The Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal is a Web page through which self-service users can create and operate their own virtual machines within an environment controlled by the VMM admin. In their sessions with the Self-Service Portal, self-service users see only the virtual machines that they own and the actions that their virtual machine permissions allow them to perform.

For example, suppose you have to conduct multiple training sessions that require a certain config for every learner. As the VMM admin, you can create virtual machine templates and store them in the library. You can then create a policy for each learner, give them the URL of the portal, and let them build their own VMfrom the template in minutes. If you want, at the end of the training, let them store their customized VMs back to the library, or not, as you choose. All that's required for hardware setup is a config that allows remote access and an IE session for each learner to the portal. That's it. No more long setups, imaging, deployment and then teardown of each learner's machine.

The Self-Service Portal includes a troubleshooting mode that allows a VMM administrator to log on to the portal as a self-service user to view what the user would see and troubleshoot issues with the same permissions as the user.

A self-service policy grants a user or group permissions to create, operate, manage, store, create checkpoints for, and connect to their own virtual machines through the Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal. Self-service policies are added to a host group. When a self-service user creates a virtual machine, the virtual machine is automatically placed on the most suitable host in that host group based on host ratings.

A self-service policy can be created for a user or a group. A self-service policy for a group can be configured for group ownership or individual ownership. Under group ownership, virtual machines are owned, operated, and managed by the group. Under individual ownership, the self-service policy applies a standard set of permissions and templates to the individuals in the group, but all individuals own, operate, and manage their own virtual machines.

You can set a virtual machine quota in a self-service policy to limit the number of virtual machines that a user or group can deploy. Quota points are then assigned to the templates that self-service users use to create their virtual machines. When the self-service user's quota is reached, the user cannot create any new virtual machines until an existing virtual machine is removed or stored in the library.

Virtual machines can vary greatly in the amount of disk space and resources they require. To account for these variations, you can assign a different number of quota points to different virtual machines. This is configured through the templates that self-service users use to create their virtual machines.

Virtual machine permissions set in the self-service policy determine the actions that a user or group can take on their own virtual machines. The administrator can grant any of the following permissions:

·      Create—Allows the user to create new virtual machines by using virtual machine templates that the administrator provides. The administrator can limit the virtual machines that the user can have deployed at one time by setting a virtual machine quota.

·      Full Control—Grants all of the following management permissions for virtual machines that the user owns:

·      Start Virtual Machine

·      Stop Virtual Machine

·      Remove Virtual Machine—Allows the user to remove virtual machines, deleting the configuration files.

·      Pause and Resume Virtual Machine

·      Shutdown Virtual Machine—Allows the user to shut down the operating system on a virtual machine that has Virtual Machine Additions installed.

·      Local Administrator on Virtual Machine—Allows the user to set the local administrator password when creating a virtual machine so that the user has administrator rights and permissions on the virtual machine.

·      VMRC Access to Virtual Machine—Allows the user to open a session on the virtual machine through the VMM Self-Service Portal.

·      Create and Merge Checkpoints on Virtual Machine—Allows the user to create and merge checkpoints and to restore a virtual machine to a previous checkpoint. For more information, see About Virtual Machine Checkpoints [SCVMM].

·      Store in Library—Allows the user to store virtual machines in the library when they are not in use. Stored virtual machines do not count against the user's virtual machine quota. The user's virtual machines are stored on the library share that is specified in the self-service policy. The user has no knowledge of the physical location of a stored virtual machine.

Self-service policies that are added to a parent host group are in effect in all its child host groups. However, you can add a self-service policy for the same user or group to both a parent host group and its child host group. By adding policies to both parent and child, you can assign the same users different templates, set different virtual machine permissions, and assign a different virtual machine quota on all hosts in the parent host group and on the hosts in the child host group. When the user creates a virtual machine, the user is prompted to select a template from all templates that are assigned to him through all of his self-service policies on all host groups. The user's template selection determines which policy is in effect for the virtual machine.

