VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘hyper-v’

TrainSignal, makers of popular computer training DVDs and current sponsor of VM /ETC, is not only a great training resource for admins learning VMware vSphere, but now for a limited time you can get a free Server 2008 R2 training DVD with any other DVD purchase. What may not be obvious from the 2008 R2 DVD title (at least it wasn’t to me!) is that scattered in the 6 hours and 12 2008 R2 videos are episodes on how to configure some of the new Microsoft virtualization and Hyper-V features such as Hyper-V dynamic storage and clustering. This DVD training course also explains using the new Remote Desktop Services for creating personal virtual desktops.

What I personally find great about TrainSignal videos is that the training is provided to you in multiple formats – .mp4 (video) and .mp3 (audio) for portable media players, PDFs, as well as DVD. Upload the portable formats to your favorite media player and learn on the road. Print out the PDFs if that’s a better learning style for you.

If you are used to vExpert David Davis training you on the vSphere videos, then you’ll be glad to know Certified Instructor, Benjamin “Coach” Culbertson (MCT, MCITP, MCTS, MCSA, MCDBA, CIW, A+, Net+, MOS) walks you through each 2008 R2 video in the same, easy to follow and learn TrainSignal style.

Check out the rest of this post for the 2008 R2 DVD Course outline and then browse through the many other technology training options from TrainSignal. Make your purchase and get the 2008 R2 DVD for free while the offer lasts! The 2008 R2 DVD is normally a $297 value. 

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Forget the feature matrix with all the check marks. Forget the price comparison and the price per virtual machine or cost per application. For the sake of consideration, assume an “apples to apples” scenario and focus on VMware and Microsoft virtualization solutions, vSphere Enterprise (or Plus) and Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V, as production implementation projects. Put yourself in the shoes of someone responsible for implementing both virtual infrastructures and following best practices. Forget bias. Forget allegiance. Build the best virtual infrastructure design based on the prerequisites and requirements of each solution. Build it with the best interest of the company who will administer and support it going forward.

There is a lot to consider in the first paragraph, and as any consultant would say, the final decision depends on what other objectives the solution will need to satisfy besides just serving as server infrastructure. Again, for the sake of consideration, I’m going to zoom in on the server infrastructure and leave the “other” out of the implementation.

Again, for the sake of consideration, can the difference between choosing to implement production virtual infrastructure with VMware or Microsoft be simplified to a aligning with either companies strategic vision? I’ll attempt to make that case in this post.

For the sake of being open and honest before I continue, I’ll state up front that I personally have yet to implement a production Hyper-V environment, but as a consulting engineer working for a large Microsoft partner, I’ve sat in certification training, experimented a little in the home lab, and have been looking very closely at the implementation services needed to deploy Hyper-V for customers recently.

This post holds my thoughts on some major implementation differences as I understand them today. Please point out where I have missed the mark or help me consider other factors that I may have missed.
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On the TechRepublic Servers and Storage Blog, Scott Lowe (not this Scott Lowe) posted his objective feature comparison table of VMware vSphere and Hyper-V on Server 2008 R2. Two things from Lowe’s Microsoft’s Hyper-V R2 vs. VMware’s vSphere: A feature comparison caught my eye and made it worth pointing out to VM /ETC readers:

1. Lowe currently runs ESX but, in his words: ” As Microsoft continues to improve Hyper-V R2, we will monitor its progress to determine if and when it might be able to replace VMware.”
2. Lowe actually compares the latest editions of both vSphere and Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V

Read the entire post for Lowe’s explanation of each feature row, but I am posting a screen shot of his table here. Read the rest of this entry »

HP is announcing it’s own Converged Infrastructure Architecture with associated services and partner offerings later today which will “integrate existing silos of compute, storage, network, and facility resources with unified management to deliver a virtualized, highly automated technology environment ..”. The timing of this announcement obviously serves as a “us too” response to the VMware, Cisco, and EMC (VCE) vBlock architecture announcement, but more importantly positions HP as the provider of the only private cloud infrastructure solution under a single company logo combining HP servers, storage, and networking.

HP is also announcing availability of new storage virtualization products based on storage pooling features first introduced to me at the HP Tech Days in Colorado Springs, CO, which ultimately become pillars of the Converged Infrastructure Architecture. With HP’s new products, virtual storage pools can be created across multiple storage devices enabling high availability and dynamic adjustment for any workload.

Finally, hidden among the infrastructure product announcements is a high level indication of EVA integration with Hyper-V Live Migration. As of this writing it is not clear to me what this technically means and I am waiting for more information. It was made clear to me that HP is not establishing a competitive stance to the VCE partnership, and HP remains as an active VMware OEM partner.

