Ask the Core Team : SCVMM

Issues after moving Virtual Machines from one Hyper-V parent (host) to another

tomac — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:25:43 GMT

If you move one or more of your virtual machines (VM) from one Hyper-V parent to another and the VM begins experiencing issues, it could be because the version level of Hyper-V between the two parents is different, and thus the version of the Integration Services may be different. This can result in some strange and unwanted behavior.

I recently experienced an issue in which I moved a VM from one parent that I was planning on rebuilding to another. The VM started and ran fine on the new parent system, but after 30 minutes or so, the virtual network adapter lost connection to the network and eventually was changed to a status of Disabled in Device Manager. Uninstalling and re-installing the adapter did not resolve the problem.

I eventually checked the version of the driver for the virtual network adapter and it displayed a strange version of 21.x.x.x. (I don’t recall the exact version), which is not at all close to what it should be. Since this driver is provided by the Integration Services, I uninstalled them from the VM, restarted it, and then installed them again. This resolved the problem. The network driver version is now 6.0.6001.18010, which is the current version.

The version of Integration Services is closely tied to the version of Hyper-V that is installed. Other issues may occur if these are mismatched, the issue with the network adapter was the first one I experienced. If you move VMs from a parent that is running the beta or RC version of Hyper-V, remember to uninstall the Integration Services (listed as Hyper-V Guest Components in Add or Remove Programs), restart the VM, and then install the version from the new parent.

Author: Kevin McNiel
Senior Support Engineer
Microsoft Corporation

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 - Installation

tomac — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:31:13 GMT

Virtual Machine Manager (“VMM”) is a manager of Windows Virtual Machines (“VM”) and the Hosts (physical machines) on which the VMs reside. Depending on hardware configuration, a single Host can house several VMs. A large volume of the calls we receive at Microsoft are around installation and operation - the goal of this blog is to cover each.

The predecessor to VMM was the web-based Virtual Server 2005. Its user interface is below.

Virtual Server 2005 Web Interface

Design Overview: System Center VMM....

The newer console-based VMM is faster, and adds several features, such as more reliable conversion of physical to virtual machines (“P2V”), faster deployment of VMs, and centralized monitoring of several hosts AND their VMs. You can tailor the VMM interface to several levels of granularity and filtering, making managing several hosts and their VMs customizable to what works best for you. VMM manages your virtual hard drives (“vhd”), images, deployment scripts, and HW configurations in a centralized “Library.”

Above is the VMM Manager Console interface. Highlighted in yellow are the two physical HOST machines the VMM manages. Displayed in green are the Virtual Machines on BOTH hosts. If we were to select only one of the Hosts on the left, we would see only the VMs on that particular Host. In blue, you’ll see the tasks, or “Actions” VMM can perform. Selecting any of these will start a respective wizard that will walk you through the task at hand.

Below, for example is the first page of the wizard that will create a new VM.

Don’t forget the Help File!

Your SCVMM product CD includes a Help folder with a “Setup” help file that provides similar information as is presented here. The English version is in the “1033” folder. Be sure to go through this before installing VMM.

The VMM Components

There are four main components to your VMM deployment:

1. Virtual Machine Manager Server

2. Virtual Machine Library Server

3. Virtual Machine Host

4. Virtual Machine Manager Console

You’ll want to understand each of these and what they do before beginning to set up your deployment.

1. Virtual Machine Manager Server

The VMM server is the hub of a VMM deployment through which all other VMM components interact and communicate. Therefore the VMM server must be installed first. The VMM server runs the VMM service, which runs commands, transfers files, and controls communications with what is collectively referred to as managed computers and:

other VMM components
all virtual machine hosts
VMM library servers

The VMM service is run through the VMM agents that are installed on the managed computers. The VMM server also connects to a SQL Server database that stores all VMM configuration information. This database is typically on the VMM Server, but you can also use a separate SQL server for especially large deployments. The VMM Administrator console accesses this information and configures it.

The VMM server is also the default library server, where virtual hard disks, templates, and ISO images can be stored. Typically you’ll want to set up an additional (or separate) VMM library server.

2. Virtual Machine Library Server

The Virtual Machine Manager Library Server has a catalog of resources that can be used to create and configure virtual machines. This library contains files stored on library shares, and can contain:

Virtual hard disks “.vhd”
Virtual floppy disks. “.vfd”
ISO images and scripts. “.iso”
Virtual machine templates.
Hardware profiles.
Guest operating system profiles, which can be used to create virtual machines
Stored virtual machines that are not in use.

Keep in mind that the Library is a catalog, or pointer to, the resources it lists. They may be on the Library Server itself, or, more often, on the Hosts that make up the bulk of your deployment. If you’ve ever wondered, “now where did I put that VM’s vhd?” you’ll recognize the value of the Library right away.

