1. Using Microsoft Virtualization Technologies: Today and Planning for Tomorrow
Ronald Beekelaar Beekelaar Consultancy
Virtualization Seminar - Moscow - 22-Mar-2007

2. Agenda Part 1 - Overview Part 2 - Architecture and Future
Virtualization overview
Usage scenarios for virtualization
Virtualization licensing and support
Part 2 - Architecture and Future
Architecture of Virtual Server
The need for VM Additions
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
Hardware-assisted virtualization
Windows Virtualization and Hypervisor (Viridian)
Part 3 - Operations
Virtual Server host and guest clustering
Virtual Server backup and recovery
Performance optimization of Virtual Server
Part 4 - Management
Scripting Virtual Server
System Center Virtual Machine Manager (Carmine)
For further information
Useful links / whitepapers / software download

3. About the Presenter Consultant and trainer Virtualization background:
Security, ISA Server and Forefront
Virtualization background:
Microsoft MVP for Virtual Machine Technology
Whitepaper at microsoft.com: "Virtual PC for Developers"
Manage all Virtual PC / Virtual Server-based labs at TechEd / IT Forum and other international TechEds
Create and optimize many VMs
Create virtualization tools (Virsoft)
Tools to analyse and optimize VMs
Tools to handle VHD-files
Contact:
Beekelaar Consultancy

4. Virtualization Tools Virsoft
Virsoft Lab Menu
Manage, run, log VMs at events
+ Synchronize VM changes
Virsoft VM Trimmer
Optimize, compact and configure VHDs offline
+ Compact differencing disks + Compact folder with multiple VHDs
Virsoft VHD Info
Inspect VHD files
+ Detect parent-link problems
Virsoft VHD Mount
Provide interface to vhdmount.exe
+ Mount read-only

5. Microsoft strategy Vision of virtualization
IT organization benefit when workloads are decoupled from hardware
Increased availability, manageability
Long term, workloads will be increasingly dynamic
Virtualization is a key enabling technology to achieve this

6. Type of Virtualization
Application
Application Virtualisation
Microsoft SoftGrid
Desktop/Presentation Virtualisation
Windows Terminal Services
Machine Virtualisation
Virtual Server & Virtual PC
File Virtualization in Vista ?
Desktop
Operating
System
Hardware

7. Machine Virtualisation
Operating
System
Application
Desktop
Operating
System
Application
Desktop
Operating
System
Application
Desktop
Hardware 7

8. Desktop/Presentation Virtualisation Remote Desktop
Application
Desktop
Application
Desktop
Application
Desktop
Operating
System
Hardware 8

9. Application Virtualisation
Desktop
Operating
System
Hardware 9

10. Application Virtualization SoftGrid
Traditional Layered Install Model
Isolated Virtual Application Model

11. Application Virtualization SoftGrid
Applications are virtualized per instance:
Files (including System Files)
Registry
.ini files
Fonts
COM / DCOM objects
Services
Semafores, Mutexes
Name spaces
Applications do not get 'installed'
Applications do not alter the host OS
Note: Tasks process locally on the host computer

12. Product versions Product Release Hosts Guests ** Virtual PC 2004
Oct 2003
• Win2000 Pro SP4 • Win XP Pro (Tablet, SP1)
• MS-DOS 6.22 * / OS/2 • Win 95, 98, 98SE, ME * • Win NT4 SP6a (wrkstn) * • Win2000 Pro SP4 • Win XP (Tablet, SP1)
Virtual Server 2005
Jul 2004
• Win XP Pro • Win2003 SBS • Win2003 (SE, EE, Data)
• Win NT4 SP6a (server) * • Win2000 Server • Win2003 (SE, EE, Web)
Virtual PC 2004 SP1
Oct 2004
Same as Virtual PC Win2003 SE
Same as Virtual PC Win XP SP2
Virtual Server 2005 R2
Nov 2005
Same as Virtual Server Win XP Pro SP2 (non prod) + Win2003 (SP1, R2) + Win XP / Win2003 x64
Same as Virtual Server Win XP Pro SP2 + Win2003 (SP1, R2) + Linux (9x distro's) - Apr 2006
Virtual PC 2004 Express
Mar 2006
Same as Virtual PC 2004 SP1 + But can only run a single VM + With Vista Enterprise / only for Software Assurance customers
Virtual PC 2007
19-Feb 2007
+Intel VT and AMD Virtualization processor support +Vista support (Host and Guest)
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
~Mar 2007
+Intel VT and AMD Virtualization processor support +Volume Shadow Copy Service support (for backup)
Windows Virtualization
Longhorn + < 180 days
Implement Windows Hypervisor New virtualization model, requires VT/Virtualization hardware Code name "Viridian"
* Currently at end of support lifecycle
** See for a list of (!) OS that run in Virtual PC / Virtual Server
See KB for a list of supported OS in Virtual Server 2005 R2

