Tag: PowerShell

Aug202020August 20, 2020August 20, 20201Commentby Thomas Maurer
Hyper-V VM Stop-VM failed to change state

Force Hyper-V Virtual Machine VM to turn off

Posted in Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019

In this blog post, we are going to have a look at how you can force a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) to turn off using the HCSDiag tool. A couple of days ago I had an issue where I wasn’t able to shut down and turn off a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM). After I tried to shut down the Hyper-V VM using the Hyper-V Manager the VM was in a locked state and I couldn’t really do anything with it. Of course the first thing I tried using the PowerShell Stop-VM cmdlet with the force parameter to turn off the virtual machine.

Hyper-V VM Stop-VM failed to change state

Hyper-V VM Stop-VM failed to change state

But as you can see I had no success. Luckily I remembered a tool called the Hyper-V Host Compute Service Diagnostics Tool (HCSDiag.exe), which provides me with a couple of advanced options when it comes to Hyper-V virtual machine, container, and Windows Sandbox management.

The Hyper-V Host Compute Service Diagnostics Tool (HCSDiag.exe) is available in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019 if you have the Hyper-V roles or virtualization features enabled, and can be helpful to troubleshoot Hyper-V containers, virtual machines (VMs), Windows Sandbox, Windows Defender Application Guard, Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 and more.

Hyper-V Get-VM list VMiD

Hyper-V Get-VM list VM ID

HCSDiag allows me to list all the running Hyper-V containers, including virtual machines. With the HCSDiag kill command, I can then force the Hyper-V VM to turn off.

Force Turn Off of Hyper-V virtual machine VM

Force Turn Off of Hyper-V virtual machine VM

I hope this post was helpful if you have a Hyper-V VM which you can’t turn off. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment. You can find more information about the HCSDiag tool, how it works with containers and other tools here on my blog.


Aug182020August 18, 2020August 17, 20200Commentby Thomas Maurer
Eject ISO from Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

Eject ISO from Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

Posted in Cloud, Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

This is one of these quick and dirty blog posts mostly as a note for myself. Hyper-V offers the capability to add an ISO image to a virtual CD/DVD drive and you can use Hyper-V Manager to do that, or you can also use PowerShell. Here is how you can eject or remove an ISO from a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) using PowerShell.

This works with Hyper-V on Windows Server and on Windows 10.

Remove or eject ISO from Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

To remove or eject the ISO file from a Hyper-V VM virtual DVD drive, you can use the following PowerShell command:

Find the right DVD drive

Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName "Windows10"

Eject the ISO file from the Hyper-V VM

Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName "Windows10" | Set-VMDvdDrive -Path $null

You can also pipe these commands

Get-VM -VMName "Windows10" | Get-VMDvdDrive | Set-VMDvdDrive -Path $null

If you have multiple DVD drives and controllers on VM, you can also use the following command to be more specific on which ISO to eject.

Set-VMDvdDrive -VMName Windows10 -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 1 -Path $null

You can also simply add an ISO to the Hyper-V virtual DVD drive:

Get-VMDvdDrive -VMName "Windows10" | Set-VMDvdDrive -Path "C:\ISO\myisofile.iso"

Be aware that it takes a moment until the ISO file is removed from the virtual DVD drive. You can find more information on the Set-VMDvdDrive cmdlet on Microsoft Docs.

Conclusion

If you want to build some automation around Hyper-V on Windows 10 or on Windows Server, PowerShell is the way to go. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.


Aug112020August 11, 2020August 25, 20202Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Connect Azure Cloud Shell to virtual network vNet

Connect Azure Cloud Shell to Virtual Network vNet

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell

As you know, Azure Cloud Shell is a great management tool to manage your Azure resources. Azure Cloud Shell is an interactive, authenticated, browser-accessible shell for managing Azure resources. It provides the flexibility of choosing the shell experience that best suits the way you work, either Bash or PowerShell. You can learn more about Azure Cloud Shell here. If you wanted to manage Azure resources such as Azure virtual machines (VMs), you needed to connect to a public IP address of a virtual machine, which really didn’t work in all scenarios. With the latest update, you can now connect Azure Cloud Shell to an Azure virtual network (vNet). With the new method, you can now deploy the Azure Cloud Shell container within your virtual network (vNet), which now allows you to use PowerShell remoting, SSH, or other command-line tools such as kubctl using private IP addresses.

