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Upcoming Webcasts on Best Practices for Virtualizing MS Server Applications: We’ve got some great webcasts coming up in the next few weeks to discuss recommendations for virtualizing MS server applications and the benefits of choosing hyper-V + System Center as your virtualization solution. Each technical webcast will focus on Read More...
Posted 27 October 09 11:25 by porourke | 0 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, Management, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center, virtualization management, Management tools, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Live Migration, volume snapshot, Windows Server 2008 R2
Guest Post: All Eyes on SteelEye with DataKeeper Support for Hyper-V: Hi all, My name is Dave Bermingham and I’m the director of Windows product management for SteelEye Technology, a provider of business continuity and disaster recovery solutions. I’d like to thank Microsoft’s Virtualization team for the opportunity to guest blog on SteelEye’s continued support for Hyper-V as well as exciting new features coming in support of Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2. I can’t believe it is almost a year ago since I demonstrated SteelEye DataKeeper Cluster Edition at the Microsoft Virtualization Launch event in Bellevue, WA. In the past year we have seen the interest in our Hyper-V disaster recovery products increase dramatically and with the recent release of Windows Server 2008 R2, I believe we have just seen the tip of the iceberg! SteelEye’s mission is to “Replicate Any Data, Protect Any Application.” We pride ourselves on our commitment to provide the Windows marketplace with flexible, scalable and cost-effective solutions that are enterprise-grade yet customizable for any size business. Most recently SteelEye identified an opportunity to extend Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering (WSFC) by delivering SteelEye DataKeeper Cluster Edition, a real-time data replication solution that integrates seamlessly with WSFC to enable multi-site clusters while eliminating the single point of failure traditionally associated with shared storage resources. A comprehensive and cost-effective disaster recovery solution, DataKeeper Cluster Edition helps supports improved productivity and availability of your Hyper-V VMs. Read More...
Posted 20 August 09 05:10 by porourke | 2 Comments
Filed under Hyper-V, Disaster Recovery, virtualization, Interop, High Availability, Live Migration, VSS, guest blog post, Windows Server 2008 R2
Hypervisor Footprint Debate Part 3: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V & VMware ESXi 3.5: In my last two blog posts ( Part 1 & Part 2 ), I started an in depth analysis tackling VMware's claims head on that because their disk footprint is smaller and ESX/ESXi are single purpose hypervisors, they are therefore more secure. If that's the Read More...
Posted 17 August 09 06:01 by WSV_GUY | 19 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, ESX, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Live Migration, Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Hyper-V Server
Windows Server 2008 R2 & Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RTM!!!!: Virtualization Nation, Today is a really big day at Microsoft and more importantly for our customers . Both Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (our FREE standalone Hyper-V Server) have both been Released To Manufacturing (RTM)!! Read More...
Posted 22 July 09 01:40 by WSV_GUY | 7 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, VMWare, Windows Server 2008, Virtualization AMD, High Availability, Live Migration, Power Usage Effectiveness, Windows Server 2008 R2
Too many Virtual Iron customers in the fire?: As an alternative, I would recommend Virtual Iron customers try Microsoft solutions. Our Hyper-V solutions are low cost, easy to use, and work well with Xen-based solutions like Virtual Iron. In fact, many Virtual Iron users are already running their VMs in the VHD format that’s used with Hyper-V. If Virtual Iron customers are running Windows Server 2008 in their VMs, they can leverage Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V. For those customers running non-Windows VMs or do not own Windows Server 2008, you can use the new Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 hypervisor. This is our free, standalone hypervisor, which now includes both high availability cluster and live migration at no cost. Both are available for download, a trial for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and a full download for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Read More...
Posted 16 July 09 06:38 by porourke | 3 Comments
Filed under Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, ESX, VMWare, Interop, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Live Migration
Hyper-V in WS08 R2 Release Candidate: Bringing More to the Table: You'll want to read Isaac's blog post about the RC milestone of Windows Server 2008 R2. His post focuses on 64 LP support and processor compatibility mode for live migration. Read the post here . Here's an excerpt: 64LP Support We have seen processors Read More...
