Dario IT Solutions Blog

 

I’ve summarized several notes about Hyper-V and VMM. It may be useful for you to take it into account when planning or handling Hyper-V platforms.

1. Enabling NLB on a VM
Follow this procedure in case you need to enable NLB on a VM running under Hyper-V 2008. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953828
Note that when your VM is running under Hyper-V 2008 R2, you will no longer need to specify a certain MAC. You will only need to check the option to “Enable MAC spoofing”.
Follow this link for detailed steps: http://robwhitehouse.com/virtualisation/enable-nlb-in-a-hyper-v-guest/

2. Max CPUs per VM
This Technet article shows the max number of allowed CPUs per VMs : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794868(WS.10).aspx

3. Disk alignment
Set the disk alignment on two levels:

1. On the storage level. Set the alignment of the LUN so that the disk that the Host OS sees will see blocks the same as you storage device.
   Follow this link for best practices for Hyper-V on NetAPP : http://www.netapp.com/us/communities/tech-ontap/tot-hyperv-best-practices-0911.html
   Follow this direct link for the complete document, where you will find additional information regarding disk alignment : http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3702.pdf
2. Within the VHD. After aligning the partition on the LUN on the Host server, you should also align the partition that exists within the VHD file. The above link to the NetAPP documentation shows this procedure as well. You should notice, though, these point:

i. 2008 R2 allows you to mount a VHD to the host (without booting it to a VM). This allows you to create / change / align partitions from the host itself, before creating the VM.

ii. Aligning the VHD is only relevant for fixed virtual disks. Alignment of Incremental or dynamic disks won’t last, due to the nature of the file.

4. IDE / SCSI
Your boot disk has to be connected to an IDE controller on the VM (SCSI controller is a synthetic device http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.10.hyperv.aspx?pr=blog ). Connect all Other drives to a SCSI controller for better performance.controller.

5. Pass Through Disks
For best application disk performance, use Pass-Through disks. Pass-Through disks will give the VM direct access to a physical drive. For more information on this feature: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768521(BTS.10).aspx

6. Moving VMs from 2008 to 2008 R2
After moving VMs from a Server 2008 to Server 2008 R2 be sure to install the integration services again.

7. General Host / VM Performance
Follow this link for explanation about measuring basic Memory / CPU / Disk performance: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.08.pulse.aspx?pr=blog . Pay special attention to the disk monitoring. It is very likely that you’ve placed several disk intensive VMs on the same LUN.

8. Disconnect ISO files
When working on a Hyper-V cluster, make sure that you disconnect any ISO file from a VM when you’re done using it. Otherwise, when moving or live migrating your VM, it may fail because it wouldn’t find the ISO to connect to on the other node.

9. What’s new in VMM 2008 R2
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/virtualmachinemanager/en/us/whats-new-r2.aspx

10. Disk size planning
When planning the size of the disk holding the VM’s VHDs, make sure that you have enough free space to save also the VM’s snapshots and entire memory. When Saving / Moving or Live Migrating the VM, the VM’s entire memory content is saved to disk.

Hi guys,

I’ll be delivering a session at Intel’s “Life after death using… Intel® vPro™ Technology!” conference held on September 14th 2009 at Air Port City, Israel.

This session will focus on integrating SCCM In-Band management capabilities with vPro Out of Band capabilities.

Out of band management allows an administrator to connect to a computer’s management controller when the computer is turned off, in sleep or hibernate modes, or otherwise unresponsive through the operating system. By way of contrast, in-band management is the classic approach used by Configuration Manager and its predecessors whereby an agent runs in the full operating system on the managed computer and the management controller accomplishes tasks by communicating with the management agent.

Out of band management supplements in-band management. While in-band management supports a wider range of operations because it’s environment is the full operating system, in-band management might not be functional if the operating system is not present or is not operational. In these situations, the supplementary capabilities of out of band management allow administrators to manage these computers without requiring local access to the computer.

