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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