Entries tagged with hyper-v - TechNet Edge

SCE Vs. VMware: How Do They Compare?

Kimberly Bolton — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:43:00 GMT

Edwin Yuen discusses how Microsoft's newest virtualization products--namely System Center Essentials 2010 and Hyper-V--stack up against existing VMware offerings. He highlights how SCE and Hyper-V are great choices for the small-to-mid-sized company that wants a cost-effective, easy to deploy and manage yet full-featured virtual solution. The presentation ends with resource links for more information on obtaining Hyper-V (a free download) and SCE 2010 (currently in beta).

Managing your Microsoft World - Tech Focus November 2009 Part 1

Alan Le Marquand — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:24:00 GMT

The old adage “A watched pot never boils” could be applied to your servers. “A watched server never goes wrong”, that server always decides to doing something right before those critical moments, just as you are leaving for the day, just before the game starts, just as your food arrives, it never does it when you have the console open on the server. The answer to this is to use some form of “early warning system”, something that monitors what’s going on and lets you know when conditions you deem critical occur. So what “early warning systems” are there and when do you use them?

The one thing Microsoft Servers and the applications that run on them do well is that they expose a significant amount of information through event logs and performance logs. This is a double edged sword, while the information is detailed; it’s also isolated to that particular server. To get a full picture of what is going on across all your servers you have to be able to analyse all this information. So a basic “early warning system” can use this built in-functionality for Windows Server 2008 and above (this also includes Windows Vista and Windows 7 and while strictly not Data Center products it could be useful to know). The Event viewer in Windows Server 2008 has the ability to run a task when a specific event occurs, this task could be a script that addresses the event or informs you about the event. This is a simple solution for a small number of servers, and I do mean small number. Remember if you decide to change the task later, you have to modify every server it’s on. The next step up is to use the same task idea, but have it run on one machine only. What makes this machine special is that it is the target in an Event Subscription setup. Here, all the servers can be configured to send events to one machine; this machine in turn can monitor the events and alert you when specific events occur. This is a little more centralized than running tasks on each server.

The above is not really a system management solution; the purpose of the information is to highlight the basics of a system management solution. True solutions, like I’ll come onto next, process the information in the event logs and in performance counters in a way that makes it easy to digest from the outset and they also apply “knowledge” to issues to correct them for you. The “early warning system” should deliver a view of your servers and clients in one console and allow you to correct issues with a few clicks. So let’s look at the two System Center solutions you can use.

If your data center is up to around 30 servers – physical and/or virtual – you can use System Center Essentials 2007. Essentials 2007 is a mid-sized organization solution; it can work in a single Domain environment or a workgroup environment. It provides a single console view that allows you to manage your Windows-based servers, Windows-based clients, applications, services and SNMP-capable network devices.

What if your Data Center is beyond 30 servers? If you are then there is no reason you should expect a less experience than Essentials 2007 provides. You have much the same requirements as a mid-size organization, just bigger. For a job this big, then you need Essentials 2007’s bigger brother, System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. There are a lot of features that both Essentials 2007 and SCOM 2007 R2 share to deliver a management experience and cost saving experience.

In both products you have a single console that is designed to deliver information clearly and quickly. When there is a problem, the console clearly identifies the issue and can suggest remediation actions. The way the system decides what actions can be take is based on information that is contained in Management Packs. These “packs” contain monitoring settings for applications and services. Once imported, Operations Manager or Essentials 2007 immediately begin to monitor objects based on default configurations and thresholds that are set in the management pack. What makes these powerful are the parts contained within the pack, for example, Packs can contain Tasks, which define activities that can be executed by either the agent or the console. (As a side note, there are over 50 management packs for various Microsoft products.)

Operations Manager 2007 R2 also allows you to track service levels, which is becoming increasingly important for IT Operations as they are pressured to provide the services they are providing are available and performing. This also leads to a need for reports; you can create custom reports with Operations Manager 2007 R2 to meet whatever reporting requirement you may need.

Operations Manager 2007 R2 is a power tool, some thought should be given into how exactly to deploy it. To help there is a Solution Accelerator called the Infrastructure Planning and Deployment (IPD) Guide, if the guide seems a bit much to start with, the is also a Deployment Webcast that can provide some useful insights into what worked, as well as what didn't, when deploying Operations Manager 2007 into different environments. Likewise if you are under the 30 server limit that allows you to use Essentials 2007, there is a Deployment Webcast that will walk you through the processes for deploying Essentials 2007 in different network environments.

In the next post I’ll cover how to specifically manage Hyper-V and your virtual machine infrastructure.

Interview with Aidan Finn - Hyper-V, System Centre and IT Pro Momentum

Dave Northey — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:15:00 GMT

Aidan Finn (Systems and Infrastructure Manager with C-Infinity) talks about why he chose NOT to go with VMware in favor of Hyper-V and System Centre.

Aidan is a System Centre MVP and an active blogger and user group leader. He has been engaged in IT Pro Momentum from the very begining. He talks about how he has used the program and how he shares his knowledge with others.

He closes out by sharing his plans for the up and coming R2 releases of Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V and System Centre.

Aidan blogs here: http://joeelway.spaces.live.com

You can download the Release Candidate of Windows Server 2008 R2 from here and start build your own Live Migration failover cluster.

And if you live in Ireland and want to join the IT Pro Momentum program please email me mailto:daven@microsoft.com

Enjoy..

Dave

System Center Essentials (SCE) 2010 beta preview

Adam Bomb — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:01:00 GMT

I recently sat down with David Mills and Edwin Yuen, who got together for a brief discussion of Microsoft’s IT management and virtualization solution for midsize businesses. With the release of public betas for System Center Essentials 2010 and Data Protection Manager 2010, customers will have the capability to easily manage, backup and restore their physical and virtual servers in an integrated way.

After discussing the benefits of using Hyper-v, SCE 2010 and DPM 2010, Edwin gives us a quick demo of SCE 2010’s integrated virtual and physical management capabilities.

For more information and to download public betas, go to:

SCE 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/sce

DPM 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/dpm

Live Migration Networks

Giovanni Marchetti — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:23:00 GMT

Confused about which network does what with live migration? Problems determining how many networks you need for cluster shared volumes? This screencasts discusses how networks are used when live migration is configured with cluster shared volumes and shows which parameters you can configure to control traffic.$0 You can find more details on Giovanni's blog.

La Nueva Eficiencia - Keynote de Freddy Kasprzykowski sobre Windows Server 2008 R2

Jorge Aristizábal — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:50:00 GMT

KeyNote de Freddy Kasprzykowski - Gerente de Windows Server de Microsoft América Latina donde habla de las áreas claves de Windows Server 2008 R2.

Participa! www.lanuevaeficiencia.com

La Nueva Eficiencia - Keynote de Freddy Kasprzykowski sobre Forefront

Jorge Aristizábal — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:43:00 GMT

KeyNote de Freddy Kasprzykowski - Gerente de Forefront de Microsoft América Latina donde habla de los nuevos productos de seguridad.

Participa! www.lanuevaeficiencia.com

La Nueva Eficiencia - Keynote de Carlos González sobre Windows 7

Jorge Aristizábal — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:55:00 GMT

KeyNote de Carlos González - Gerente de Windows para Microsoft América Latina donde habla de Windows 7.

Participa! www.lanuevaeficiencia.com

La Nueva Eficiencia - Keynote de José Ramón Díaz sobre Comunicaciones Unificadas

Jorge Aristizábal — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:54:00 GMT

KeyNote de José Ramón Díaz - Gerente de Soluciones Unificadas de Microsoft América Latina donde habla sobre Unified Communications.

Participa! www.lanuevaeficiencia.com

La Nueva Eficiencia - Keynote de Christian Linacre

Jorge Aristizábal — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:50:00 GMT

KeyNote de Christian Linacre - Gerente de audiencias técnicas de Microsoft América Latina donde habla sobre La Nueva Eficiencia.

Participa! www.lanuevaeficiencia.com

La Nueva Eficiencia - Keynote de Hernán Rincón

Jorge Aristizábal — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:49:00 GMT

KeyNote de Hernán Rincón - Presidente de Microsoft América Latina donde habla sobre La Nueva Eficiencia.