Out of band management tasks include the following:

• Powering on one or many computers (for example, for maintenance on computers outside business hours).
• Powering off one or many computers (for example, the operating system stops responding).
• Restarting a nonfunctioning computer or booting from a locally connected device or known good boot image file.
• Re-imaging a computer by booting from a boot image file that is located on the network or by using a PXE server.
• Reconfiguring the BIOS settings on a selected computer (and bypassing the BIOS password if this is supported by the BIOS manufacturer).
• Booting to a command-based operating system to run commands, repair utilities, or diagnostic applications (for example, upgrading the firmware or running a disk repair utility).
• Configuring scheduled software update deployments and advertisements to wake up computers prior to running.

 

SP2 for SCCM 2007 R2 added some important new features, like:

New Operating System Support
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2008 SP2
• Windows Vista Sp2

New Features in Out of Band Management
Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 improves on the Intel AMT integration provided in Service Pack 1. SP2 adds full feature support for computers that have the Intel vPro chip set and AMT firmware versions 4 & 5. In addition to providing feature parity with SP1 and AMT firmware versions 3.2.1, 4.0 and 5.0, the following new features are supported:

Wireless Management (mobile only)
• Up to eight (8) wireless profiles per out of band service point
• Profiles support SSID, WAP2-Enterprise or WAP-Enterprise security, AES or TKIP encryption, client authentication options of EAP-TLS or EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2 or PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2
• Versions of AMT earlier than 3.2.1 are supported with the Intel translator

Authenticated Wired 802.1x Management
• Single profile
• Profile supports client authentication options of EAP-TLS or EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2 or PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2
• Versions of AMT earlier than 3.2.1 are supported with the Intel translator

Audit Logging
• Supported on AMT versions 4 and 5
• Select which out of band management features to audit (critical events not supported)
• Enable or disable audit logging per computer after provisioning
• View, clear, and export to file the audit log entries by using the out of band management console

Power State Configuration
• Enable configuration of the power settings to specify whether out of band management activity is supported when the host is on (S0), host is on (S0) or in standby (S3), or always on (S0-S5)

Data Storage
• Save up to 4096 bytes in ASCII characters in the AMT data storage of each computer
• View and save to the data store by using the out of band management console

 

 

Lastly, check out this cool integration demo from Intel – a ConfigMgr advertisement is used to remotely and securely wake-up (boot) Intel vPro systems and push an automated BIOS upgrade.

 

 

References for additional reading:

vPro ROI Analysis / Benefits of Activating
http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-1494/

Case Stories
http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-2260

vPro / SCCM Check list, Quick start Guide, & Tips & Tricks
http://communities.intel.com/community/openportit/vproexpert/microsoft-vpro

ConfigMgr Administrators Checklist and Prerequisites

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc161943(TechNet.10).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc161785(TechNet.10).aspx

Self Pace SCCM SP1 / vPro Activation Training

http://communities.intel.com/community/openportit/vproexpert/microsoft-vpro/blog/2008/10/24/microsoft-sccm-2007-sp1-intel-vpro-training-videos-now-available

Infrastructure Prep Checklist for Microsoft SCCM

http://communities.intel.com/openport/docs/DOC-2300

 

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM) is a comprehensive management solution for the virtualized data center, enabling increased physical server utilization, centralized management of virtual machine infrastructure, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator, delegated administrator, and authorized end users. VMM 2008 can manage hosts that are running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, and VMware ESX through VirtualCenter Server.

Recently, Windows Server 2008 released an R2 version that included significant feature improvements to Hyper-V. VMM 2008 R2 leverages these new platform enhancements and extends the feature set of VMM 2008. This topic provides an overview of the new features that are included in VMM 2008 R2.

 

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Host Management

With VMM 2008 R2, you can create and manage virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V hosts. When you add a host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and that does not have Hyper-V enabled, VMM 2008 R2 automatically enables the Hyper-V role on the host.

