Tag Archives: Virtual machines

Migrate Hyper-V Cluster to Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V via Cluster Migration Wizard

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If you have already an existing Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster and you want to upgrade to Windows Server 2012 you have two options. The first one is by moving all virtual machines via System Center Virtual Machine Manager from the old Cluster into a new cluster. The second way to do it, is to use the Cluster Migration Wizard which is part of Windows Server 2012.

In my case I have two clusters one “old” Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V cluster and my new Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V cluster. Both Clusters are fully configured and both have access to the same disks/LUNs. The disk and all the VMs are running on the old cluster.

On the new cluster you can start the Cluster Migration Wizard.

Failover Cluster Manager Migrate Roles

This will bring up the Cluster Migration Wizard. The wizard will ask you about the old cluster.

Cluster Migration Wizard Old Cluster

The Cluster Migration Wizard will scan the old cluster for CSVs and Cluster roles. You have to select the Cluster Shared Volume you want to migrate to the new cluster. Note: you can only migrate CSVs including all virtual machines running on this CSV and not just single virtual machines. If you want to migrate single virtual machines you could do a Hyper-V Export/Import or using System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

Cluster Migration Wizard Old Cluster Roles

Since the Cluster Migration Wizard detects the roles as Hyper-V virtual machines he also asks for the new Hyper-V Virtual Switch.

Cluster Migration Wizard Hyper-V Virtual Switch

You get a quick summary with all the information what the Migration Wizard will do, and you can migrate all roles. This means the Migration Wizard will create all cluster roles on the new cluster but will not take the existing VMs offline the VMs at this point are still running on the old cluster. You also get a Failover Cluster Migration Report at the end.

Failover Cluster Migration Report

This report also shows you what’s next:

All the clustered services and applications selected for migration were migrated successfully. You may now take the clustered services and applications offline in your old cluster. Also take offline Cluster Shared Volumes used by any migrated roles, as well as storage pools for virtual disks used by any migrated roles. Then these disks, Cluster Shared Volumes, and clustered services and applications can be brought online in your new cluster.

In the new cluster you can now see the roles which are all turned of because there are still running on the old cluster. And you can also see the CSV which is offline on the new cluster and online on the old cluster.

Failover Cluster Migration new roles

As already mentioned we had no downtime until now. Now you can go and shutdown all the virtual machines running on your old cluster and take the migrated CSV offline.

Failover Cluster Migration shutdown VMS

Take the CSV offline

Failover Cluster Migration take CSV offline

On the new cluster bring the CSV online

Failover Cluster Migration bring CSV online

Bring the virtual machines on the new cluster back online.

Failover Cluster Migration bring VMs back online

And this is more how you can migrate a cluster. Remember there are still some tasks left.

There is also a great video from Symon Perriman and Rob Hindman, a Program Manager on the Windows Server Clustering & High-Availability team, in which they explain how you can upgrade to Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.

 

Poster: Networking in Virtual Machine Manager

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Microsoft released a poster about networking options available in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SP1. I am sure there will be also an updated version of the Microsoft Server Posterpedia Windows 8 App really soon.

System Center Virtual machine Manager Networking Poster

This poster for VMM in System Center 2012 SP1 can help you:

  • Plan your VMM networks using a logical view of VM networks, logical networks, and logical switches using a variety of configurations including VLAN-based configuration, no isolation, network virtualization, external networks, and with no virtual networking.
  • Configure networking in VMM using configuration steps by roles including fabric administrators, tenant administrators, or by any user.
  • Understand the network object model with diagrams of objects showing the relationships between objects.
  • Extend VMM with options including using a vendor network-management server with extensions, connect a VM network to other networks by configuring the VM network with a gateway, and load-balance requests to VMs that make up a VMM service tier by adding a load balancer to VMM.

You can get the poster here: Poster: Networking in Virtual Machine Manager

Make sure you check out our latest blog posts about Hyper-V Networking in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SP1.

There is also a poster for Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V available: Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Component Architecture Poster and Companion References

Hyper-V vs. VMware vSphere – Fault Tolerance

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Virtualization specialist and blogger Marcel van den Berg wrote a interesting blog post comparing high availability in VMware vSphere 5 and Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V with the title vSphere 5 versus Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V: high available VMs. In his blog post he mentions VMware Fault Tolerance, which I think it is a good feature but there are some things you have to be aware of.

