Jason Yoder, MCT

In Hyper-V R1, we had the option to export out a VM and then later import it back in again.  For many in testing environments, this created large export files when only the VM with a specific snapshot was needed.  With Hyper-V R2 we can now create a new VM from a snapshot of another one.  This is advantageous because now you can create an entire new VM without all the extra files from other snapshots that you may not want.  Take a look at my screen shot below of my snapshot tree. Let’s say that I want to create a new VM from this one. Apply the snapshot that you want to use as the base for the new VM. Right click the VM and select Export.  Give it a location and click Export . One thing that I do not like about this process is that you will not see any progress bars or other indicators to let you know when the export is finished.  Your VMs will not be able to start until the export is completed.  If you look in the destination that you specified, ...

VMQ allows for packets destined for a virtual network adapter to be delivered directly to that adapter instead of first being copied from the management operating system to the virtual machine.  When a VMQ is created, all the data directed for the VM is placed in the queue for delivery to the VM.  Multicast and broadcast traffic is still routed through the default queue.   The requirements for VMQ: The management OS must be running Windows Server 2008 R2 The physical NIC must support VMQ. The virtual machine must be running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.  Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will support WMQ if the Integration Services are installed.   To configure VMQ, open System Center Virtual Machine manager. Select the VM that you want to configure VMQ and open the properties. Click the Hardware Configuration tab. Check Enable virtual network optimizations . Click OK

Should you have the need to uninstall SCVMM, or on of its components, the process is very easy.  You simply need to determine if you want to retain the database or not.   The below instructions were provided by Microsoft .  You can see how simple each one is.  Below is a screen shot of my VMM server’s Programs and Features before the uninstallation. Below is the uninstallation screen for the Administration console.   This one is for the removal of the VMM Server.  Remember that if you delete the database, you lose everything.  Do this only if you do not plan on continuing to utilizes your current VMM configuration. To uninstall the VMM Server In Control Panel, double-click Programs and Features , select Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Server (x64) , and then click Uninstall . On the Uninstallation Options page, do one of the following: Select Retain data if you plan to reinstall VMM server and want to resume managi...

To create a new virtual machine in Hyper-V, open the Hyper-V Manager. In the Actions menu, click New \ Virtual Machine In the Before You Begin window, click Next The default name is New Virtual Machine . It is a good idea to have some type of standardized naming context in your organization for the names of virtual machines. Enter the name of your virtual machine here. The default location where the VM files will be stored is selected for you. It is a good idea to make sure you do not store VM files on the same hard drive as the host operating system or paging files. Check the box marked Store the virtual machine in a different location if you want to store it on a different drive. Click Next The Assign Memory window allows you to designate how much RAM your VM will use. You can create a VM with 8MB to 64 GB of RAM. You cannot over allocate RAM. In other words you cannot give a VM 64 GB of RAM when the host server only has 32GB. You also need to leave undesignated...

Maintenance Mode in VMM allows you to perform upgrades or other administrative duties that would not be possible with running virtual machines.  For a non-clustered VMM server, the VMs are placed in a saved state.  In a cluster VMM environment, you will get two options: Live migrate all highly available VMs, place non-highly available VMs in a Saved state. Place all VMs in a saved state. Below you can see three virtual machines that are running.  This is a screen shot from VMM. To enter maintenance mode, click the Hosts management option. Now click Start Maintenance Mode in the Actions pane. Click Start Maintenance Mode . You will see the Start Maintenance Mode job running. This will take some time depending on how many VMs are running on the host, if they are being saved or failed over, and how many VHDs are involved. Clicking on the Virtual Machines management windows shows us that our VMs are now in a saved state. Once you have completed your ...

The Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 3.0 is the upgrade to Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool.  VMST allows you to keep VMs stored in your System Center Virtual Machine Manager library up to date when the are not in use.  You can download the VMST from Microsoft .   Once downloaded, Extract and open the folder on your VMM server.     Select the correct processor platform for your environment. Click Run Click Next   Accept the license agreement and click Next Click Next and then Install . Click Yes or enter your local/domain administrative credentials if you receive a UAC prompt. Click Finish when the installation is completed. The installation is now complete.