VMM 2008 R2 supports the following new features of Windows Server 2008 R2:

• Live migration between Windows Server 2008 R2 clustered hosts. With live migration, you can migrate a virtual machine from one node of a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to another node in the same cluster without any downtime. Because the virtual machine does not experience any downtime, the move is completely transparent to the users that are connected to the virtual machine.

• Network optimization detection during virtual machine placement. VMM 2008 R2 supports both Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ) and TCP Chimney, which are Windows Server 2008 R2 features that improve network performance for virtual machines.

• Network adapters that support the VMQ feature are able to create a unique network queue for each virtual network adapter and then connect that queue directly to the virtual machine’s memory. This connection routes packets directly from the hypervisor to the virtual machine, bypassing much of the processing in the virtualization stack.

• Network adapters that support the TCP Chimney feature are able to offload the processing of network traffic from the networking stack. Both of these features increase network performance and reduce CPU utilization.

• Hot addition and removal of virtual hard disks (VHDs). In Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V allows users to add and remove VHDs from a virtual machine while it is running.

Enhanced Support for Shared Storage and SAN Transfers

VMM 2008 R2 provides the following enhancements:

Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) Support

VMM 2008 R2 supports the Windows Server 2008 R2 clustered shared volume (CSV) feature. CSV enables all hosts on a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to concurrently access virtual machine files on a single shared logical unit number (LUN). Because all nodes on the cluster can access a single shared LUN, virtual machines have complete transparency with respect to which nodes actually own a LUN. This enables live migration of virtual machines within the cluster because all nodes in the cluster can access any LUN.

Support for Sanbolic Clustered File System

VMM 2008 R2 supports the Sanbolic Clustered File System (CFS), a third-party shared volume solution for quick migration on hosts running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, and live migration on hosts running Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V.

Support for Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows

VMM 2008 R2 supports Veritas Storage Foundation 5.1 for Windows (SFW), an online storage management solution for creating virtual storage devices from physical disks and arrays. Volumes created as part of a cluster resource group by using SFW are detected by VMM 2008 R2 and can be selected during virtual machine placement or migration. An SFW volume is limited to one virtual machine.

SAN Migration into and out of Clustered Hosts

VMM 2008 R2 supports the use of SAN transfers to migrate virtual machines and highly available virtual machines into and out of a cluster. When you migrate a virtual machine into a cluster by using a SAN transfer, VMM checks all nodes in the cluster to ensure that each node can see the LUN and automatically creates a cluster disk resource for the LUN. Even though VMM automatically configures the cluster disk resource, it does not validate it. You must use the Validate a Configuration Wizard in Failover Cluster Management to validate the newly created cluster disk resource. To migrate a virtual machine out of a cluster, the virtual machine must be on a dedicated LUN that is not using CSV.

Expanded Support for iSCSI SANs

VMM 2008 supports SAN transfers of virtual machines that use initiator-based iSCSI target connections, which requires one iSCSI target for every LUN. VMM 2008 R2 adds support for LUN masking, which allows multiple LUNs per iSCSI target and expands VMM support for iSCSI SAN vendors.

 

Quick Storage Migration

For a Windows Server 2008 R2 host or a Storage VMotion-capable host, you can migrate a running virtual machine’s files to a different storage location on the same host with minimal or no service outage. If you use a wizard to migrate a virtual machine to a host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and you use a network transfer, VMM 2008 R2 now gives you the option to specify separate storage locations for each virtual hard disk (.vhd) file for the virtual machine. 

 

Maintenance Mode for Hosts

In VMM 2008 R2, you can start maintenance mode for a Windows-based host anytime you need to perform maintenance tasks on the host, such as applying updates or replacing a physical component.

When you start maintenance mode on a host in a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster with highly available virtual machines, you can do one of the following:

• If the option is available, use live migration to evacuate all virtual machines to other hosts on the same cluster. If the migration fails for any virtual machine on the host, maintenance mode is not started on that host and VMM does not migrate back the virtual machines that have already migrated.

• Place all virtual machines on the host into a saved state.

When you start maintenance mode on a stand-alone Windows-based host, on a host in a Windows Server 2008 cluster, or on a Windows Server 2008 R2 host that has any non-highly available virtual machines, VMM automatically places all virtual machines into a saved state.