VMware vSphere includes a feature called “Fault Tolerance” which allows you to run a hot-standby Virtual Machine on an other VMware vSphere Hypervisor host, which will take over if the primary Virtual Machine fails.

This is a great feature but it also has some disadvantages, because you have to sacrifice on scale and features.

  • No Memory Overcommit (Dynamic Memory)
  • Only 1 vCPU per Fault Tolerance Virtual Machine
  • Maximum 4 Fault Tolerance VMs per host
  • No Snapshots
  • Maximum of 64GB RAM
  • IPv6 is not supported in VMware FT
  • Virtual Machine cannot be replicated with the vSphere Replication (SRM 5)
  • No Hot-plug support for virtual devices
  • No Dynamic Resource Optimization

Now Microsoft does not offer a Fault Tolerance feature in Hyper-V. But offers besides the Hyper-V Failover Clustering some great virtual guest clustering capabilities. But if you need true Zero Fault Tolerance the Microsoft partner Stratus Technologies offers a great solution (ftserver) with a lot less disadvantages.

Updating offline VHDs via Virtual Machine Servicing Tool

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VHDX

Some weeks ago Microsoft announced the beta of a solution accelerator called Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2012. The VMST 2012 allows you to update Virtual Machines in a System Center Virtual Machine Library, update stopped and saved state virtual machine on a Hyper-V host, update SCVMM Virtual Machine templates and to injecting update packages in offline virtual hard disks (VHD) disks stored in a System Center Virtual Machine Manager Library.

This guide should give show a quick insight into the Virtual Machine Servicing Tool.

After you have installed the Virtual Machine Servicing Tool and added the psexec to the bin folder of the tool you have to do a quick configuration of your environment.

First you have to add the servers in your environment. You have to add the SCVMM and the SCCM or WSUS server.

The second configuration step is to choose the Hyper-V hosts which will be used for the maintenance and servicing jobs. You need this if you update an offline virtual machine which is stored in your library. The virtual machine will be deployed on these hosts and will be patched before they will be saved in the SCVMM library again.

The Maintenance host for servicing offline virtual hard disk will be the place where VHD will be attached and the update packages will be injected.

 

After you have done these simple setup steps you can now start patching your offline Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs). In the VMST Console you can create a new Servicing Job.

First you have to choose a name for the servicing job and a update source, this could be a WSUS server or update packages stored in a folder.

Now you have to select the VHD you want to update.

You have to select one of your maintenance hosts

And after the servicing job has been started you can watch the process in your VMST console.

 

This is how simple it is to patch offline virtual machines, you can even schedule servicing tasks, so they run after every patch day.

Hyper-V vs. VMware vSphere – Storage

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This is another post in my series about Hyper-V vs. VMware.

This time it is about storage in terms of virtualization. And as you could read everywhere, Microsoft did also a lot of improvements for the Windows Server 2012 release.

  • New Virtual Disk format (VHDX) – Supports up to 64 TB Virtual Hard Disks
  • Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) – Offloads storage-intensive tasks to the SAN
  • Data De-duplication
  • Storage Spaces and Storage Pools – Data Advanced Storage Array Features to Windows Server
  • Virtual Machine boot from SAN
  • Live merging of VHDs and Virtual Machine Snapshots
  • Native 4K Disk Support – Take advantage of enhanced density and reliability
  • Virtual Fiber Channel – Connect a Virtual Machine directly to a Fiber Channel SAN
  • Support for File based Storage with SMB 3.0
  • New file system (ReFS)
  • BitLocker encryption support – BitLocker is now available for Cluster Shared Volumes to support encryption in cluster environments

 

Capability Windows Server 2012 RC Hyper-V VMware vSphere Hypervisor VMware vSphere 5.0 Enterprise Plus
Virtual Fiber Channel Yes Yes Yes
3rd Party Multipathing (MPIO) Yes No Yes (VAMP)
Native 4-KB Disk Support Yes No No
Maximum Virtual Disk Size 64TB VHDX 2TB VMDK 2TB VMDK
Maximum Pass Through Disk Size Variable 64TB 64TB
Offloaded Data Transfer Yes No Yes (VAAI)
Storage Encryption Yes No No

 

  • The maximum size of a physical disk in attached to a Hyper-V virtual machine is determined by the guest operating system and the chosen file system within the guest
  • vStorage API for Multipathing (VAMP) is only available in Enterprise & Enterprise Plus editions of vSphere 5.0
  • vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) is only available in Enterprise & Enterprise Plus editions of vSphere 5.0
  • VMware documentation does not suggests that their respective platforms support 4K Advanced Format Drives

Sources:

Check out my Blog post Hyper-V 2012 – Hey I Just Met You And This Is Crazy for more information about the latest version of Hyper-V.

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V: Supported Guest Operating Systems

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List of supported guest operating systems in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V.

Guest operating system (server) Notes
Windows Server 2012 Integration services do not require a separate installation because they are built-in.
Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP 1) Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions. Upgrade the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP 2) Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard and Web editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Home Server 2011 Edition information is not applicable. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Standard editions. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Server 2003 R2 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) Standard, Web, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 Standard, Web, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
CentOS 6.0 – 6.2 Download and install Linux Integration Services v3.2.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 –6.2 Download and install Linux Integration Services v3.2.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 Integration services do not require a separate installation because they are built-in.
Guest operating system (client) Notes
Windows 8 Release Preview Integration services do not require a separate installation because they are built-in.
Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP 1) Ultimate and Enterprise editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Upgrade the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions (32-bit and 64-bit). Upgrade the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2) Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, including N and KN editions. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) Professional. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.
Windows XP x64 Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP 2) Professional. Install the integration services after you set up the operating system in the virtual machine.

 

(More Information about the new version of Hyper-V http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh831531.aspx)

Hyper-V vs. VMware vSphere Guest Clustering

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Today is my first day of my diploma thesis. The topic of this is “Private Cloud – Migrate from VMware to Hyper-V”, maybe I will find a cooler topic name for it ;-). Now in the first parts I am doing some compare work between Hyper-V and VMware vSphere. I already have posted a blog post about the new scale of Hyper-V 2012 which comes with Windows Server 2012 or Hyper-V Server 2012 as a free product. Now today I will post something about guest clustering on both platforms.

In the TechEd session “VIR311 – Compete to Win | Part I: Comparing Core Virtualization Platforms” from Matt McSpirit (@mattmcspirit) there are some interesting information about guest clustering especially if you are using vSphere. If you are doing guest clustering of Windows Server with VMware vSphere the only thing that is supported is a two node cluster with fiber channel. So what does that mean?

  • VMware does not support VM Guest Clustering using iSCSI storage.
  • VMware does not support VM Guest Clustering using File Based Storage i.e. NFS
  • VMware does not support the vMotion of a VM that is part of a Guest Cluster
  • VMware does not support the use of Memory Overcommit with a VM that is part of a Guest Cluster
  • VMware does not support more than two nodes in a guest cluster

With Hyper-V 2012 you can simply do everything. For example you can create a guest cluster up to 64 nodes (with Windows Server 2012) with fiber channel, iSCSI or SMB storage and still using live migration. Right Microsoft is supporting Fiber channel in the Virtual Machine guest and you still can live migrate this Virtual Machine.

Hyper-V (2012) vSphere Hypervisor vSphere (5.0 Ent+)
Nodes per Cluster 64 N/A 32
VMs per Cluster 4000 N/A 3000
Max Size Guest Cluster (iSCSI) 64 Nodes 0 0
Max Size Guest Cluster (Fiber) 64 Nodes 2 2
Max Size Guest Cluster (File Based) 64 Nodes 0 0
Guest Clustering with Live Migration Support Yes N/A No
Guest Clustering with Dynamic Memory Support Yes No No
Free? Yes Yes No

 

vSphere Hypervisor / vSphere 5.0 Ent+ Information: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere5/r50/vsphere-50-configuration-maximums.pdf, http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-mscs-guide.pdf