You have 2 choices when it comes to configuring your VHD files. You can connect them via IDE or SCSI controllers in your virtual machines.   IDE: The IDE allows you to connect 2 drives. You are allowed 2 IDE controllers which allow for up to 4 drives. You must have the boot drive for the VM on the IDE controller. You will be limited to 2,048 GB per IDE hard disk. Pass-Through, Fixed-disk, and Dynamic VHD type are all allowed on the IDE controller.   SCSI: You are allowed to have 4 SCSI controllers on your virtual machine. Each SCSI controller can host 64 VHD files with give you a total of 256 disks. There is not a limit to the size of the SCSI drives except the hardware that is actually hosting the VHD file. You can also add and remove SCSI disks from the VM while the VM is running if you are running the host of Windows Server 2008 R2.

This took a little research.  You need to use the Add-PSSnapin cmdlet.   Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SystemCenter.VirtualMachineManager   This snapin is available on a client that has the VMM Administrator Console installed on it.  Once you execute the above command, the VMM cmdlets should be available to you.

The Default location for storing Hyper-V Virtual Machine files is:   .vhd: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Hyper-V\virtual hard disks   Configuration files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V   It is OK to leave them there in a test environment, but in practice, you will want to move them to different physical drives simply for the sake of better performance. Here are a few considerations.   Move them off the partition that holds the host’s operating system Move them off the disk that is used by the parent for paging. If using multiple VMs on the same server, distribute the VM files across as many disks as possible. If stored on a SAN, ensure reliability and performance will meet expectations. Make sure the location will not only have enough space for data, but also snapshots. Restrict access to the storage locations to only those who need to copy and paste files in that location. If on a failover cluster, store the...

One of the benefits of virtualization is your ability to migrate a VM to another host. Whereas with a physical server, you would have to install the OS, applications, drivers, and then migrate the data, you can simply migrate the VM in the virtual world.   To begin the migration, shut down the virtual machine.   Access the Hyper-V Manager that controls the VM.   Right click the VM that you want to export and click Export.   Provide a path to save the VM. Remember, if this VM has snap shots, all that data will be exported as well. Make sure you have sufficient disk space.   Click Export .   While the VM is exporting, you will see the Cancel Exporting option in the Actions pane of the VM.     You will also see the Cancel Exporting option if you right mouse click the VM.     Once Exporting is complete, these options will go away.   Transfer the exported files to their new home.   ...

  The Virtual Network Manager in Hyper-V allows you to create several types of virtual networks inside your virtual environment. This allows you to create isolated networks inside the same server. Click Virtual Network Manager in the Actions pane to access the Virtual Network Manager.     In the left hand pane is a listing of all the virtual networks currently programed in on this Hyper-V server. Be default, New virtual network is selected. Be clicking on any of the other already configured networks will allow us to make changes to each profile.   Types of virtual networks.   In the Create virtual network area, we see three types of networks that we can create. External :   An External network creates a virtual network that you bind to a physical network adapter. This allows the VMs in that virtual network to access your physical network. They will be able to talk with each other, get DHCP addresses, and access the internet if...

  To prevent virtual machines from being placed on a server that the VM will overwhelm, you can use the Reserves feature of VMM.    Open up System Center Virtual Machine Manager   Browse to the host that you want to manage the reserves on.   Right click it and select Properties     Click the Reserves tab.   Here you can set the minimum resources that host can run on.  A VM cannot take these resources away from the host.  

Below is a list of the hardware requirements for Hyper-V 2008 R2. You can find the original information from Microsoft here .   · Supported Operating Systems: A list of supported guest operating systems can be found here .   · Processor: x64 compatible processor with Intel VT or AMD-V technology enabled. Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP), specifically Intel XD bit (execute disable bit) or AMD NX bit (no execute bit), must be available and enabled.   · Minimum CPU speed: 1.4 GHz; Recommended: 2 GHz or faster.   · RAM: Minimum: 1 GB RAM; Recommended: 2 GB RAM or greater (additional RAM is required for each running guest operating system); Maximum 1 TB.   · Available disk space: Minimum: 8 GB; Recommended: 20 GB or greater (additional disk space needed for each guest operating system).   · DVD ROM drive   · Display: Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution monitor.   · Other: Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or...

Once the Hyper-V server has been installed, you can configure it. Open the Hyper-V Manager console.   Click Hyper-V Settings from the Actions pane.   There are two sections to the Hyper-V Settings, Server and User . The Server settings control the default locations for the VM files. Keyboard Settings     This is where you decide when the “Window” key will be used on the host, and on the child. The default setting is to use it on the host, unless the VM is running in full-screen mode. Mouse Release Key     For older operating systems, you may not be able to click in and outside the VM window as easily as you can for Windows 2008 and Windows 7 virtual machines. In that case, the mouse is captured and you will not be able to click on the host desktop. The Mouse Release Key is the key combination that you will use to release the mouse back to the parent operating system. User Credentials   Click this if you want ...