Look for the official announcements from HP and the links in this post to go live around 9:00 a.m. EST today (Wed 11/4/09). HP lifted the embargo for press, analysts and bloggers as of Thursday 11/04 at 12:01 a.m. EST so I am publishing quick information from an embargoed call I attended Tues (11/3) afternoon with Lee Johns, HP Director of Marketing – Unified Storage, and links found in draft copies of the official press releases.

HP’s Converged Infrastructure Architecture is made up of 4 technology innovations: Read the rest of this entry »

I finally took the time to get technical details about how to enable Microsoft Hyper-V Live Migration.  My experience with the product has been limited to stand alone, “Rock Box” instances of Microsoft’s hypervisor only, but I recently attended a Lunch and Learn where I received a good understanding of what steps to take in order to create a Hyper-V Cluster for Live Migration. It’s Tricky if you are used to VMware, but not exactly “Hard Times“.

In light of other bloggers Raising Hell with clustered file system discussions in the V12N blogisphere recently, This post is not attempting to proclaim one solution is the “King of Rock.” I am simply listing the prerequisites as I understand them and providing useful links to configuration details for an administrator charged with evaluating/ building a Microsoft Hyper-V environment including Live Migration.

I do not want anyone to say to me “Rich, You Be Illin’“. I’m just sticking with a “It’s Like That” approach to posting this information. Hopefully, this post will help others plan for a Hyper-V implementation that goes so well they will be Krush Groovin’ like it’s Christmas In Hollis when finished.

I also want to point out I have not actually created a Hyper-V Cluster with Live Migration yet. I’m posting my notes and some links for when I might eventually have to put on My Addidas (without the laces) and Walk This Way. Please let me know in the comments if I have some of these details wrong.

Before you get serious, I suggest you use this YouTube Playlist as the soundtrack for the rest of this post.

I’ll use the overview of steps to implement Live Migration provided in the Microsoft TechNet Guide titled Hyper-V: Using Live Migration with Cluster Shared Volumes in Windows Server 2008 R2 to organize the rest of this post.

Steps for implementing live migration

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If comparing the v12n community to a religion makes sense, then using Sir Issac Newton’s Laws of Motion to explain Veeam Global “Scientist” Doug Hazelman’s guest post on the Windows Virtualization Team Blog shouldn’t be a stretch either. Hazelman, one of the VM /ETC Q2 UGH recipients, announced the following in the post R2 Veeam Too:

“While Veeam has continued to build some of the best software for data protection and management of VMware infrastructures, we realize that customers are now faced with more virtualization choices. By fully supporting Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere, Veeam can help you manage heterogeneous hypervisor deployments and clouds with the innovative solutions you’ve come to expect from Veeam. The management and R&D teams at Veeam have a long history of working with Microsoft going back to the Aelita days, and we’re all excited to be working with Microsoft again.”

Imagine your favorite Physics teacher or professor at the chalkboard in an UGLY GREEN lab coat explaining:

Newton’s Laws of Motion are:

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Edwin Yuen, Microsoft Virtualization Team Senior Technical Product Manager, has introduced Hyper-V’s latest feature closely emulating VMware’s virtual infrastructure enterprise product offerings. Quick Storage Migration (QSM) is being added to System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 R2. SCVMM 2008 R2 Release Canidate was recently released to the public. Hyper-V’s final release was integrated in Windows Server 2008 SP2.

Quoting Yuen’s post on the Microsoft Virtualization Team Blog titled System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 – Quick Storage Migration, here are some high level notes about QSM:

• QSM enables the migration of a VM not only between storage locations but also from one SAN to another
• QSM relies on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
• QSM can move the virtual disks of a running virtual machine independent of storage protocols (iSCSI, FC) or storage type (local, DAS, SAN), with minimal downtime
• QSM will not be available on the free Hyper-V Server 2008 version and requires Microsoft’s Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)
• Quick Storage Migration is included with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 both in the Enterprise Edition and the Workgroup Edition
• A VM can remain running for the almost the entire duration of the transfer of its virtual disks from one storage location to another. The post estimates the VM downtime to be under 1 minute in most cases assuming W2K8 R2.
• The VM is put into save-state (Hyper-V snapshot) for a brief interval to migrate its memory state and associated differencing disks.

Yuen’s post provides a feature comparison table of QSM versus VMware’s Storage Vmotion. The following is a screen shot of the table. Read the rest of this entry »