The Virtual World of Peter Fitzsimon

Hyper-V Exam 70-652 beta

peterfi — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:55:00 GMT

Ok, so earlier this week I sat the Hyper-V beta exam. Beta exams are a full suite of questions, in this case 75 questions which are then used to determine the question set for the official exams. You don't find out how you went until the results of all beta exam participants are collated and a pass mark is determined but I felt I went ok.

The questions were a pretty fair set of questions that tested your knowledge of installing Hyper-V, creating and deploying Virtual machines, and using System Center Virtual machine Manager (SCVMM) to manage them. There were no tricky or obscure scenarios so if you know how to get Hyper-V and SCVMM 2008 (beta available) happening then your should find it pretty reasonable. I would definately recommend you have a go at it if you are involved with virtualization.

There is a preparation study guide at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-652.mspx which gives a pretty good indication of what will be tested so make sure you understand the usage and relevance of all the aspects of the technologies mentioned in that guide. Pay particular attention to Clustering/Quick Migration requirements, make sure you understand how to use snapshots and be familiar with what you can do with Authorization Manager. I would recommend that even if you don't have sufficient hardware available to you to build a multinode cluster at least build a single node cluster just so you know what's involved. Adding a second node is pretty trivial anyway but you would benefit by knowing the process of failing over (Quick Migration) a VM from one node to another. There are plenty of good blogs around to help you with setting up a Hyper-V cluster in particular one from Robert Larson http://blogs.technet.com/roblarson/archive/2007/12/17/building-a-host-cluster-with-hyper-v-beta-1.aspx

Install it, learn it and test it. That's as hard as it gets.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 beta now available

peterfi — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:37:00 GMT

SCVMM 2008 is the next version of SCVMM that allows the management of multiple virtualization platforms including Hyper-V, Virtual Server and VMware ESX.

Microsoft have just released a beta version of SCVMM 2008 via http://connect.microsoft.com

Grab it and have a play. I know a site that already has it in "production" side by side with their Virtual Center console to manage their VMware ESX environment.

Virtual PC 2007 SP1 is now available

peterfi — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:38:00 GMT

When Virtual PC 2007 was released last year, Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 were not around, but now that they are available Microsoft has done an update to improve support for these new or updated Operating Systems.

The 32 bit versions Windows Server 2008 Std, Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 are now supported as guest OS's and Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 are now supported as Host OS's.

The Virtual PC SP1 update can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=28C97D22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5&displaylang=en . Both 32bit and 64bit versions are available.

Release notes for Virtual PC 2007 SP1 are available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9f3d3eb5-5e03-4712-999c-e96f91bdf128&displaylang=en .

After installing VPC 2007 SP1, the Product Version will be 6.0.192.0 and Additions version for this build are 13.820

Windows Server 2008 & Vista SP1 support update for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

peterfi — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:29:00 GMT

When Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 was released last year, Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 were not around, but now that Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 are here, Microsoft has done a small update to ensure full support as both host and guest for these products as well as Windows XP SP3.

The update is available as KB948515.msp and can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a79bcf9b-59f7-480b-a4b8-fb56f42e3348&displaylang=en . There are both 32bit and 64bit versions available.

The update fixes a few minor issues previously reported with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 as well as addressing a number of compatibility issues with Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1. Full details of what is included in the update is available in the following KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948515 .

The KB article above also lists all the additional Host & Guest operating systems now supported for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.

After installing the update the new product versions will be Product Version: 1.1.629.0 and Additions Version: 13.820

Modifying the All Users profile in Vista or Windows Server 2008

peterfi — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:47:00 GMT

Ok, so I just spend a few whistful hours trying to work out how to modify the "All Users" profile on a Windows Server 2008 system. I wanted to add a program to run at login (e.g. in the Start Menu|Programs|Startup directory) for all users that login, but things are now a bit different with Vista and Windows Server 2008.

I have found quite a few people asking similar questions on the Internet but no one seems to have offered a solution that works so I thought I'd post my findings.

Firstly, for those who haven't hit this before, the "C:\Documents and Settings" directory where user profiles are stored in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems has changed to "C:\Users" in Vista and Windows Server 2008. (I regularly encounter XP users who have upgraded to Vista getting confused by this one)

So now in Vista and Windows Server 2008 the "All Users" directory in the C:\Users directory is a hidden directory so you will need to "Show hidden files and folders" in Windows Explorer by going Tools|Folder Options|View to show it.

Once you have visability to the C:\Users\All Users directory you will notice that it is just a shortcut then if you try and access it you will get an "Access Denied" dialog box. Real Handy.

Looking at the properties of the "All Users" directory shows that it points to the C:\ProgramData directory (this is a new system directory that did not exist in older versions e.g. XP etc). The C:\ProgramData directory is also a hidden directory but if you have already done "Show hidden files & folders" as above then you will see it.

The C:\ProgramData directory has a sub-directory called "Start Menu" but you will get Access Denied on this one too.

This is now getting a bit long so lets go straight to the answer ... the Startup directory I needed is now at "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"

So essentially, under Vista and Windows Server 2008 the "All Users" profile is now manifested as the C:\ProgramData directory and there are shortcuts from the C:\Users\All Users directory to the new location for compatibility reasons but in most cases you will get an Access Denied dialog box when you attempt to access the shortcuts but you will find most of what you are looking for under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft. You can also access this via C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft

I can't offer you any explanation as to why the All Users profile underwent such a change in Vista (and Windows Server 2008) but for now I have solved my challenge and have got my startup program working for all users.

I hope this helps those similarly confused ...

MSTSC /console is now MSTSC /admin

peterfi — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:36:00 GMT

Just rebuilt my Vista machine with an RC1 version of Vista SP1 and got caught by this one.

