John Howard - Senior Program Manager in the Hyper-V team at Microsoft : News

Linux Integration Services for Hyper-V - Two announcements

jhoward — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Yesterday, we announced that the Linux Integration Components for Hyper-V have been released under a GPL v2 license for inclusion in future versions of the Linux kernel. More information on this can be found in the presspass article here.

The second announcement is that today, we released RC2 (Release Candidate 2) of the Linux Integration Services for download. These include support for RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), versions 5.2 and 5.3, both x86 and x64, plus SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11) x86 and x64 .

These provide drivers for Linux running on both v1 (Windows Server 2008 with KB950050 applied, or Windows Server 2008 SP2), and Windows Server 2008 R2 RC (Build 7100). In addition, these can be used on the standalone products Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and it's R2 RC release (Build 7100).

You can obtain the Linux ICs through Microsoft Connect. If you have feedback - please send it to linux_ic@microsoft.com.

At the current time, we support single-processor Linux guest operating systems. Mouse support can be found here. Note that as this is still a release candidate, you should not use them for production workloads.

Cheers,
John.

Hyper-V: Mouse Integration Components for SUSE available now

jhoward — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:51:00 GMT

News just in – the VSC (Virtualization Service Client) component providing mouse integration for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server running as a guest operating system under Hyper-V has been released. The VSC is supported on SLES 10 SP2, x86 and x64 versions as virtual machines on systems running Hyper-V RTM or Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta.

For more information on the licensing and download links, follow this link to Citrix Project Satori.

Cheers,
John.

Windows Server virtualization

jhoward — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:27:00 GMT

...is here (nearly). I'll provide more details over the coming days, but with WinHEC now upon us, the covers are lifted on both Windows Server virtualization and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (aka Carmine). For now, the best place to find info is on presspass. I've also now setup the Virtual Machine team blog empty right now but there will be further information going up there later today.

Cheers,
John.

WinTarget software incorporated into Windows Storage Server

jhoward — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 07:45:00 GMT

Definitely worth looking at as I've been using the WinTarget iSCSI target software on trial for a while now. Microsoft has just acquired the WinTarget software product and will be incorporating it into future versions of Windows Storage Server 2003. A Microsoft native iSCSI target solution has been sorely needed for a long time (IMHO)! Press release information gcan be found here.

License changes for Windows Server - Virtualisation goes mainstream

jhoward — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 23:00:00 GMT

BIG NEWS DAY FOR VIRTUALISATION TECHNOLOGY!

As was just announced at SoftSummit in Santa Clara, CA today, Microsoft is making some big changes to licensing in from Windows Server 2003 R2 which launches very soon. As was announced at the Microsoft Management Summit earlier this year, Microsoft is committed to making a "big bet" on virtualisation. Now that could mean a lot of different thing to different people, but certainly something as a headline which pleases me as it's without doubt my favourite technology. Let's see what that "big bet" really means as today started the wave of change.

Two announcements today affect the way in which Windows Server licensing changes, and for the first time in Microsoft history takes into account the industry trend of a the increasing significance of virtualisation technology.

The first announcement recognises that many companies have images of virtual machines sitting on their hard disk - maybe as a library for test and development purposes. Today, licensing rules means that you must have a license to install that operating system instance, regardless of whether it is turned on and running - in other words (and these are mine rather than official MS licensing speak, so please note the disclaimer on my blog), your license provides the right to install the operating system. Now this could be expensive if you have 10, 20, 100 or even 1000's of virtual images in your library. Each image would require a separate license. The change is that the license EULA will in the future be a "use right". For example, 100 virtual images, 3 running = 3 licenses required. The cost savings here could be huge, and removes a significant barrier to the use of virtual machine technology.

The second announcement is equally as significant, and applies to Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition only (ie not Standard). Due to the power of server technology these days, and when looking to the near future when we start talking Intel VT or AMD Pacifica technology, people are going to increasingly be looking at consolidating their workloads onto virtual machines. Again, as for the first announcement, this too can be expensive and a barrier in terms of cost as you require a license for each virtual machine which is running, both host and guests. To address this, the EULA for WS2003 R2 EE (again, my words, not official legal speak) will include the right for your one license to be used to actively run up to five instances of that operating system on a single host machine. That being: One for the host operating system, plus a further four virtual machines for other workloads. The host operating system workload cannot however be used for any application services other than as a virtual machine host and management/monitoring. To put this another way, the effective workloads for the license in terms of application services being provided to your organisation is of the four virtual instances only.

