Windows Server 2008 R2 is now publically available. Among the new features and many improvements is Hyper-V v2.
Hyper-V v2 supports new features like Live Migration, storage hot-add/remove, Second Level Address Translation, TCP Offloading, VMQ (device queuing), Jumbo frames and processor core parking.
It does however not support the ability to import Virtual Machines from Virtual Server. Therefore I am working on an updated release of the VMC2HV tool with support for Hyper-V v2.
There are other changes and improvements which I will outline once it comes close to release. A screen shot is provided below to give an impression of the new UI.
Hyper-V Server 2008 is RTM. You can download it as of October 1st.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 provides a simplified, reliable, and optimized virtualization solution, enabling improved server utilization and reduced costs. Since Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product, which contains only the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components, it provides a small footprint and minimal overhead. It easily plugs into customers’ existing IT environments, leveraging their existing patching, provisioning, management, support tools, processes, and skills.
You can find all info on Hyper-V Server here.
VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool
Now that we have launched the Microsoft Virtualization strategy this Monday, I wanted to release my tool so people could start using it to import their old Virtual Machine configurations. So first of all, what is the VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool and what was it intended for?
The tool
VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool, VMC2HV for short, imports the configuration from a Virtual Machine Configuration (VMC) file. Both Virtual PC and Virtual Server use VMC files to store the hardware and other properties of a VM. It reads the VMC file and maps all relevant properties to those for a Hyper-V VM. For those properties that did not exist, it provides additional options. Those properties that no longer exist are ignored.
VMC2HV was developed to ease the transition from Virtual Server to Hyper-V. As I explained in an earlier post, I was quite annoyed by the fact that I had to enter all hardware properties manually if I wanted to use the VHD files from the Virtual Server VM with the hardware settings as they were in the original VM. It really took a lot of time to get my VS VM’s under Hyper-V. So I did not want to do that again and decided to develop a tool that would import the properties for me (development of the tool took quite more time but it was fun…).
Scope
The scope of the tool was initially to import Virtual Server VMC files. But some people also wanted to be able to import Virtual PC VMC files. So I did some additional testing with Virtual PC 2007 VMC files. It was not extensive but I did modify the code in several places to accommodate the differences between Virtual PC and Virtual Server. I did not specifically test Virtual PC 2004 VMC files. I imported several and it worked but I didn’t test those VMC files since the product has been superseded long ago. Basically the same is true for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. I only tested VMC files under the latest release of Virtual Server 2005.
Out of scope
The tool imports a VM configuration. This means it does nothing inside the VM like removing Virtual Machine Additions or installing Integration Components. I just want to make that clear to manage the expectations. Although uninstalling the Additions, installing the Integration Components and the process involved requires some work it is much less than reading the VMC file and searching and copying the hardware properties over to Hyper-V. If you want automatic removal of Additions and installation of Integration Components, use System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008.
Comparison with SCVMM
VMC2HV was never developed to replace the SCVMM functionality, as VMRCplus was never developed for the same reason. SCVMM is an enterprise class product which you should use to import, create and manage virtual machines. SCVMM can import the VMC file as well and provides some additional management functionality. VMC2HV basically does the same but was intended for people who do not (yet) have SCVMM. For example all people using Hyper-V on laptops or a couple of servers. Using SCVMM just for importing VMC files would be a bit too much of a step.
Features
So what does the tool offer? In a list of features:
· Import of VMC files of both VS2005 and VPC2007
· Creation of VM on local Hyper-V host
· Creation of VM on remote Hyper-V host
· Validation of virtual disk and ISO files in local scenario
· Editing of virtual drive image paths (vhd, vfd, iso)
· Swapping of the first SCSI disk with the first IDE disk
· Specification of static MAC addresses
· Specification of either legacy (emulated) or enhanced network adapter
· Specification of # of virtual processors and resource control
· Specification of management settings
· Specification of COM ports
· Specification of device boot order
· Specification of alternate Virtual Machine path
· Built-in help in CHM file
· Support for both x86 and x64 Vista and Server 2008
As you can see, VMC2HV not only imports the configuration but lets you adjust almost any setting before creating the VM in Hyper-V. Several shortcut keys have been added to help speed the process if you only want to do an import-and-create of many VMC files.