3. Virtual Machine Host

This is the component we are all most likely the most familiar with. A virtual machine host is a physical computer that hosts one or usually several virtual machines. You can add one or more hosts to VMM by using the Add Hosts Wizard in the VMM Administrator Console. Until you add a host, you cannot use VMM to create virtual machines and many of the actions in the VMM Administrator Console are not available.

When you add a host, VMM automatically installs an agent on the host. You can then manage the host with either the VMM Console or the web interface, Virtual Server 2005 R2. If your Host is not R2 with SP1, VMM will install it when you add the Host to VMM.

4. Virtual Machine Manager Console

This is the GUI shown above (third exhibit), that manages the Hosts, the Library, and the VMs. You install the VMM Administrator Console after installing the VMM server. Typically you’ll want to install it on the same computer as the VMM server, but it can be installed on a on a different computer.

Before installing the VMM Server and Console, you'll want to download and install the Windows PowerShell appropriate for your system (it's a Feature in 2008, and a web-download for earlier versions). You'll also want to install Windows Remote Management

How to Install the Virtual Machine Manager Server and Administrative Console

Before installing the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) server, ensure that the prerequisite software and hardware are installed. For more information about software and hardware prerequisites, see System Requirements for Deploying Virtual Machine Manager (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69926).

On the product DVD or network share, double-click setup.exe.

On the Setup menu, click Install Virtual Machine Manager Server.

The next screen will present the Setup Wizard which walks you through the remainder of the installation.

Click next, and you’ll be asked to accept the licensing agreement, followed by the Microsoft Update opt-in screen. Next, on the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page, click Yes to participate or No to opt out of the CEIP. You’ll then be prompted for User name & Company.

The Prerequisites Check will then run and present results, review any alerts or warnings about inadequate hardware or uninstalled software prerequisites. After these are resolved, select Check Again to proceed.

On the Installation Settings page, select the appropriate Program Files location and Microsoft SQL Server settings for your VMM database. Most likely, you’ll want the default (“Install SQL Express Edition”) settings. The setup program will install the SQL components for you.

On the Library Share Settings page, select the option to either create a new library share or use an existing library share. If you’re like me, you’ll want to change these non-sensical defaults from the location in C:\Documents and Settings blah blah blah to oh I don’t know, how about L: the drive you installed for this. And wouldn’t you want to call your share name the same as the folder name? How about L:\VMM.Library (my favorite) you probably have a way of making folders so you can find them…

Anyway the defaults are below…

During installation, the Setup Wizard creates a folder named VHDs and two virtual hard disks, Blank Disk - Small (16 GB) and Blank Disk - Large (60 GB), that you can use to create a new virtual machine or as additional data disk drives. This is the beginning of your Library.

On the Port Assignments page, assign the ports you want to use for the VMM connections.

The port settings that you assign for the VMM server must identically match the port settings that you assign for the related VMM components that the VMM server communicates with. It’s unlikely you’ll want to change these.

On the Summary of Settings page, review your settings and either click Previous to change any settings or click Install to install the VMM server.

On the Installation page, after setup is complete, click the link in the Status window to check for the latest VMM updates.

Next, you’ll want to install the Administrative Console

1. On the product DVD or network share, double-click setup.exe and on the Setup menu, click Install administrator console.

2. Click next, and you’ll be asked to accept the licensing agreement, followed by the Microsoft Update opt-in screen. Next, on the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page, click Yes to participate or No to opt out of the CEIP. You’ll then be prompted for User name & Company.

3. The Prerequisites Check will then run and present results, review any alerts or warnings about inadequate hardware or uninstalled software prerequisites. After these are resolved, select Check Again to proceed

4. On the Configuration Settings page, click Next to use the default port (8100) for the VMM Administrator Console to communicate with the VMM server or assign a different port that you want to use for the VMM Administrator Console to communicate with the VMM server, and then click Next.

The port settings that you assign for the VMM Administrator console must identically match the port settings that you assigned for the VMM Administrator Console in the VMM server.

5. On the Summary of Settings page, review your settings and click Previous to change any settings or click Install to install the VMM Administrator Console.

6. On the Installation page, after setup is complete, click the link in the Status window to check for the latest VMM updates.

· The Connect to Server dialog box opens the first time you open the console. In the Connect to Server dialog box select either of

· If you installed the VMM Administrator Console on the same computer as the VMM server, click Connect to connect to the local VMM server (localhost) using the default port (8100).

Unfortunately, it’s possible you’ll get all this way and still get an error…

But wait; didn’t we install .NET Framework 3.0 back in the Server service installation?

If you check the “Error” tab, you might see something not especially helpful as far as what happened, but at least it tells you what to do, in this case, download .NET from the web and install. Unfortunately, you’ll need to repeat the Administrative Console installation.

Otherwise, a successful installation will look like this (you'll need to select "Open the Virtual Machine Manager..."

7. When you hit close, you'll be presented with a "Connect to Server" dialog. In the Server name box, type the name of the computer where the VMM server is installed, followed by a colon and the port that you want to use to connect the VMM Administrator Console to the VMM server, and then click Connect. By default, you'll be presented with "localhost:8100" the selection to use in the present demontration. If all has gone well, you’ll be presented with the Console depicted at the beginning of this blog (third exhibit).

