Be Aware: Windows Server 2008 SP2 Re-enables Disabled NICs

Be aware installing Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) will re-enable any network adapters that were disabled prior to the update. This will also affect computers updated with Windows Vista Service Pack 2.

[Before installing SP2]

[After installing SP2]

This is important for several reasons. It is best practice on Hyper-V servers to disable the virtual NIC assigned to VM guests, so that a host with a dedicated management NIC does not use the NICs assigned to VM guests. SP2 re-enables all these virtual NICs, as well.

Sometimes disabled NICs should only be enabled for disaster recovery purposes. Enabling these NICs at startup could have dire consequences in these rare situations.

It's important to understand that if you're using the Windows Firewall, the server uses the most secure firewall network profile for all NICs. If your domain joined computer has more than one NIC, but only the NIC that is used to connect to the domain is enabled, the Windows Firewall uses the Domain Network profile. However, after installing SP2 the computer will start up with all NICs enabled. If the previously disabled NICs are not connected, the Windows Firewall will use the Public Network profile, which uses much different firewall policies -- potentially causing service interruptions.

My advice is to document your network connections prior to installing Windows Server 2008 SP2, so you can reconfigure them when your done with the update.

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Fix for having to supply credentials when connecting to a Hyper-V guest

One of my customers complained that he was getting the following prompt for credentials whenever he connected to a Hyper-V guest from the host.

Your credentials did not work
Your system administrator does not allow the use of default credentials to log on to the remote computer (computer name) because its identity is not fully verified. Please enter new credentials.

The host Hyper-V server is in a workgroup and the guests are in either a domain or workgroup.

The fix is to allow saved credentials with NTLM-only server authentication on the Hyper-V host. You can do this in the Local Group Policy Editor.

• Run GPEDIT.MSC on the Hyper-V host
• Expand Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Credentials Delegation
• Double-click Allow Saved Credentials with NTLM-only Server Authentication
• Enable the policy
• Add servers to the list by clicking the Show button and adding your Hyper-V hostname
• Click OK twice and close Local Group Policy Editor

Now run GPUPDATE on the Hyper-V host to apply the new settings.

Connect to one of the Hyper-V guests, enter your username and password, and check the Remember my credentials checkbox. Hyper-V will no longer prompt for credentials when connecting to any of the guest VMs.

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New Hyper-V Dedicated Network is Coming

Windows Server 2008 R2 will offer Hyper-V V2, the second version of Microsoft's hypervisor virtualization solution.

Among the new features, Hyper-V V2 will feature a new "Dedicated" virtual network type. This will be in addition to the External, Internal, and Private networks currently available in Windows Server 2008.

As background, when you create a new virtual network in Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V converts the physical network adapter to a Microsoft Virtual Switch. It also creates a new virtual network adapter attached to the new virtual switch.

In the example above, we see a Hyper-V host with four physical NICs. The first NIC is dedicated to the host, as per best practice, and is attached to the corporate LAN. The other three NICs have been configured as External virtual networks using the Hyper-V Virtual Network Manager.

You will note that there are three disabled virtual NICs at the bottom of the image for the host to use. These virtual NICs were automatically created by Hyper-V when you configure the External virtual network, and are normally enabled by default. I've renamed each NIC and virtual switch on my host server for clarity.

If you're following the best practice of using a dedicated NIC for the Hyper-V host, as above, there normally would be no reason to use these virtual NICs. If you leave them enabled, it can cause a number of problems for the Hyper-V host:

• The virtual NICs will attempt to get DHCP addresses. If no DHCP server is available, it will get the automatic private IP address (169.254.x.x).
• The network binding order may be out of order, causing network inefficiencies.
• The Windows Firewall will apply vastly different settings (I'll blog more on this later).
• Trying to sort out an IPCONFIG /ALL is a mess

The current recommended way of dealing with this in the Windows Server 2008 version of Hyper-V is to remove all the connections for the new virtual NIC (IPv6, IPv4, etc.) and then disable the virtual NIC. Finally, you should check the network bindings to ensure that the host's NIC is at the top, followed by the virtual switches, and then the disabled NICs.

In Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft introduces the Dedicated virtual network type. When you create a Dedicated virtual network, Hyper-V does not automatically create a corresponding virtual NIC. It simply converts the selected physical NIC to a Microsoft Virtual Switch for the VM(s) to use. No need to disable anything or change network binding orders. Very cool!

Note that you will be unable to create a Dedicated virtual network on a single NIC Hyper-V host. If you did, the host would be unable to connect to the corporate LAN since there would be no NIC (physical or virtual) for it to use.

This new network will be a welcome addition to Hyper-V!

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Fix for Paused-Critical Virtual Machine State

Your Hyper-V virtual machines may be happily running along, when suddenly they go into a "Virtual machine state : Paused-Critical" condition. If you resume them, they run for a few seconds and then pause again.

This happens when the volume hosting your dynamically expanding VHDs runs low on disk space.

Either free up space on the host volume, move one or more VHDs to another volume with sufficient space, or free space in the child partition and compact the VHD.

To compact a Hyper-V VHD, shutdown the virtual machine and open its Settings. Select the VHD and click the Edit button. Select Compact > Next > Finish.

Ben Armstrong also has an excellent article explaining how to compact a VHD file using PowerShell or VBScript.

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Microsoft Begins 20-Part Webcast on Virtualization

Microsoft kicked off a 20-part virtualization webcast series last week on TechNet.

The series covers a wide array of subjects, from "What is virtualization?" to managing your virtual infrastructure. It's presented by Microsoft virtualization evangelists and covers Hyper-V virtualization, as well as System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM 2008).

The series objectives are to not only help you develop technical depth on various virtualization solutions, but to appreciate the essentials of a typical virtualization project in a real world implementation.

Each webcast is about 90 minutes long and is geared toward level 300 technical detail. This looks to be an interesting series.

The series includes the following live webcasts:

• 01/14/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization in a Nutshell


• 01/16/2009, TechNet Webcast: Selecting the Right Candidates for Virtualization


• 01/21/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualizing Test and Development Environments for a Quick Return on Investment


• 01/23/2009, TechNet Webcast: Managing the Virtualized Test and Development Environment


• 01/28/2009, TechNet Webcast: If I Virtualize It, How Do I Manage It?


• 01/29/2009, TechNet Webcast: Consolidation and Rapid Provisioning


• 02/04/2009, TechNet Webcast: Building on Your Existing Virtual Environment


• 02/06/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization Solutions for High Availability


• 02/11/2009, TechNet Webcast: Client-Side Virtualization


• 02/13/2009, TechNet Webcast: Using Presentation Virtualization


• 02/18/2009, TechNet Webcast: Scaling Terminal Services Out (1/2)


• 02/20/2009, TechNet Webcast: Scaling Terminal Services Out (2/2)


• 02/25/2009, TechNet Webcast: Running Legacy Applications with Virtualization (1/2)


• 02/27/2009, TechNet Webcast: Running Legacy Applications with Virtualization (2/2)


• 03/04/2009, TechNet Webcast: Creating a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure


• 03/06/2009, TechNet Webcast: Securing the Virtual Environments


• 03/11/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization with Centralized, Policy-Based Management


• 03/13/2009, TechNet Webcast: Virtualization Solutions in Branch Offices


• 03/20/2009, TechNet Webcast: Road Map for the Future of Virtualization


• 03/24/2009, TechNet Webcast: Managing Virtual Solutions

If you should miss any one of these webcasts, the content will be recorded and available within a few days from the same site.

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Getting NumLock to Stick

Here's a tip on how to get the Num Lock key to stay on (or off) every time a user logs on.

Simply set the NumLock key to the desired status (on or off), press Ctrl-Alt-Delete (Ctrl-Alt-End in a Hyper-V guest, Ctrl-Alt-Ins in a VMware guest), and select Log off.

This will set the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard\InitialKeyboardIndicators to 0 (OFF) or 2 (ON), depending on your preference. The next time you logon, the NumLock setting will stick.

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First Ever EXPTA Hyper-V Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Thorsten Schuett in Berlin, Germany!

