Scratch The Surface : Hyper-V

Server and Client Virtualization day to learn more about Microsofts virtualization technology.

Bart Bultinck — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:27:35 GMT

Can't read this mail? View the online version here.

TechNet Event: Learn how to use Virtualization from the Desktop to the Datacenter

Using products that span the desktop to the data center, you can bring capacities online in real-time, as needed; streamline and provision applications, services and data on-demand; accelerate backup and recovery, and enhance availability so that your users are well protected against system failure and service interruptions.
This event will consist out of two tracks one for Data Center Virtualization and one for Desktop Virtualization.
Following technologies will be covered:

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization
Application Virtualization
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Windows Server 2008 R2 - Hyper-V
System Center Virtual Machine Manager
...

Hyper-V microsoft virtual bios: failed to resume

Bart Bultinck — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:09:46 GMT

While performing some maintaince on a hyperV host i encountered the following error “microsoft virtual bios: failed to resume” when starting a guest. After this error the guest disappeared from the hyperV gui.

After some troubleshooting (recreating the configuration manually) i noticed that the vmc configuration xml file always gets hosed up (tags in wrong places). bizarro…

then i saw the little trendmicro icon @ the bottom and I disabled the trendmicro services. After this I was able to start guests and edit guests again.

A great sigh of relief later I found this support article : http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;961804

“ Creating or starting a Hyper-V virtual machine on Windows Server 2008 or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 may fail with error: 0x800704C8 “

You may experience one of the following issues on a Windows Server 2008 system with the Hyper-V role installed or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008:
·         When you attempt to create or start a virtual machine, you receive one of the following errors:
·         The requested operation cannot be performed on a file with a user-mapped section open. (0x800704C8)
·         ‘VMName’ Microsoft Synthetic Ethernet Port (Instance ID {7E0DA81A-A7B4-4DFD-869F-37002C36D816}): Failed to Power On with Error 'The specified network resource or device is no longer available.' (0x80070037).
·         The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request. (0x800703E3)
·         Virtual machines disappear from the Hyper-V Management Console

This issue can be caused by antivirus software that is installed in the parent partition and the real-time scanning component is configured to monitor the Hyper-V virtual machine files.

So then i configured the trend micro agents to exclude the necessary folders. Should have known this one in advance :-) …….

//Bart

System Center Data Protection manager 2007 - SP1 features.

Bart Bultinck — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:53:00 GMT

Back in june i posted this blogpost on what to expect from DPM2007 SP1.
Some weeks ago I attended a session hosted by the Belgian system center user group about DPM where there was a slide on what will be included in SP1.

SCR protection for Exchange 2007
support for mirrored Databases and for SQL2008
support for indexes in sharepoint
support for HyperV !
and local datastorage backup
you will be able to use shared tape librairies

You can also view this session as it was recorded for the Technet Chopsticks website

//Bart Bultinck

ISCSI target software for short term lab projects....

Bart Bultinck — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:44:00 GMT

Hi!

Just did another implementation of a DELL Equallogic PS5000XV iscsi array which is very nice and powerfull equipment well suited for the virtualisation project I'm currently working on.
I just had a "few thingies" I wanted to try out offline so I booted up my virtual lab and started to search for iscsi target software.
I used openfiler before and as this is great software (and free) I was going to build me a openfiler VM again just when I happened to cross a blogpost about the MS ISCSI target software trial software used in their storage server suite.

So i didn't have to build another VM and i could just load the trial software on a VM . 2 mins later I had a working iscsi target server. Hooray for productivity !

