The Full Circle (www.thefullcircle.com) is a Microsoft Partner for both Online Services such as Office 365 (Public Cloud), and Virtualisation using Hyper-V with System Center (Private Cloud).

As part of this commitment we regularly attend Microsoft training and events, and over the course of this week there are a number of ‘Tech Days’ covering various industry hot topics – Cloud, Mobile, Web, Client and Server aimed at two distinct audiences – IT Pro’s and Developers.

Just over a year ago we attended the Virtualisation Summit TechDays event as covered in http://blog.thefullcircle.com/2010/04/12/microsoft-techdays-virtualization-summit-from-the-desktop-to-the-datacenter/
Today’s topic from the Vue Cinema in Fulham, West London (around the corner from the office ) is a continuation of last year’s theme – Private Cloud – running your own utility based compute platform using Microsoft technologies,  namely Hyper-V for virtualisation and System Center for management.

This 1-day event will provide you with an understanding of the latest technical updates for your datacentre & infrastructure investments. This event will share more expert knowledge and information than ever – with deep dive sessions on the Windows Server 2008 R2 platform, Hyper-V virtualization capability, and System Center end-to-end service management capabilities.

For more information, please visit: http://uktechdays.cloudapp.net/techdays-live/delivering-it-as-a-service-with-the-microsoft-private-cloud

Transforming your Datacentre

Kevin Sangwell

Virtualisation + Fabric Management + Mature Operations and Service Management + Cloud Principals = Private Cloud

a lot of benefit is based on stove pipes of provisioning teams – racking team handing off to system build, waiting on networks for VLANS, then storage team for LUNs, etc. to give the average time from order to service ready of a new server being c.12 weeks start to end.

In reality do many large IT shops still behave this way?  unfortunately for a lot of enterprise shops the answer is yes, this, is of course, fortunate for us!

Building the foundation: Server Virtualisation and Management

Julius Davies & Clive Watson (Data Centre Technology Specialists)

Evangelising Hyper-V, also introduced Hyper-V Server as ‘Enterprise’ but cut-down without GUI, same capabilities… in terms of CPU (64 Cores), Memory (1TB), etc. and the difference being that Enterprise and Data Center have licensing rights to run more VMs… this took me by surprise and at the break discussed with Stuart Leddy, old friend of ‘The Circle’ and Microsoft Core Infrastructure Marketing Lead – Server & Tools Business Group.

Hyper-V R2 Server is akin to Enterprise but cut-back, rather than the original Hyper-V Server which was more like Server Core with Standard constraints (32GB, etc.)…
since R2 – 1TB memory, 64 CPU cores – see:

Q. Are there any limitations to the number of processors and/or cores that Microsoft Hyper-V Server can utilize?

A. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 supports systems with up to 64 logical processors on the physical machine.

Q. Are there any physical memory limitations to Microsoft Hyper-V Server?

A. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 supports up to 1 TB of physical memory.

Teaming Support provided by NIC vendor

Intel = PROSet, Broadcom = BACS, HP = NCU
Best practise: :install/enable Hyper-V, then install networking utilities…. ???? WTF?  perhaps before configuring networking?  surely you present a Teamed NIC to Hyper-V rather than abstract post event

Hyper-V Networking for Clusters – guide at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff428137(WS.10).aspx

Best practise suggesting 5 separate networks!!  host mgmt, heartbeat, CSV’s, live migration, VM traffic, if iSCSI x2 with MPIO!  (interestingly their demo platform used 3 – Corpnet (External), Live Migration, and Storage

How can we better manage?

Clive talked about SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1… but not much SCVMM 2012… a shame!

interesting use of the term ‘evacuate virtual machines to another host’ (implementing a PRO Tip), and ‘rehydrating’ back onto a host once fixed.  Usual demo of Self Service and breaking VM’s – audit trail, etc.

ahha..a little bit about v.Next / 2012 – its all about Fabric Management!

VMM Self-Service Portal 2.0 – bringing business requests and IT service delivery/provisioning together.

HP Hyper-V Reference Architecture

Adam Richardson, HP & Neil MacCuish, CSC

Adam dot Richardson @HP.com – a sales guy, but a good sales guy.  Talking about the shape of HP customers and their agility, or rather, in a lot of cases lack of… 1 customer who took 18months to deploy a mail platform – yikes!

Some ‘Hyper-Customers’ – in excess of 100,000 servers installed – Microsoft is one of them.