As the 100,000th visitor to my blog, Thorsten will receive a signed copy of my new book, "Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Unleashed." This book represents our experience working with Hyper-V with our customers over a year before it was available to the public.

Thanks to all the entries I received. I appreciate the kind words and hope that you all find the information I provide in this blog useful.

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First Ever EXPTA Hyper-V Contest!

Sometime next week the EXPTA {blog} will get its 100,000th visitor.

To celebrate, I will send that lucky visitor a free copy of my new book, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Unleashed, anywhere in the world!

All you have to do is take a screenshot of the hit counter at the bottom of this blog and email it to me at jeff@expta.com, along with your name and address.

I get a lot of hits per day, most of them from Google searches, so it's very likely that the 100,000th visitor may not read this post. Because of this, I'll choose the winner whose entry is the closest to 100,000 from the first 10 entries I receive. The entry must show the bottom of the blog with a counter of at least 100,000 and must be submitted by September 22, 2008.

Of course, if you subscribe to this blog you'd be one of the first to learn about this contest!

Good Luck!

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Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Unleashed

I'm very pleased to say that my new book, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Unleashed, has hit store shelves!

This book is a culmination of our experience deploying Hyper-V in enterprise organizations. And today, Microsoft's Virtualization Product Group featured it on their Virtualization Team Blog.

Coauthor Rand Morimoto and I are very pleased that this book has been released to coincide with Microsoft's official launch of Hyper-V this week.

Check out what's in the book at InformIT!

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Exchange Server Virtualization Support Policy Summary

Microsoft released their Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments document this month. I reviewed the support document and summarized the salient facts here.

Exchange 2007 Virtualization

Host Requirements:

• A hypervisor virtualization solution that has been validated by the Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program
• Adequate storage space to accommodate the host OS and components, paging file, management software and crash recovery (dump) files
• Storage space must be allocated for Hyper-V temporary memory storage (BIN) files, equal to the amount of RAM allocated to each guest

Guest Requirements:

• Exchange 2007 SP1 (or later) deployed on Windows Server 2008
• Cannot have the Unified Messaging Role installed
• The total maximum number of virtual processors cannot exceed the twice the number of physical cores.Typically 2 virtual processors are required for each Exchange server guest, but use this as a baseline
• Large mailboxes (1GB and larger) require the use of Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR)
• CCR nodes must be hosted on separate physical host servers to provide true redundancy and high availability
• Mixing physical and virtual nodes is supported for CCR and SCC environments
• Exchange supported backups must be run from the guest
• Both legacy backups (using ESE streaming APIs) and Exchange-aware software-based VSS backups (Data Protection Manager) are supported
• VSS backups of the an Exchange guest is supported if the guest uses only VHDs (not pass-through disks)

Guest Storage Requirements:

• Supports fixed size VHDs, SCSI pass-through and iSCSI storage
• Storage must be dedicated to one guest machine
• Guest OS must use a minimum fixed-size VHD of 15GB plus the size of virtual RAM allocated to the guest
• VHD limit is 2,040GB (nearly 2TB) in Hyper-V
• Hub and Edge Transport servers require sufficient storage for message queues and log files
• Mailbox servers require sufficient storage for databases and log files
• iSCSI storage using an iSCSI initiator within the guest is supported. This offers greater portability, but decreased performance

Not Supported:

• Dynamically expanding VHDs are not supported
• Snapshots or differencing disks are not supported
• Virtualization high availability solutions, such as Hyper-V Quick Migrations, are not supported. Only Exchange aware HA solutions (SCC, LCR, CCR and SCR) are supported.
• VSS backups of the Exchange guest machine's pass-through disk from the host are not supported

Recommendations:

• Storage should be hosted on separate disk spindles from the guest's OS
• Use SCSI pass-through storage to host transport and mailbox databases and transaction logs
• When using iSCSI storage, configure the iSCSI Initiator on the host and present it as a pass-through disk to the guest
• Use dedicated NICs with jumbo frames and not bound to a Virtual Network Switch, Gigabyte Ethernet, and isolated networks for iSCSI storage

Exchange 2003 Virtualization

Host Requirements:

• The hardware virtualization software is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 or any later version of Microsoft Virtual Server