13. Usage Scenarios for Virtualization
 Production server consolidation
Consolidate low-utilization workloads
Legacy OS (NT4) and application re-hosting
Resource partitioning (limit resources per VM)
 Business continuity management
Workload deployment and provisioning
OS and application patching (swap VMs)
Isolation / sandboxing
 Dynamic data center
Workload mobility
 Development and test
Rapid provisioning of multiple virtual machines
Undo-disk and save state helpful

14. Usage Scenario Production server consolidation
Consolidate workloads
Infrastructure applications
Branch office and datacenter workloads
Low-utilization workloads
Efficient use of available hardware resources
Re-host legacy OS and applications
NT4 guest applications on Win2003 host
Run on current hardware and current OS
No application updates required
Partition resources
Limit CPU resource per VM

15. Usage Scenario Business continuity management
Workload deployment
Quickly switch pre-configured VM (vhd-files)
For disaster recovery
Eliminate unscheduled downtime
OS and application patching
Deploy and test patches off-production, and swap
Eliminate scheduled downtime
Isolation / sandboxing
Isolate OS environments for untrusted applications
Prevent malicious code from affecting others

16. Usage Scenario Dynamic datacenter
Workload mobility
Package up entire OS environment and move to other location
Flexible deployment of workloads

17. Usage Scenario Development and test
Rapid provisioning of virtual machines
Provide multiple VMs for testing quickly
Use save state to start up quickly
Create arbitrary test scenarios
Recreate reported issues
Avoid use of production network
Use undo-disk to rollback to known state
Wider test range for niche scenarios
Provision multiple VMs with variations
Use difference-disks for easy provisioning

18. Usage Scenario Other server consolidation
Workload
Microsoft products
Sample scenario
Branch office and department applications
Win2003 and Virtual Server 2005
Enterprise customer migrates Windows NT 4.0 applications from 1,000 stand-alone servers to 50 centralized, 4-way, rack-mount systems
Enterprise applications
Win2003 and WSRM
Medium-sized customer moves enterprise resource planning suite onto 8-way systems running Windows Server 2003 and WSRM
File and print
Windows Storage Server
Small business consolidates file and print servers by using network attached storage (NAS)
Database
Win2003 and SQL Server 2005
Enterprise customer consolidates databases on highly scalable IA-64 systems
Win2003 and Exchange Server 2003
Medium-sized business consolidates servers using Exchange Server on scalability cluster
Web
Win2003 and IIS 6.0
Hosting service consolidates extranet applications on blades

19. Virtualization Support and Licensing
Support (two meanings)
Supported by Microsoft Product Support
Technical possible with the product
Needed licenses
On host - host OS and Virtual Server ?
In guests - guest OS and applications ?

20. Support By Microsoft PSS
Vision in WSS Common Engineering Criteria:
See -
Limitations
... all server products will support Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
Each product must be capable of running from within a virtual instance. Exemptions will be granted if:
• The product requires hardware that is not currently supported in the VM environment.
• Core product scenarios fail because of virtualization performance or scaling issues.
Exchange Server Only on Virtual Server 2005 R2 or later (KB )
Certificate Server - Only with Win2003 SP1 or later guest and host (KB )
ISA Server Is supported, but not recommended (KB )
KB Microsoft supports Windows Server System software running within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment subject to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy ...
KB The following Windows Server System software is not supported within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment: Speech Server, ISA Server 2000/2004, MIIS 2003, Sharepoint Portal Server.
KB For Microsoft customers who do not have a Premier-level support agreement,
Microsoft will require the issue to be reproduced independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.
KB Microsoft support for Linux guest operating systems is currently limited to the following list of qualified and tested operating systems: [9 Linux distributions]