Requirements
You can import VMC files from any file location. Then you can create the VM either locally or remotely. In the remote scenario, both the client where VMC2HV runs and the remote Hyper-V host must be in the same domain. Or alternatively, both client and remote Hyper-V host can exist in a workgroup but you need to use mirrored administrator accounts (both same administrator, same password). Other configurations simply do not work.
The tool prevents importing VMC files which contain either saved state information or Undo disks. VM’s must be shut down and Undo disks must be committed or discarded.
Support
I hope it just works for you but I know there are always circumstances I did or could not test. If you run into issues with a VMC file, send me the file and I may look at it to see what causes problems. If the VMC file is from an old Virtual PC version, I prefer you open the VMC file in Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and save the configuration from there. It will be reformatted in Virtual PC 2007 layout and likely to solve any import issues. If you cannot, I can look into the specific issue. The same applies to old Virtual Server VMC file versions. If import fails when using the latest VMC files, send a copy to me.
Before submitting any issues, please press F1 and see if your question is addressed in the help file. As the license agreement states, I may not support an issue at all or may not have the time. I will support on a best-effort basis.
Download
You can find both the x86 and x64 files here.
It has been a while since my last post on the tool. It is still being tested within a limited group. However I get many requests for the tool but cannot handle any more. Thanks for all who wanted to volunteer.
The tool will be called ‘VMC to Hyper-V import tool’, in short ‘VMC to Hyper-V’. This suggest it supports any VMC which is my goal but not yet true. The initial goal was to support import of Virtual Server VMC files as Hyper-V is a server product. But I intend to do some testing with VPC2007 VMC files as well.
The name also contains ‘import’ instead of ‘migrate’. With importing you can repeat the step as often as you like and nothing in the original VMC file gets changed. With migrate there is usually some form of conversion and sometimes it is a no-way-back process. I think import better reflects the nature of the tool.
There are a couple of small things on the todo list but they may not get into the first release. Things like Guest OS verification with regards to logical processor support or startup and shutdown behavior of the VM. I wonder if people often used the startup/shutdown behavior setting of the VM. If you do, let me know and I may try to add support for those settings.
I plan to release the tool in September.
Yet another update just before my vacation.
I have finalized the tool so it is feature complete, according to my specifications. Below is a screen shot of what it looks like today.
The tool now basically covers everything there is you can specify in a Hyper-V vm. Looking at a Virtual Server or Virtual PC configuration file, all settings which can apply to a Hyper-V vm are imported and can be modified in the UI.
Of course, BIOS settings like NumLock and boot order are Hyper-V specific but I added those for completeness. You can choose to have the SCSI boot disk swapped with the forst IDE disk. This is handy for those who have used SCSI with Virtual Server.
The tool is now being tested within a closed group at Microsoft. After I return from vacation, I plan to release this as soon as possible.
I have made several enhancements to the tool and it is almost feature complete. I have added the capability to import and modify COM port settings, Virtual Machine notes and BIOS settings.
The updated tool looks like this:
I received several posts last week related to the error above.
I am still investigating how/why this happened but it is caused by the fact that the .Net Framework 3.0 is missing from the machine where VMRCplus is being used.
So to fix this for now, install the .Net Framework 3.0 (with SP1).
When you have Virtual Server or Virtual PC virtual machines, you can use them in Hyper-V. However, this requires quite some manual steps. For the minimum, you need to attach the virtual hard disk files (.vhd files) to the hard disk drives in Hyper-V. This requires at least creating a VM from the Hyper-V wizard, opening up the settings for the newly created VM and then configuring the drives (probably IDE) with the virtual hard disk files.
But there are more settings you may want from the original VM. Things like memory, CPU resource control, DVD image, floppy image, SCSI controllers, etc. If you do want those as well, you must open the VMC file in Notepad and make the adjustments in Hyper-V accordingly. When you have many VM's, this takes quite some time. I have done this for a server with 15 machines, all with different memory settings, multiple network adapters and multiple virtual hard disks.....