The minimum and recommended hardware requirements for installing and operating the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Self-Service Portal are listed in the following tables based on the number of concurrent connections you maintain.

Up to 10 Connections

Over 10 Connections

The following software must be installed prior to installing the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Self-Service Portal:

·      An operating system supported by VMM.
For more information about operating systems supported by VMM, see Supported Operating Systems for Virtual Machine Manager.

·      Windows PowerShell 1.0.

Install this software from the following site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=77521.

·      Windows Server Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0.

You can install IIS in Control Panel by using the Application Server components group in Add/Remove Windows Components.

The following software is installed during the setup of VMM server:

·      Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

If this software is not already installed, Setup automatically installs it.

·      Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0.

If this software is not already installed, Setup automatically installs it.

Note

Installing .NET Framework 3.0 does not interfere with the .NET Framework 2.0 components.

You can find the troubleshooting topics for P2V here.  

The wizard for P2V is called the "Convert physical server" wizard. In the Administrator Console click the "Convert physical server" action. Here's the "How to Convert a Physical Server to a Virtual Machine" topic text from Virtual Machine Manager help to help you prep the decision-points the wizard will offer you:

To create a virtual machine from a physical server

1. On the Actions pane in any view in the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, click Convert physical server to open the Convert Physical Server Wizard.

2. On the Select Source page, configure the following options:

   1. Computer name. Type the computer name of the physical server that you want to use as the source for the new virtual machine, or click Browse to locate the server.
      
   2. User name. Type the name of a user account that has local Administrator rights and permissions on the source machine.
      
   3. Password. Type the user password.
      
   4. Domain. If the domain name field is not already pre-populated, type the name of the domain.
      

3. On the Virtual Machine Identity page, configure the following options:

   1. Virtual machine name. Accept the pre-populated virtual machine name, which is the same computer name as the name of the source physical server. Alternatively, you can type a different name.
      
   2. Owner. Accept the pre-populated value, DomainName\Username, to identify yourself as the owner of the new virtual machine. Alternatively, click Select to specify a different user or group as the owner. The account specified must be an Active Directory account.
      
   3. Description (optional).Type a description for the new virtual machine.
      

4. On the Gather Information page, click Gather System Information to begin a survey of the source machine that lists its hardware and software and identifies any missing components that are required for the P2V conversion. The wizard installs software on the source machine to gather the information but removes this software when the conversion is complete.

   Note
   If a firewall is installed on the source machine, a firewall exception will be created for remote administration (RemoteAdmin service). You can remove this exception after the conversion operation is complete.

   On the System Information tab, you can review the resulting information, such as operating system version, hard drives, and network adapters.

5. On the Conversion Information page, do one of the following:

1. Confirm that the message No issues detected appears.
   
2. Review any issues that the wizard reports that must be resolved before the conversion can succeed.
   

Each issue in the list explains how to resolve the issue. After resolving all issues, click Check Again to check for additional issues. When no issues are detected, click Next to proceed.

1. On the Volume Configuration page, review the lists of all volumes that the wizard lists and determine whether you want to make any changes:

2. Select volumes to copy. Initially, all volumes appear in the results pane and are selected for duplication to the new virtual machine. The new virtual machine must contain the system volume and the boot volume from the source machine; for example, if the system and boot volume are on the C: drive, the check box for the C: drive is grayed out so that you cannot clear its checkmark. You can remove other volumes if you do not want to duplicate them in the new virtual machine or if the host on which you deploy the new virtual machine does not have enough space to store all volumes.

   Adjust volume settings. You can adjust the VHD Size (MB) field to adjust the size of any volume (NTFS volumes will be automatically expanded to the size indicated); the VHD Type field to adjust the type (Dynamic or Fixed) of any volume; or the Channel field to adjust the channel (for both IDE devices and SCSI adapters) of any selected volume.

3. On the Select Virtual Machine Host page, review the number of stars under Rating for each host listed under Host Name to determine the most suitable host on which to deploy this virtual machine.