Guest Requirements:

• Exchange Server 2003 SP2 (or later)
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Virtual Machine Additions must be 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
• Each guest must have only one CPU

Guest Storage Requirements:

• The SCSI driver 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

Recommendations:

• Consider adding a dedicated virtual network adaptor for Exchange Server backups
• Create separate fixed-size VHDs for Exchange Server databases and log files and store them on separate physical drives on the host
• Exchange Server performance should be validated before production by using the Exchange Server 2003 Performance Tools
• Make sure that the host server is sized correctly to handle the number of virtual machines that you plan to deploy
• Use a storage solution that enables fast disk access
• Antivirus programs should be configured to not scan VHD files

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Microsoft Exchange Virtualization and Licensing Announcements

Microsoft announced some significant changes to its licensing and support policies for applications in hardware virtualization environments. There are two key parts of the announcement worth highlighting for Exchange customers:

• Microsoft now supports Exchange Server 2007 SP1 running Hyper-V or hypervisors validated under the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP).
• Microsoft is waiving its 90-day license reassignment policy to enable customers who virtualize Exchange to move their licenses between servers within a data farm as often as necessary.

Microsoft has published a new whitepaper, Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments, which includes Microsoft's support policy and recommendations for running Exchange Server 2003 in a Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 environment. This article is a must-read for anyone considering a virtualized Exchange environment.

See this article on the Exchange Team blog for more details.

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MICROSOFT HYPER-V IS RELEASED!!!

Today, Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V RTM (release to manufacturing). This is the real thing, folks! No more beta. This is much earlier than the August 2008 timeframe that Microsoft announced when Windows Server 2008 was released in February.

Click here to download the RTM version of Hyper-V. In 12 days you'll be able to go to Windows Update from your Windows 2008 server and it will be listed as an optional component. As you may know, the Windows Server 2008 installation bits are cached on the local computer. When you download and install the new version of Hyper-V it will update the local cache. If you ever uninstall and re-install the Hyper-V role, it will reinstall from the updated cache (the RTM version). This means that once you update a server with the new version, you won't need to update it again (unless Microsoft releases a newer version).

We should see new Hyper-V virtualization supportability agreements for some Microsoft products, like Exchange Server 2007, within the next 60 days. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 which offers both Hyper-V and VMware virtualization support should be out soon, as well.

On a side note, Rand Morimoto and I have finished writing "Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Unleashed," published by Sams Publishing. Look for it in a store near you.

Now, go forth and virtualize!

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VMM 2008 Managed Hyper-V 's Won't Start

This evening our neighborhood took a large power surge due to a car hitting a power pole. Everything in the house shutdown abruptly, including my local network running Hyper-V hosts and Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (beta).

When the power returned about 60 seconds later, all my physical servers turned back on, but the Hyper-V VMs would not start. The following events were logged in the Hyper-V Event Log:

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker
Date: 6/5/2008 8:36:30 PM
Event ID: 17040
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: NETWORK SERVICE
Computer: VM.expta.com
Description:The authorization store could not be initialized from storage location 'msxml://C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Virtual Machine Manager\HyperVAuthStore.xml'. Error: General access denied error (0x80070005).

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date: 6/5/2008 8:36:44 PM
Event ID: 15500
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: VM.expta.com
Description:'EDGE STD x64' failed to start worker process: The extended attributes are inconsistent. (0x800700FF). (Virtual machine ID 118D4321-2B6D-4DE3-B1F0-E55BCD1DCD60)

To fix this problem, uninstall the VMM 2008 Local Agent and reinstall it. Catastrophe averted!

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Can my system support Hyper-V?

This is a common question. Hyper-V requires three things: processor virtualization support, BIOS virtualization support and Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V.

Processor virtualization is provided by Intel (Intel VT) and AMD (AMD-T) processors. You can check each of these websites to see if a processor supports virtualization. AMD offers an AMD Virtualization™ Technology and Microsoft® Hyper-V™ System Compatibility Check Utility that will tell if the installed AMD CPU supports it.