This is just a summary, and part of what is termed "Self Managing Dynamic Systems". You will hear a lot more about this over the coming months, and is a major change to the way in which Virtualisation technology is going to be a key part of the future, so stay tuned!

Windows Server 2003 SP1 Blocking Toolkit

jhoward — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:42:00 GMT

As for the capability (now expired) to stop Windows XP SP2 being delivered through Microsoft Update, now a similar toolkit is available for download from Microsoft.com to block SP1 for Windows Server 2003. It is critically important to realise that the blocking capability is temporary. After 30th March 2006 (1 year from SP1 release), the block will no longer be enforced.

Although I've been using SP1 for several months now both in beta and RTM releases and found it to be rock solid, this tool may be important for you and your organisation while you continue to evaluate the use of SP1.

For more information on how to use the toolkit which is essentially in three variants (an executable to set a registry key, a script to set the same registry key, and an administrative template which can apply the registry setting through Group Policy), click here.

New Windows Support for RAW file format - RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer

jhoward — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 09:46:00 GMT

If you're a fan of Digital Photography, read on. There was an interesting press release yesterday (which I can't unfortunately find on the Presspass site) about how Microsoft is going to be natively supporting the commonly used RAW file format in Digital Cameras in the next version of Windows, codename Longhorn. It seems Robert Scoble couldn't find the link on microsoft.com either, so it's not just me :-)

Fortunately, we don't have to wait for Longhorn as XP is going to get a boost with the upcoming availability of the "Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer" which will allow you to be able to view thumbnails, preview and print Canon and Nikon RAW file straight from Windows Explorer. In addition, a future version of Microsoft Digital Image Suite will support these features and also provide the ability to organize and edit Canon and Nikon RAW files.

The RAW file format is often likened to a "Digital Negative" and is preferred by many photographers to preserve as much information as possible recorded by digital cameras. There was also an interesting article I found which you might also want to take a look at - a little out of date but still a good read. Managing Your Digital Camera's RAW Files.

I'll let you know when the RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer is available for download - it will be free to all licensed users of XP. Hopefully it won't be too long to wait.

Would you change your PC for $125,000? I would.

jhoward — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:27:00 GMT

If you want to make a difference, now is your chance. Just launched at the WinHEC (Windows Hardware & Engineering) conference is a competition running until October this year open to design teams, students and individual designers alike, to envision the next generation of Windows Based PCs. The prize is a phenomenal $125,000 if you can design the ultimate Next Generation Windows OS PC as judged by three juries including Bill Gates himself.

To find out more - head on over to www.startsomethingpc.com

Virtual Server MMS Announcement (2 of 2) - Vision and Strategy of Virtual Computing Environments

jhoward — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:29:00 GMT

The second of my blog entries about the MMS announcements made only minutes ago by Steve Ballmer relate to the longer term strategy for Virtualisation within Microsoft. You can see my commentary highlighting the shorter term vision for Virtual Server here. In his keynote address, Steve announced increased investments in support of the Dynamic Systems Initiative, specifically in the area of virtualization.

Starting in the "Longhorn" timeframe (the next version of Windows) virtualisation capabilities will be built directly into the OS through "hypervisor" technology. This new hypervisor technology is going to support hardware virtualisation technologies such as Intels VT and AMDs Pacifica. Longhorn should be with us as a shipping product some time in 2007.

Management of virtualisation is also going to see a significant boost as the "System Center" product family will be optimised to provide really comprehensive virtualization management capabilities.

These are exciting times. If you want to know more about todays announcments, please join my Virtual Server webcast on 29th April at 2PM GMT. Here's the registration link.