21. Pricing Product Price (US) Virtual PC 2004
After 12-Jul-2006: Free (was $ 129)
Virtual Server 2005 Standard Edition
$ 499
Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise Edition
$ 999
Virtual Server 2005 R2 Standard Edition
$ 99
Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition
$ 199
Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition *
After 1-Jan-2006: Free download
Virtual PC 2007
Free download
Windows Virtualization
* Virtual Server 2005 Standard Edition is no longer available

22. Virtual Server 2005 R2 Free Why would Microsoft do that?
Reasons:
Customer satisfaction
Increase interest in Win2003 R2 EE
1 license = 4 VMs + host
Accelerate proof-of-concept test efforts
Rapidly deploy workloads (AD / SQL / BizTalk, etc)
Ease migration to Longhorn virtualization

23. Licensing Windows server licenses
Licensing changes for server products
Virtualization friendly (after 1-Dec-2005)
 Only count licenses for running VMs
 For per-processor licenses, only count virtual CPUs in VM
 Single Win2003 R2 EE license:
1 host + 4x Win2003 R2 EE in guest
Virtualization unlimited (after 1-Oct-2006)
 Single Win2003 R2 Datacenter license:
1 host + unlimited Win2003 R2 (any) guests
See -

24. Architecture Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM)
CPU needs to switch between host process and guest process
VMM switches context between those processes
Computer runs either host context or VMM context
Only one operating system can "run" on CPU
Ring compression

25. Virtual Server Service
Architecture
Provided by
Windows
Virtual Server
Others
Host
Guest (VM)
Admin Web Site
Virtual Server Service
IIS
Guest Applications
Ring 3
Ring 3
Ring 1
Ring 1
VM Additions
Windows in VM
Virtual hardware
Ring 0
Win2003 or WinXP
Kernel
VMM.sys
Hardware

26. CPU virtualization Still one problem left to solve
We want CPU direct-mode execution
Guest OS runs directly on CPU - fast! (99% speed)
When a priviliged operation is required, a trap occurs, and VMM handles operation in kernel mode
Problem: x86 is not fully virtualized in this way
20 kernel-mode read CPU instructions are allowed from outside ring 0 !
Four possible solutions:
a) Recompile OS and applications without those 20 instructions
= avoid those 20 instructions
b) Use Binary Translation execution
= patch code while running on host
c) Install VM Additions in guest
= patch code in memory in VM
d) Use hardware-assisted virtualization
= catch instructions in special ring "-1"

27. CPU virtualization Solutions
Binary translation
Translate guest instruction code to host instruction code
Always possible, but is very slow
VM Additions
Patches dll-code in memory in VM (=similar to a rootkit)
Not possible for 64-bit Vista/Longhorn
Note that VM Additions also do:
Time-sync, heartbeat, shutdown support optimized SCSI disk, and better mouse/video driver
Hardware-assisted virtualization
Use Intel VT or AMD Virtualization CPU
CPU solves the problem by maintaining settings per VM
Can be considered as ring "-1"

28. VM Additions Versions Build Release Notes 10.21 13.40 13.187 13.206
with Virtual PC 5.2
(was named Virtual PC Additions)
13.40
with Virtual PC 2004
13.187
(download)
Supports Win XP SP2
13.206
with VS2005
13.306
with Virtual PC 2004 SP1
13.518
with VS2005 SP1 beta
13.531
Supports Win2003 SP1
13.552
with VS2005 R2
Supports Win2003 R2 and Vista (-build 5270)
13.705
with VS2005 R2 SP1 beta1
13.706
(download - Connect)
Supports Vista B2 (-build 5384) and Longhorn
13.709
Supports Vista RC1
13.715
with VS2005 R2 SP1 beta2
Supports Vista RTM
13.724
with Virtual PC 2007 beta
13.803
with Virtual PC 2007
Get at

29. VM Additions Linux Adds: Distributions (9x) time sync Heartbeat
shutdown support
SCSI disk
mouse/display driver
But not direct-mode execution support
Distributions (9x)
Red Hat 7.3/9.0, Enterprise 2.1/3/4
SuSE Linux 9.2/9.3/10.0, Enterprise Server 9
More available at release VS 2005 R2 SP1

