The Soul of a Virtual Machine : Upgrades

Virtual Machine Additions for Windows Server 2003 SP1

megand — Thu, 26 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT

The virtual machine team is "pedal to the metal" developing and testing an update for Virtual Machine Additions. This update will make Windows Server 2003 SP1 run better in virtual machines running under the release version of Virtual Server 2005. As soon as the new VM Additions are available, I'll let you know.

Steve Ballmer on Microsoft's virtualization strategy

megand — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 21:52:00 GMT

In his keynote address this morning at Microsoft Management Summit 2005, Steve Ballmer reaffirmed Microsoft's commitment to the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), of which virtualization is a key component. Ballmer explained that Microsoft is increasing investment in both virtualization and virtualization management technology, describing near-term product improvements and laying out a long-term strategy for both areas. For a summary of Steve's keynote address, go to http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/Apr05/04-20VirtualizationInvestmentsPR.asp. For a verbatim transcript of his comments on virtualization, go to http://blogs.technet.com/megand/articles/403997.aspx. To view an on-demand Web cast (including Jeff Woolsey's demonstration of Virtual Server 2005 SP1), go to http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mgmtsummit/keynotes.asp.

Announcing Virtual Server 2005 SP1 Beta

megand — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:46:00 GMT

This morning at Microsoft Management Summit 2005, Steve Ballmer announced the availability of Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta. To view an on-demand Web cast of Steve's talk (including Jeff Woolsey's demonstration of Virtual Server 2005 SP1), go to http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mgmtsummit/keynotes.asp.

SP1 contains the latest software updates for Virtual Server 2005. SP1 includes the following new features (detailed later in this post):

• Support for additional host operating systems, including 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP
• Virtual Disk Precompactor
• Performance enhancements
• Built-in support for network installations
• Reserved disk space for saved state files
• Virtual floppy disk for pre-loading virtual SCSI drivers
• Support for hyperthreading

In addition to these features, Steve announced that support will be expanded for third-party operating systems such as Linux, Solaris, and other x86 operating systems to better meet the needs of customers with heterogeneous environments. Steve also announced that we are licensing royalty-free our VHD file format to promote a consistent and widely-adopted virtual machine file format for Windows to dramatically improve security, reliability and cost efficiency for customers.

To sign up for the Beta program

Go to http://beta.microsoft.com. Note: You need a Passport account to sign in. If you don’t have one, BetaPlace will help you create one.
Once logged into Beta Place with a Passport account, provide vssp1BetaTester as the guest account. This will take you to the nomination page for the SP1 beta. Note: The Guest ID is both case and space sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown. The most common reasons for a “Guest ID is locked out” or “invalid Guest ID” error message is because you either incorrectly entered the Guest ID or you entered a space before or after entering the Guest ID in the Guest ID field.
Follow the directions on this page to nominate yourself. In about 24 hours you'll receive an e-mail notice that you've been accepted into the program. You can then log in to Beta Place and download the SP1 beta, read the documentation, etc.

What's new in SP1

Support for additional host operating systems

In addition to the host operating systems supported by Virtual Server 2005, SP1 adds support for the following host operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition Service Pack 1
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 1
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Support for additional guest operating systems

In addition to the guest operating systems supported by Virtual Server 2005, SP1 adds support for the following guest operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition Service Pack 1
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2

Virtual Disk Precompactor

SP1 includes Virtual Disk Precompactor, a utility designed to "zero out"—that is, overwrite with zeros—any available blank space on a virtual hard disk (VHD). We recommend that you use Virtual Disk Precompactor before you compact a dynamically expanding VHD in order to create a smaller compacted VHD.

Performance enhancements

Changes have been made to the way that Virtual Server allocates physical memory to guest operating systems. In some scenarios, this could result in significant performance improvements.

Built-in support for network installations

PXE boot support has been added to the virtual machine network adapter. This means that when the appropriate network infrastructure is in place, you can perform a network installation of a guest operating system without needing a PXE boot floppy disk.

Reserved disk space for saved state files

With SP1, Virtual Server now reserves sufficient space on the physical disk to save the state of each running virtual machine. It does this when the virtual machine starts up by creating an empty saved state (.vsv) file equal to amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine plus a 20 MB buffer.

Virtual floppy disk for pre-loading emulated SCSI drivers

SP1 includes a virtual floppy disk, SCSI Shunt Driver.vfd, that you can use to load the emulated SCSI drivers during installation of a Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000, or Windows XP Professional guest operating system. This will speed the installation when the virtual hard disk is attached to a virtual SCSI adapter.

Support for hyperthreading

With Virtual Server 2005, we recommended that you disable hyperthreading on the host operating system to improve the performance of your virtual machines. With SP1, this is no longer necessary. Hyperthreading does not affect virtual machine performance.

Windows Server 2003 SP1 as a guest operating system

megand — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 05:18:00 GMT

As you may know, Windows Server 2003 SP1 has been released, and a lot of people will be rushing to upgrade their virtual machines. If you're thinking about doing this, though, plan on postponing it for a bit. Virtual Server 2005 was released many months before Windows Server 2003 SP1, and the Virtual Machine Additions are not optimized for it. You may be disapointed in the way your virtual machines run.

But don't despair -- Virtual Server 2005 SP1 will include updated Virtual Machine Additions for Windows Server 2003 SP1 as well as the other new supported host and guest operating systems (see my earlier post on Virtual Server 2005 SP1 features). As soon as it's available, I'll let you know.

** The Beta release of Virtual Server 2005 SP1 is now available, as announced in this post: http://blogs.technet.com/megand/archive/2005/04/20/403960.aspx.**

Note: If you upgrade your host operating system to Windows Server 2003 SP1, you may have trouble accessing the Administration Website. If this happens, you need to configure DCOM as described in this KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891609.

Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 - features and availability

megand — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 23:53:00 GMT

Here's what Kurt Schmucker, the program manager for Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 says about the release:

"As with typical service packs from Microsoft, Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 will be primarily a rollup of fixes we have seen since the product was released to improve performance and increase scalability. In addition, with Service Pack 1, Virtual Server 2005 will have host support for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 x64 Edition (note that this does not include IA64), provide PXE support, qualify Windows XP SP2 as a host and as a guest, and include the Virtual Disk Precompactor, a utility that is designed to "zero out" — that is, overwrite with zeros — any available blank space on a virtual hard disk. A public beta is slated for the end of first quarter 2005, with product release planned for the second half of calendar year 2005."