Participa! www.lanuevaeficiencia.com

Hyper-V: delegare l’amministrazione delle macchine virtuali

PierGiorgio Malusardi — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:49:00 GMT

Una delle domande più frequenti che mi vengono fatte, ultimamente, è come fare a delegare l'amministrazione di una o più macchine virtuali, in esecuzione su un host Hyper-V (o solo di alcune operazioni), senza dare però accesso in amministrazione all'host stesso.

Usando System Center Virtual Machine Manager, l'operazione è banale ed eseguibile dalla console di amministrazione.

Usando i tool nativi di amministrazione di Hyper-V (Hyper-V Manager per esempio) la cosa è un po' più complessa.

Nel video qui a fianco trovate come fare.

Buona visione.

Giorgio

Microsoft VDI Part II - Virtual Desktop Configuration

Matt McSpirit — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Microsoft VDI Part II: Virtual Desktop Configuration

Welcome to part 2 in a 3-part series focused on the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) capabilities in Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services!

In these videos, Partner Technology Specialist, Matt McSpirit, from Microsoft UK, walks through configuring Microsoft VDI, and in part 2, we walk through the Virtual Desktop Configuration!

You can view the rest of the series, and more, here!

Top 10 Webcast Junio: Planeacion de la capacidad de IT

Jorge Aristizábal — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:05:00 GMT

¿Cómo entiendo mi nivel actual de madurez? ¿Debería estar en otro nivel? ¿Cómo cierro esa brecha? Estas y otras inquietudes las resolveremos analizando el modelo de optimización de infraestructura y cómo éste me ayuda a entender si estoy haciendo las inversiones en tecnología adecuadas y de qué manera, incluso, puedo ahorrar dinero.

Orador: Guillermo Taylor - Colombia

Microsoft VDI Part III: Client Side Experiences

Matt McSpirit — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:12:00 GMT

Microsoft VDI Part III: Client Side Experiences

Welcome to part 3 in a 3-part series focused on the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) capabilities in Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services!

In these videos, Partner Technology Specialist, Matt McSpirit, from Microsoft UK, walks through configuring Microsoft VDI, and in part 3, we wrap up by taking a look at the Client Side Experiences!

You can view the rest of the series, and more, here!

Microsoft VDI Part I - Server Side Configuration

Matt McSpirit — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:01:00 GMT

Microsoft VDI Part I: Server Side Configuration

Welcome to part 1 in a 3-part series focused on the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) capabilities in Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services!

In these videos, Partner Technology Specialist, Matt McSpirit, from Microsoft UK, walks through configuring Microsoft VDI, starting, in part 1, with the Server Side Configuration!

You can view the rest of the series, and more, here!

Live Migration: Uma Demo partindo do Zero! (Parte 9 - Final)

Luciano Palma — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:45:00 GMT

No penúltimo capítulo da série, apresentamos uma técnica bastante objetiva para avaliar o processo de Live Migration e medir o tempo de "BlackOut".
Neste último capítulo, será demonstrado mais um novo recurso do Windows Server 2008 R2: o Redirecionamento de Acesso à Storage.
Confira mais essa novidade!

Live Migration: Uma Demo partindo do Zero! (Parte 8)

Luciano Palma — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:37:00 GMT

Você pode acompanhar, no capítulo anterior, o migração de uma máquina virtual de um host para outro praticamente sem interrupção num vídeo que estava sendo assistido via conexão RDP.
Neste vídeo, utilizamos uma planilha Excel criada especialmente para medir, de forma muito precisa, qual é exatamente o tempo de "interrupção" que a máquina virtual sofre, também conhecido como tempo de "Blackout".
De novo, este valor não é uma referência devido ao hardware utilizado, mas o processo é válido para ser utilizado em qualquer ambiente (inclusive a planilha, disponível no SkyDrive do grupo TechNetBR*).
Depois, o Hara explica com mais detalhes o que aconteceu durante a migação, mostrando através do "Performance Monitor" quais recursos são utilizados durante o Live Migration (Como a tranferência ocorre de memória para memória, há um pico de uso de Rede e Processador, praticamente sem uso de Disco).