Important

When VMM places virtual machines into a saved state, any users of the virtual machines will experience a loss of service.

When you start maintenance mode on any host, VMM automatically does the following:

• Blocks virtual machine creation operations on the host.

• Excludes the host from the host ratings during placement.

• Displays a host status of In Maintenance Mode in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console.

When you stop maintenance mode on a host, VMM allows virtual machine creation operations on the host, includes the host in the host ratings during placement, and displays a host status of OK in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console. However, VMM does not automatically do a live migration to move highly available virtual machines back onto the host in a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster, and it does not restart any of the virtual machines on the host.

To start or stop maintenance mode, in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console, right-click a host, and then click the appropriate command.

 

Support for VMware Port Groups for Virtual Switches

VMM uses the network location and tag specified for the virtual network adapter in the hardware configuration to determine the network availability of a virtual machine on a host. In VMM 2008 R2, if you are deploying the virtual machine to a VMware ESX Server host, you can select from the VMware port groups that are available for virtual switches.

 

Support for Virtual Machine Permissions Assigned in Hyper-V

In VMM 2008 R2, VMM preserves changes made to role definitions or role memberships in the root scope of the Hyper-V authorization store. All changes to any other scope are overwritten every half hour by the VMM user role refresher. This differs from user role processing in VMM 2008. In VMM 2008, VMM determines access to virtual machines, hosts, and resources based solely on the rights and permissions associated with VMM user roles. VMM 2008 does not make any changes to Hyper-V role definitions and role memberships; it simply ignores the Hyper-V authorization store while the hosts and virtual machines are under its management. 

For more information about user roles and scopes, see Role-Based Security in VMM (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119337).

Check out this nice list I found wondering on TechNet.

Mandatory reference in all Hyper-V implementation.

Knowledge Base Article	Name	Date	Required?	Availability	Link
KB950050	”Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (This is the RTM version of Hyper-V.)	6/26/2008	Yes.	Windows Update, Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139066
KB950182	“A computer that is running an x86-based version of Windows Server 2008 or an x86-based version of Windows Vista may use fewer processors than expected if the number of cores on a socket is not a power of 2”	04/11/2008	Yes, if you want to start an x86-based virtual machine running Windows Server 2008 on a computer that uses a 6-core processor.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139067
KB951308	“Increased functionality and virtual machine control in the Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Management console for the Hyper-V role”	09/11/2008	Yes, for Failover Clustering.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125397
KB951636	“Hyper-V Language Pack Update for Windows Server 2008”	6/26/2008	Yes, if you are using the additional languages offered.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139069
KB952627	“Description of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Management Tools update for the release version of Hyper-V” (Install this to enable remote management of a computer running Windows Server 2008 with the Hyper-V role installed.)	6/26/2008	Yes, to enable remote management using the Hyper-V Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122189
KB953585	“Error message when you try to start a Hyper-V virtual machine on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer that uses the NUMA architecture: "An error occurred while attempting to change the state of virtual machine VMNAME"”	09/04/2008	Yes, if you are using a computer running Windows Server 2008 with Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139068
KB953828	“The NLB host does not converge as expected on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual machines”	6/25/2008	Yes, if you are using Network Load Balancing (NLB).	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139070
KB956386	“Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008”	10/03/2008	No.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139610
KB956589	“Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to resolve potential issues when you manage Hyper-V with System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008.)	9/23/2008	Yes, if you are using System Center VMM 2008 to manage your environment.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139611
KB956697	“Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to resolve an issue in which the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) does not back up virtual machines properly.)	09/08/2008	Yes, if the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is utilized for backups.	Windows Update, Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139612
KB956710	“Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to enable the Hyper-V role to support up to 24 logical processors and 192 virtual machines.)	9/23/08	Yes, if the management operating system has more than 16 logical processors.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139613
KB956774	“Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to resolve the scenario where a Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) client cannot handle files that have paths that contain the volume GUID in Windows Server 2008.)	9/23/08	Yes, if GUIDs are used instead of a drive letter or mount point.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139614
KB957967	“Stop error message on a Windows Server 2008-based computer that has the Hyper-V role installed: "STOP 0x0000001A"”	10/08/2008	Yes.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139615
KB958065	“You cannot configure a Hyper-V virtual machine by using Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering when the virtual machine uses a storage device that is managed by a third-party clustered file system or a third-party replication solution”	11/03/2008	Yes, if you are using a non-Microsoft clustered file system or non-Microsoft replication solutions.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139616
KB958184	“Virtual machine backup operations fail in Windows Server 2008 when Hyper-V virtual machine files are saved on a volume that is mounted on a failover cluster by using a volume GUID”	11/05/2008	Yes, when backing up a volume that is mounted using a volume GUID.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=133348
KB960578	“The IRET and IRETD instructions do not support the Nested Task (NT) flag in protected mode in a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environment”	12/17/2008	Yes, if you have a program that uses the IRET (interrupt return) or IRETD (interrupt return double) instruction.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=145170
KB959962	“An update is available for Windows Server 2008-based computers to address issues with backing up and restoring Hyper-V virtual machines”	1/16/2009	Yes, when backing up virtual machines.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=145171