30. Architecture Hardware-assisted virtualization
Provided by
Windows
Virtual Server
Others
Host
Guest (VM)
Admin Web Site
Virtual Server Service
IIS
Guest Applications
Ring 3
Ring 3
Ring 1
Ring 0
VM Additions
Win2003 or WinXP
Windows in VM
Kernel
VMM.sys
Ring "-1"
Virtual hardware
CPU
Hardware

31. Hardware-assisted virtualization Intel VT or AMD Virtualization
Supported in:
Virtual PC 2007
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
Windows Virtualization (is requirement)
Enable in BIOS
Plus enable in Virtual PC 2007 Options
Windows guests do not run faster
Up-to-date VM Additions already provide direct-mode execution
Windows installation is 2x-3x faster
Non-Windows guests (Linux, Netware) run faster

32. Virtual Server 2005 R2 Specifications
Host
CPU
 VS2005 Standard Edition: max 4 CPUs (1 or 2 cores)
VS2005 Enterprise Edition: max 32 CPUs (1 or 2 cores)
Memory: max 64 GB
Guest
CPU: max 1
Memory: max 3.6 GB
Network adapters: max 4
Unlimited bandwidth !
USB: no
USB keyboard/mouse is supported
Workaround for USB smartcard-readers exists !

33. Virtual Server 2005 R2 What's new
Performance
Increased performance
Scalability
x64 hosts: Win2003 and WinXP
Availability
Virtual Machine clustering
Failover VM on same host
Uses Shared SCSI (or iSCSI) in guest
Virtual Server Host clustering
Move VS2005 to other host
Planned and unplanned downtime
Requires script -

34. Virtual Server 2005 R2 What's new (cont'd)
Additional guest support
+ Win2003 SE SP1
+ WinXP SP2
PXE Booting
F6 disk (SCSI disk)
Speeds up Windows installation
Virtual Disk Precompactor.iso
Also...
Supports hyperthreading on host
Reserve space for save state file (.vsv)
Open Windows Firewall ports at install

35. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 What's new
Features
Intel VT and AMD Virtualization support
Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) support
Active Directory integration using Service Connection Points
Vista as Guest support
Includes VHD mount tool
Also...
Host clustering whitepaper included
Default vhd capacity is 127 GB (was 16 GB)
Virtual SCSI fix for Linux 2.6.x guests

36. Differences VS2005 - VPC2007 Virtual Server 2005: Only in VS2005:
Use multiple host CPUs
Multithreaded
Multiple CD ROM drives
NAT through host ICS
Unlimited networks
Using vnc-files on host
Only in VS2005:
SCSI disk (in VM)
COM API
Remote Management
Run as service
Auto start VMs
Virtual PC 2007:
Use single host CPU
Single thread for all VMs
Single CD ROM drive
NAT support
Unlimited networks
Using host (loopback) adapters
Only in VPC2007:
Sound card (VM)
Folder Sharing
Drag-and-drop
Copy / Paste

37. Windows Virtualization VMM arrangements
Type-2 VMM
Hybrid VMM
Type-1 VMM
Hypervisor
Guest 1
Guest 2
VMM
Guest 1
Guest 2
Guest 1
Guest 2
Host OS
Host OS
VMM
VMM (Hypervisor)
Hardware
Hardware
Hardware
Examples:
- JVM
- .NET CLR
Examples:
- Virtual PC
- Virtual Server
Example:
- Windows Virtualization
("Viridian")

38. Windows Virtualization
Virtualization for Windows Server
Code name "Viridian" (= color: rgb )
Windows Hypervisor
Thin layer of software, underneath "host OS" (~160 KB)
Parent partition - manages child partitions
Child partition - any number of OS, managed by parent
Virtualization Stack
Runs in root partition (= parent partition)
Provides virtualization of devices
WMI interface for management
Virtualization Service Providers (VSPs)
Hardware sharing architecture
Need "viridian" drivers in guest

39. Windows Virtualization
Virtualization for Windows Server
Requires
x64 hardware
Intel VT / AMD-V processor
Provides
32-bit and 64-bit guest
Max 8 CPU per VM
Hot "add": processor, memory, network, disk
32+ GB RAM per VM
Live virtual machine migration
Multiple snapshots
No new driver model
Can use existing Windows drivers in guest
Same set of emulated hardware
S3 Trio video card, DEC network card, etc
Support for Server Core as parent OS

40. Architecture Virtual PC / Virtual Server 2005 R2
Provided by
Windows
Virtual Server
Others
Host
Guest (VM)
Admin Web Site
Virtual Server Service
IIS
Guest Applications
Ring 3
Ring 3
Ring 1
VM Additions
Windows in VM
Virtual hardware
Ring 0
Win2003 or WinXP
Kernel
VMM.sys
Hardware

41. Windows Virtualization
Provided by
Windows
Win Virtualizaton
Others
Parent partition
Child partition
Virtualization Stack
WMI
VM Service
VM Worker
Guest Applications
Ring 3
Windows (core)
Windows
VSPs
VSCs
Kernel
Kernel
VMBus
Drivers
Enlightments
Ring 0
Windows Hypervisor
Ring "-1"
Hardware

42. Windows Virtualization VSC - VSP Communication
Parent Partition
Child Partitions
Provided by:
VM Worker Process
Applications
Windows
User Mode
Windows
Virtualization
Windows File System
ISV
Volume
Partition
Virtual Service
Provider (VSP)
Disk
Disk
Fast Path Filter (VSC)
StorPort
iSCSIprt
Virtual Storage
Miniport (VSC)
StorPort
Miniport
VMBus
Kernel Mode
Hardware
Windows hypervisor

43. Virtual Server 2005 vs Windows Server Virtualization
Virtual Server 2005 R2
Windows Server Virtualization
32-bit VMs?
Yes
64-bit VMs? No
Multi-processor VMs?
Yes, up to 8 processor VMs
VM memory support?
3.6 GB per VM
More than 32 GB per VM
Hot add memory/processors?
Hot add storage/networking?
Can be managed by System Center Virtual Machine Manager?
Microsoft Cluster support?
Scriptable / Extensible?
Yes, COM
Yes, WMI
Number of running VMs? 64
More than 64. As many as hardware will allow.
User interface
Web Interface
MMC 3.0 Interface

44. Networking Create .vnc-files to define "virtual switches"
Three settings per vnc-file:
- Network name
- Connected to which host network adapter or to None (guest-only)
- DHCP settings for this switch
Pre-defined vnc-files:
Internal network.vnc
Separate vnc-file for each host network adapter
Unique MAC-address assigned
Unlimited network speed (not max 10/100 Mbps)

45. Disks Data store in virtual hard disk (.vhd) files
File format is the same:
Virtual PC 2004
Virtual Server 2005
Windows Virtualization (future)
Max sizes
IDE (VPC2004): 130,557 MB (= GB)
IDE (VS2005): 130,048 MB (= GB)
SCSI (VS2005): 2,088,960 MB (= GB)

46. Disks VHD Format Free license from Microsoft
techinfo/vhdspec.mspx
45 vendors signed up (April 2006)
Examples:
Diskeeper
PlateSpin
WinImage
XenSource
From 17-Oct-2006:
Unregistered download available
Virtual Hard Disk Format Specification
• Introductions
• Overview of Virtual Hard Disk Types
• Virtual hard disk Footer Format
• Dynamically expanding .VHD Header Format
• Block Allocation Table and Data Blocks
• Implementing a Dynamically expanding .VHD
• Mapping a Disk Sector to a Sector in the Block
• Splitting virtual hard disks
• Implementing a Differencing virtual hard disk
• CHS Calculation

47. VHD Types Base VHD types State drive types Dynamically expanding
Default type: Grows as needed
Fixed size
Highest performance type
State drive types
Undo
Non-persistent, per VM (*.vud)
Differencing
Persistent parent-child hierarchy
Saved states
Flush memory to disk (*.vsv)
Host
1GB
2TB
Guest
2TB
Host
2TB
Guest
2TB
Base
Session
Base
SP1
SP2 VM
Host

48. VHD Test Drive Program New: announced 6-Nov-2006
Fully configured VHD-files
Downloadable from Microsoft's Web site
Evaluation versions
Expires after 30 days
Partners can also provide their applications
See for more information