BIOS virtualization support, however, can be dicey. Normally, a BIOS manufacturer will offer the ability to turn virtualization on or off -- but not always. I have a Dell Dimension E521, for example, that doesn't offer virtualization configuration. Thankfully, it's enabled by default in this BIOS.

So how do you tell if your machine will support Hyper-V? Well, the easiest way by far is to use a utility by Gibson Research called SecurAble. This handy little program will quickly tell you if your computer is 64bit, running hardware DEP and is virtulization capable.

Note that SecurAble will report that Hardware Virtualization is "No" if you run it on a Windows Server 2008 computer that has the Hyper-V role installed. This is because Hyper-V capability is "hidden" once it's installed. See the Virtual PC Guy's WebLog for more details about this.

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New Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization Unleashed Book

I'm pleased to announce that I will be a co-authoring a new book, Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization Unleashed, with Rand Morimoto, Ph.D. Rand is president, CEO and owner of Convergent Computing (CCO), the consulting services company I work for.

The content will cover Hyper-V planning and design, installation of Hyper-V, and getting into the management, administration and support of Hyper-V, including the new System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. This book is scheduled for completion this summer and will be on store shelves worldwide once VMM2008 ships, which will likely be end of the summer.

I've been a contributing writer for several other books including Exchange Server 2007 Unleashed and Exchange Server 2003 Unleashed, and most recently was the technical editor for Windows Server 2008 Unleashed. This will be the first time my name will be on the outside cover of a book, so it's rather exciting!

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Hyper-V Integration Components For Windows 2003 SP1

Well, kinda.

Big Red Disclaimer: The steps listed here are not supported by Microsoft (or me). I've tested it several times and have not found any issues. If it doesn't work for you - well, sorry.

The Integration Components for Hyper-V RC0 are only avaialable for Windows XP 32-bit with SP3 or later, Windows Server 2003 with SP2 or later, Windows Vista 32-bit with SP1 or later , all versions of Windows Server 2008 and, just recently, Linux.

So what do you do if you want to virtualize a Windows 2003 SP1 server? After all, you may have a legacy application that won't run on SP2 and one of the hopes of virtualization is to move these servers off of dedicated hardware. Here's how to do it:

• Gather your CDs. You'll need the following:
• Windows 2003 Server CD (RTM or SP1 - make sure it doesn't have SP2 slipstreamed into it)
• Windows Server 2003 SP2 upgrade CD or ISO (available here from Microsoft)
• Create a new Windows 2003 virtual server using the Hyper-V New Virtual Machine Wizard
• Upgrade the virtual machine to SP2 using the SP2 CD or ISO.
• From the Hyper-V Action menu, insert the Integration Services Setup disk and install the Integration Components. The installation will require a restart when it's complete.
• After the restart, uninstall Windows Server 2003 SP2 using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. The uninstall will warn you that KB943295 and the Integration Components may not work if you continue the uninstallation. Click Continue.
• Restart the virtual machine to complete the uninstallation.

Now you have a Windows 2003 VM with SP1 which runs the Integration Components! You can use this base image to make as many servers as you like. Be sure to use a tool like NewSID to generate unique SIDs for each clone, otherwise you'll run into problems in a domain.

Note: I haven't tested this for Windows Server 2003 RTM, Vista RTM or Windows XP RTM/SP1/SP2, but I expect it will work. Please post a comment if you have success or failure.

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Windows Server 2008 Upgrade Complete

In a previous post I mentioned that I was going to upgrade my network to Windows Server 2008. Well, I've completed the upgrade and it ROCKS!

I now have a single W2K8 Enterprise server running Hyper-V RC0. This server hosts two guests, one x86 domain controller and one x64 Exchange 2007 server running ForeFront Security for Exchange Server. The host server is running this blog as well as Exchange 2007 Edge services. The performance is outstanding! Much better than my old x64 Windows 2003 host running VMware.

The Exchange Team posted a great article, Speeding up installation of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008. It offers XML files that configure the Windows Server 2008 prerequisites for Exchange 2007 SP1. While it wasn't that difficult to install everything manually, it would have saved some time for me if I had this before my upgrade.

Last night I completed the upgrade and decommissioned the old W2K3 DC, Exchange and Edge servers.