Hyper-V Cloud Reference

Virtualisation at the Royal Mail

Customer Profile
The government owned Royal Mail Group (RMG) is responsible for universal mail collection and delivery in the United Kingdom and delivers more than 70 million items every working day.
Business Situation
RMG needed to improve the resilience and flexibility of its IT infrastructure to prepare the company to meet the challenge of a changing market for postal services.
Solution
The company looked to CSC as its IT outsourcing and systems integration partner to virtualise its servers using the Hyper-V feature of Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter.

Summary / Headlines

• 9 months to platform ready
• up to 720 Guest VM’s over 2 x HP 16 slot blade enclosures
• Delivered against plan** (of course, it evolved)

Key Points & Learnings

• Issues not really technology based – people change are harder
• ** Build it and they will come! – once the business realises you’re faster they will come to you
• Keeping it green, Service Integration
• One team – HP/CSC/Microsoft – go to meetings together, share the issues, share the plan

Managing your infrastructure with System Center

Ellis Paul & Paul Collins

Presenting your business case for Private Cloud

Adam Collins, Risual

Cloud, over time will allow a closer alignment between IT and the business by giving back time to focus on more strategic objectives and decision making. Understanding how to position with the business, build a technology roadmap and deliver long term value from your current and future investments is a critical task that can’t be put off any longer. Within this session you will be presented with the necessary tools to support you in taking advantage of Cloud solutions from both an experienced IT consultancy in Risual and a global customer in Paul Smith.

Very interesting session starting with the driver being ‘ensure predictable IT costs’ with five pillars to support:

Business
Service Delivery
Sustainability (Green IT) –
Contract Management –

Assumed Benefits – Financial, Operational Efficiency, Governance, CSAT, Innovation, Agility, Sustainable IT

Hyper-V and System Center- Competitive Comparisons

Matt McSpirit

You’ll learn more about the different components within the Hyper-V and System Center, but more specifically, how they can provide a greater level of comprehensive management, choice, and advanced automation.

Matt McSpirit for one of his last UK presentations before jumping to Redmond for a career in Corp. with Andrew Fryer doing his ‘Pap’ impression but with a gagging order this week..

As usual a great presentation from Matt who gave a deep (and broad!) session on why Hyper-V isn’t just a viable alternative to VMware, but a serious contender.  In a lot of cases not just a better value proposition (not difficult) but also more performant (not so easy!), and with independent 3rd party evidence to back up the claims e.g. TS workloads on VMware, Hyper-V R2 SP1, and XenServer (Virtual Reality Check – Phase II version 2.0) and more at http://www.virtualrealitycheck.net (same as http://www.projectvrc.nl)

There was a lot of myth busting around the issue often cited that Hyper-V is fundamentally flawed because it sits on top of Windows – of course there is Hyper-V Server (think Server Core), but what isn’t common knowledge is how many patches there have been for VMware and some pretty high profile issues, and as per Microsoft many require guest or host restarts – its not just Microsoft platforms that require reboots!

And, of course Matt plugged http://virtualboytv.com for great content including video walk-through’s and more e.g. bare-metal to live migration in under an hour!! – I’ve used Matt’s site as a handy reference and basic training tool many times and highly recommend as well worth your time.

What next?

For more information on what The Full Circle can do to help you find your way in the clouds, see http://www.thefullcircle.com/whatWeDo/Pages/Cloud.aspx

Another way of getting a physical host converted to a VM is to back it up, create a VM container, and restore into the new virtual machine, then go through the steps to strip back the hardware and system drivers as normal.

First you’ve got to get a good bare metal recovery backup and for the purposes of this post I’m just going to cover a Windows Server 2008 R2 source/physical server.

Bare Metal Backup on Windows Server 2008 R2

Obviously you need the backup components installed – Add/Remove Features – Windows Server Backup, or scripted using start /w ocsetup WindowsServerBackup

Launch Windows Server Backup and select ‘Bare metal recovery’ – all components to support a bare metal recovery will be checked, if you’ve installed any programs to another disk other than the %HOMEDRIVE% you may find you need to backup more than one disk volume..

C:>wbadmin get status
wbadmin 1.0 – Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.
The backup of volume System(C:) successfully completed.
The backup of volume Data(D:) successfully completed.
Creating a backup of volume Logs(E:), copied (12%).