Posted 12 May 09 06:43 by porourke | 6 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, Windows Server 2008, Virtualization AMD, Intel, High Availability, Live Migration
Guest post: "Does my enterprise need internal cloud computing?": As the president and COO of a datacenter-based managed server provider, I’m constantly on the hunt for leading edge technology. I peruse every new IT technology announcement for the next cost-effective solution, for both internal needs, and for hosted solutions we can use to help customers. In my previous blog, I talked about how cool Microsoft’s virtualization turned out to be, saving SBWH, and therefore our customers, time and money. I started my virtualization research with VMware, but quickly became a fan of Hyper-V, ultimately deploying it in many production systems. As a result of my experience, I get asked by industry analysts, press, and investors, “Why not VMware?” With Palo Alto’s latest announcement that I can buy an “Internal Cloud” for only $3,495 per CPU, I figured I’d share my thoughts about the real vs. perceived benefits of this new private compute cloud idea. Let me say that the private cloud concept seems to be more marketing than architecture. The private cloud has many of the same load balancing, storage management, and provisioning that virtualization already offers. Based on how the private cloud has been described so far, I have to say that the emperor, although not totally naked, seems somewhat thinly attired. Read More...
Posted 23 April 09 04:45 by porourke | 5 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, VMWare, Cloud Computing, High Availability
Live Migration and Host Clustering available at no charge in Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2: I’m Zane Adam, senior director of virtualization and System Center. It’s been a while since my last post, and wanted to update you on our standalone hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Last Fall we released Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, a standalone hypervisor-based virtualization product that is available for free. We continue to add more features and value to this product in the upcoming release, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Our core strategy is to ensure that our customers can virtualize their IT environment in the most cost effective manner, and at the same time, have access to enterprise features like live migration and clustering features for high availability. So in addition to scalability and performance improvements in this version, customers can get live migration and host clustering capabilities and high availability (up to 16 nodes) at no charge. Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 will continue to be free, and now will include live migration and host clustering capabilities. Customers won’t need to pay thousands of dollars for alternate virtualization platforms to get these features. With Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, customers have a solution for both planned and unplanned downtime and can use it for scenarios like server consolidation, branch server consolidation, high availability, and VDI. Read More...
Posted 20 April 09 11:13 by porourke | 20 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, Disaster Recovery, virtualization, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center, virtualization management, Management tools, VMM 2008, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Live Migration
Series on virtualizing SharePoint: The Microsoft-UK services team recently posted an in-depth virtualizing SharePoint series. It is a culmination of their experiences over the last couple years helping customers successfully host SharePoint in virtualized environments. · Introduction · Optimizing the performance of a virtualized SharePoint environment · SharePoint server role recommendations in the virtualized SharePoint environment · Monitoring and managing a virtualized SharePoint environment · High availability and disaster recovery, deployment best practices, common mistakes and summary This is fantastic guidance for those organisations currently running, or thinking of running SharePoint in virtualized environments. Enjoy! Read More...
Posted 06 April 09 07:20 by porourke | 5 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, Disaster Recovery, virtualization, Management, System Center, virtualization management, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Quick Migration
Top 10 VMWare myths video: Edwin and David recently sat down in front of a video camera to talk about the top 10 myths from VMWare. Here's a quick outline of the topics discussed during the 11 minute video: Live migration clustered shared volumes Hyper-V scalability Hyper-V performance Hyper-V footprint Hardware support Memory overcommit End-to-end management Value Why pay VMWare's virtualization tax? See the video below, or the other 22 videos here. Read More...
Posted 03 April 09 05:58 by porourke | 6 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, ESX, VMWare, Application Virtualization, Microsoft Application Virtualization, System Center, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Live Migration, volume snapshot
March 31 live web chat: On Tuesday, March 31, Microsoft's Edwin Yuen will be hosting a live web chat 11am-3pm EST. Edwin is a sr. technical product manager. Edwin came to Microsoft with the acquisition of Softricity (and the SoftGrid application virtualization technology). He now also covers Hyper-V and System Center VMM. Sign up here. Read More...