   Note
   If a large number of hosts is listed, use the Host group, Look for, or Group by fields to display a smaller set of potential hosts.

   When you deploy a virtual machine on a host, all available host servers are assigned a host rating, consisting of zero through five stars, to indicate the host’s suitability for hosting the virtual machine. The host rating is based on the virtual machine's hardware and software requirements and anticipated resource usage.

   For each server listed that might be a suitable candidate as a host for this virtual machine, review the information displayed on the tabs for Details, Rating Explanation, and SAN Explanation.

   After reviewing the information on this page, select the host on which you want to deploy this virtual machine, and then click Next.

   Note
   If no host in the list has enough disk space to host the new virtual machine, click Previous to return to the Volume Configuration page and either de-select one or more volumes or reduce the size of one or more volumes.

4. On the Select Path page, accept the default path on the host to which to save files associated with this virtual machine, or click Browse to specify a different path. The default path is as follows:

   <C>:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Shared Virtual Machines\

   If you select a path other than the default path and want to store other virtual machines on that path, select Add this path to the list of host default paths. For information about configuring default virtual machine paths, see How to Set Placement Options for a Host.

5. On the Additional Properties page, accept the default settings or modify these settings as described in How to Configure Virtual Server Actions for a Virtual Machine.

6. On the Summary page, do the following:

   1. Review the settings that you chose by running the wizard.
      
   2. Optionally, click View Script to view (and copy) the Windows PowerShell script that runs this wizard and performs the conversion. All administrative tasks in Virtual Machine Manager can be performed at the command line or scripted. For more information, see Using the Virtual Machine Manager Command Shell.
      
   3. Optionally, accept the default setting Automatically open the Jobs window to view the progress of this operation (or clear this option).
      
   4. Click Create to create the virtual machine.
      

7. In Jobs view, monitor the progress of the new virtual machine creation job and confirm that the virtual machine is created successfully. If the job fails, read the error message at the bottom of the Jobs window for information about the cause of the failure and the recommended action to resolve the error.

Or, of course, you could script it with PowerShell. On the last page of the wizard is a button called "View Script". Press this button to see all the cmdlets that will run to convert your machine. Save this for your scripting efforts later. Here's an example output:

*Please* leave a comment on this blog post if the above is not one of the coolest things you have seen out of Microsoft enterprise IT products in a long time... 

Finally - a requirement for P2V is a host on which to deploy the new VM, VS R2 SP1 or later.

The Systems Center Configuration Manager TechCenter has launched! Check it out, including the community center. Leave feedback here on whether this kind of community aggregation page adds value.

Also  - how do you like the library?

Would you like to see a free VHD version of Configuration Manager on the test drive page? Leave feedback.

Rob Larson has posted some free sample chapters to the Virtual Server 2005 R2 Reskit, inlcuding:

Chapter 4 - Installing Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

Chapter 5 - Virtual Server 2005 R2 Advanced Features

Chapter 7 - Best Practices for Configuration and Performance Tuning

Chapter 10 - Virtual Migration Process (using VSMT)

Enjoy.

Matt's blog lists some tasty new treats for the Virtualization Nation, including Hosted Backup and Recovery Solutions for Service Providers using DPM and VS, "This cookbook will provide procedural, step-by-step guidance to an IT Generalist audience for backing up and restoring virtual machines running in an offsite location using Virtual Server and System Center Data Protection Manager v2."

Fascinating blog-forum over at How Software is Built on deep dive analysis and community conversations about software development models - closed source or open source? Read it, then go read The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations.

I can't wait for the reality TV Show: "Two teams of software developers. One open-source, one...not-so-open. They have 30 days to ship the same solution. Which one will survive and win?"

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualization/default.mspx

Check out the trippy fractal/mask thingy on the homepage...

Top of What's Hot section?

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 Beta 2

Nice resources page for you BDMs: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualization/resources.mspx

Hope to see you at one of the events: