• Guest Operating Systems
  • Shared Storage for Quick Migration
  • Scenario: Consolidate Infrastructure, Application, and Remote Site Server Workloads
  • Key Consolidation Features
  • Scenario: Automate and Consolidate Software Test and Development Environments
  • Key Software Testing and Development Features
  • Scenario: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
  • Key Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Features
  • Scenario: Enabling the Dynamic Data Center
  • Microsoft System Center Integration and the Dynamic Systems Initiative
  • Key Dynamic Data Center Features
  • Published: January 2008




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    System Requirements

    Host Operating Systems


    Hyper-V is an available feature of Windows Server 2008 Standard x64, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64, or Windows Server 2008 Datacenter x64 editions. The Server Core installation option for these editions of Windows Server 2008 can also install the Hyper-V role.

    Clustering features, including Quick Migration, require Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or


    Windows Server 2008 Datacenter x64 editions in the parent partition.

    Guest Operating Systems


    Hyper-V supports Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 and specific Linux distributions running as guest operatring systems. For a complete list and configurations of supported guest operating systems running Hyper-V please refer to the datasheet.

    Processors


    Hyper-V requires processors with hardware-assists from AMD and Intel.: AMD-V or Intel VT processors.

    Hardware Data Execution Protection (DEP) must be enabled. Hyper-V requires that hardware data protection is enabled: Intel XD bit (execute disable bit) or AMD NX bit (no execute bit).


    Shared Storage for Quick Migration


    Quick Migration requires shared storage in the form of either a SAN (Internet Small Computer System Interface [iSCSI] or Fibre Channel) or Serial Attached SCSI. Windows Server 2008 clustering is no longer supported by means of parallel SCSI.

    Usage Scenarios


    There are four key usage scenarios for Hyper-V. They are:

    Server consolidation

    Dev/Test environments

    Business Continuity

    Dynamic Datacenter

    Scenario: Consolidate Infrastructure, Application, and Remote Site Server Workloads


    The biggest driver for adopting virtualization technology is server consolidation. Businesses are under pressure to automate management and reduce costs, while retaining and enhancing competitive advantages, such as reliability, scalability, and security.

    Hyper-V is ideal for server consolidation in both the data center and remote sites, enabling organizations to make more efficient use of their hardware resources. It also enables IT organizations to enhance their administrative productivity and to rapidly deploy new servers to address changing business needs.





    Key Consolidation Features


    Table 2

    Feature

    Description

    Broad guest operating system support

    Guest operating systems supported include Windows, specific Linux distributions, and Xen-enabled Linux.

    In addition to supporting the operating systems above with synthetic hardware, VMs in Hyper-V can run many other operating systems with hardware emulation, including all versions of DOS, Windows, and Windows Server.



    Hardware virtualization and older-version hardware emulation

    VMs based on specific virtualization-aware operating systems (Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and specific Xen-enabled Linux distributions) interact with high-performance synthetic devices that have no physical counterpart (for example, “Windows Display Adapter”). Other operating systems interact with emulated hardware that acts like specific devices (for example, S3 Trio64 SVGA adapter).

    P2V: Physical-to-virtual conversion (SCVMM)

    P2V enables running physical servers to be converted to virtual machines, with minimal downtime.

    V2V: Virtual-to-virtual conversion (SCVMM)

    The virtual-to-virtual conversion in Hyper-V can convert VMware ESX VMs (VMDK format) to Hyper-V VMs (VHD format).

    Quick Migration (SCVMM)

    The Quick Migration feature in SCVMM enables running virtual machines to be moved from one server to another, with minimal downtime.

    CPU resource allocation

    CPU resource allocation supports both weighting and constraint methods for fine-grained control.

    • Multithreaded for highly scalable performance.

    • Number of cores in a VM:

    • Each virtual machine can use up to 100 percent of a single host processor (up to 16 total processing cores per system).

    • On hyper-threaded systems, the single host processor is a logical processor.

    • Multiple virtual machines can execute concurrently to make use of multiple host processors.

    • The number of virtual machines that can be hosted on any server depends on the:

      • Combined processor, memory, and I/O load the virtual machines put on the host.

      • Processor, memory, and I/O capacity available on the host system.

    • Virtual processor resources can be changed using industry-standard tools, the Hyper-V MMC management interface, or WMI scripting (processor change requires restarting the VM).

    • Hyper-V supports both weight-based and constraint-based CPU resource allocation for balanced workload management.

    • The relative weight given to the resource needs of this virtual machine is based on comparisons with the needs for all other virtual machines. A virtual machine with a higher relative weight is dynamically allocated additional resources as needed from other virtual machines that have lower relative weights. By default, all virtual machines have a relative weight of 100, so that their resource requirements are equal, and none is given preference.

    • Capacity and weight algorithms operate concurrently:

      • Contention can occur for the maximum system capacities.

      • Relative weights indicate how to allocate resources during contention.

    Memory resource allocation

    Hyper-V enables flexible memory configuration on a per-virtual machine basis.

    • Support is included for non-uniform memory access-aware (NUMA-aware) scheduling and memory allocation, reducing memory bus contention on multi-processor systems.

    • On non-NUMA systems, Hyper-V relies on the host operating system scheduler.



    PXE Boot

    Virtual network cards in Hyper-V support Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE). This network boot allows customers to provision their virtual machines in the same ways that they do their physical servers.

    Note: To take advantage of this feature, the PXE infrastructure needs to be installed on the host network.

    Active Directory integration

    Active Directory® directory service allows the same directory management features to be used for virtual machines as are used for physical machines, by providing a centralized repository for hierarchical information about users and computers on the network. Active Directory incorporates significant improvements in management and performance in Windows Server 2008, which can be leveraged through virtual machines hosted by Hyper-V.

    Integration with Active Directory enables delegated administration and authenticated guest access. Hyper-V enables fine-grained administrative control over virtual machines with per-virtual machine Access Control Lists (ACLs) that can be managed from within the Active Directory Group Policy Management Console. Event logs are integrated with Active Directory and Microsoft Management Consoles.



    Windows Server Core option

    Hyper-V is available as a Windows Server 2008 Server Core role, facilitating higher uptime due to fewer mandatory reboots for OS patches. Hyper-V can also achieve higher VM density when consolidating core infrastructure workloads by using Windows Server Core as a guest OS. The reduced disk and memory footprint of Server Core can help achieve higher VM densities on consolidated servers.

    Scenario: Automate and Consolidate Software Test and Development Environments


    Hyper-V enables businesses to consolidate their test and development servers and to automate the provisioning of virtual machines.

    Customers across all business segments are looking for ways to decrease their costs and to accelerate application and infrastructure installations and upgrades, while delivering comprehensive quality assurance. To achieve testing coverage goals prior to going into production, multiple challenges must be overcome:



    • Network operations: A test network that is incorrectly configured could endanger production networks.

    • Developer productivity: Developer productivity should not be wasted on time-consuming administrative tasks, such as configuring test environments and installing operating systems.

    • Server operational and capital costs: High-quality application test coverage requires replicating production computing environments, which in turn need costly hardware and human resources. This extra resource demand can pose risks to budgets and schedules

    Virtual machine technology was developed more than 30 years ago to address some of the challenges first encountered during the mainframe era, enabling side-by-side testing and production partitions on the same system. Now, Hyper-V enables better test coverage, developer productivity, and user experience. The memory and processor scalability inherent in Hyper-V 64-bit architecture supports enterprise test scenarios.

    Developers can also leverage Hyper-V as an efficient tool to simulate distributed applications on a single physical server. Deploying and testing distributed server applications typically requires quantities of available hardware resources and a great deal of time to configure the hardware and software systems in a lab environment, to simulate a desired scenario.

    Hyper-V is a powerful time- and resource-saving solution that optimizes hardware and human resource utilization in distributed server application development scenarios. Hyper-V enables individual developers to easily deploy and test a distributed server application using multiple virtual machines on one physical server. Combining the robust features in Hyper-V, such as disk hierarchy and virtual networking, with the value of machine consolidation gives developers a powerful and efficient way to simulate complex network environments. The result is a development environment solution that is very time and cost effective because less hardware, less real estate, and less time are required for build-out.




    Key Software Testing and Development Features


    Table 3

    Feature

    Description

    Broad guest operating system support

    Guest operating systems supported include Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and specific Xen-enabled Linux distributions.

    In addition to supporting the operating systems above with synthetic hardware, VMs in Hyper-V can run many other operating systems with hardware emulation, including all versions of DOS, Windows, and Windows Server.



    Self-service portals

    System Center Virtual Machine Manager enables developers and testers to create and destroy VMs from a configuration library instead of requiring administrator intervention.

    Flexible resource control

    VMs can also take advantage of flexible resource control, enabling testers to assign memory and processor resources that best fit the test or development scenario.


    VM Snapshots

    With the Snapshot feature of Hyper-V, a VM can be reset to a previous state.

    Scenario: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery


    Hyper-V can be part of a disaster recovery plan that requires application portability and flexibility across hardware platforms. Consolidating physical servers onto fewer physical computers running virtual machines decreases the number of physical assets that can be damaged or compromised in event of a disaster. During recovery, virtual machines can be hosted anywhere, on host machines other than those affected by a disaster, speeding up recovery times and maximizing organization flexibility.

    Key Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Features


    Table 4

    Feature

    Description

    High availability through host and guest clustering

    Hyper-V enables clustering of guest operating systems and host computers, enabling a variety of high-availability scenarios. Clustering host computers offers a cost-effective means of increasing server availability, enabling failover of virtual machines among the Hyper-V hosts in the cluster. Using Hyper-V, organizations can create a high-availability virtual machine environment that can effectively accommodate both planned and unplanned downtime scenarios, without requiring the purchase of additional software tools.

    For example, IT administrators can effectively anticipate host server restarts if required by system updates. With a properly configured Hyper-V host cluster, running virtual machines can be migrated to another host in the cluster with minimal downtime.

    In unplanned downtime scenarios, such as hardware failure, the virtual machines running on the host can be automatically migrated to the next available Hyper-V host.

    Guest clustering allows cluster-aware applications to be clustered within virtual machines across Hyper-V host computers.



    Live backup

    Hyper-V virtual machines and their data can be automatically backed up without experiencing downtime (if the guest OS supports Volume Shadow Copy Service). If a server stops responding, its VMs can be restored and started on any other host server, minimizing service interruptions.

    Tape backup processes take advantage of virtual tape drive functionality in


    Hyper-V. For example, if a server incorporates a script to automatically back up its data to a tape drive, that process can still be used when the server is converted to a virtual machine.

    Health monitoring

    Hyper-V leverages comprehensive integration with monitoring tools, like Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), to spot and respond to issues before they become larger problems.

    Quick Migration

    Quick Migration enables VMs to be moved to other servers, automatically or manually, with minimal downtime. Note: Quick Migration is available only in the Enterprise and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2008.

    When monitoring tools like SCOM identify important but non-urgent problems with servers—a system reaching its maximum capacity, for example—integrated management tools can automatically move that server to another physical computer, even at another location.



    Windows Server Core option

    Hyper-V is available as a Windows Server 2008 Server Core role. Windows Server Core as a guest OS helps facilitate high availability for core infrastructure roles. The reduced disk and memory footprint of Windows Server Core will facilitate faster Quick Migrations and faster cluster failovers of VMs based on Windows Server Core.

    Scenario: Enabling the Dynamic Data Center


    Data centers face increased pressure to optimize hardware and facilities utilization, while increasing performance and leveraging business intelligence. Hyper-V gives data centers the agility to respond to changing needs, and the power and flexibility to design for the future.

    Core features, such as dynamic hardware management, Quick Migration of running VMs with minimal downtime, and 64-bit, multi-processor support, enable data centers to rely on virtual machines for even the most resource-intensive workloads.

    Hyper-V helps realize the dynamic data center vision of providing self-managing dynamic systems and operational agility. Combining business processes with System Center Virtual Machine Manager enables a data center to rapidly provision new applications and dynamically load balance virtual workloads across different physical machines in their infrastructure and to progress toward self-managing dynamic systems.