Please let me know if you have any issues with the blog. The migration went very smooth and I don't anticipate any problems.

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Getting Networking to Work in Hyper-V Beta

First, I thoroughly recommend reading Ben Armstrong's article, "Understanding Networking in Hyper-V," for an explanation of how networking changes on a Hyper-V enabled host. He explains that the real NIC on the host is converted to a virtual network switch and a new virtual NIC is created on the host to access the network using the virtual switch.

Sometimes networking doesn't get setup properly on the host when the Hyper-V role is installed. Here's how to fix it:

When networking is not configured properly after Hyper-V is installed, you'll see only the one physical adapter in Network Connections (assuming, of course, that you have only one network adapter).

1. Open network properties of the NIC and uncheck all the connections on the adapter (Client for Microsoft Networks, IPV4, IPV6, ...everything) and click OK. Obviously, this will disrupt network communication to and from the server, so plan this work accordingly.

2. Click Virtual Network Manager in the Hyper-V console and create a new external network bound to the real NIC. This will convert the real NIC on the host to a Microsoft Virtual Switch and create a new virtual NIC for the host to use for its network adapter (see step 4).

3. In each Hyper-V guest, select the External Virtual Network for the VM's network adapter.

4. Back on the host, you will now see two NICs in the Network Connections window. Local Area Connection (the original real NIC) is now a Microsoft Virtual Switch and is using only the Microsoft Virtual Network Switch Protocol. You will also see a new virtual NIC (usually named "Local Area Connection 3," in my testing). I've renamed it here to Virtual Local Area Connection.

5. Open the properties of the new virtual NIC and re-IP it to it's original static IP address.

6. Verify that the host has network connectivity, and then check your VM guests for connectivity.

Let me know if this helps you.

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You can't get there from here...

This weekend I'm starting the migration of my production network from Windows 2003 servers running VMware for virtualization to Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V.

I have it all planned out like this:

• Clone my existing W2K3 VMware VMs (DC and E2K7) to a USB drive


• Convert the VMware VMs to VHDs using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007


• Mount the VMs on my new isolated W2K8 host; test


• Create a new W2K8 DC VM to upgrade the domain


• Create a new W2K8/E2K7 VM and migrate all the mailboxes to it


• Decommission the W2K3 DC and E2K7 VMs


• Test the new environment


• Move my blog and websites to the new W2K8 host


• Turn off my old W2K3 box and re-IP the W2K8 server with the W2K3 server's IP. This will put it into production.


• Test the web, Exchange, OWA environment again


• Drink a beer to celebrate. OK, there might be some pre-celebration drinking throughout the process...

By following this plan, I'll minimize downtime to a few minutes and I'll always be able to roll back to the old server simply by turning it back on.

Sounds like a good plan, but here's why it won't work -- the only tool that can convert VMware VMs to VHDs is Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (Hyper-V can't do this on its own), but VMM 2007 can't create or convert x64 VMs. Both my DC and E2K7 server are 64-bit, so at this time there's no way to get there from here. I only wish I'd have remembered this before I spent 4 hours configuring the VMM2007 server and domain. Doh!

By the way, the failure I got during the x64 VM conversion was on step 1.5, "Make operating system virtualizable." This happened right after the plug and play system reported it was "Installing Microsoft Virtual Server Storage devices."

Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager 2008 is expected to create and convert 64-bit guests, but the earliest bits whon't be available for it till around March.

So, my updated migration plan is this:

• Clone my existing W2K3 VMware VMs (DC and E2K7) to a USB drive as backups


• Build a new Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V host


• Introduce a new W2K8 DC Hyper-V guest into the domain


• Create a new W2K8/E2K7 Hyper-V guest


• Configure a new Edge server on the W2K8 host


• Migrate all the mailboxes from the old E2K7 server to the new one


• Decommission the W2K3 DC and E2K7 VMs


• Test the new environment


• Move my blog and websites to the new W2K8 host


• Turn off my old W2K3 box and re-IP the W2K8 server with the W2K3 server's IP. This will put it into production.


• Test the web, Exchange, OWA environment again


• Commence said beer drinking celebration

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