49. VHD Mount Tool Access VHD content offline
VHDMount tool is included with VS2005 R2 SP1
Can install separate:
Use as command-line tool:
Use for copying or injecting files, inspecting, virus-scanning
Do not use for offline patching (yet)
C:\> msiexec.exe /i "Virtual Server 2005 Install.msi" /qn ADDLOCAL=VHDMount
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Vhdmount> vhdmount.exe
Usage:
VHDMOUNT /p VHDFileName mounts vhd-file
VHDMOUNT /m VHDFileName [DriveLetter] - mounts vhd-file, assign drive letters
VHDMOUNT /u VHDFileName | All unmounts vhd-file or all
VHDMOUNT /q VHDFileName | All lists mounted vhd-file or all

50. VHD Enhancements Windows Virtualization
While VM is running
Compact VHD-file
Create new diff-disk (snapshotting)
Create VHD-chain
Schedule snapshot every 10 minutes
Merge
Hot add VHD-file
Add VHD-file notes
Think: 1000s of VHD-files on network
Pass-through VHD - map to SAN

51. Differencing disks VHD files use blocks of 2 MB Read Write 3 Create
Virtual Server service
Read
Write 3
Create
File-c.doc 1 2 3 4
Delete
File-d.doc 1 2 3 4
Grow
Link to parent 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Read only
File-a.doc
File-b.doc
File-d.doc

52. Disks Read/write zero-filled files
VHD file format optimizes read/write of zero-filled blocks
Best example: empty pagefile.sys
Virtual Server service
Write
File-a.doc 1 2 3 4
Pagefile.sys
Write 1 2 4 3 5
...
Read 11 12

53. Compact VHD Files Steps Note: Does not work on differencing disks
In VM - Cleanup
Startup VM without Undo disks
1 Defragment disk
2 Zero-fill all unallocated spaces
Use Precompactor.iso
Shutdown VM
On host - Compact
3 Use VPC Disk Wizard or VS Inspect Disk to compact

54. Virtual Server Clustering
Three different options
Virtual Machine (Guest) Clustering - Shared SCSI
Cluster VMs on same host
Virtual Machine (Guest) Clustering - iSCSI
Cluster VMs on different hosts
Virtual Server Host Clustering
Cluster VS on different hosts

55. Clustering Guest to Guest Host to Host iSCSI connection
Cluster storage
iSCSI connection
Host to Host
Cluster storage
SAN or iSCSI connection

56. Clustering Virtual Machine (Guest) Clustering
VM (Guest) is the cluster node
Application in guest is a resource group
Application is cluster-aware (or Generic)
Protects against failure of Guest
If VM or application fails, then failover to other VM on same host or on another host

57. Out-of-the-Box High Availability Host Updating
WSUS server
Administrator wants to update node 1 with Windows Server Update Services
Microsoft Cluster Administration Console saves the state of virtual machines and restores them on another node
Node 1 is ready for update installation
Shared Storage
Node 1
Node 2
Node 3 VM VM

58. Out-of-the-Box High Availability Unplanned downtime
Shared Storage
Node 1 suffers a power outage or a network failure
A simple script attached to the Microsoft Cluster Administration Console notices the lack of heartbeat and starts the virtual machines associated with node 1 on other nodes
Node 1
Node 2
Node 3 X VM VM VM

59. Clustering Virtual Server Host Clustering
Host is the cluster node
Each VM (Guest) is a resource group
Generic Script havm.vbs makes VM "cluster-aware"
Protects against failure of Host
Application in guest is not monitored by cluster
Function Open() [..] 'starts Virtual Server service
Function Online() [..] 'send start control to VM
Function LooksAlive() [..] 'quick check if VM is alive
Function IsAlive() [..] 'thorough check if VM is alive
Function Offline() [..] 'send save state control to VM
Function Terminate() [..] 'best attempt to take offline

60. Clustering Virtual Server Host Clustering
Benefits
Move VMs before scheduled host maintenance
Hardware upgrades
Software updates on host
Steps: Saves state VM1 - failover - restore state in VM2
Protect against unscheduled host failure
Steps: (Oops) - failover - startup VM2
Run legacy operating systems in a "clustered" way

61. Clustering Virtual Server Host Clustering
Deploy
Hosts run Cluster service
Uses iSCSI or SCSI/Fibre Channel to shared storage
Note: Disable Cluster service when installing VS2005
Each VM is in a Resource Group
Or multiple VMs in same Resource Group
Implemented as Physical Disk resource
Containing vmc-file, vhd-file and vsv-file
Add havm.vbs as Generic Script in Resource Group
Resource dependencies:
Script havm.vbs  OS disk  Data disk