Backup time: 17/05/2011 00:00
Backup location: Network Share labeled \thefullcircle.localBackups
Version identifier: 05/16/2011-23:00
Can recover: Volume(s), File(s), Application(s), Bare Metal Recovery, System State

If the backup drive is an external drive such as a USB this would be reported as:

Backup target: 1394/USB Disk labeled X:

Restore using Windows System Image Recovery

In this case again we are using Windows Server 2008 R2 boot media but this can also be performed using a Windows 7 or ERD Commander WinPE environment, of course technically this is WinRE.

1) Boot from your media, make any language, locale, and keyboard selections

2)  Rather than Install now, select Repair your computer

3) Select Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier.

4) If you’re quick enough skip trying to find an image, but more likely you will get a dialogue advising that Windows cannot find a system image on this computer, that’s fine – click Cancel, then Next.

5) At the re-image your computer prompt, select Advanced…

6) You can then search your network for an image, or you may need to load drivers (should be unlikely with the driver support of Windows Server 2008 R2 as shares codebase with Windows 7 – pretty good driver support!)

7) Clearly you do want to connect to the network (if you have DHCP enabled happy days, if not take a crash course in netsh commands to set an IP address)

Choose your network location..

9) Enter credentials – there is no point trying to save them, you’ve probably booted from an ISO or DVD-ROM anyway..

10) Select your backup, click Next, then select your volumes

11) Choose any additional restore options such as Excluding disks, loading additional drivers, or under Advanced – restart options when complete, checking disk errors – checked/yes by default

12) A final confirmation of what will be restored, and then ‘another’ final check, Yes is the only option unless you’ve changed your mind about doing a restore today…

Wot no disk partitions, volumes, or anything to restore to?

Then you may get this message..

or this one

which takes you back to..

and you can get busy with diskpart, etc. from within a Command Prompt (surely that’s a Command Shell?)… select the disk, create a primary partition, make it active, and then start again..

or just let the machine do the work.. click Restart and start again.. (again!)

Older systems consuming a relatively high amount of energy and space for what is now very low processing power, can be converted to VM’s hosted on much more powerful hardware for a similar footprint but with much increased agility through the well understood benefits of virtualisation.

A recent project The Full Circle (www.thefullcircle.com) undertook as part of our private cloud practise, was to rationalise several older HP ProLiant DL360 servers (one had a BIOS dated 08/03/2001 – over 10 years old!) each taking 1U of rack space, some with dual power supplies, dual network adaptors, mirrored disks, etc. all generating high heat output (which in turn has high cooling costs).

Online Windows server capture using Sysinternals Disk2vhd utility

If you haven’t got Microsoft’s Virtual Machine Manager suite and you don’t want to spend many hours backing up the source server, creating a blank VM, installing a base O/S and then hoping a restore will work without hours of troubleshooting disparate hardware issues… really?!?!  there is a handy alternative from those clever folks at Sysinternals – disk2vhd.

From Sysinternals “Disk2vhd is a utility that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk – Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). The difference between Disk2vhd and other physical-to-virtual tools is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion.”

Overall P2V process as easy as 1,2,3…

Of course it’s not as easy as 1,2,3… this process may take from only a couple of hours to a couple of days per server but its a straightforward process with no fundamental ‘gotchas’ – although in-between application licensing, network infrastructure issues, and later VM contention (disable those traditional backup agents!) – this part may prove to be the simplest part of the process, which is:

1. Capture of source physical host/server
1. Audit hardware and software build
   (recommend paid tools such as Belarc, but also include built-in such as systeminfo)
2. Full Backup! (whilst no changes planned to source machine a backup maybe useful later)
3. Disk conversion from physical source to Virtual Hard Disk file target (VHD)
2. Build of Virtual Machine / VM hardware to be a near-as match to the source hardware in terms of major physical resources such as CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network
1. Attach the created VHD file, note this will be one Disk that may contain multiple partitions
3. Clean-up of new virtual machine hardware and system software
1. Install the Hyper-V Integration Services (may have pre-reqs..) and restart
2. remove superfluous hardware devices, drivers, and system software (may require several restarts)
3. Check the event logs for any errors to determine if serious or can be ignored
4. Test, test, test!

Steps in more detail..

Running disk2vhd

You don’t even need to permanently install the tool on the source machine, simply browse to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415 and click ‘Run Disk2vhd’

choose your source drives, enter a suitable target destination with sufficient space and click create – this may take some time (as in several hours depending on size, speed, network, etc.)

