Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'Hyper-V Server'

HVRemote Updated

xperts64 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:00:00 GMT

In case you missed it, John Howard has updated his HVRemote utility. This little gem, which keeps getting better and better, can completely configure both the client and the server to enable you to connect to a Hyper-V server from your Vista or Windows 7 desktop. You’ll still need some way to actually manage the server, and that could be the RSAT tools or the PSHyperV project on Codeplex. IAC, grab the new version of HVRemote. John has added even more intelligence and troubleshooting in this version.

Charlie.

Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program and Support Wizard

ryans — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Microsoft has launched the Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) (http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx).

SVVP is open to any vendor that delivers a machine virtualization solution that hosts Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 (SP4)and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and subsequent service packs. The virtualization solution can either be hypervisor-based or a hosted solution. The program enables vendors to validate various configurations so that Microsoft customers can receive technical support for Windows Server in virtualized environments. The list of vendors currently includes:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
Citrix Systems, Inc.
Novell, Inc.
Oracle, USA Inc.
Red Hat, Inc.
Riverbed Technology, Inc.
Sun Microsystems
Unisys Corp.
Virtual Iron Software
VMware, Inc.

Perhaps more importantly for you, when designing infrastructure, you now have an easy reference for determining whether or not a product or application is fully supported using Virtualization...and not just Hyper-V. The list of virtualization technologies currently includes:

· Hyper-V

· Cisco WAAS Virtual Blades 4.1

· Novell SUSE Linux Ent Server 10 SP2

· VMWare ESX 3.5 Update 2, 3, 4

· VMWare ESXi 3.5 Update 3, 4

· VMWare vSphere 4

· Citrix XenServer 5, 5.5

...validated against Windows 2000 Server SP4, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and your choice of architecture (x86, x64, or IA64).

The list of Microsoft Products is fairly comprehensive and will continue to be updated as needed. It includes all items below:

· Application Virtualization 4.5 (App-V)

· BizTalk Server 2000

· BizTalk Server 2002

· BizTalk Server 2004

· BizTalk Server 2006

· BizTalk Server 2006 R2

· Certificate Server

· Commerce Server 2007

· Dynamics AX 2009

· Dynamics GP

· Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server

· Exchange Server 2000

· Exchange Server 2003

· Exchange Server 2007

· Exchange Server 5.5

· Forefront Client Security

· Forefront Intelligent Application Gateway 2007 (IAG)

· Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG)

· Forefront Security for Exchange (FSE)

· Forefront Security for Sharepoint (FSSP)

· Host Integration Server 2006

· ldentity Integration Server (MIIS)

· ldentity Lifecycle Manager (ILM)

· ISA Server 2000 (Standard or Enterprise)

· ISA Server 2004 (Standard Only)

· ISA Server 2006 (Standard or Enterprise)

· Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

· Microsoft Dynamics NAV2009

· Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005

· Office Communications Server 2007

· Office Groove Server 2007

· Office SharePoint Server 2007

· Office Project Server 2007

· Search Server 2008

· SQL Server 2000

· SQL Server 2005

· SQL Server 2008

· System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· System Center Data Protection Manager

· System Center Essentials 2007

· System Center Operations Manager 2007

· System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

· Systems Management Server 2003 (SMS)

· Visual Studio Team System 2008

· Windows HPC Server 2008

· Windows Server 2000

· Windows Server 2003

· Windows Server 2008

· Windows Server Update Services 3.1

· Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Let's walk through the wizard using Dynamics AX 2009 as our example product (i.e. - we want to virtualize Dynamics AX but are unsure of the supportability of our proposed configuration).

The Support Policy Wizard can be accessed here: http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvpwizard.htm

Step 1: We select our product and any version variable necessary (the Version field will display SP revision level, etc., depending on the product chosen).

Step 2: Select your proposed virtualization technology and the OS Version and architecture that the guest system will run.

Step 3: Your Summary Support Statement is produced.

While this wizard won't serve as the last word in Virtualization Support, it will prove useful in determining the basics of support for any of these products.

Happy Virtualizing!

--Ryan

Hyper-V Licensing Explained!

ryans — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I've spoken to a lot of people who have expressed a lot of confusion about the OS licensing model when virtualizing systems using Hyper-V products.

There are some simple guidelines to observe when planning your Hyper-V infrastructure to take advantage of the licensing models for each edition of Windows Server 2008.