Requirements

Before you can use Cloud Shell in your own Azure Virtual Network, you will need to create some resources to support this functionality. 

  • Virtual Network – The virtual network in which the resources are located you want to manage or the network that peers with a virtual network where your Azure resources are.
  • Subnet – In that virtual network you will need a dedicated subnet to host Cloud Shell containers.
  • Network profile
  • Azure Relay – An Azure Relay allows two endpoints that are not directly reachable to communicate.
  • Storage Account – The storage account needs to be accessible from the virtual network that is used by Cloud Shell.

There are also some considerations you need to be aware of, such as currently supported Azure regions during the preview, Azure Relay adds additional cost and slower startup speed of Cloud Shell containers. You can learn more about the requirements here.

Connect Azure Cloud Shell to a virtual network

To make the deployment easy, there are Azure Resource Manager templates available to deploy the necessary network and storage resources. In my step by step guide, I already have a virtual network deployed within my subscription with the resources I manage. If you don’t have that yet, and you want to try this out, you will need to create a resource group and a virtual network.

Simply the deploy the following two templates:

Deploy Azure Cloud Shell Network ARM template

Deploy Azure Cloud Shell Network ARM template

You can get the Azure Container Instance OID by running the following command:

Get-AzADServicePrincipal -DisplayNameBeginsWith 'Azure Container Instance'

Also, make sure that the subnet ranges are part of the address range in your virtual network.

Reconnect Cloud Shell

If you have used Azure Cloud Shell before, you will need to reconnect that to the specific resources. You can simply run the command “cloudrive unmount” or “dismount-cloudrive”.

After that you can reconnect your Cloud Shell and select the isolated network option. Keep in mind this feature is currently in preview, and only available in West US and West Central US.

Connect Azure Cloud Shell to virtual network

Connect Azure Cloud Shell to virtual network

This will then take a moment to deploy.

Requesting a container

Requesting a container

After the Cloud Shell container is deployed within the virtual network, you can now start using private IP addresses within that virtual network or virtual networks that are peered.

SSH into Azure VM with Private IP address from Cloud Shell

SSH into Azure VM with Private IP address from Cloud Shell

I hope this blog gives you a short overview of how you can integrate Cloud Shell in your private Azure virtual network. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.


Aug042020August 4, 2020August 4, 20200Commentby Thomas Maurer
Add ISO DVD Drive to a Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

Add ISO DVD Drive to a Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

Hyper-V offers the capability to add an ISO image to a virtual CD/DVD drive and you can use Hyper-V Manager to do that, or you can also use PowerShell. Here is how you can add an ISO to a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) using PowerShell. There are two ways of doing it if you already have a virtual DVD drive attached to the VM or if you need to add a virtual DVD drive.

This works with Hyper-V on Windows Server and on Windows 10.

Attach ISO to an existing DVD Drive on a Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

To attach an ISO file to an existing virtual DVD drive on a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) using PowerShell, you can use the following command:

Set-VMDvdDrive -VMName Windows10 -Path "C:\Users\thoma\Downloads\ubuntu-18.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso"

Add ISO file and DVD Drive to a Hyper-V VM using PowerShell

If your Hyper-V virtual machine doesn’t have a virtual DVD drive attached to it, you can add a virtual DVD drive including the ISO file with the following PowerShell command:

Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName "Windows10" -Path "C:\Users\thoma\Downloads\ubuntu-18.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso"

If you run this command on a virtual machine, which already has a virtual DVD drive attached, you will simply add a second virtual DVD drive to this machine. You can find more information on the Add-VMDvdDrive cmdlet on Microsoft Docs.

Conclusion

If you want to build some automation around Hyper-V on Windows 10 or on Windows Server, PowerShell is the way to go. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.


Jul222020July 22, 2020July 22, 202013Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft Azure Stack HCI version 20H2

Azure Stack HCI version 20H2 – everything you need to know!