In the next blog, we’ll cover adding Host servers and Virtual Machines. If you don’t want to wait and are starting to get the hang of this, check out the Help.chm in the Help\1033 folder on your product CD. Here’s a head start on what you’re looking for…

Author: Tom Acker tomac

Microsoft Enterprise Support

Installing SCVMM Portal to x64 Windows - Fatal Error during installation ID: 205

tomac — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:25:13 GMT

When installing the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 Self Service Portal on a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows, you may encounter a Fatal Error if IIS is configured to run in 32-bit mode.

This issue occurs when installing the SCVMM 2007 Self Service Portal on a 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows when IIS is configured to run in 32-bit mode. An example of the error message displayed by the SCVMM Self Service Portal Setup Wizard citing the “ID: 205, Fatal Error during installation” is shown below:

After the failed installation if you review the SelfServiceSetup.log which is located under
“C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMMLogs” you would find line entries like the ones shown below:

MSI (s) (C8!44) [11:13:27:686]: Creating MSIHANDLE (169) of type 790531 for thread 4420
CAQuietExec: The error indicates that IIS is in 32 bit mode, while this
application is a 64 bit application and thus not compatible.

MSI (s) (C8:54) [11:13:27:748]: Product: Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2007 Self-Service Portal (x64) -- Installation failed.

MSI (s) (C8:54) [11:13:27:748]: Cleaning up uninstalled install packages, if any exist
MSI (s) (C8:54) [11:13:27:748]: MainEngineThread is returning 1603
MSI (s) (C8:08) [11:13:27:858]: Destroying RemoteAPI object.
MSI (s) (C8:40) [11:13:27:858]: Custom Action Manager thread ending.
=== Logging stopped: 4/23/2008 11:13:27 ===
MSI (c) (BC:28) [11:13:27:858]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If
counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1
MSI (c) (BC:28) [11:13:27:858]: MainEngineThread is returning 1603
=== Verbose logging stopped: 4/23/2008 11:13:27 ===

[4/23/2008 11:13:27 AM] Information : MsiInstallProduct returned 1603.
[4/23/2008 11:13:27 AM] Information : End install.
[4/23/2008 11:13:27 AM] Information :
**************************************************************************************
[4/23/2008 11:13:27 AM] * Exception : => Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2007 installation did not complete successfully.Review the error log for
information, and then try Setup
again.Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Exceptions.BackEndErrorException: exception
---> Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Exceptions.MsiInvokeException: Error in the application.

at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Wizard.Installer.Install()
at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Wizard.BackEnd.Install(Installer installer)
*** Carmine error was: InstallFailed (205); WindowsAPI
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Wizard.BackEnd.Install(Installer installer)
at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Wizard.VMInstaller.Install()
at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Wizard.ProgressPage.InstallVm()
at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Setup.Wizard.ProgressPage.InstallerThreadEntry()
*** Carmine error was: InstallFailed (205); WindowsAPI
[4/23/2008 11:13:27 AM] *** Error : Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager
2007 installation did not complete successfully. Review the error log for
information, and then try Setup again.
ID: 205. Details: Fatal error during installation
[4/23/2008 11:13:27 AM] Information : Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal
installation did not successfully install. All items that were copied during the
installation process have been removed, however some required prerequisite software
is still present on the machine. It is not necessary to remove the remaining
software before you run Setup again. But you can uninstall the prerequisite
software by going to Add or Remove Programs.

To resolve this and allow the Self Service Portal to install properly, we will need to issue a command to configure IIS to run in 64-bit mode. The reason for this is IIS 6.0 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit mode however it does not support running both modes at the same time on a 64-bit version of Windows. Before issuing this command however you must download and install both the .NET Framework 1.1 and the .NET Framework 2.0 on the server if they’ve not been already.

To resolve this issue the following command will need to be ran on the server. Please do take careful consideration in running this command as it could potentially break other websites/applications that are already configured and running under IIS on the server.

ASP.NET 2.0, 64-bit version

To run the 64-bit version of ASP.NET 2.0, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd , and then click OK.

2. Type the following command to disable the 32-bit mode: cscript
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET
W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 0

3. Type the following command to install the version of ASP.NET 2.0 and to install
the script maps at the IIS root and under:
%SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

4. Make sure that the status of ASP.NET version 2.0.50727 is set to Allowed in the
Web service extension list in Internet Information Services Manager.

Note: The build version of ASP.NET 2.0 may differ depending on what the currently
released build version is. These steps are for build version 2.0.50727.

Additional information:

Download location for .NET Framework: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa731542.aspx

894435 How to switch between the 32-bit versions of ASP.NET 1.1 and the 64-bit version of ASP.NET 2.0 on a 64-bit version of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;894435

Author: Tyler Franke
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support