62. Management Pain points now
Existing tools:
Do not map to virtual environments
Provisioning
Backup
Health monitoring
Performance monitoring / management
Do not consider physical - virtual relationship
Ownership
Patching and servicing

63. Virtual Server Backup and Recovery
Do you need to backup VMs?
Because a VM is a single file (*.vhd), it is very easy to use backup methods that you cannot safely restore
Issues are:
Running state of vhd-file
Restore unusable "snapshot" of a database
Best example: Active Directory database

64. Backup of VM Three methods:  - Inside VM, run backup application
Treat VM as a normal physical machine
 - Stop VM (save state) - On host, backup vhd/vsv files - Start up VM
Only short VM downtime
 Not supported for DCs in VM !
 - Needs: Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 - On host, run backup application - Copy 'open' vhd files - uses VSS and VS Writer
VS Writer ensures vhd-file is in consistent state
 Do NOT use without Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

65. Backup of VMs VSS explained
Roles
VSS Requestor = backup application
Initiates backup action
VSS Writer = Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
Ensures data consistency
Freeze
SQL Server
Writer
VSS Service 4
Snap
In guest (VM1)
Exchange
Writer 3
"Backup files" 5 6
VS Writer
Virtual Server 2
SnapID
"Unfreeze"
Snap 7
"Backup VM1"
VSS Service
VSS Service 1
Copy files
based on SnapID
On host
Backup Application
Backup Application

66. Scripting Virtual Server
COM - Set virtualServer = CreateObject("VirtualServer.Application")
WMI - Set vsWMIObj = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\vm\virtualserver")
Virtual Machine Manager
PowerShell (Monad)
Windows Virtualization
WMI - Set WMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\virtualization")

67. Virtual Machine Manager Management ToolVM
System Center Virtual Machine Manager
Code name: "Carmine" (= color: rgb )
Incorrect name: Virtual Server Manager
Shown at WinHEC 2006 (23-May-2006)
See mms://wm.microsoft.com/ms/windowsserversystem/ systemcenter/WinHEC_Content_For_TechEd_MBR.wmv
Available
Beta: Sep 2006
RTM: ~Oct 2007
For Virtual Server and for Windows Virtualization
Is MMC console

68. Virtual Machine Manager Features
Resource optimization
Identify consolidation candidates
Fast P2V
Optimum workload placement on host computers
Rapid provisioning
Central library of virtualization components
Running VMs, offline VMs, vhd-files, vnc-files
Self-service provisioning
Templates: create standardize VMs
Automatic placement on suitable host computer
Distributed storage infrastructure - uses DFS
Host provisioning
Uses PowerShell ("Monad") for scripting

69. Virtual Machine Manager Physical to Virtual (P2V)
Identify consolidation candidates
Looks at peak and average performance
Configurable selection parameters
Physical to virtual migration
Uses fast VSS, not based on existing VSMT
Support Win2000 Server and Win2003 Server
Uses BITS for network transport speed
Wizard based, or scripted through PowerShell

70. Virtual Machine Manager VM placement
Capacity planning everywhere
Used for
P2V, migration, template deployment, self-service
Rating scheme
Hard requirement
Minimum CPU, RAM needed, disk space needed, network usage
Soft requirements
Historic VM performance
Current host performance

71. Virtual Machine Manager Offline library
Contents
Templates
Sysprepped VHDs
Standardizes deployments of VMs
Virtual machines
Store non-running VMs
Disks
ISO
Scripts
Architecture
Distributed
Multiple library servers
Access through DFS Namespaces
Replicated
Uses DFS-R and RDC

72. Virtual Machine Manager Self-service portal
Web based interface
Controls management deployment
End users interact with their own VMs
Deployment based on templates
Resource quotas set per user
VMs may retire after "lease" expires

73. Centralized Management: Views
By Resource Pool
By VM State
By Owner
By Creation Date
By Operating System 73

74. Centralized Management: Reports
Full set of reports, integration with MOM database
Actions one click away in context sensitive Actions Pane