You can now download VMM 2008 R2 Beta from https://connect.microsoft.com.

I’ve already tested it with Live Migration and it work great! (we had a demonstration for it at a Municipality Convention in Jerusalem recently) so take the time to play with it a little.

What’s New in VMM 2008 R2 Beta

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM) is a comprehensive management solution for managing virtualized infrastructure running on Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2 and VMware ESX through Virtual Center.  Recently, Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta was released which included significant feature improvements to Hyper-V-the underlying hypervisor platform.  A corresponding beta version of VMM R2 – the next version of VMM – is due for release shortly.  VMM R2 Beta  leverages the new platform enhancements and extends the feature set of VMM 2008. This overview highlights the most important new and significantly enhanced features in the VMM 2008 R2 Beta:

Support for new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta

• Live Migration: – Seen through the VMM console, this enables administrators to move virtual machines from one machine in a virtual host cluster to another with no downtime. This allows administrators greater flexibility in responding to planned or unplanned downtime, provides higher machine availability and more robust fault tolerance within virtualized infrastructure. The basic requirements for Live Migration are that all hosts must be part of a cluster and host processors must be from the same manufacturer. Additionally all hosts in the cluster must have access to shared storage. No changes are required to existing virtual machines, network, or storage devices in moving from Quick Migration to Live Migration other than upgrading to beta versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 and VMM 2008 R2.
• Hot addition/removal of VHDs: Allows the addition and removal of new virtual hard disks (VHDs) on a running virtual machine. This enables storage growth in virtual machines without downtime. Additionally, ‘live" VHD management allows administrators to take advantage of additional backup scenarios and readily use mission critical and storage-intense applications (eg: SQL Server and Exchange).
• New optimized networking technologies: VMM 2008 R2 Beta supports two new networking technologies – Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ) and TCP Chimney – providing increased network performance while demanding less CPU burden. NICS that support VMQ, create a unique virtual network queue for each virtual machine on a host that can pass network packets directly from the hypervisor to virtual machine. This speeds throughput as it bypasses much of the processing normally required by the virtualization stack. With TCP Chimney, TCP/IP traffic can be offloaded to a physical NIC on the host computer reducing CPU load and improving network performance.

Enhanced storage and cluster support

• Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV): Provides a single, consistent storage space that allows virtual hosts in a cluster to concurrently access virtual machine files on a single shared logical unit number (LUN). CSV eliminates the previous one LUN per virtual machine restriction and coordinates the use of storage with much greater efficiency and higher performance. CSV enables the Live Migration of virtual machines in and out of the shared LUN without impacting other virtual machines. Enabling CSV on failover clusters is straightforward and easy to monitor through the VMM administrator’s console; many storage configuration complexities prior to CSV have been eliminated.
• SAN migration into and out of clustered hosts: This allows virtual machines to migrate into and out of clustered hosts using a SAN transfer, which automatically configures the cluster nodes to recognize and support the new workload.
• Expanded Support for iSCSI SANs: Previously, only one LUN could be bound to a single iSCSI target whereas now — with VMM 2008 R2 Beta — multiple LUNS can be mapped to a single iSCSI target. This provides broader industry support for iSCSI SANs allowing customers more flexibility in choosing storage providers and iSCSI SAN options.

