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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Presentation:- Hyper-V V3 Demos Extravaganza

 

In this session, i have presented a session on “Hyper-V V3 Demo Extravaganza” to 60 audience at Microsoft Malaysia Office.

Session included with

  • Hyper-V Replica
  • Live Migration Enhancement
  • Dynamic Memory Enhancement

Slide

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Windows 8:- Minimum and Maximum Memory Configuration

 

Product tested:- Windows Server Developer Preview

Few months ago, i have discussed about Dynamic Memory enhancement . This round i am going to explore on how to changing Dynamic Memory for Minimum Memory and Maximum Memory when the VM is running. Not that complex step but just some guidance when changing these memory.

Before boot up:-

1. Configure Start-up Memory

2. Configure Minimum Memory

3. Configure Maximum Memory

Example:-

  • Start-up – 4GB
  • Min memory – 2 GB
  • Max memory – 8 GB

Configuration when VM is up and running.

Minimum Memory:-

You can lower the memory from 8 MB to 2 GB. If you try to configure more than 2GB , then it will prompt an error “Out of Bounds”.

So if you set to 1200 MB. The next range that you can change is 8MB to 1200 MB.

To increase up to 2GB, then you need to shutdown the VM.

MinMemoryConfiguration

Maximum Memory:-

Same scenario on Maximum Memory. You can change the value from 8GB to maximum allowed. Therefore, you cannot lower the value than 8GB. To change lower value, you need to shutdown the VM. If you set to 10GB, the same behaviour apply (mean from 10GB to max).

MaxMemoryConfiguration

Therefore, plan wisely on the configuration before boot up the VM and also when VM is running.

Hope this information is informative.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Windows 8–Hyper-V Cluster Enhancement

 

In today post, we will look into some new improvement on Hyper-V Cluster on Windows 8 (Currently this screenshot is taken from Windows Server Developer Preview- Build 8102. It may subject to change when release to beta and it is tested on my test lab environment. )

One of the key improvement on the high availability Virtual Machine is you can configure start-up priority. This option allow you to configure which VM has the high, medium, low priority and even No Auto Start. The VM with high priority start-up will boot up first compare to Medium or Low.

image

Here is the end result which i’ve configured. (Refer to Priority column)

image

Move on in term of live migration enhancement, you can now perform multiple Live Migration rather than 1 times. The limit of the multiple live migration is depend on your configuration at the Hyper-V Host and NIC bandwidth throughput.

Setting:- refer to Virtual Machine Move Configuration.

image

Here is the screenshot of of the live migration. I have initiated 2 Live Migration and the 3rd VM is put into Queue. Once 1st or 2nd VM complete, the 3rd VM will start to perform Live Migration without giving any error message.

image

Well, i have highlighted 2 improvement: Start-Up Priority and Live Migration Enhancement. Will keep you posted on some new improvement for Hyper-V on Windows 8.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Free NFR License for Veeam Backup and Replication 6.0

 

Thanks to our sponsor : Veeam. They provided a FREE NFR license for Veeam Backup and Replication 6.0 to Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP).

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To get it, click here . The NFR license valid for 12 month.

image

For VMware vExpert, VMware Certified Professional (VCP), VMware Certified Instructor (VCI) or VMware User Group (VMUG) member, pls click here .

On behalf of the ms4u.info visitor and myself,

Thank you.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Changing NIC Order On Server Core

 

For those of you who are deploying Hyper-V on Server Core, there is one very important thing to configure before setup Hyper-V Cluster. This step is changing NIC order. In Full installation, it is easy to change the NIC order since the GUI is present.

However in Server Core, since there is no GUI, you need to change the NIC order in registry.

Before we modify the registry, use nvspbind utilities to capture the MAC address for each NIC.

nvspbind.exe > C:\nicmac.txt

The end result will transfer to a text file. Use it as a reference to identify the MAC address.

image

Once you’ve complete this step, proceed to modify on registry

Go to

  1. HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\services\TCPIP\Linkage
    1. Bind: Contains NIC GUIDs
    2. Export: Contains NIC GUIDs
    3. Route: Contains NIC GUIDs

Sample result on my server:-

Bind

\Device\{F95F9F29-2440-45AF-ADD9-60EA6479FDFD}
\Device\{29D39985-50FC-4B3E-A39D-8C79CDDF9205}
\Device\{1D683A18-B32A-4436-8C61-728F2E57ACD0}
\Device\{D42AB6E5-3C77-430C-95F8-7226B353B6EF}
\Device\{2E04C18D-622C-4217-A1E9-F2B81EFE657A}
\Device\{6BE58993-C250-4BCF-A96F-A43C0A5EBDE7}
\Device\{C10CDD27-6802-43E1-8AC9-3F45FC93FE71}
\Device\{35F54C5A-36D1-46B4-A493-BAAE914D10B9}
\Device\{79BE86E5-1A1E-4136-9A5C-54705045289D}
\Device\{1F01EA62-2D73-4AE0-833A-058781F95140}
\Device\{96790720-8BE9-4465-8309-74EF2142632B}
\Device\{E80BD870-B6C0-415A-BEBB-108FA83B3019}

 

