VM /ETC

Along with the recent Server 2008 R2 Beta release, Microsoft has announced the public beta availability of their free, stand alone Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 server virtualization platform. Along with several other improvements, a most noticeable feature is the inclusion of both Live Migration, the live transfer of a guest between hosts, and Quick Migration, a clustered -like live fail over of a guest between hosts. I have not found a definitive announcement that the latest version will remain free like the previously released version, but I would have to assume this is the case.

If this is so, I am now waiting for the announcement from VMware that the free version of ESXi will provide free VMotion, and at a minimum, the High Availability (HA) feature. VMware, what will be your counter?

updated 01.13.08 – after thinking about it a little more after my rush to publish this post, both Microsoft Hyper-V Server and VMware ESXi require management to enable the Live Migration / VMotion features. So, assuming both products require a licensed version of their management server (SCVMM / VMM on another Server 2008 host vs VMware vCenter), what may be a more realistic announcement for VMware would be to allow ESXi hosts to have free vCenter agents allowing ESXi hosts to join a already licensed ESX Cluster.

I applaud Microsoft for this move as it should be a significant catalyst for a wider, more enthusiastic deployment of their hypervisor. I can only wonder if VMware saw this coming, and hopefully has a quick response, if not immediately, but for at least by VMworld Europe 2009.

The following are several links with more information about this announcement including sources such as Microsoft’s download page for Hyper-V Server 2008 as well as other Microsoft virtualization blogisphere posts.

Overview

Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 is a stand-alone product that provides a reliable and optimized virtualization solution enabling organizations to improve server utilization and reduce costs. With the addition of new features such as live migration and expanded processor and memory support for host systems, it allows organizations to consolidate workloads onto a single physical server and is a good solution for organizations who are consolidating servers as well as for development and test environments.

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta released

Have a look at the following table for a more comprehensive list.

Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 (beta) Configuration Tool Guide

Overview

This guide will provide you with all the information you need to setup and configure Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2. It covers setup up local administrator passwords, the updated Hyper-V configuration tool and remote management.

Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 (beta) Overview

Overview

Windows 7 on Hyper-V

Here is something neat about the Windows 7 beta release.  Professional versions of Windows 7
(Business, Enterprise and Ultimate) as well as all versions of Windows
Server 2008 R2 already come with integration components installed.

But
- it gets better – these integration services work with Hyper-V on both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.  On either platform, it just works out of the box:

Managing Hyper-V from Windows 7

If you have installed the Windows 7 beta and want to use it to manage Hyper-V you will need to install the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 beta.  These can be downloaded from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=82516c35-c7dc-4652-b2ea-2df99ea83dbb&displaylang=en

Once you have installed them you will need to still setup your client and server appropriately (I recommend using HVRemote).  One nice thing though is that the Windows 7 Hyper-V mangement UI can be used to manage both Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 beta installations of Hyper-V.

Related Posts

• The Laws of vMotion? Veeam to Support Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (11)
• January 2009 Updates to Microsoft Virtualization Licensing Briefs (0)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta Introduces Live Migration for Hyper-V (2)
• Frustrated with Installing the Hyper-V Manager to remotely manage Hyper-V Server 2008 (10)
• VIRTUMANIA Episode 17: Hyper-V Dynamic Memory Is Not Over Commit (1)
• Microsoft Adds Quick Storage Migration Feature to SCVMM (7)
• Installing Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta on VMware Server 2.0 (15)
• Windows 7 Beta VirtualBox Install hosted on Ubuntu 8.10 (8)
• Windows 7 virtualization licensing change rumored (2)
• Hyper-V Server 2008 /ETC – Summary of Certifications, Training, Courses, Services (0)