Setting up the captured hard disk

The disk captured by disk2vhd will be a single hard disk image of the selected partitions/volumes, this may be fine if they combine less than 127GB as the first Hyper-V bootable disk has to be attached to the IDE controller (with a disk limit of 127GB)

Here’s a grab of a SCSI based system which had 2x72GB SCSI disks as a single RAID disk

P2V for Windows Server 2003 onto Hyper-V

Windows Server 2003 machines require Service Pack 2 to be installed before the Hyper-V Integration Services can be installed – get ready to install using the keyboard as until the IS bits are installed you have no mouse!

Removing superfluous hardware devices, drivers, and system software

You need to get familiar with removing hidden devices and how to show non-present devices by following the Microsoft KB ‘Device Manager does not display devices that are not connected to the Windows XP-based computer’ basically:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

start devmgmt.msc

And then show hidden devices, to allow removal of the no longer supported devices, below shows the main areas to cover from a HP ProLiant server to VM:

I’m fairly confident to remove ALL hidden devices, especially if its a device that has been replaced by another ‘active’ / non-hidden instance of the same name e.g.

worst case, you can always re-scan for hardware changes or restart the machine – you’ll be doing a restart (or two or more..) at the end of the process anyway.

Some things should be removed that are not hidden

Some devices won’t be hidden, but if you know your hardware and device drivers fairly well you should be able to spot the obvious candidates for removal, e.g. the Compaq Smart Array Controller drivers used for managing the hardware disk array.. cpqarry2 is definitely one to go..

but most will (be hidden), including related components…

(I think the Pentium III chip can go in this case! )

Note – some of these may prompt for a restart, I normally bank several restarts together, but some system software to be removed may require a restart to uninstall cleanly..

System software uninstallation and many restarts

Most server systems may also have significant software components to uninstall, in this case several HP components that talk to proprietary HP systems management components that will no longer be present in the virtualised machine.

HP Network Teaming Utility – where is that software?

The HP Network Teaming Utility – easily spotted on most HP Windows server systems by the   logo in the system-tray, however the software is not that easily found as doesn’t appear in Add/Remove Programs nor is removed from Device Manager.

Open network connections (ncpa.cpl) and select the ‘HP Network Configuration Utility’ then select Uninstall – you should be prompted to uninstall per:

You’ll be prompted for a restart, and by now the system probably deserves one!

Recreate your Network connections

Its time to dig out that systeminfo report, as that’s going to have a concise listing of the source server’s network settings in terms of IP addresses, etc. – if you’re converting from large-frame/iSCSI with VLANs etc. then that scenario is slightly beyond the scope of this post – sorry, but some things have to be billable!

Errors on start-up?

You are bound to get some start-up errors at the end of the process, although hopefully these should be insignificant such as a w32tm service unable to update from NTP or a domain controller due to network changes (e.g. still testing on a private network).  You may also have dependency components that still require removal such as a System Management Controller via the Service Control Manager (typical event id 7000 stuff).

Fire up the Event Viewer (eventvwr) regardless and have a trawl through the event logs, even if you didn’t get a error starting service alert on start-up you may find issues that require further investigation – effort here will be worthwhile for a stable and error free machine.

At the end of the process…

When you’re finished, sit back crack open a can (if you won’t get caught with food and drink in the data center) and have a think what nice new tin you’ll replace all those gaps in the rack with… mine would be Stella…   Better still, for you, the company and the planet, return a few racks to the data center manager / co-lo provider, and ask for a bonus from all the carbon you’ve saved

Added a week later..

It doesn’t always work…

..and does have limitations e.g.

The disk is too large for a dynamic VHD…

Now more than ever, productivity is at the top of every business leader’s agenda, while proven security, reliability, usability and absolute control are essential.

Productivity comes from empowering your people. Giving everyone in your organisation the ability to work together in real time, and collaborate from anywhere on any device.

· Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a familiar user experience with a reduced learning curve for greater overall employee productivity; driving connections across people, processes and ecosystems.

· Microsoft Office 365, the evolution of Microsoft Online Services, helps people connect in new ways – harnessing all the productivity benefits of Microsoft Office, together with the undisputed convenience of Cloud services.

At this event, we’ll share insights and demonstrate how Microsoft and the Cloud work together. You’ll discover how to get the scalability your organisation needs, while achieving measurable productivity through improved business gains and cost savings.

K2 – Dr Katy Ring, www.K2advisory.com

Martini Solution – Anytime, Any place, Anywhere (Business viewpoint), IT professional view is somewhat different.. how to keep secure, deploy, manage, etc.

