Virtualization: Revolution of the evolving datacenter : SCVMM

Mastering Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

hectorl — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:10:00 GMT

Mastering Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 by Michael Michael and Hector Linares is now available on Amazon.com. Order your copy today.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Virtual-Machine-Manager-2008/dp/0470463325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260507554&sr=8-1-catcorr#noop

One-of-a-kind guide from Microsoft insiders on Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2!

What better way to learn VMM 2008 R2 than from the high-powered Microsoft program managers themselves? This stellar author team takes you under the hood of VMM 2008 R2, providing intermediate and advanced coverage of all features.

Walks you through Microsoft's new System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, a unified system for managing all virtual and physical assets; VMM 2008 not only supports Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, but also VMware ESXas well!
Features a winning author team behind the new VMM
Describes all the new and enhanced features of VMM 2008 R2 and devotes ample time to how it also supports top competitors VMware ES
Uses a hands-on approach, giving you plenty of practical examples to clarify concepts

Open this in-depth guide and discover techniques and processes you can put to immediate use.

From the Back Cover

The Technical Foundation You Need—from Two Microsoft Insiders!

This book shows you how to use Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager to effectively manage both the virtual and physical assets of your enterprise. Learn from two virtualization insiders at Microsoft how to install, configure, deploy, monitor, and troubleshoot VMM; handle backup and recovery; and much more. Going well beyond the basics, this book provides the technical know-how, best practices, and actual code you'll need to tailor a VMM deployment and keep things running smoothly.

Coverage includes:

Understanding the big picture, including Hyper-VTM 2.0 and Operations Manager 2007
Thoroughly examining all features, capabilities, and architecture you'll need for a successful deployment
Interacting with VMware's vCenterTM for management of ESXTM hosts
Deploying virtual machines to Hyper-V hosts
Building rich automation through Windows PowerShellTM and extending the capability of your VMM
Using the Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) infrastructure to create new PRO packs and dynamic IT
Backing up and planning for recovery of the VMM server; also backup and recovery of Hyper-V hosts using Hyper-V VSS Writer

Master Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

Learn Essential Techniques and Best Practices from Microsoft Experts

Implement Advanced, Effective Virtualization Solutions

Manage Hyper-V and Virtual Server as well as VMware's ESX Infrastructure

Reinforce Your Skills with Real-World Examples

Comparison: SCVMM P2V and Sysinternals Disk2VHD

hectorl — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:40:00 GMT

Sysinterals recently released a free P2V. The comparison table below is for your reference to help highlight the difference in features and functionality between the two. The table is not meant to pin one tool against the other (i.e. who is better). The free tool is not meant to compete against VMM P2V. The free tool does however address the following gaps:

1. Support technician that needs to capture a VM from a physical machine for troubleshooting purposes (VMM is not deployed)

2. Customers that do not want deploy VMM just for P2V or pay for another product

3. End-user converting their own desktop to VMs without requiring a server admin

Features	VMM P2V	Sysinternals Disk2vhd
Disable services offline after conversion	Yes	No
Disable drivers offline after conversion	Yes	No
Offline P2V support (uses WINPE)	Yes	No
Hardware Re-configuration (e.g. change MAC address on vNIC)	Yes	No
Automation through scripting	Yes (POSH)	No (Command shell)
Job progress and job audit	Yes	No (can code something in POSH for job progress)
Supports remote execution	Yes	No
Supports no user interaction on source	Yes	No
Enhanced placement technology to know which host to place the VM workload on	Yes	No
Carry over network configuration from source NICs (static IP)	Yes	No
Skip copy of empty space on source to improve transfer time	Yes	Yes
Uses VSS for online P2V	Yes	Yes
Supports BITS for transferring files (both online and offline) - secure, re-start	Yes	No
Support streaming of data between the source and destination	Yes	No
Support disk size expansion	Yes	No
Automatically install Integration Services	Yes	No
Support W2KSP4	Yes	No
Support client and server OS - XP, W2K3, Vista, W2K8, Win7, W2K8 R2	Yes	Yes
Automatic creation of VM as part of conversion	Yes	No
Free	No	Yes
Requires Management Tool (additional infrastructure)	No	Yes
End-user standalone interface	No	Yes

SCVMM 2008 R2 RC Public Release Available Now!

hectorl — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:10:00 GMT

Today the SCVMM team released SCVMM 2008 R2 Release Candidate. You can read all about it here. http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm/archive/2009/06/06/scvmm-2008-r2-rc-public-release-available-now.aspx

Happy Virtualizing!