* Não tem acesso ao grupo TechNetBR? Clique aqui e solicite, mencionando "TechNet Edge".

Windows Server 2008 R2, Remote Desktop, VDI and Virtualization

James O'Neill — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:01:00 GMT

With the arrival of Server 2008 R2 the range of choices an IT pro has for delivering an application to users desktops is quite bewildering. In this video we look at the new Remote-Desktop - how it it builds on the technologies we have had, but also how new possibilities to deliver a virtual desktop infrastucture are opened up by the combination of Hyper-V and the new connection broker

Live Migration: Uma Demo partindo do Zero! (Parte 7)

Luciano Palma — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:08:00 GMT

Agora que já temos a máquina virtual criada no ambiente de alta disponibilidade, chegou a tão esperada hora de realizar o Live Migration!
Nesta primeira parte, Fábio Hara se conecta via RDP (vulgo "cliente Terminal Server") à máquina virtual rodando em um nó do cluster. Ele coloca um vídeo com muita ação para rodar, e então realiza o "Live Migration" de outra máquina.
Repare que o vídeo praticamente não pára (isso não conta para ganhar a camisa, ok?).
Não sei se fica claro no vídeo, mas o que acontece é que a máquina virtual que estava rodando em um nó passa a rodar no outro nó do cluster sem interrupção perceptível para o usuário! E mais: o cliente RDP não sofre desconexão, pois o intervalo para a transferência é mínimo (menor que o timeout do TCP).

No próximo capítulo mostraremos como você pode medir exatamente este tempo de "Blackout" utilizando uma planilha Excel.

Se você perdeu algum capítulo anterior, acesse o TechNet Edge Brasil. Estão todos lá! :)

Virtualization at TechEd Australia

Adam Bomb — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:01:00 GMT

Events like TechEd Australia are often an opportunity to showcase technology from Microsoft and our partners. One of the ways we did this at TechEd Australia was to set up a large demo platform that all the speakers could host their demos in using virtual machines.
I spent some time with Andrew Lee of HP and Jorke Odolphi of Microsoft to show me the hardware and the configuration that made up the infrastructure.
Some of the cleanest rack wiring I've ever seen. Seriously. Nice work guys!

Live Migration: Uma Demo partindo do Zero! (Parte 6)

Luciano Palma — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:44:00 GMT

Depois de configurar o acesso à storage e Cluster Shared Volumes (capítulo anterior), é hora de - finalmente - criar a máquina virtual num ambiente de alta disponibilidade.
Repare que a máquina será criada em um nó do cluster, mas suas configurações e o disco virtual serão armazenadas na storage (via CSV).
É tão simples quanto criar uma máquina virtual num servidor "stand-alone"!

Quer ganhar uma camisa de palestrante do TechEd?

Luciano Palma — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:17:00 GMT

A "novela" da Demo de Live Migration do TechEd 2009 traz uma surpresa para você!
Assistindo a todos os capítulos você poderá ganhar a camisa de palestrante usada pelo Palma durante as sessões em que foi demonstrado o Live Migration!
Isso mesmo!!!
É só prestar bastante atenção em cada capítulo e descobrir a "charada". O primeiro leva a camisa!
Acompanhe os blogs do Palma e do Hara e descubra como ganhar a camisa aí ao lado!

Atualização: O que você achou dessa iniciativa? Responda aqui.

Pocket Webcast: Configuración de Redes en Hyper-V

Jorge Aristizábal — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:06:00 GMT

En este Pocket Webcast Pablo Campos mostrará los pasos básicos para configurar una red en Hyper-V.

Orador: Pablo Campos - Chile

Pocket Webcast: Instalación y configuración inicial de Hyper-V

Jorge Aristizábal — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:36:00 GMT

Pocket Webcast Una manera sencilla y práctica de mostrar “¿Cómo se hace?”.
Descripción: En este Pocket Webcast Pablo Campos mostrará las especificaciones básicas a tener en cuenta para instalación de Hyper-V, junto a la instalación y configuración inicial de esta solución.
Autor: Pablo Campos - Chile