Posted in Azure Arc, Azure Stack HCI, Cloud, Hardware, Hybrid Cloud, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows Admin Center, Windows Server

Microsoft just announced the new Azure Stack HCI, delivered as an Azure hybrid service, at Microsoft Inspire 2020. Azure Stack HCI, as a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) solution, is expanding the Azure Stack portfolio to offer a comprehensive and flexible lineup of edge infrastructure and hybrid cloud environments. In this blog post, I want you to provide you with an overview of the new Azure Stack HCI, version 20H2.

You can also find the full announcement blog on Azure.com.

What’s Azure Stack HCI

Azure Stack HCI is a hyper-converged cluster solution that runs virtualized Windows and Linux workloads in a hybrid on-premises environment. Some of the most popular use cases are datacenter modernization, Remote/Branch office scenarios, SQL Server based virtual applications, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, and running Kubernetes clusters.

  • Hyperconverged infrastructure stack – The Azure Stack HCI operating system is based on core components from Windows Server, and it is designed and optimized on being the best virtualization host and hyper-converged platform. It is enhanced with software from Azure that includes our latest hypervisor with built-in software-defined storage and networking, that you install on servers you control, on your premises. This provides additional functionally, features and performance.
  • Delivered as an Azure hybrid service – Azure Stack HCI is now delivered as an Azure service with a subscription-based licensing model and hybrid capabilities built-in. You can enhance the cluster with Azure hybrid capabilities such as cloud-based monitoring, site recovery, and backup, as well as a central view of all of your Azure Stack HCI deployments in the Azure portal.
  • Familiar for IT to manage and operate – Runs on your choice of hardware, from your preferred vendor, and continue using the tools and processes your team already knows to manage virtual machines, including Windows Admin Center, System Center, and PowerShell.

This new Azure Stack HCI product takes its name from a program that Microsoft has run for several years with recent versions of Windows Server. That program was very popular, and it’s what inspired this new product.

Azure Stack HCI - Inspired by its popular predecessor

Azure Stack HCI – Inspired by its popular predecessor

Part of the Azure Stack Portfolio

Azure Stack HCI joins the growing family of Azure Stack solutions, which offers a comprehensive and flexible lineup of edge infrastructure. The Azure Stack portfolio ranges from Azure Stack Hub, which is an extension of Azure, bringing the agility and innovation of cloud computing to your on-premises environment, to Azure Stack Edge, which brings Azure compute for AI and machine learning at the edge.

Azure Stack HCI version 20H2 - Part of the Azure Stack portfolio

Azure Stack HCI version 20H2 – Part of the Azure Stack portfolio

You can learn more about the Azure Stack portfolio on Azure.com.

Read More

Jul162020July 16, 2020July 16, 20200Commentby Thomas Maurer
Create Custom Script Extension for Windows - Azure Arc

How to Run Custom Scripts on Azure Arc Enabled Servers

Posted in Azure Arc, Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, Windows Server

With the latest update for Azure Arc for Servers, you are now able to deploy and use extensions with your Azure Arc enabled servers. With the Custom Script extension, you can run scripts on Azure Arc enabled servers and works similar to the custom script extension for Azure virtual machines (VMs). There is an extension for Windows and Linux servers, which is a tool that can be used to launch and execute machine customization tasks post configuration automatically.

When this Extension is added to an Azure Arc machine, it can download PowerShell and shell scripts and files from Azure storage and launch a script on the machine, which in turn can download additional software components. Custom Script Extension for Linux and Windows – Azure Arc tasks can also be automated using the Azure PowerShell cmdlets and Azure Cross-Platform Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI).

Introducing Azure Arc
For customers who want to simplify complex and distributed environments across on-premises, edge and multicloud, Azure Arc enables deployment of Azure services anywhere and extends Azure management to any infrastructure.
Learn more about Azure Arc here.

How to run Custom Scripts on Azure Arc enabled servers

To run a custom script on an Azure Arc enabled server, you can simply deploy the Custom Script Extension. You open the server you want to run the custom script in the Azure Arc server overview. Navigate to Extensions and click on Add, and select the Custom Script Extension for Windows – Azure Arc or on Linux the Custom Script Extension for Linux – Azure Arc.

Add Custom Script Extension

Add Custom Script Extension

Now you can select the PowerShell or shell script you want to run on that machine, as well as adding some optional arguments for that script.

Create Custom Script Extension for Windows - Azure Arc

Create Custom Script Extension for Windows – Azure Arc

After that, it will take a couple of minutes to run the script on the machine.