To read the official press release from todays MMS keynote, click here.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/Apr05/04-20VirtualizationInvestmentsPR.asp

WS-RM (WS-ReliableMessaging) specification has been submitted to OASIS

jhoward — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 09:40:00 GMT

A significant press release was made this morning regarding WS-ReliableMessaging or WS-RM moving one step closer to being an industry standard.

WS-ReliableMessaging (WS-RM) is the first specification to pass through the full WS-* Workshop Process and is now being submitted to OASIS for standardization. Following the successful completion of the third RM Interop Workshop last week, the WS-ReliableMessaging spec is now exiting the WS-* Workshop Process and moves to the next stage of its life – submission to an external standards organization for finalization and ratification as an industry standard. This submission represents a significant milestone in collaboration between co-authors as well as the participation of the industry through WS-* feedback and interop workshops -- to further advance interoperability of Web Services technologies.

Summaries of previous RM Feedback and Interop Workshops are posted on MSDN:

July 2003 – Reliable Messaging Feedback Workshop http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/rmspecwsjul2003.aspx
October 2003 – Reliable Messaging Interop Workshop #1 http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/rminteropwsOct2003.aspx
May 2004 – Reliable Messaging Interop Workshop #2 http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/rminterop052004.aspx
April 2005 – Reliable Messaging Interop Workshop #3 http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/composability042005.aspx

An overview of the WS-* Workshop process is available on MSDN if you are not familiar with it, but basically it’s the structured way that Microsoft and industry partners are developing the Web Services (WS-*) specifications. http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnwebsrv/html/wkshopprocess.asp. Over 70 companies have been involved in the workshop process since 2003.

The WS-* workshop process is a method to produce well-engineered, quality Web services specifications. Feedback and interoperability testing by multiple vendors produces specifications that are stable, known to work, and ready for consideration as an industry standard. The WS-* workshop process has many similarities with the process for software development, and is a deliberate attempt to apply the best practices from the software engineering community to the task of producing Web services specifications. WS-* protocol workshops allow the Web services community to be involved in the process of validating and refining Web services specifications.

WS-ReliableMessaging specification home page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/ws/2005/02/ws-reliablemessaging/. This specification (WS-ReliableMessaging) describes a protocol that allows messages to be delivered reliably between distributed applications in the presence of software component, system, or network failures.

The protocol is described in this specification in a transport-independent manner allowing it to be implemented using different network technologies. To support interoperable Web services, a SOAP binding is defined within this specification. The protocol defined in this specification depends upon other Web services specifications for the identification of service endpoint addresses and policies. How these are identified and retrieved are detailed within those specifications and are out of scope for this document.

Reliable message-based communication can be a vital element to enterprise-critical applications. Reliable messaging includes the ability to ensure that a message exchange has been completed correctly with no messages lost or duplicated. For example, within an order processing system, it is critical for the application to know that all items have been received and none have been duplicated. If a client using this application temporarily loses network connectivity during the course of order submission, reliable messaging ensures that the order is received once and only once. In some applications, it can also be important to know the correct sequencing of messages.

The WS-ReliableMessaging protocols, coupled with the other Web services specifications such as those related to security, policy, transactions and coordination, and business process execution language can help to provide a more robust, scalable, secure approach to reliable messaging.

WS-* Workshops Home Page on MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/default.aspx
Overview of the Workshop Process http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnwebsrv/html/wkshopprocess.asp
Workshop Questions & Answers http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/QandA.aspx
BillG Executive E-mail - Building Software That Is Interoperable by Design http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/
WS-ReliableMessaging specification http://msdn.microsoft.com/ws/2005/02/ws-reliablemessaging/
WS-ReliableMessaging Policy specification http://msdn.microsoft.com/ws/2005/02/ws-rmpolicy/

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Announcements

jhoward — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 06:27:00 GMT

Yesterday was significant for two reasons. Two related announcements were made on microsoft.com regarding the support policy for those of you running microsoft applications in virtual environments. I am asked about this so often, and am frustrated by the answers I have had to previously give. No longer though.

One announcement defines the level of support PSS will provide should you raise a case with them regarding issues existing in virtual machines. The other announcement provides a list of what products are not supported has been published, why this is the case and when/if you are going to see these issues fixed.