Four main ways to deploy..
Public – e.g. Salesforce, GoogleApps
Private –
Community
Mixed model

a key is a common code-base across on-premise, private, and public.. something that is key to Microsoft’s strategy

Cloud & FUD

Fear about Security – is diminishing, only 42% believe it is a greater threat

Uncertainty about integration – although often easier & quicker than moving an on premise solution

Doubts about the business case – regulatory e.g. no PCI compliance therefore prohibits some industries, cost/benefit concerns

Key Message:
Cloud Computing is the IT industry’s best effort to provide the business solutions we need in the era of the Internet

Using Cloud Services to drive productivity

John Jester, General Manager – UK EPG, Microsoft (john.jester@microsoft.com)

Change of priorities:
2008 – More for Less
2009 – Cost Reduction
2010 – Cloud.. Opportunities provided through Cloud Computing
2011 – Add capabilities to the business, more business insights but lower cost & more effective

$9.5B in R&D, 75% on Cloud related activities, 30,000 engineers on Cloud Services
$2.3B invested in Cloud Infrastructure (geo-replicated customer data, public & private, 30,000 engineers, regional DCs in Americas, EMEA, and APAC)

Cloud = more speed, agility, productivity

SharePoint – fastest product to $1B sales

show of hands for who is virtualised in the data center – about 25%, but John saw 100%..
More new servers are virtualised than not, existing install base is c. 50/50 – virtualization has worked

Office 365 – was BPOS but now with Office, plus Exchange, SharePoint, Lync

Who is using – some very large enterprises inc. >300,000 employees

Security concerns from IL0->6 – “no one wants their data in the US”

What happens if you loose your network connection?  building more offline caching capabilities like Outlook

When will Office 365 be available?  “in the first half of the year” June! was the answer from the 365 team

Drive Business Success: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Brad Wilson, General Manager – CRM, Microsoft

Microsoft claim the leader in CRM with 23,000 customers with 1,400,000 users in 80 countries with 40+ languages, and 1,200 software & services partners
100+ hosted services providers for specialized solutions and territories

Microsoft is the biggest user of Dynamics CRM with 40,000 users and 10,000 on CRM 2011

How much in the UK? Launch promotion of £22.75 per user./month for first 12 months if signed by June 30th.

Look and feel like Outlook – Office fluent, Contextual SharePoint

Lots of incentives to move from competing products such as Salesforce & Oracle

Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0 commonality between SharePoint & Dynamics CRM

Release cadence for CRM online is planned to be 6-9 months, in last 30 months has been 5 releases (in US market).

Cloud Productivity Brought to Life

Hayley Bass &

Demo of a CRM online customised property sales & management application interfaced with an Azure web portal to provide a feature rich public website and back-office system utilizing Lync and SharePoint.

https://contosoproperties.cloudapp.net
https://contosoprop.sharepoint.com

Cloud Productivity in Action

Alex Montgomery, Solutions Consultant, Microsoft UK

speakers from 3 customers using CRM Online:

- NSPCC

- Wise Group www.cloudwise.com

-

This fortnight saw the Release to Manufacturing of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 7 SP1. SP1 will be made generally available for download on 22 February

Update 23rd Feb – Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 is ready with new virtualization tools, web resources, management enhancements, and Windows 7 integration. You can also evaluate the SP1 edition with the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 trial. Also, see the Service Pack 1 evaluation resources

So a quick check of the ‘New Downloads’ section of the MSDN download site, and sure enough it was published for MSDN subscribers and partners a couple of days ago on the 16th.
First issue you may face is which file to download, as when I counted there were 13 different files with Service Pack 1 in their name inc. some slipstreamed media for various Windows Server 2008 builds.

But for most that will be the top of the list at time of writing:

1.90GB!!??!!  that’s almost the size of the original product!, however the download contains 3 versions for x86 (Win7), x64 (Win7 & WS2008), plus Itanium

Its as easy a 1-2-3… or is it!?

Screen clipping taken: 18/02/2011 22:22

on Windows 7 a little different splash screen

A couple of months ago I’d posted on SP1 beta (http://blog.thefullcircle.com/2010/08/24/a-tale-of-4-betas/), and having suffered a few minor issues of running a service pack beta I was keen to upgrade.  The main issue experienced was on my test Hyper-V Server R2 build and VM’s loosing external network connectivity under high load/stress requiring the host to be restarted to resolve – not ideal for the a production domain controller, my main Windows Home Server and my Vail test box..

Anyway back to SP1 RC..

there are 3 methods of install… ISO image/DVD, architecture specific executable, and via windows update (with a modification/additional code)

If you have the SP1 beta installed you must first uninstall it before attempting SP1 RC install, I’d recommend wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:976932 as this covers both Server Core / Hyper-V Server and full installations.

Windows 7 x86 upgrade via Windows Update

links and resources re-posted:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/uktechnet/archive/2010/10/27/download-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2-sp1-rc.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproSP/threads

But first to cut to the chase..  As I mentioned to a colleague only today – the Vail refresh ROCKS!!, it needs Silverlight 4 for the integrated media controls to make video, music, photos, etc. super sexy and prompts to install if you haven’t got it – Silverlight’s awesome also!

Microsoft Windows Home Sever codenamed Vail – TP refresh install

So it is R2 after all (I always thought it would be but quite a lot of folks who should know better referred to it as Windows Server 2008 – fundamentally different than Windows Server 2008 R2!)

Screen clipping taken: 23/08/2010, 19:38

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A lovely Vail splash screen, configure a few tasks:

Shutdown with 28 updates later..

Screen clipping taken: 25/08/2010, 10:23

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As our business (The Full Circle – www.thefullcircle.com) is a Microsoft Gold Partner that has been involved in Microsoft virtualization since the beginning I thought it was time we were testing Hyper-V with Dynamic Memory!  Microsoft’s answer to VMware’s memory over commit allows Hyper-V to dynamically allocated memory to a guest machine from a pool of available memory.  This doesn’t allow you to over specify what physically isn’t available (a safer option than over-commit), but it does allow a group of VM’s to more efficiently use memory resource where it is needed – just what is needed for Microsoft to get serious in the VDI space.

From Microsoft’s own words:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V introduces a new feature, called Dynamic Memory, in the Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta releases.  It allows customers to achieve increased density when they’re consolidating physical servers into a virtual realm, providing them with predictable performance and linear scalability.  With Dynamic Memory, IT administrators are able to pool available memory on a physical host and then dynamically dole that memory out to virtual machines running on the host, based on current workload needs.
For a technical overview of the new Dynamic Memory feature, download the Dynamic Memory Technical Overview whitepaper.

So a quick 1.2GB download later (to support Win7 x86 & WS2008R2 IA64 & x64) and you’ve got an ISO to unpack or burn.

1st hurdle on my test install of Hyper-V Server R2 is.. a language blocking issue with the installer reporting ‘Hyper-V Service Pack 1 install has detected unsupported language files’ reporting that Chinese (Traditional) is not supported..

Did I install Chinese?  I don’t think so.. well, not intentionally anyway! but checking both our test and live Hyper-V cluster systems revealed that the ‘Chinese (Traditional)’ display language was installed (by default) per:

Fortunately this is a simple fix, as shown in the picture - at a command line (or Task Manager Run) you can access the Region and Language settings control panel by executing  ’intl.cpl’, goto Keyboards and Languages, hit the Install/uninstall languages button, and finally select Chinese (Traditional), Next.  After a few moments the progress should report ‘Uninstall complete’ and you can close and OK out of the Control Panel app.

Once the language support (or lack of if you wanted Chinese!), re-running setup should run through as below:

And eventually, after the mandatory reboot checking out the Windows version (Task Manager, About, no more winver from the command line in Hyper-V Server or Server Core) should report – Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Build 7601: Service Pack 1, v.178 – yikes that’s a lowish version, and the Build number is significant up from 7600 (more accurately version 6.1.7600), anyway we are only on test system at the minute! (and without EAP support I think that’s about as far as it should go! )
(more on EAP’s and The Full Circle’s involvment in the development of Hyper-V 2008 R2 at http://blog.thefullcircle.com/2009/11/05/the-full-circle-secures-ascom-network-testing-for-windows-server-2008-r2-early-adopter-program/)

next on to the changes within Hyper-V and hopefully dynamic memory!

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta adds Dynamic Memory host memory management and RemoteFX to enhance VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) implementations. The beta release of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 introduces new ways to manage virtual machine memory, graphics and peripheral devices that add new dimensions to the usefulness of Hyper-V.

These features, including Dynamic Memory, RemoteFX and improvements to USB redirection, will require IT manager attention as plans are made for server and remote desktop implementations over the next several years. IT managers who are considering data center virtualization projects should put the Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack beta on their immediate evaluation shortlist. The beta is stable enough for use in a test environment.The SP1 beta became available in July and is offered as a no-charge download from Microsoft. I tested the SP1 beta on our test rig HP ProLiant ML110 G5 with a single dual core Intel 2.33Ghz cpu, 8GB of memory, and 2 mirrored arrarys (2x250GB system, 2x1TB data), it does not have a sufficiently powerful graphics card to test RemoteFX but I’ll be sourcing one!