In both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, the Remote Desktop Program has been updated to version 6.1 (6.0.6001) and one of the changes is that the functionality previously associated with the /console switch is now called the /admin switch. Wasted a few hours chasing this one down. We use a lot of remote desktop connectivity with virtualization so more than a handful of people are going to get caught.

If you use "mstsc /v:servername /console" in a script file then the /console will be ignored (with no warning) and you will be connected to a normal session that is not the server console. If you specify the /console switch in the RDC GUI connection dialog then it will tell you "an unknown parameter was specified in the computer name field".

All is good if you use /admin instead of /console. It would have been great if the developers had seen fit to at least detect the /console switch and issue a message along the lines of "/console no longer supported, use /admin instead" but I guess that's why blogs exist.

Anyway, there is a detailed discussion on the rationale behind the change here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/archive/2007/12/17/changes-to-remote-administration-in-windows-server-2008.aspx

Hyper-V beta is here .... early

peterfi — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:27:00 GMT

So the big news at the end of last week was that the Microsoft Hyper-V beta is out and publically available with Windows Server 2008 RC1 .... nearly 2 months early.

You can get full details surrounding the release here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/default.mspx

or you can go straight to download the x64 Hyper-V bits here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8F22F69E-D1AF-49F0-8236-2B742B354919&displaylang=en

Here's a few highlights:

1. Quick Migration and high availability providing solutions for planned and unplanned downtime

2. Support for running Hyper-V with Server Core in the parent partition

3. Import/Export of virtual machines

4. Hyper-V now integrated with Windows Server Manager

5. Integration components are now included in Windows Server 2008 meaning that when you install Windows Server 2008 in a Hyper-V virtual machine, Windows will automatically install the ICs.

6. VHD Tools support (compaction, expansion and inspection)

7. Emulated video card has changed from an S3 Trio video card to a more generic VESA compatible device. (This change resolves numerous video issues with non-Windows operating systems like Linux).

8. Support for up to four virtual SCSI controllers per virtual machine

9. Numerous fixes for compatibility, performance and scalability

I ran it up on my little Dell D820 over the weekend and it really flys .... performance is awesome.

Just put it on my Dell Precision 490 today and it is very cool. Now to run up a few decent VMs...

"How to" Deploy SCVMM Videos

peterfi — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:00:00 GMT

There are some great videos on now available on "How to" deploy and leverage some of the functionality in System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). Topics include How to Deploy a new Virtual Machine, How to do a Physical to Virtual Migration, How to do a Virtual to Virtual Migration and an Introduction to Scripting for SCVMM.

Reduce your learning curve and check out the videos up at the TechCenter at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/scvmm/bb688094.aspx

System Center Virtual Machine Manager gets momentum

peterfi — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:27:00 GMT

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) officially released last month and already there are several projects taking off around managing virtualization environments with SCVMM.

I have been asked many questions about where is the best information about deploying SCVMM and there is a great location called the System Center Virtual Machine Manager TechCenter up at the Microsoft Technet site. Check it out at:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scvmm/default.aspx

SCVMM Licencing information now available

peterfi — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:22:00 GMT

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) will be licensed as part of the Enterprise Edition of the System Management License (SML).

You can read more about System Center licensing at http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/howtobuy/faq.mspx

The Enterprise SML is expected to be available in Q4 CY07, and pricing will be available closer to release.

Microsoft runs over a 1000 Virtual Machines

peterfi — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:46:00 GMT

Here's a great article based on an interview with Devin Murray, Microsoft's Group Manager for Utility Services who run the servers in Microsoft's Datacenters.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9020679&pageNumber=1

In the article Devin explains Microsoft's efforts to achieve "right sized" Server consolidation with includes a growing use of Virtualization.

Internally, Devin has acknowledges that the number is now more that 1200 VMs and growing.

Well worth a read.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is released

peterfi — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 07:15:00 GMT

Yee Hah .... the long awaited SP1 update to Virtual Server 2005 R2 has released yesterday.

SP1 brings in some great new functionality and improves the ability of Virtual Server to be managed by coming products such as System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Get all the details here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/

or see the blog from the Windows Virtualization team

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/06/11/Service-pack-for-Virtual-Server-2005-R2-available.aspx

or if you just want to go straight to the download its here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bc49c7c8-4840-4e67-8dc4-1e6e218acce4&DisplayLang=en

Its available in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) beta 2 is now available

peterfi — Fri, 11 May 2007 15:20:00 GMT

Its old news now, but System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) beta 2 is now available from http://connect.microsoft.com

SCVMM is a great tool to help you manage a farm of Virtual Servers from a single machine with a single view of all Virtual Servers and all hosted Virtual Machines in the farm.

You can find all the latest info on what is in SCVMM at http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm/default.mspx

We're expecting SCVMM to RTM later this calendar year (early Q4 is looking a safe bet for me).

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Release Candidate is available

peterfi — Fri, 11 May 2007 13:11:00 GMT

Work is progressing well on Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Virtual Server 2005 R2. A release candidate, build number 579, has recently been released to http://connect.microsoft.com so grab it if you are playing with Virtual Server. We not too far away from RTM (or more correctly RTW, "release to web") of the finalised service pack.

For a detailed description of what is new in SP1, have a look at the Readme.htm file or see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/downloads/servicepack.mspx for a brief list of features.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager beta 2 is less than 45 days away

peterfi — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:12:00 GMT

I get lots of great questions around when will System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) beta 2 be available. People who have played with beta 1 are now eagerly awaiting beta 2 to test out some improved functionality such as P2V.

Late week at MMS 2007 in Las Vegas Microsoft announced that SCVMM beta 2 is less than 45 days away.

Checkout http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm/default.mspx and register to get notification of when beta 2 is available.