    Microsoft System Center Integration and the Dynamic Systems Initiative


    Hyper-V integrates with Microsoft System Center (MSC), a new generation of dynamic management tools designed to support the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). MSC provides IT Professionals with the tools and knowledge to help manage their IT infrastructure, embedding operational knowledge in the management tools, and enabling the system to manage and even heal itself.

    The essence of Microsoft DSI strategy is to develop and deliver technologies that enable businesses and people be more productive, and to better adapt to dynamic business demands. There are three architectural elements of the dynamic systems technology strategy:



    1. Design for Operations to capture the diverse knowledge of people, such as business architects, application developers, IT Professionals, and industry partners, by embedding it within the IT infrastructure itself, using system models.

    2. Knowledge-Driven Management enables systems to capture desired states of configuration and health in models, and to use this inherent knowledge to provide a level of self-management to systems.

    3. Virtualized Infrastructure helps achieve greater agility and leverage existing infrastructure by consolidating system resources into a virtual service pool. Virtualized infrastructure makes it easier for a system to quickly add, subtract, move, or change the resources it draws upon to do its work, based on business priorities and demands.

    These three elements are the foundation for building dynamic systems. Virtualized Infrastructure mobilizes the resources of the infrastructure, Knowledge-Driven Management is the mechanism for putting those resources to work to meet dynamic business demands, and Design for Operations ensures that systems are built with operational excellence in mind.

    For more information about DSI, see: www.microsoft.com/dsi.


    Key Dynamic Data Center Features


    Table 5

    Feature

    Description

    Broad guest operating system support

    Guest operating systems supported include Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and specific Xen-enabled Linux distributions.

    In addition to supporting the operating systems above with synthetic hardware, VMs in Hyper-V can run many other operating systems with hardware emulation, including all versions of DOS, Windows, and Windows Server.



    Automated VM reconfiguration

    The VM configuration capabilities in Hyper-V enable advanced management tools to reconfigure VMs with additional storage, memory, processor cores, and networking (minimal downtime required to restart the VM). A dynamic data center uses this technology not only to respond to problems, but also to anticipate increased demands.

    The dynamic data center can give a Web server additional processing power in anticipation of a Web-based promotion, for example. If the payroll system always slows down during the last few days of the month, the system can automatically add capacity for that period and free up those resources for other VMs after payroll processing is done.



    Quick Migration

    The Hyper-V Quick Migration feature enables running VMs to be moved to other servers, with minimal downtime. Dynamic data centers leverage Quick Migration to move workloads to servers with applicable capabilities for their current needs. A server providing application updates, for example, could migrate to a more powerful server in anticipation of a company-wide software update.

    Utilization counters

    Hyper-V utilization counters provide server administrators with detailed server load and performance information to facilitate planning and analysis, as well as charge-back metrics.


    Conclusion


    Hyper-V is a reliable and cost-effective server virtualization technology for the Windows Server 2008 platform.

    The move by Microsoft to hypervisor-based, hardware-assisted virtualization vastly improves reliability and scalability for virtual servers, enabling even the most demanding workloads to be run in dynamic virtual machines.

    The industry-standard management tools in Hyper-V enable system administrators to manage virtual servers and physical servers in the same familiar, widely supported interface.

    IT departments use Hyper-V to:



    • Consolidate infrastructure, application, and remote site server workloads. Hyper-V is ideal for server consolidation in both the data center and remote sites, allowing organizations to make more efficient use of their hardware resources. It also helps IT organizations to enhance their administrative productivity and to rapidly deploy new servers to address changing business needs.

    • Automate and consolidate software test and development environments. Hyper-V enables businesses to consolidate their test and development server farm and to automate the provisioning of virtual machines.

    • Provide for business continuity and disaster recovery. Hyper-V can be used as part of a disaster recovery plan that requires application portability and flexibility across hardware platforms.

    • Support the drive to create dynamic, self-managing systems. Hyper-V gives data centers the agility to respond to changing needs and the power and flexibility to design for the future.




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