Cloning allows you to take a virtual machine and make a copy of it. This is a good way to test a new configuration or software installation on a VM without risking taking the VM down. When you create your clone of a VM, it is not generalized. That means it holds the same SID, and all other settings, as the original. For this reason, you will not be able to run this VM in the same network while the original is running. You can transfer the cloned VM to an isolated virtual network for testing. In the isolated network, it will not have contact with the original.   To clone a virtual machine, open Virtual Machine Manager .   Make sure the VM is turned off. The cloning option will not be available if the VM is turned on.   Click Virtual Machines in the lower left hand menu.   Right click the VM that you want to clone and click Clone .     In the Virtual Machine Identity window, you can change the name, description, and owner of this clo...

Taking snapshots Taking a snapshot is a very easy process. Just remember a few considerations first. 1. Make sure the disk that is holding the virtual machine (VM) folder has the disk space for a snapshot. 2. Make sure the VM is either running, or shutdown. You cannot take a snapshot while the VM is paused. 3. Snapshots are not supported in a production environment. Snapshots are good for lab or test environments. 4. Snapshots are not a replacement for regular backups. You can take a snapshot in one of two ways; you can right click a VM in Hyper-V Manager and select Snapshot . Your other option is to click on the VM in Hyper-V Manager and click Snapshot from the VM specific menu in the lower left hand corner of the Hyper-V Manager. It will take several seconds for the snapshot to appear in the Snapshots window.     Reverting snapshots Snapshots make it very easy to go back to a point-in-time. You can easily reset a VM back to its current snapshot by doing a...

Server Core is an excellent platform for running Hyper-V. Because of its minimal installed code, you will have greatly reduced maintenance and reduced attack footprint on the host system. Since Server Core is a minimal installation of Windows Server 2008, you will be working with a text based environment similar to Unix. Also with the minimal code, more of the servers resources can be dedicated to the VMs, and less to the parent OS.   Log into your Server Core with an account that has local administrative rights.   Let’s get a listing of what roles and features have been installed on this server   Type Dism /online /get-features /Format:table and press Enter .   We will see a nicely formatted table of what is on installed, and what is not.     If you scroll down the list you will see Microsoft-Hyper-V is disabled. Let’s enable it.   Type Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Hyper-V and press Enter . This co...

Last week I published an article about how to set your host reserves in VMM Manager.  I deliberately left off with a manual task.  Changing the host reserves only affects new hosts added to your VMM environment. What about the ones that are already there?  You had to manually change them. Using PowerShell on a client that has VMM Manager installed on it, you can change the Host Reserves of all Hosts that are already on the system Open PowerShell (You must do this on a client that has VMM Manager installed on it) Type Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SystemCenter.VirtualMachineManager and press Enter . This adds in cmdlets that are specific to Virtual Machine Manager. Now type Get-VMHost | Select-Object ComputerName, CPUPercentageReserve, NetworkPercentageReserve, DiskSpaceReserveMB, MaxDiskIOReservation, MemoryReservationMB and press Enter . This will show you the current Host Reserves on each host. We can use the 5 reservation properties to change the host reservations....

If you find that you need to verify your DEP (Data Execution Prevention) BIOS settings, here is a simpler way to do it without rebooting your server. Type this command in a DOS command window. WMIC OS Get DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy It will return back one of the following: 0 - DEP is disabled for all processes. 1 - DEP is enabled for all processes. 2 - DEP is enabled for only Windows system components and services. (Default) 3 - DEP is enabled for all processes.

Configuring resource reserves for a Host in VMM is a good idea.  This prevents the VMs running on the host from consuming all the resources of that host and rendering it unusable.  There are two ways of setting up host reserves, manually and through inheritance.   Let’s first look at the inheritance method.  Below is a screen shot of my VMM host groups.   Currently, I have the default host reserves set on them. The image below is from the All Hosts properties.   I’m going to change the CPU percentage from 20 to 25 and then click OK . When I did this, I received the options below. I’m going to select Apply changes to this host group and its children and click OK Once completed, the host reserves for the host currently on that host group did not change.  This is for new hosts added to VMM.  This is not the true inheritance that we use with technologies such as NTFS.  The Host Reserves in the Host Groups should be consid...