Streamlined process for managing host upgrades:

• Maintenance Mode: Allows administrators to apply updates or perform maintenance on a host server by safely evacuating all virtual machines to other hosts on a cluster using Live Migration or putting those workloads into a saved state to be safely reactivated when maintenance or upgrades are complete. Maintenance mode is enabled for all supported hypervisor platforms on Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta.

Other VMM 2008 R2 Beta enhancements

• Support of disjoint domains: Reduces the complexity of reconciling host servers with differing domain names in Active Directory and DNS. In these situations, VMM 2008 R2 Beta automatically creates a custom service principal name (SPN) configured in both AD and DNS allowing for successful authentication.
• Use of defined port groups with VMware Virtual Center: On installation, VMM 2008 R2 Beta will present available port groups for VMM’s use with VMware Virtual Center thus allowing administrators to maintain control over which port groups are used.

Management of Virtual Machines is not just about managing the VM’s themselves but also the workloads that run in them. The key to managing the entire IT infrastructure is the integration of both physical and virtual machine management into a single set of tools.

I’ll be giving a presentation on managing a virtual datacenter with SCOM, SCCM, DPM and VMM at a Microsoft Open House that will be held on February 3rd at Microsoft Israel.

The main point in my presentation is that when looking at the data center (or IT environment) as a whole, tools like Systems Center Operations Manger and Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager (that has integration built into them from the grounds up) really stand out in the crowd in comparison to tools that are built for a specific environment (like managing only virtual machines).

One of the demonstrations will involve Performance Resource Optimization (PRO) which is one of VMM’s top features, as it allows administrators to automate practically any type of response to a given condition, including responding to application, virtualization, system, storage, or network events.

I’ll love to get your comments and suggestions regarding the planned presentation and of course to see you at the event

Following is the link with all the info about the Open House, including registration to the event:

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032401717&culture=he-IL

Check out this nice list I found wondering on TechNet. Mandatory reference in all Hyper-V implementation.

Knowledge Base Article	Name	Date	Required?	Availability	Link
KB950050	”Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (This is the RTM version of Hyper-V.)	6/26/2008	Yes.	Windows Update, Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139066
KB950182	“A computer that is running an x86-based version of Windows Server 2008 or an x86-based version of Windows Vista may use fewer processors than expected if the number of cores on a socket is not a power of 2”	04/11/2008	Yes, if you want to start an x86-based virtual machine running Windows Server 2008 on a computer that uses a 6-core processor.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139067
KB951308	“Increased functionality and virtual machine control in the Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Management console for the Hyper-V role”	09/11/2008	Yes, for Failover Clustering.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125397
KB951636	“Hyper-V Language Pack Update for Windows Server 2008”	6/26/2008	Yes, if you are using the additional languages offered.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139069
KB952627	“Description of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Management Tools update for the release version of Hyper-V” (Install this to enable remote management of a computer running Windows Server 2008 with the Hyper-V role installed.)	6/26/2008	Yes, to enable remote management using the Hyper-V Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122189
KB953585	“Error message when you try to start a Hyper-V virtual machine on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer that uses the NUMA architecture: “An error occurred while attempting to change the state of virtual machine VMNAME””	09/04/2008	Yes, if you are using a computer running Windows Server 2008 with Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139068
KB953828	“The NLB host does not converge as expected on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual machines”	6/25/2008	Yes, if you are using Network Load Balancing (NLB).	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139070
KB956386	“Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008”	10/03/2008	No.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139610
KB956589	“Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to resolve potential issues when you manage Hyper-V with System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008.)	9/23/2008	Yes, if you are using System Center VMM 2008 to manage your environment.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139611
KB956697	“Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to resolve an issue in which the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) does not back up virtual machines properly.)	09/08/2008	Yes, if the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is utilized for backups.	Windows Update, Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139612
KB956710	“Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to enable the Hyper-V role to support up to 24 logical processors and 192 virtual machines.)	9/23/08	Yes, if the management operating system has more than 16 logical processors.	Download Center	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139613
KB956774	“Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition” (Install this to resolve the scenario where a Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) client cannot handle files that have paths that contain the volume GUID in Windows Server 2008.)	9/23/08	Yes, if GUIDs are used instead of a drive letter or mount point.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139614
KB957967	“Stop error message on a Windows Server 2008-based computer that has the Hyper-V role installed: “STOP 0x0000001A””	10/08/2008	Yes.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139615
KB958065	“You cannot configure a Hyper-V virtual machine by using Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering when the virtual machine uses a storage device that is managed by a third-party clustered file system or a third-party replication solution”	11/03/2008	Yes, if you are using a non-Microsoft clustered file system or non-Microsoft replication solutions.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139616
KB958184	“Virtual machine backup operations fail in Windows Server 2008 when Hyper-V virtual machine files are saved on a volume that is mounted on a failover cluster by using a volume GUID”	11/05/2008	Yes, when backing up a volume that is mounted using a volume GUID.	Hotfix	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=133348

