woensdag 14 oktober 2009 8:55
Kurt Roggen
Upgrading Hyper-V to Windows Server 2008 R2 from Windows Server 2008
Microsoft released an KB article Q957256 describing methods that you can use to (in-place) upgrade Hyper-V to Windows Server 2008 R2 from a Windows Server 2008 installation that has the Hyper-V role enabled.
During the in-place upgrade of the parent partition from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2, the compatibility report will inform you that you must remove the Hyper-V role by using Server Manager before you continue with the upgrade. This is not necessary (as per KB957256).
Known incompatibilities
- VM Saved State
- VM Live/Online Snapshots (taken when VM was running, also using Saved State for memory content) – However, Offline snapshot are fully compatible (taken when VM was not running) with Hyper-V R2.
- Upgrade VMs to latest Hyper-V R2 Integration Components once upgraded to Hyper-V R2. The synthetic devices (storage, networking, video and input devices) will continue to function until you upgrade the VM to the latest IC. Improvements (such as: hot add/removal) made in the Hyper-V R2 Integration Components will not be available until the IC are updated.
For more detailed information: KB957256
Preparing for Upgrade
If the virtual machine is in a Running state, use Hyper-V Manager to shut down the virtual machine before upgrading. If the virtual machine is in a Saved state, use Hyper-V Manager to start from the saved state and then shut down the virtual machine. If the virtual machine has an online snapshot that you need, apply the relevant snapshot, and then shut down the virtual machines. Ignoring above recommendations, results in issues with
1. Saved states
If you keep a VM in saved state through the upgrade/export to a Windows Server 2008 R2 host, the VM will be registered and will appear to be in the saved state. However, the VM will not be able to restore from the saved state. You will need to discard the saved state (Delete saved state) and then cold start the virtual machine.
2. Online Snapshots
You will be able to apply the snapshot and thus get the configuration and storage data associated with that snapshot. However, you will not be able to restore from the associated saved state. You will need to discard the saved state (Delete saved state) and restart the VM.
Upgrading Hyper-V Clusters
The KB article also deals with “Upgrade guidance for virtual machines on failover clusters”, which actually implies a rebuild of the cluster to Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V.
For more detailed information: KB957256
Migrating using VMM 2008 R2
When moving/migrating VMs from a Hyper-V v1 host to a Hyper-V v2 (R2) host using VMM 2008 R2, all the above incompatibilities are taken into account and the new Windows Server 2008 R2 Integration Components/Services are installed seamlessly onto the newly migrated virtual machines as part of the migration process.
Filed under: HyperV, HyperV R2