This system, and all the virtual server instances that I created in my test environment, were running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta version 178.

It’s clear that with SP1, Microsoft is signaling that the server hardware of tomorrow will need to be equipped much differently than it is today if certain workloads, including those that vary significantly in memory usage or desktop graphics support, are destined for the data center.
Buyers that are accustomed to buying server hardware with only minimal graphics capabilities will need to become much more savvy in the ins and outs of specifying high-end graphics cards for data center servers that are destined to host sophisticated virtual desktop implementations. This is on top of the growing RAM requirements of dense virtual environments.

Dynamic Memory

The SP1 beta includes Microsoft’s answer to VMware’s memory management system. In Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 this feature is called Dynamic Memory. I used the Dynamic Memory feature to balance the memory automatically between my VMs based on preset limits. As with most management systems, Dynamic Memory uses policy set in a period of calm to determine how scarce resources (in this case RAM) will be divvied up when in times of tumult and contention.

When I created my VMs, I specified several RAM memory parameters including Startup, Maximum, Buffer and Priority. These parameters make sense in that they specify the minimum amount of RAM needed to start a system, the maximum I would ever want it to consume, a buffer measured as a percentage and the priority of this workload in the overall scheme of business operations.

In my tests, the VMs performed as expected. When I beefed up operations on a high priority VM, the other VMs were starved in order to keep my priority system running at top performance. When RAM requirements on my priority system fell, this resource was reallocated among the other VMs on the test system.

notes from the day..

OpsMgr 2007 R3 – a first R3 release for Microsoft

ConfigMgr 2007 -> ConfigMgr v.Next – embracing user centric targeting

SCE 2010 notes to follow..

DPM 2010, Anthony Tyler, Storage Strategy Architect (aka Foggy, and an old team mate of mine from PSS some 12 years ago!)

Backup to pretty much anything inc. “SAN in a can” but nothing seen as a removable device (so no USB unless you use iSCSI or a.n.other mapping technology)

tactical deployment in line with MS application deployment

i365 EDPM appliance – supports hetrogenius environments via eVault

Full agenda below, but key points for me:

VDI & App-V – still virtualise your apps when using VDI to leverage further coat savings & ROI

Win2008 R2 SP1 – Hyper-V gets ‘Dynamic Memory’ not same as memory over-commit but shares a pool of real server memory across VDI VM’s
‘Remote-FX’ – graphics rich across TS/RDP/VDI using server graphics capabilities – putting high-end GPU’s in the server!

‘Private Cloud’ & ‘Partner Cloud’ – enabling cloud based computing without the budget of Azure or Amazon Web Services!

Using optimised desktop for on-demand application provisioning & apparent coexistance of non-compatible apps

One image per major hardware type – more emphasis on process for application delivery & customisation/personalisation of the desktop.

Deploying Personal Virtual Desktops by using Remote Desktop Services Web Access step-by-step guide

VDI using Dynamic (“Non-Persistent”) Virtual Desktops
- master VDI image then pesonalisation & customisation streamed to image delta – discarded at logoff, roaming profile intact

Pooled VDI experience vs. RDS architecture (Shared Session Virtualisation)

giving a video interview with Stuart Leddy for TechNet Flash

Having an insightful chat with David Overton (SBS Guy) around the prospective launch date of SBS2008 R2.. we think that the announcement won’t be until WPC in July, and then tabled for release in the last calendar quarter of 2010 and very likley post Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1… hmmm!

Formal / published event information below..

Event Overview
Looking at virtualization but unsure about your options? Thinking about Windows 7 migration? Interested in VDI and server virtualization? Want to save on costs but wondering about ROI? Have more questions than answers on the topic?

This 1-day event will provide you with an understanding of the key products & technologies enabling seamless physical and virtual management, interoperable tools, and cost-savings & value. Microsoft Virtualization provides a completely virtualised infrastructure for your organisation, from the datacenter to desktop to the cloud. Please mark your calendar for Microsoft Virtualization Summit on Monday 12 April 2010 in London. Join us and interact live with Microsoft, key partnerships and early adopter customers in this informative event near you.

