTTP traffic. If the error persists, reboot <Agent Managed Host> and then try the operation again.
ID: 2916. Details: Unknown error (0x8033810f)
Make sure you have configure the Virtual Machine Manager Server is configured to have a proxy server and the Bypass proxy server for locall addresses ticked (refer to screen shot )
There is quite a lot of documentation (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794762.aspx) and blogs on how to get the best peformance from Hyper-V. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Disk: allow separate disks for the parent partition (ie 2008/Hyper-V)
For the VM’s, if you can spread them across multiple disks you will have less contention per VM – something like 4 pairs of RAID1 (1 for OS and 3 partitions for VM’s) might give you better performance than 2 disks in RAID1 (for OS) and 6 disks in RAID5 (for VM’s)
2. Fix Disk (not the default) will give the VM better performance than dynamic as there will be less operations and fragmentation when expanding the disks as they grow.
3. Memory: Ensure the parent partition has sufficient RAM to cope with the workload. Recommend minimum is 500MB, but if you perfmon it’s usage you can see if this is sufficient. Keep perfmon running on the parent partition from the first day, gathering stats every 5 minutes and fixed at 500MB. This will give you a baseline of the server over a 1 to 2 week period. As you grow the VM numbers you can see how the load is impacting the hardware.
4. Processor: ensure you look up the correct logical to virtual processor ratios, also ensure the guest VM’s run with the correct maximum virtual processors
5. Network: Again, it is best to allow the Parent Partition to have its own dedicated NIC, then have another NIC for every 4 VM’s, again perform counters can help determine this ratio of VM's to NIC.
Use the perfmon counters that come with the Vital Signs course, plus add in the Hyper-V counters as stated here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768535.aspx
Some of the other resources that will assist with getting the most from your Hyper-V server
HW Sizing Help
To find the list of supported server configs:
Go to http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/ .
Select the Certified Servers on the right hand side.
Select Windows Server 2008 (x64) on the left hand side.
Select Hyper-V on the left hand side.
The Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 has been updated to include perf guidelines for virtualization servers: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/Perf_tun_srv.mspx
Joeelway's blog links to a handy Hyper-V RAM Calculator you can use to plan your Hyper-V deployment: http://cid-2095eac3772c41db.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Hyper-V%20RAM%20Calculator.xls
Storage Resources
Webcast:
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032364834&CountryCode=US
Whitepaper:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/B/5/3B51A025-7522-4686-AA16-8AE2E536034D/WS2008%20Multi%20Site%20Clustering.doc
Jose Barreto's blog post: http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2008/02/14/storage-options-for-windows-server-2008-s-hyper-v.aspx
Hyper-V How To: Shrink a VHD File
Jeremy Hagen's blog post describes some implementation workarounds for shrinking VHD sizes.
http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso/archive/2008/10/09/hyper-v-how-to-shrink-a-vhd-file.aspx
Hyper-V How To: Plan HA VMs
Jeremy Hagen's blog post details some planning considerations for high availability VMs.
http://blogs.technet.com/tonyso/archive/2008/10/10/hyper-v-how-to-plan-ha-vms.aspx
Running SQL Server 2008 in a Hyper-V Environment - Best Practices and Performance Recomme...
This white paper describes a series of test results, configurations represented a variety of possible scenarios involving SQL Server running in Hyper-V. It also presents best practice recommendations for configuration.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/9/4/d948f981-926e-40fa-a026-5bfcf076d9b9/SQL2008inHyperV2008.docx
Planning considerations for AD on Hyper-V
Considerations when hosting Active Directory domain controller in virtual hosting environ...
KB 888794 is from 2006, but discusses considerations when a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server-based domain controller, a Windows Server 2003-based domain controller, or a Windows Server 2008-based controller runs in a virtual hosting environment. Virtual hosting environments include the following, among others: Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual PC, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, EMC VMware.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794/en-us
If you are in the midst of testing and deploying Virtual machines using the VHD file format on Hyper-V and want the best performance from a I/O performance check out this post by Tim Litton http://blogs.technet.com/winserverperformance/archive/2008/09/19/hyper-v-and-vhd-performance-dynamic-vs-fixed.aspx
Enabling Test Automation Using Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
With Hyper-V, you can decrease your software test cycles, improve your test coverage, and provide testers and developers a safe, scalable test bed for applications. In this session we introduce the concepts that can assist you in development of an automation framework that can take advantage of Hyper-V.
http://channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/ES09/
Resources: Powerpoint Deck
Extending Terminal Services and Hyper-V VDI in Windows 7
Come learn about advanced topics in the Windows Graphics remoting architecture (RDP 7).This talk introduces new Windows 7 remoting features, discusses how they are going to be leveraged in Microsoft's Windows 7 client and server products. Finally, this presentation covers how you can integrate well with core remoting infrastructure services to enhance your applications to run from anywhere, so that your applications will be available to end-users when they are on-the-go.
Resources: Powerpoint Deck
Developing Solutions for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Using WMI
Hyper-V provides new capabilities through its WMI APIs. Learn how to apply these APIs while creating your own solutions.
Resources: Powerpoint Deck
There is a lot of confusion regards what hardware is required to run Hyper-V
1. Official Hyper-V system requirements are:
Hyper-V requires specific hardware. You can identify systems that support the x64 architecture and Hyper-V by searching the Windows Server catalog for Hyper-V as an additional qualification (see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=111228).
To install and use the Hyper-V role, you will need the following:
· An x64-based processor.Hyper-V is available in 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2008—specifically, the 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2008 Standard, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, and Windows Server 2008 Datacenter. Hyper-V is not available for 32-bit (x86) editions or Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems. However, the Hyper-V management tools are available for 32-bit editions. For more information about the tools, see Installing Hyper-V.
· Hardware-assisted virtualization. This is available in processors that include a virtualization option—specifically processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology.
· Hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must be available and enabled. Specifically, you must enable Intel XD bit (execute disable bit) or AMD NX bit (no execute bit).
The settings for hardware-assisted virtualization and hardware-enforced DEP are available in the BIOS. However, the names of the settings may differ from the names identified above. For more information about whether a specific processor model supports Hyper-V, check with the manufacturer of the computer. If you modify the settings for hardware-assisted virtualization or hardware-enforced DEP, you may need to turn off the power to the computer and then turn it back on. Restarting the computer may not apply the changes to the settings.
There are few tools that will help you assess your machine for it's suitability to run Hyper-V
AMD Virtualization™ Technology and Microsoft® Hyper-V™ System Compatibility Check Utility - This utility checks your system’s capabilities to facilitate testing of Microsoft Hyper-V on platforms with AMD microprocessors. To use this utility: Download and unzip AMD-V_Hyper-V_Compatibility_Check_Utility.zip. Change to the directory where the files were extracted to and click on amdhyperv.exe. On Windows Vista™ or Windows Server® 2008, you need to run the application with elevated privilege, so right click the .exe and select run as administrator. Note: the .sys files must be in the same directory as the .exe file.
Download Now!
The Intel® Processor Identification Utility was developed by Intel Corporation to identify the processor inside a system, assuring the processor contains intended technologies and is operating at the tested and rated frequency intended by Intel Corporation.
Refer to http://www.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/
- SecurAble probes the system's processor to determine the presence, absence and operational status of three modern processor features:
- 64-bit instruction extensions,
- Hardware support for detecting and preventing
the execution of code in program data areas, ... and - Hardware support for system resource “virtualization.”
Refer to http://www.grc.com/securable.htm
