Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'VM'

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

Vista is an "Unsupported Guest OS?"

ryans — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Have you ever seen the "Unsupported Guest OS" error message below when trying to stand up a Vista VM in Hyper-V?

The error text reads: "An error has occurred: The specified program requires a newer version of Windows." Huh?...newer than Vista?

Well, it turns out that this is only experienced with Vista RTM...not with an integrated SP1 build of Vista. While it's becoming less and less likely that you're working with just the RTM bits for Vista, it can come up for some folks and can be a huge time-sink to resolve.

In short, the fastest way around this problem is simply to use a slipstreamed SP1 build of Vista and you'll avoid the whole issue. However, if for some reason this isn't feasible, here's a brief description of a couple of solutions for this issue.

The main challenge is that there is no network card (NIC) installed in a basic Vista RTM Hyper-V VM (due to the lack of support for the Integration Services/Components). Two approachs to resolving this:

1. Use the Vista SP1 CD / .ISO file and mount it as a CD/DVD for the VM.
2. Shut down the Vista RTM VM, Add a Legacy Network Adapter, reboot, download Vista SP1.

After either option,

Install SP1
Reboot
Install the Hyper-V Integration Services
Reboot again

You should be fine at this point. If you've chosen to install the Legacy Network Adapter, you can safely remove this extraneous hardware at the final reboot if you wish.

The technical reason for this is that Windows Server 2008 and Vista Service Pack 1 (based on the same code base) are the first 2 OSes considered to be "fully enlightened." This includes both driver enlightenment and kernel enlightenment. What each of these terms refer to is the way in which the Hyper-V hypervisor interacts with the underlying hardware for a given OS. Vista RTM didn't have the same level of enlightenment support, hence the lack of synthetic device support. There's a great reference to Hyper-V terminology over on Ben's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/02/25/hyper-v-terminology.aspx

How-To: Manipulate Hyper-V VM Symbolic Links (or How to Unregister and Register Virtual Machines without Deleting Them)

ryans — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

How-To: Manipulate Hyper-V VM Symbolic Links (or How to Unregister and Register Virtual Machines without Deleting Them)

Hyper-V operates using a list of symbolic links in a specific directory:

· C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines

Each of these are links to the actual VM configuration files in their own respective subdirectories – whether stored locally or on shared storage, the link doesn’t change in its nature.

All you need to know in order to control which VMs are displayed in Hyper-V Manager follows:

1. First you need to identify the GUID of the specific VM. Look in the directory location for the VM you wish to manipulate and note the name of the .XML file in the Virtual Machines subdirectory.

Our example will use the LitwareSpeech VM, located at D:\VMs\LitwareSpeech. In the “D:\VMs\LitwareSpeech\Virtual Machines” path is the configuration file for this VM, named “D546B942-76AF-4C3B-97C6-9EE74828BC91.XML”

2. To delete the reference to this VM in Hyper-V Manager, browse to “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines\" and locate the symbolic link that is named after the VM GUID. Deleting this link only deletes the reference to the VM in Hyper-V Manager – it does not delete the actual configuration of the VM or the VHD.

Note

The path “C:\ProgramData” is a hidden directory path. See “Viewing Hidden Folders” section later to complete these steps, if necessary.

3. To later restore the reference to the VM, browse to the location, “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V” and Shift-RightClick on the Virtual Machines directory. Select Open Command Window Here.

4. Using the VM GUID that you determined above in Step 1, run the following command:

mklink <GUID>.XML <VMConfigPath.XML> or in our example

mklink D546B942-76AF-4C3B-97C6-9EE74828BC91.xml “D:\VMs\LitwareSpeech\Virtual Machines\D546B942-76AF-4C3B-97C6-9EE74828BC91.xml”

This restores the reference to your VM in Hyper-V Manager.

The catch to this operation that I’ve learned is that when you create a VM, Hyper-V creates a security entry (ACE) on this symbolic link for the SID of the worker process for the VM. Unfortunately, this ACE isn’t re-created when you recreate the symbolic link using mklink as detailed above.

If you try to start your re-registered VM at this point, you’re likely to receive this error message:

To address this requirement, follow these steps:

1. Again, locate and note the GUID of the VM.

2. Using this GUID, run the following command:

icacls "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines\<GUID>.xml" /grant "NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\<GUID>":(F) /L

Or in our example from above:

icacls "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines\D546B942-76AF-4C3B-97C6-9EE74828BC91.xml" /grant "NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\D546B942-76AF-4C3B-97C6-9EE74828BC91":(F) /L

3. This process regenerates the necessary ACE on the symbolic link using the Service SID of the VM, rather than on the configuration file itself, replicating the initial state of the symbolic link.

4. Once this command has been run successfully, you should be able to start your VM without further issues.

Viewing Hidden Folders

1. Open Windows Explorer. Select Tools, Folder Options…

2. Select the View Tab and choose the option to “Show hidden files and folders”

3. Click OK.