For all the latest agenda and speaker information, please visit our UK Techdays website: www.microsoft.com/uk/techdays

• Virtualization Summit -
From the Desktop to the Datacentre

Vue Cinema Shepherds Bush, Screen 9.

Looking at virtualization but unsure about your options? Thinking about Windows 7 migration? Interested in VDI and server virtualization? Want to save on costs but wondering about ROI? Have more questions than answers on the topic? This 1-day event will provide you with an understanding of the key products & technologies enabling seamless physical and virtual management, interoperable tools, and cost-savings & value. Microsoft Virtualization provides a completely virtualized infrastructure for your organisation, from the datacenter to desktop to the cloud. Please mark your calendar for Microsoft Virtualization Summit on Monday 12 April 2010 in London. Join us and interact live with Microsoft, key partnerships and early adopter customers in this informative event near you.
8.30am – 9.30am Registration
9.30am – 10.30am Virtualization 360 to End-To-End Virtualization
Dai Vu, Director, Microsoft Corp

Organisations today face many challenges and have certain priorities they must address. With Microsoft Virtualization they can address these challenges and concerns with the essential capabilities Microsoft delivers through the products they already own. When you couple Microsoft Virtualization solutions with integrated management to bring it all together you now have the visibility into your environment, while increasing your capability to respond to the ever changing business requirements. Also, learn how Microsoft Desktop Virtualization can help organisations with their access, data security, and compliance concerns while also providing anywhere access for their users. Learn how Microsoft Virtualization solutions in the datacenter help IT save money, increase availability and improve agility through the dynamic platform and management capabilities we provide to our customers. This allows IT to be more service-centric in how they provide to their customers. This vision of Virtualization will show that Microsoft today has the capabilities you need today with a path to the future.
10.30am – 11.30pm Next Generation Optimised Desktop
Keith Baker, Datacenter Technology Specialist

Many organisations are using Windows 7 migration as an opportunity to change how they provision and manage their desktops. The Windows Optimised Desktop is a vision for how organizations can bring down the costs of client computing while maximising flexibility, security, and manageability. Learn about the next generation of the Windows Optimised Desktop, which includes new technologies in Windows 7, Desktop Virtualization, Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack (MDOP) and System Center.
11.30pm – 12.00pm Break
12.00pm – 1.00pm Implementing a Comprehensive VDI Solution
Matt McSpirit, Partner Technology Advisor – Virtualisation & Management

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is one of the hottest topics in IT today and is an important cornerstone of the Microsoft’s Optimised Desktop strategy. Desktop Virtualization offers new and powerful opportunities for IT to deliver and manage corporate desktops and to respond to various user needs in a flexible way. For organisations to realise the full benefits of VDI, they need to ensure they choose a solution that addresses the key issues they face today. This session helps outlines the Microsoft VDI offering and benefits of an integrated and comprehensive approach toward desktop flexibility and manageability.
1.00pm – 2.00pm Extended Break – Time to grab a bite nearby
2.00pm – 3.00pm Physical to Virtual Management with System Center
Julius Davies & Clive Watson, Datacenter Technology Specialists

Virtualization has transformed how IT can deliver the applications and services to their customers in a very dynamic climate. But not all applications and machines are great candidates for virtualization, and it will take some time for IT to move all of the applications that can be converted to virtual machines. This session will discuss how an IT organisation can leverage System Center, a comprehensive set of integrated management tools, allowing you to keep complexity to a minimum and streamline operations. A common management environment reduces training, ensures uniform policy application and simplifies maintenance by leveraging your existing software, personnel, and most importantly, your existing IT management process.
3.00pm – 3.30pm Break
3.30pm – 4.30pm Deploying Business Critical Workloads and Applications
Dai Vu, Director Microsoft Corp

This session will cover how Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V provides an optimal platform for running your business critical workloads like Exchange, SQL and SharePoint as well as other various applications and workloads, including best practices, key concepts and other considerations.
4.30pm – 5.30pm Building a Foundation for Your Private Cloud
Sohbat Ali, Solution Architect

Windows Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft System Center family of products are enabling customers to build the foundation for a private cloud infrastructure by using the Dynamic Infrastructure Toolkit for System Center (availability scheduled in the first half of 2010). This free, partner-extensible toolkit will provide you architectural roadmap, deployment guidance, best practices, and familiar tools to create agile, virtualized IT infrastructures. This session will provide more information on the toolkit components, and how you can improve your datacenter efficiency by lowering the overall costs of on-boarding, deployment, and management.