Because of the lack of VMC import functionality in Hyper-V, I have developed a "Virtual Server to Hyper-V import tool". This tool basically takes a VMC file and puts all supported (in Hyper-V that is) settings in the UI. From there, you can tweak the settings; update the virtual drive image paths, choose whether to create synthetic or legacy network adapters and more. Once you are done, you connect to a Hyper-V host and create the Hyper-V VM from the original VMC configuration (or whatever you modified) with one click.
I have used it with all my Virtual Server VM's and it worked very well.
I am working on a few remaining issues and hope to have those resolved soon.
Below is a screen shot of the tool.
Yesterday, June 26th, Hyper-V was officially released to web (RTW).
You can find all info on Hyper-V here.
For me, this means I will focus more on Hyper-V than on Virtual Server. I will continue to support VMRCplus, but new releases will likely occur in sync with new Virtual Server updates.
Release 1.8.0 is available from the Microsoft Download Center. It may not be visible yet when you search for it but it is there.
Click here to download the x86 release, here for the x64 release.
This release matches the update for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 which was released to support Server 2008 and Vista SP1. Release 1.7.0 was supposed to match that update but despite our assumption that the build would not change, it eventually did. So 1.7.0 incorrectly matches this update with build 1.1.627. The build number of the Virtual Server update is 1.1.629.
So VMRCplus 1.8.0 comes with the binaries of 1.1.629 which reflect the released bits of the Virtual Server update.
It also contains minor fixes. One is the ability to clear the 'run VM under user account'. Another is the support for Undo disks in various location of the UI. Setting the Undo disks options could be confusing which could lead to unexpected or unwanted behavior of Virtual Server. Undo disks options have been removed and context sensitive menu items have been added as a replacement. Management of Undo options has been moved to power options.
The same changes can be found in the Console Manager UI under Control. Finally, the same changes have been made in the VM Properties UI.
An update to VMRCplus 1.6.0 has been released and is now available here.
This release contains several fixes and minor enhancements.
It has been tested on Windows Server 2008 as well.
Matthijs
It has been a while since my last post. I am busy doing Hyper-V stuff these days. Trying to grasp the Hyper-V API is one of them...
Anyway, Windows Server 2008 has become available and people are installing Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 on it. Yes, you may think everyone is using Hyper-V beta on Server 2008. But there are still a lot of Virtual Server users out there. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is not supported on Windows Server 2008. It will be, but that will be an update to Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.
Some people reported issues with VMRCplus and accessing Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. So I had to see for myself if it worked or not.
After having performed the required configuration of Windows Firewall, I was able to access the remote Virtual Server host.
My scenario consisted of three Windows Server 2008 machines. 1 DC, one member server with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 installed, one member server with VMRCplus.
I was logged on as a domain administrator. I allowed VMRCplus through Windows Firewall and enabled the 'Remote Administration' exception on both member servers. That was it, I could connect just fine.
Now, you may not want to run as domain administrator but use a regular user account. I tried that too.
I logged on to the VMRCplus machine with a regular domain user account (you can do that on Windows Server 2008).
But VMRCplus failed connecting to Virtual Server. One reason is that I did not give this account permissions on Virtual Server. So I gave this 'user' account Full Control of Virtual Server (not the host machine, just Virtual Server). It still failed because of insufficient DCOM permissions. So that was easily fixed by setting the proper permissions. I ran dcomcnfg, opened the properties of the computer, selected Edit Limits for 'Launch and Activation Permissions' and added the user account and gave it Remote Launch and Remote Activation permissions.
When using multiple accounts, I suggest using a 'Virtual Server Users' group and give that group the required permissions as outline above. You would then only have to add the user accounts to that group who need access to Virtual Server.
On connecting to a remote VS host from Vista, you may receive a dialog from VMRCplus with the message:
"The object exporter specified was not found"
Check the firewall settings on Vista. Use the 'advanced' snap-in and verify the active profile Windows Firewall is using for VMRCplus. Also verify that an inbound rule exists.
On connecting to a remote VS host, you may receive a dialog from VMRCplus with the message:
"QI for IEnumVARIANT failed on the unmanaged server"
This may be caused by InstallShield. For a solution see http://support.installshield.com/kb/view.asp?articleid=q106194
Release 1.6.0, as discussed earlier in the TechNet Magazine related post, is now available from the Microsoft Download Center.
You can get the updated release here.
Matthijs