Export

\Device\Tcpip_{F95F9F29-2440-45AF-ADD9-60EA6479FDFD}
\Device\Tcpip_{29D39985-50FC-4B3E-A39D-8C79CDDF9205}
\Device\Tcpip_{1D683A18-B32A-4436-8C61-728F2E57ACD0}
\Device\Tcpip_{D42AB6E5-3C77-430C-95F8-7226B353B6EF}
\Device\Tcpip_{2E04C18D-622C-4217-A1E9-F2B81EFE657A}
\Device\Tcpip_{6BE58993-C250-4BCF-A96F-A43C0A5EBDE7}
\Device\Tcpip_{C10CDD27-6802-43E1-8AC9-3F45FC93FE71}
\Device\Tcpip_{35F54C5A-36D1-46B4-A493-BAAE914D10B9}
\Device\Tcpip_{79BE86E5-1A1E-4136-9A5C-54705045289D}
\Device\Tcpip_{1F01EA62-2D73-4AE0-833A-058781F95140}
\Device\Tcpip_{96790720-8BE9-4465-8309-74EF2142632B}
\Device\Tcpip_{E80BD870-B6C0-415A-BEBB-108FA83B3019}

Route

"{F95F9F29-2440-45AF-ADD9-60EA6479FDFD}"
"{29D39985-50FC-4B3E-A39D-8C79CDDF9205}"
"{1D683A18-B32A-4436-8C61-728F2E57ACD0}"
"{D42AB6E5-3C77-430C-95F8-7226B353B6EF}"
"{2E04C18D-622C-4217-A1E9-F2B81EFE657A}"
"{6BE58993-C250-4BCF-A96F-A43C0A5EBDE7}"
"{C10CDD27-6802-43E1-8AC9-3F45FC93FE71}"
"{35F54C5A-36D1-46B4-A493-BAAE914D10B9}"
"{79BE86E5-1A1E-4136-9A5C-54705045289D}"
"{1F01EA62-2D73-4AE0-833A-058781F95140}"
"{96790720-8BE9-4465-8309-74EF2142632B}"
"{E80BD870-B6C0-415A-BEBB-108FA83B3019}"

Modify the NIC GUID order according to

1. Management

2, Cluster Heartbeat / CSV

3. Live Migration

4. iSCSI

5. MS Virtual Network Adapter

6. Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter

and so on…

Once complete, reboot the server for the NIC order to take place.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Configure Intel NIC Teaming on Server Core

 

Recently, I have deployed Hyper-V Host Cluster and the server came with Intel NIC card.

On Full Installation of Windows, you can use device manager to create NIC teaming for the Intel NIC. Now, how about create a teaming on Server Core. There is no device manager snap-in which you can call. Therefore, you cannot go to Device Manager to create a teaming.

To create Intel NIC teaming, you need to use PROSETCL which located in

C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX\CL
Execute PROSETCL.exe

Before that, let have a look on some command:-

a) List adapter according to Index.

PROSETCL.exe adapter_enumerate

Sample result:-

1) Intel ® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter #2

2) Intel ® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter #4

3) Intel ® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter

4) Intel ® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter #3

b) Create teaming

Format:-

PROSETCL.exe Team_Create (Adapter Index) (Teaming name) (Teaming Mode)

PROSETCL.exe Team_Create 1,2,4 ProductionTeam 802.3AD

Valid team mode:-

  • ALB, AFT, SLA, 802.3AD and SFT

c) List teaming

PROSETCL.exe Team_Enumerate

Sample result:-

Number of teams currently present: 1

1) ProductionTeam

More information, you can refer to http://download.intel.com/support/network/sb/prosetcl.txt

Veeam Backup and Replication v6 has Launched

 

Good news! One of our major sponsor Veeam has just launched a product called “Veeam Backup and Replication v6 “ Sorry a bit late on the announcement since i just saw my email regarding this excited news.

For those of you who would like to know more and get your hand dirty on the trial version, please click on below picture and register.

HyperV_300x250

Once register, Veeam sales rep will send an email and provide a download link. I’m currently downloading this software and the size is around 463MB.

Some of the key features on Hyper-V Version:-

  • 2-in-1: backup and replication in a single solution
    Changed block tracking: 20x faster backup, plus near-continuous data
    protection
    Built-in deduplication and compression: 75% reduction in backup size
  • Forever incremental
  • Agentless
  • Instant File-Level Recovery

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Linux Integration Services v3.2 for Hyper-V

 

LinuxImage

Linux IC v3.2 has just released to public. To get the IC, please go to http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28188

For this release, the major key improvement is Integrated Mouse. On previous IC version you need to use Project Satori in order to get the mouse working.

With the new improvement, you no longer need to download 3rd party support on the mouse.

This version of Integration Services can support the following guest operating system:-

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 and 6.1 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)
  • CentOS 6.0 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)

Other version such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 should use the version of Linux Integration Services available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=eee39325-898b-4522-9b4c-f4b5b9b64551.

To install the Linux IC,

1. Mount the Linux IC v3.2.iso using Hyper-V Manager

2. Access with root right. Type the following command:-

# mount /dev/cdrom /media
[host media]# sh install.sh
# reboot

Screenshot:- Centos 6

image