75. Centralized Management: Library
Templates contain both “Gold” image of software as well as hardware settings
Offline Virtual Disks
Offline Virtual Machines
Scripts for post deployment configuration and customization

76. Choose whether to place new VM into library or place on physical host
New Virtual Machines
Choose whether to place new VM into library or place on physical host

77. Hardware Configuration
Configuration of target virtual machine resouces with default values from physical source machine

78. Virtual Machine Placement
Subset physical hosts to appropriate resource pool(s)
Rank-ordered recommendations of physical hosts for placement of virtual machine. Capacity Planning models, historical performance data, hard requirements, … incorporated into algorithm. 78

79. Self-Service Portal Customized Per User
Ability to control owned virtual machines
Thumbnails of all owned virtual machines 79

80. Self-Service Portal Controlled by Administrator
Quotas used to manage resource allocation across users

81. Self-Service Portal Provisioning
User selects from list of templates Administrator has associated with that user

82. Self-Service Portal Provisioning
New virtual machine ready for use, Terminal Services connection information automatically ed to user.

83. Operations Best practices
Disable VM time synchronization when VMs are in a domain
Does not use time zones !
When copying VMs:
Run Sysprep, or Newsid (sysinternals.com)
Do not include save state (.vsv) file
Stop VS when shutting down host computer
Use script for UPS

84. Performance Optimizations
Virtual Server is usually faster than Virtual PC
Except for video (screen) handling
Disk
Three possible disk drivers in guest (in order of speed):
3. Windows SCSI driver (slowest)
2. IDE driver (=only option for Virtual PC)
1. VM Additions SCSI driver (fastest)

85. Move disk from VPC to VS From IDE to SCSI
Issue: How to boot IDE vhd as SCSI vhd
Steps
1. In VS console:
Add SCSI Adapter (ID 7) to VM
Leave boot disk as IDE disk
2. Startup VM
Found new hardware: Adaptec AIC-7870 PCI SCSI Adapter
Needs Win2003 CD for aic78xx.sys (56 KB)
Now you can boot as SCSI, but this is a slow SCSI driver.

86. Move disk from VPC to VS From IDE to SCSI
3. In running VM:
Open Device Manager
Right-click Adaptec / Update Driver
Install from a specific location / Have Disk
Browse to C:\Program Files\Virtual Machine Additions
Installs SCSI driver: Microsoft Virtual Machine PCI SCSI
Now the fast SCSI driver is loaded
4. In VS console:
Swith boot disk from IDE to SCSI adapter
Virtual PC can still boot from disk as IDE

87. Performance Most important tips
 Install VM Additions in all VMs
Consider latest VM Additions
 Use enough memory per VM
To avoid paging inside VM
 Plan capacity of running VMs
Total disk usage
Total CPU usage
Total network bandwidth needed

88. Performance On host On host, for disks:
Use multiple physical disks
Use SCSI host disks
Defragment host disk
Use NTFS
Use NTFS compression - maybe
On host, use multiple network adapters
Unbind Virtual Machine Network Service from dedicated host adapter
On host, exclude .vhd from virus-scanning
On host, do not use /3GB in boot.ini
VMs use non-paged kernel memory

89. Performance In guest VM configuration Guest configuration
Use SCSI disk for vhd-file
Ensure VM Additions SCSI driver is used
Use fixed disk instead of dynamic disks
Guest configuration
Disable unnecessary services:
Indexing, tracing, auto-search for network resources, etc
Defragment guest disk
Not when using differencing disk

90. For more information Useful links
Weblogs
Virtual PC Guy (Ben Armstrong - MS)
Virtual Vista (Mike Kolitz - MS)
Windows Virtualization (John Howard - MS)
Scripts
TechNet

91. For more information Whitepapers
Virtualization Licensing Brief
Using iSCSI with Virtual Server 2005 R2
Virtual Server Host Clustering whitepaper and script
Virtual Server Guest Clustering
cvs2005.mspx
Virtual PC for Development and Debugging

92. For more information Download software
Virtual Server 2005 R2 EE
default.mspx
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta2
connect.microsoft.com - sign-up for beta
Virtual PC 2004 SP1
Virtual PC 2007 RC (including VM Additions )
connect.microsoft.com - sign up for beta
Linux VM Additions
evaluation/linuxguestsupport/default.mspx
VSMT

94. ©. 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.