I had the opportunity today (16.9.08) to participate in Microsoft�s getVIRTUALnow event, and to present the session “Physical and Virtual Server Management”

I presented my take on data center management, which involves automating management tasks in response to system\application states.

It was impressive to see the number of vendors that were present in the event. Microsoft seem to be quick in building the required ecosystem of partners that will push it’s Virtualization offerings greatly in my opinion.

The main point in my presentation was that when looking at the data center (or IT environment) as a whole, tools like Systems Center Operations Manger and Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager (that has integration built into them from the grounds up) really stand out in the crowd in comparison to tools that are built for a specific environment (like managing only virtual machines).

One of the demonstrations involved Performance Resource Optimization (PRO) which is one of VMM�s top features, as it allows administrators to automate practically any type of response to a given condition, including responding to application, virtualization, system, storage, or network events.

For more demonstrations, take a look at Liran’s post – “Get Virtual Now with Hyper-V Technology“.

Also, You are more then invited to check out a bunch of pictures we took at the event – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55996&id=15415483905&ref=mf

Microsoft has published an interesting article about their official support for installing Exchange on Hyper-V\Virtual Server 2005 virtual machines.

To make a long story short, here are the support policies for both Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003:

Support Policy and Recommendations for Exchange Server 2007

Microsoft supports Exchange Server 2007 in production on hardware virtualization software only when all the following conditions are true:

• The hardware virtualization software is Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology, Microsoft Hyper-V Server, or any third-party hypervisor that has been validated under the Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program.
• The Exchange Server guest virtual machine:
  • Is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later.
  • Is deployed on the Windows Server 2008 operating system.
  • Does not have the Unified Messaging server role installed. All Exchange 2007 server roles, except for the Unified Messaging role, are supported in a virtualization environment.
• The storage used by the Exchange Server guest machine can be virtual storage of a fixed size (for example, fixed virtual hard drives (VHDs) in a Hyper-V environment), SCSI pass-through storage, or Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage. Pass-through storage is storage that is configured at the host level and dedicated to one guest machine.

  Note:

  In a Hyper-V environment, each fixed VHD must be less than 2,040 gigabytes (GB). For supported third-party hypervisors, check with the manufacturer to see if any disk size limitations exist.