Posted 28 March 09 05:24 by porourke | 0 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, ESX, SoftGrid, Application Virtualization, Microsoft Application Virtualization, System Center, virtualization management, VDI, Calista Technologies, Management tools, integrated virtualization, VMM 2008, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Live Migration
HP whitepapers on NIC Teaming for Hyper-V: HP has published 2 white papers describing their NIC teaming support for Hyper-V. First is a 5-page "how to" document specific to HP ProLiant. Here's the abstract: HP ProLiant Network Teaming Software allows ProLiant systems running Microsoft Windows Read More...
Posted 02 March 09 09:30 by porourke | 0 Comments
Filed under Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, Windows Server 2008, HP, High Availability
Microsoft customers showcased at VMworld Europe 2009: This week at VMworld Europe 2009 we're showcasing a number of European customers who have deployed Windows Server Hyper-V, System Center and App-v 4.5. You can watch two videos below. One is of Bouygues Construction based in France. Bouygues does civil engineering, electrical contracting, and maintenance, employs 51,100 people and operates in more than 80 countries. This video is in French with English subtitles, and includes discussion of their Hyper-V and SCVMM deployment on Dell servers with EMC storage. Read More...
Posted 23 February 09 12:09 by porourke | 1 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, Management, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, VMWare, SoftGrid, Microsoft Application Virtualization, System Center, virtualization management, Management tools, VMM 2008, Windows Server 2008, Dell, High Availability, Quick Migration
Guest Post: Virtual Eggs in One Virtualization Basket?: Hi, my name is Dave Demlow and I am the Chief Technology Officer at Double-Take Software. Double-Take Software has been a leading provider of data replication and failover technologies for Microsoft Windows Server and applications going all the way back to Windows NT 3.51. So like many of you, we’ve seen many changes in the role that Windows Servers play in the enterprise and in the increased requirements for the availability and protection of Windows-based workloads. Hyper-V will accelerate those changes but at the same time make it much easier and more cost effective than ever to provide those higher levels of availability to an even broader range of workloads. As Jeff Woolsey highlighted so well in his post on Hyper-V Quick Migration, “Virtualization actually creates a major problem: single point of failure.” And if the problem with that isn’t crystal clear,” If that virtualization server goes down and I don’t have a HA solution in place, I will lose my job.” The hypervisor is only one of many possible points of failure to be concerned with. If the shared storage in a Hyper-V cluster is unavailable due to a site failure, power failure or corruption, ALL of your workloads that rely on that storage or site will also be down. Fortunately, Windows Server 2008 provides two enabling technologies, Hyper-V and Failover Clustering, that when used with 3rd party products such as our GeoCluster for Windows or Double-Take for Windows software can create clusters of Hyper-V servers that offer redundancy through replicated storage. Optionally, these can be geographically dispersed to maintain availability of virtualized workloads even when entire sites or datacenters are inoperative also providing for off-site disaster recovery. These are sometimes referred to as “multi-site” or “stretched” clusters and our customers often simply refer to them by our brand name GeoCluster. Read More...
Posted 27 January 09 06:43 by porourke | 1 Comments
Filed under Virtual Server, Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, Disaster Recovery, virtualization, Management, cross-platform management, Windows Server 2008, High Availability, Quick Migration
Beta of standalone hypervisor: Hyper-V Server 2008 R2: Hello fellow virtualization fans, Bryon here again. With all the excitement around the beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2, it’s important to call attention to another important beta release: Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2! To ensure there is no confusion, let me be clear that I’m talking about Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Not Hyper-V the feature of Windows Server 2008 R2. Alessandro’s post did a good job showing the differences. Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is the next generation of the standalone hypervisor based product. Read More...
Posted 16 January 09 12:29 by porourke | 6 Comments
Filed under Windows Virtualization, Hyper-V, virtual machine, virtualization, Community, virtualization management, Windows Server 2008, Virtualization AMD, Intel, High Availability

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