Conclusion

The Custom Script Extensions for Linux and Windows can be used to launch and execute machine customization tasks post configuration automatically.

You can learn more about how Azure Arc provides you with cloud-native management technologies for your hybrid cloud environment here, and you can find the documentation for Azure Arc enabled servers on Microsoft Docs.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment below.


Jul072020July 7, 2020July 7, 20201Commentby Thomas Maurer
How to Manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints with PowerShell

How to Manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints with PowerShell

Posted in Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

In this blog post we are going to have a look at how you can create, manage, apply, and remove VM Checkpoints in Hyper-V using PowerShell. Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) checkpoints are one of the great benefits of virtualization. Before Windows Server 2012 R2, they were known as virtual machine snapshots. VM Checkpoints in Hyper-V allow you to save the system state of a VM to a specific time and then revert back to that state if you need to. This is great if you are testing software and configuration changes, or if you have a demo environment, which you want to reset.

Hyper-V VM Checkpoint Types

Before we got on how you can manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints with PowerShell, let me first explain the two different types. Since Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10, Hyper-V includes two types of checkpoints, Standard Checkpoints, and Production Checkpoints.

  • Standard Checkpoints: takes a snapshot of the virtual machine and virtual machine memory state at the time the checkpoint is initiated. A snapshot is not a full backup and can cause data consistency issues with systems that replicate data between different nodes such as Active Directory. Hyper-V only offered standard checkpoints (formerly called snapshots) prior to Windows 10.
  • Production Checkpoints: uses Volume Shadow Copy Service or File System Freeze on a Linux virtual machine to create a data-consistent backup of the virtual machine. No snapshot of the virtual machine memory state is taken.

You can set up these settings in Hyper-V Manager or in PowerShell.

Hyper-V VM Checkpoint Types

Hyper-V VM Checkpoint Types

If you are using PowerShell to configure Checkpoints for virtual machines these commands may help you.

Configure and set VM for Standard Checkpoints

Set-VM -Name "Windows10" -CheckpointType Standard

Set VM to Production Checkpoints, if the production checkpoint fails a Standard Checkpoint is created

 Set-VM -Name "Windows10" -CheckpointType Production

Set VM to only use Production Checkpoints

 Set-VM -Name "Windows10" -CheckpointType ProductionOnly

Disable VM Checkpoints for the Hyper-V virtual machine

 Set-VM -Name "Windows10" -CheckpointType Disabled

Managing Hyper-V VM Checkpoints using PowerShell

Create VM Checkpoints

You can create a new VM Checkpoint with PowerShell, you can round the following command:

Checkpoint-VM -Name "Windows10"

You can find more on the cmdlet on Microsoft Docs.

You can list the VM Checkpoints of a Hyper-V VM:

Get-VMCheckpoint -VMName "Windows10"
How to Manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints with PowerShell

How to Manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints with PowerShell

Applying Hyper-V VM checkpoints using PowerShell

If you want to revert your virtual machine state to a previous point-in-time, you can apply an existing checkpoint, using the following PowerShell command.

Restore-VMCheckpoint -Name "checkpoint name" -VMName "Windows10" -Confirm:$false

You can find more information about the cmdlet here.

Renaming checkpoints

To rename a checkpoint you can use the following command

Rename-VMCheckpoint -VMName "Windows10" -Name "Checkpointname" -NewName "MyNewCheckpointName"

Deleting checkpoints

You can also delete or remove a Hyper-V VM checkpoint with the following PowerShell command. This will merge the .avhdx files in the background.

Remove-VMCheckpoint -VMName "Windows10" -Name "Checkpointname"

Conclusion

I hope this blog post gives you a great overview on how you can manage, apply, restore, and remove Hyper-V VM Checkpoints using PowerShell. You can learn more about Hyper-V virtual machine checkpoints on Microsoft Docs. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.



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    Thomas Maurer

    My name is Thomas Maurer. I am a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. I am part of the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI) and engage with the community and customers around the world. I am located in Switzerland. I am focusing on Microsoft technologies, especially cloud and datacenter solutions based on Microsoft Azure, Azure Stack and Windows Server. Opinions are my own.

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