First, a term definition: Microsoft uses the term "OSE" to refer to an operating system environment, either physical or virtual. Also, Microsoft refers to a "processor" in the context of a single processor socket on the motherboard. This calculation is not affected when considering multiple core processors or hyper-threading capabilities on certain processor types.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, the latest product is a free download from Microsoft. While this initially seems like the only answer to your needs, remember that Hyper-V Server provides no licensing for OSEs. Each virtual OSE requires its own licensing. It is also limited in terms of support for total RAM, number of processors and has no Quick Migration or High Availability capabilities.

Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition provides a single license to run a single instance of the software. My understanding of these terms is that this permits you to run a single virtual OSE on top of the Standard Edition server without requiring additional licenses. This arrangement also means that you are only permitted to use the physical server itself to run the Hyper-V virtualization software and to manage the OSEs on the server.

Standard Edition is the most cost-effective if you want to run up to three simultaneous instances in a virtual OSE on the server.

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition expands upon these terms, providing licensing for up to four simultaneous virtual OSEs in addition to the physical OSE. You can run either Standard or Enterprise Edition in the virtual OSEs.

Enterprise Edition is most cost-effective if you want to run four simultaneous instances in a virtual OSE per processor. Enterprise Edition is licensed by server, not per processor, but more than one Enterprise Edition license may be assigned to a server to have the rights to run more than four instances of Windows Server. For example, one license for Enterprise Edition for a one-processor server running four instances of Windows Server in a virtual OSE is slightly less expensive than one Datacenter processor license. And, two licenses for Enterprise Edition for a two-processor server running eight instances of Windows Server in a virtual OSE is slightly less expensive than two processor licenses for Datacenter Edition.

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition completes the journey, with unlimited licensing for virtual OSEs. You can run Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter in the virtual OSEs.

While Datacenter Edition is licensed by processor, not per server, it is most cost-effective for running more than four instances per processor. At four instances per processor, Datacenter Edition is slightly more expensive than Enterprise Edition, but provides room to add instances in a virtual OSE on the server at no additional cost. The flexibility gained from “unlimited” virtualization rights reduces concern of licensing compliance.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008	Windows Server 2008 Standard	Windows Server 2008 Enterprise	Windows Server 2008 Datacenter

No Licenses	1 Physical + 1 Virtual	1 Physical + 4 Virtual	1 Physical + unlimited virtual

There are two great Windows Server Virtualization Calculators available online to help you estimate your needs and the cost impact of each edition. You can find them here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensing/calculator.mspx

One last note is that Datacenter is no longer an OEM-only SKU. The availability of Datacenter changed back in the Server 2003 R2 days and has continued through the Server 2008 release.

Happy Virtualizing!

--Ryan

Configuring Hyper-V Server for Remote Management

xperts64 — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I've seen folks disabling the Windows Firewall on Hyper-V Server and on Windows Server Core in order to get Remote Management to work correctly. Bad idea, and not necessary. Instead, you should enable the appropriate firewall rules to allow Remote Management to work, without disabling the firewall. I covered this setup in both my Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Companion, and again in my upcoming Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator's Companion books, complete with scripts for it. But since I'm seeing it more and more on the newsgroups, I'll go ahead and post the firewall script from the SBS book here - it will configure a Hyper-V Server as well. (Full configuration scripts for Server Core are included in the books, and are on the accompanying CD/DVD. This script assumes you've already configured your NICs and set server name, etc. )

echo off
REM initsetup2.cmd
REM
REM initial setup for a Server 2008 Server Core installation.
REM command file 2 of 2 for Hyper-V and SBS
REM
REM Created: 4 September, 2007
REM ModHist: 08/30/08 - added WinRM command
REM
REM Copyright 2007, 2008 Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford. All rights reserved.
REM You may freely use this script in your own environment, modifying it
REM to meet your needs. But you may not re-publish it without permission.

REM Use netsh to enable remote management through the firewall for
REM all profiles. This is the minimum to allow using remote MMCs to work
REM from other computers on the network.

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles settings remotemanagement enable

REM allow remote administration group
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Administration" new enable=yes

REM Allow remote desktop through firewall
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Desktop" new enable=yes

REM Enable Remote Desktop for Administration, and allow
REM downlevel clients to connect
cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /AR 0
cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /CS 0

REM Now, run the WinRM configuration script. -q is for quiet.
winrm quickconfig -q

UPDATE: John Howard has a new tool that will supposedly do the entire job for you. Given what I've seen from him before, I'd definitely give it a try! It's called hvremote and he talks about it on his blog here: http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/11/14/configure-hyper-v-remote-management-in-seconds.aspx