Virtualisation is an area of technology that I am absolutely passionate about, and Virtual Server is a fabulous product to allow you to make virtualisation a reality. If you are not already aware of the benefits of virtualisation for consolidation, testing, rehosting or other scenarios that you may come up with yourselves, please take a few moments to browse through the wealth of information available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx.

Here's the links to the announcments:

KB: 897613 Microsoft Virtual Server support policy
http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/897613

KB: 897614 Windows Server System software not supported within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment
http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/897614

By the way, if you have any war stories about how the use of virtualisation is saving you time and money, or even if it is causing you grief, please take a moment to drop me a line - either through a comment here or by contacting me directly through the link at the top of the page.

Have a check also on Paul Adare's blog for more information. Paul will be running sessions at TechEd US this year for Virtual Server.

Windows Server TechNet major update

jhoward — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 08:33:31 GMT

So many announcements in one day. To coincide with the launch of Windows Server 2003 SP1, the Windows Server 2003 TechCenter (TechCentre when spelt correctly) has been significantly revamped to include all the latest information. If you haven't seen this site before, I urge you to take a look. Essentially this is a core library of technical documentation for IT Pros.

As of today, three language versions are available:

- English: www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/default.mspx
- German: www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/de/default.mspx
- Japanese: www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/ja/default.mspx

Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 SP1 availability

jhoward — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:36:00 GMT

In line with the announcements for Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 today, another important announcement was made regarding SP1 for Small Business Server 2003. SP1 for SBS2003 will be available approximately 60 days from today, and will include a rollup of the latest service packs and updates for SBS 2003 and its product components.

Some of the updates will include

- Windows Server 2003 SP1
- Sharepoint Services SP1
- Exchange Server 2003 SP1
- Outlook 2003 security fixes and junk email filters
- SQL Server 2003 SP4

The home page for SBS 2003 is here

Windows Server 2003 x64 and Windows XP Professional x64 go RTM

jhoward — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:36:00 GMT

In addition to the SP1 release of Windows Server 2003 the x64 versions of Windows Server 2003 and XP Professional have been released to manufacturing. These release are for processors including the AMD Opteron and Athlon 64, and the Intel Xeon and Pentium 4 processors with EM64T (Extended Memory 64 Technology).

For more information, see the x64 home page at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/64bit/x64/default.mspx

Windows Server 2003 SP1 for x86 and Itanium is now available

jhoward — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:34:00 GMT

Just released to the web is the a significant release for the Windows Server 2003 platform in the shape of Service Pack 1 for x86 and Itanium. SP1 adds many new features and enhancements primarily in the area of security. If you haven't had a chance to play with the release candidates in a lab environment yes, here's some of the really great features

The PSSU (Post Security Setup Updates) on clean builds and NT4 upgrades ensures that servers are secured from network vulnerabilities by being secured with the latest security patches at the time of initial installation.
The SCW (Security Configuration Wizard) configures server security based upon existing server roles. It uses XML based templates to close un-necessarily open ports and services - akin to boarding up open doors. Being XML based, you can "roll your own" if servers have additional specific roles within your environment.
The Windows Firewall builds on the Internet Connection Firewall and is now present in the server platform. Of course, it can configured through group policy which is a great advantage.

There's several other changes which increase security such as IIS 6 Metabase audition, and the addition of Network Access Quarantine Control components out of the box to isolate out-of-date VPN assets.

Of course, for those of you like me who run Windows Server 2003 on your primary "workstation", having Windows Media Player 10 is also a great bonus...

Links

The home page for SP1 on Microsoft.com is here

SP1 x86: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=22CFC239-337C-4D81-8354-72593B1C1F43

SP1 Checked Build x86: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F07A5E49-4A13-42CB-898B-278A8B287E16

SP1 Itanium: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=890C5C44-815C-45BD-8B08-4FE901BB8FDF

SP1 Checked Build Itanium: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C45F733E-A206-432A-87E2-65A08276FB43

In addition, if you have any questions about SP1, I'll be doing a webcast on 10th May at 14:30 GMT. You can register for this event at https://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-GB&eventid=118758410.