  • Virtual disks that dynamically expand are not supported by Exchange.
  • Virtual disks that use differencing or delta mechanisms (such as Hyper-V’s differencing VHDs or snapshots) are not supported.
• No other server-based applications, other than management software (for example, antivirus software, backup software, virtual machine management software, etc.) can be deployed on the physical root machine. The root machine should be dedicated to running guest virtual machines.
• Microsoft does not support combining Exchange clustering solutions (namely, cluster continuous replication (CCR) and single copy clusters (SCC)) with hypervisor-based availability or migration solutions (for example, Hyper-V’s quick migration). Both CCR and SCC are supported in hardware virtualization environments provided that the virtualization environment does not employ clustered virtualization servers.
• Some hypervisors include features for taking snapshots of virtual machines. Virtual machine snapshots capture the state of a virtual machine while it is running. This feature enables you to take multiple snapshots of a virtual machine and then revert the virtual machine to any of the previous states by applying a snapshot to the virtual machine. However, virtual machine snapshots are not application-aware, and using them can have unintended and unexpected consequences for a server application that maintains state data, such as Exchange Server. As a result, making virtual machine snapshots of an Exchange guest virtual machine is not supported.
• Many hardware virtualization products allow you to specify the number of virtual processors that should be allocated to each guest virtual machine. The virtual processors located in the guest virtual machine share a fixed number of logical processors in the physical system. Exchange supports a virtual processor-to-logical processor ratio no greater than 2:1. For example, a dual processor system using quad core processors contains a total of 8 logical processors in the host system. On a system with this configuration, do not allocate more than a total of 16 virtual processors to all guest virtual machines combined.

Support Policy and Recommendations for Exchange Server 2003

Microsoft supports Exchange Server 2003 in production on hardware virtualization software (virtual machines) only when all the following conditions are true:

• The hardware virtualization software is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 or any later version of Microsoft Virtual Server.
• The version of Exchange Server that is running on the virtual machine is Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later.
• The Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Virtual Machine Additions are installed on the guest operating system.
• Exchange Server 2003 is configured as a stand-alone server and not as part of a Windows failover cluster.
• The SCSI driver that is installed on the guest operating system is the Microsoft Virtual Machine PCI SCSI Controller driver.
• The virtual hard disk Undo feature is not enabled for the Exchange virtual machine.

  Note:

  When a Microsoft Virtual Server SCSI adaptor is added to a virtual machine after the Virtual Machine Additions have been installed, the guest operating system detects and installs a generic Adaptec SCSI driver. In this case, the Virtual Machine Additions must be removed and then reinstalled for the correct SCSI driver to be installed on the guest operating system.

Rest of the recommendations are at source.

One of the best new features in 2008 clusters is the ability to have cluster nodes on different subnets.

This is done by introducing a new OR dependency option for resources. In 2008 clusters, you have two options when making a resource depend on more than one resource:

• AND – Both the resource in this line and one or more previously listed resources must be online before the dependent resource is brought online.
• OR – Either the resource listed in this line or another previously listed resource must be online before the dependent resource is brought online.

So with the OR dependency, you can set up your cluster Network Name resources using an IP address from multiple subnets.

When you create your cluster or an application group, you are prompted to provide an IP address for each subnet. For example:

Here, you would enter a valid IP address for each subnet. Once this is complete, the cluster will automatically setup these dependencies properly for you and only one of the IP resources will be online at a time as the other IP address is not valid for the active node.

Some important notes:

1. Failover Cluster Quorum Type
   1. Node and File Share Majority is the best quorum type for geo-clusters
   2. Especialy if your file share will be located on a third site (that has no cluster members in it)
   3. Just remember, File Share Witness:
      1. Need to be on a File Server in the same forest
      2. No need to use shared storage � just a normal share
      3. Can’t be a node in the cluster
      4. Used as a decision making point for majority
      5. Can be used for multiple clusters (each cluster has a different share)
2. DNS Considerations
   1. Upon failover to the other node, DNS records will be updated to point to the new IP address. While this is occurring, clients may not be able to connect to the cluster workload even though it is online
   2. Use “RegisterAllProvidersIP” to control which dependent IP address are registered
   3. Use “HostRecordTTL” to control time-to-live on cluster network name resources (For ex. – 5 minutes is recommended for Exchange 2007)