Microsoft Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise

Posted on February 15, 2008


Within the next couple of months, Microsoft will be releasing their latest offering in the server operating system arena.  Window Server 2008 is slated for release in Febuary, and although the technology is still in beta, will soon feature Hyper-V, a built in virtualization engine that will allow Windows Server 2008 to compete with the likes of VMware’s Virtual Infrastructure.  The following article walks you through setting up and managing Hyper-V on a cleanly installed Windows Server 2008 machine.  This article will also give instructions for installing Guest operating systems on the Hyper-V system.

Prerequisites

The beta for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is only available in 64 bit versions of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. You will need a clean install of x64 edition Server 2008 Enterprise on your host system. It is also worth noting that Hyper-V cannot be enabled on systems running inside virtual machines, so the installation will have to be on a physical computer. The beta release of Hyper-V is available only on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Release Candidate 1 (RC1), x64 editions. Hyper-V does not run on 32 bit architectures.  In addition to the system requirements for Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V requires an x64-based processor, hardware-assisted virtualization, and hardware data execution protection. Several vendors have released systems with the required hardware-assisted virtualization. You can view the current list of vendors and supported hardware here.

Installation

To obtain Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, you must do a clean install of the x64 edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise.

Enabling Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V

To install Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V on a full installation of Windows Server 2008, follow these steps.
Note: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V includes Windows Hypervisor.

  1. If you are updating your existing server that is running a version of Windows Server 2008 that is earlier than RC1, you must back up necessary files from the existing Windows Server before proceeding. All steps in the pre-installation section must be completed before continuing.
  2. If you are upgrading from an earlier prerelease or beta version of Windows Server 2008, from Windows Server 2003, or from Windows 2000 Server, select the full installation option when you install Windows Server 2008 RC1.
  3. Ensure that you have hardware-assisted virtualization enabled prior to installation. If BIOS reconfiguration changes were made to enable hardware features, you must complete a full power-cycle before proceeding.
  4. Start Server Manager. To do this, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. To add roles to a server, you must be logged on with an account with administrative rights.
  5. In Server Manager, add the Hyper-V role. To do this, click Add Roles under Roles Summary, and then select Hyper-V in the Add Roles wizard.
  6. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Add Roles wizard.
    Note: It is optional to allow Virtual Machines access to network resources; at least one network adapter must be selected to bind a Virtual Network Switch to. If there is a single network adapter in the computer, a warning popup will appear. It is recommended that at least two network adapters are available.
  7. At the end of the Add Roles wizard, you must restart the system for the Hyper-V role to be enabled.
    Note: It is recommended that no other Windows Server 2008 role be enabled on the host system if the Hyper-V role is enabled on the system.
    Important: Upon restart, log on with the same account used to install the Hyper-V role above.
    Note: To confirm the installation of the Hyper-V role, go to the Server Manager MMC, expand the “Roles” node, and select “Hyper-V”. Verify the two services, “vhdsvc” and “vmms”, are running.

Enabling Hyper-V in a Server Core deployment

One of the new features of Windows Server 2008 is the ability to perform a “core” installation in which the GUI is essentially removed from the system.  In this configuration, when you log into the system, you are only confronted with a command prompt.  This greatly reduces the overall resources consumed by the OS.  All configuration in this type of system is done via the command prompt.  In a core installation, the following steps will replace steps 4-7 above.

  1. Type “Start /w ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V” to enable Hyper-V role.
  2. Restart when prompted.
    Note: To Manage Hyper-V, you can remotely connect to the server from an existing Hyper-V Manager MMC on a different system.

Note: To remove the Hyper-V role from active use, click Remove Roles under Roles Summary in Server Manager, and then select Hyper-V in the Remove Roles wizard.

Managing Hyper-V via MMC

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, once installed can be managed via MMC similar to other roles in Windows Server 2008. Select the “Hyper-V Manager ” from the Administrative Tools folder on the Start menu to start the virtualization Management MMC console. With this console, you can manage either the local system or connect to other servers and manage them.

Recommended Configuration for Guest OS

Hyper-V will support a broad array of devices, support for both 32- and 64-bit and multi-processor guests, and broad support for a variety of storage solutions including iSCSI and fibre channel SAN. The virtual machines will be able to utilize the large memory allocation (up to 64 gigabytes per virtual machine) and integrated virtual switch support to enable virtualization of most workloads.

  • For the guest operating system, install one of the following:
    • Either 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 or SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10 with Service Pack 1. Other operating systems are not recommended at this point, while they may work.
    • A maximum of four virtual processors may be allocated to a virtual machine running Windows Server 2008. For virtual machines running other guest operating systems, for the beta release, it is recommended that a maximum of one virtual processor be allocated.

Known Issues

The following is a list of some of the known issues with the beta release of Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008 RC1.

  • Setup

    In some cases, the Hyper-V role does not appear in Server Manager after you install the update packages. To resolve this issue, close Server Manager. Then, open Server Manager, select the Roles node, and press F5.
    If you use the Add Roles Wizard to configure one or more virtual networks when you install Hyper-V, you may receive a message that the network configuration failed. To resolve or avoid this issue, you can use the Virtual Network Manager to configure virtual networks after you install Hyper-V. The Virtual Network Manager is available from the Action pane of the Virtualization Management Console.

  • Incompatibility with the Active Directory Domain Services role

    If you install the Active Directory Domain Services role and use the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard (dcpromo.exe) to configure that role on the same physical computer on which the Hyper-V role is installed, you will receive a STOP error message 7B on the physical computer when you try to start a virtual machine.
    To avoid this issue, do not install Active Directory Domain Services and Hyper-V on the same physical computer.

  • Incompatibility between the hypervisor and Virtual PC, Virtual Server

    When the hypervisor is loaded, you cannot use Virtual PC or Virtual Server to run any virtual machines on the computer.
    To resolve this issue, remove either Hyper-V or Virtual PC and Virtual Server from the computer. To avoid this issue, run Hyper-V on a separate physical computer from the computer that is running Virtual PC and Virtual Server.

  • Erratic mouse and cursor movement within a virtual machine in remote sessions until integration services are installed

    If you use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to a physical computer and then use the Virtual Machine Connection tool from within the remote session to connect to a virtual machine, the cursor movement in the virtual machine is inconsistent with the movement of the physical mouse and may be hard to control.
    To resolve this issue, use the Virtual Machine Connection tool locally instead of remotely. Then, install the integration services on the guest operating system if they are available for the guest operating system you want to use.
    To avoid this issue, install the integration services on the guest operating system before you try to use the Virtual Machine Connection tool from within a remote session to access a virtual machine.

  • Excessive memory use on virtual machines degrades system performance

    If you run multiple virtual machines at the same time and the total amount of memory in use on the virtual machines does not leave enough memory available for the operating system that runs on the physical computer, performance of the physical computer and the virtual machines will be degraded.
    To resolve this issue, you can either reduce the amount of memory that is assigned to the virtual machines, or run fewer virtual machines at the same time. To avoid this issue, retain at least 512 MB of memory for use only on the physical computer. Increase this amount if you plan to run applications on the physical computer at the same time as the virtual machines.

» Filed Under Microsoft Virtual Server, Virtualization

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