Download the trial by clicking here.
Source : http://blogs.technet.com/quenguyen/archive/2008/10/16/test-driving-windows-storage-server.aspx

//Bart

Configuring Updates Stage 3 of 3 hangs when installing Hyper-V on a HP server

Bart Bultinck — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:58:37 GMT

I’m posting this as i have encountered this… the solution is in KB950792
After you enable, disable, or update Hyper-V technology on a Windows Server 2008-based computer, the process stops responding. When you try to enable or update Hyper-V, the computer stalls at "Configuring Updates Stage 3 of 3." In this case, only 54 percent of the process is completed. When you try to disable Hyper-V, the computer stalls at "Configuring Updates Stage 3 of 3." In this case, only 75 percent of the process is completed.
The cause of this problem : HP network configuration utility.

simple solution : To prevent this problem, uninstall the HP Network Configuration Utility before you enable, disable, or update Hyper-V!!!

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1.Shut down the computer.

2.Insert the installation CD for Windows Server 2008, and then start the computer from the CD.

3.Set your language preference, and then click Next.

4.Click Repair your computer.

5.Select the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
Note You may have to provide disk controller drivers at this point. Click Load Drivers, and then enter the location for the disk controller drivers.

6.In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.

7.In the Choose a recovery tool screen, select Command Prompt.

8.At the command prompt, type C:, and then press ENTER.

9.Type cd Program Files\HP\NCU, and then press ENTER.

10.Type ren cpqteam.dll cpqteam.dll.safe, and then press ENTER.

11.Type exit, and then press ENTER. The System Recovery Options screen is displayed.

12.Click Restart.

13.When the server restarts, the configuration of Hyper-V automatically continues.

14.When the configuration process is completed, follow these steps:

a. Open the "C:\Program Files\HP\NCU" folder.

b. Rename the Cpqteam.dll.safe file to Cpqteam.dll.

15.Restart the computer.

To prevent this problem, uninstall the HP Network Configuration Utility before you enable, disable, or update Hyper-V.

source KB

Hope this Helps anyone out there…

//Bart Bultinck

storage investments needed

Bart Bultinck — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:26:10 GMT

looks like I may need to acquire an additional 5.99 PB to copy some files. I got this when I tried to extract the evaluation VHD for server 2008 for HYPER-V.

//Bart Bultinck

my 15 minutes of fame - SCVMM & SCDPM customercase

Bart Bultinck — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:35:56 GMT

Some time ago my customer and myself joined the IT-PRO MOMENTUM program in order to accelerate our roll-out of system center virtual machine manager and system center data protection manager.

And last week we made a small video about this project that will be appearing later on Technet Edge i believe. Looking forward for the results...
I'll be posting more stuff about this project later on...

Yours truly explaining why SCVMM and SCDPM are great (not much explaining needed)

A little powder to make the head less shiny :-)

//Bart Bultinck

Infrastructure planning and design (IPD) - WSSRA

Bart Bultinck — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:58:58 GMT

The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, with each guide addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario.

Overview

Infrastructure Planning and Design guides share a common structure, including:

Definition of the technical decision flow through the planning process.
Listing of decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.
Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.
Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

These guides complement product documentation by focusing on infrastructure design options.
Each guide leads the reader through critical infrastructure design decisions, in the appropriate order, evaluating the available options for each decision against its impact on critical characteristics of the infrastructure. The IPD Series highlights when service and infrastructure goals should be validated with the organization and provides additional questions that should be asked of service stakeholders and decision makers.
IPD consists of the following downloadable packages:

Infrastructure Planning and Design Series Introduction
Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization
Windows Server Virtualization (for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1)
New! Windows Deployment Services
New! Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
New! Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services

The guides are available as individual downloads or as a single all-in-one package.

Hyper-V stuff: wireless networking

Bart Bultinck — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:54:30 GMT

I'm spending quit some time on virtualisation using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 and recently started to play around with Hyper-V and windows server 2008.
It's big fun playing around with the new technology.
Up next: waiting for the hardware and start clustering ;-)

One thing i encountered and entered in my todo list to look after was the problems i got trying to connect to my wireless lan.
But thanks to Ben Armstrong i can scrap that todo from my list:

Using Hyper-V with a wireless adapter

//Bart