Hyper-V explained for ESX engineers

 

Excellent comparison from http://hyperinfo.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/hyper-v-for-the-esx-engineer/

 

• Hyper-V is paravirtualized – paravirtualized means the virtual machine is “aware” (Microsoft uses the term enlightened) that it is virtualized.  If the machine isn’t enlightened, it will run in emulation mode.  Emulation mode requires a lot of context switching between user mode and kernel mode.  This will understandably slow down performance.
• The Hyper-V “Service Console” is referred to as the Management Partition.  This is a Windows VM with privileges into the kernel that other VMs do not have.  This (at least on the surface) is similar to ESX’s Service Console.
• It is recommended to run Hyper-V on Windows Core (stripped down version with no GUI).  The core version will consume less resources, require less patches, etc.
• Server 2008 has “roles” that determine the functions on the server.  Hyper-V is recommended to be the only role on the server for production
• Hyper-V does not share memory pages
• Hyper-V has quick migration instead of VMotion.  Instead of a live migration, the machine is suspend and resumed on another host.  The amount of memory will have a direct impact on the amount of time required because the memory contents will written to the disk and then read from the disk on the new host.
• Hyper-V relies on Microsoft Clustering Services right now to provide multiple host functionality for SAN connected virtual machines.  This means that Enterprise Edition is the minimum required OS level for the host to perform Quick Migrations
• It is recommended that each LUN contain only one VM.  Space needed will be disk space required + virtual RAM assigned to the machine (for quick migrations) + room for snapshots of the virtual machine
• Live Backups of a VM are supported through VSS if the guest OS is VSS aware
• Virtual Hard Disk files are .vhd files instead .vmdk files for ESX
• Raw Device Mapping (RDM) in ESX is called Pass Through Disks in Hyper-V

Microsoft System Center and is called SCVMM (System Center Virtual Machine Manager).  Here are some points for this product.

• Since Distributed Resource Scheduling doesn’t exist today for Hyper-V, they support the idea of Intelligent Placement of a VM onto the farm.  This data is configurable but the SCVMM basically tracks performance of the hosts over a recent time period in an attempt to recommend the best placement of the new virtual machine on a host.
• The entire product is driven by Windows Power Shell and is completely customizable, exportable, etc.
• Upcoming version of the product will support ESX and well as Hyper-V.  In order to support ESX, an existing Virtual Center will be required for SCVMM to interface.  (Think single pane of glass for management).  I have my doubts on this one but I’m curious.
• Self Service Portal – End Users will be able to provision their own machines.  Again, I’d have to see this one.

ESX Vs Hyper-V

Comparision table at http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/facts.html.

 

From the vmware site, to date cannot find the same table on the microsoft site

Step-by-Step Installing Hyper-V on Server Core

1. Enable CPU virtualisation assistance and DEP in the BIOS.
2. Install Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 (Core Installation).
3. Determine the NIC ID: netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces.
4. Set the IP address for NIC, let say for NIC #2: netsh interface ipv4 set address name=”2″ source=static address=192.168.1.3 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1.
5. Set the DNS: netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name=”2″ address=192.168.1.2 index=1.
6. Rename server: netdom renamecomputer %computername% /NewName:HyperSvr1.
7. Reboot for that to take effect: shutdown /r /t 0.
8. Join it to domain: netdom join %computername% /domain:admininfo.local /userd:administrator /passwordd:*.
9. Reboot for that to take effect: shutdown /r /t 0.
10. Copy CoreConfigurator onto the Core server and configured any users, groups, enabled RDP, firewall settings, etc…
11. Download and copy the Hyper-V update onto the server.
12. Install the Hyper-V update: wusa.exe Windows6.0-KB950050-x64.msu.
13. Install the Hyper-V role: start /w ocsetup.exe Microsoft-Hyper-V.
14. Reboot.
15. Download and install Remote Management for Windows Vista.

Migrating AD from W2K3 to W2K8

The safest and simplest way to migrate is to start by adding a Windows 2008 Domain controller to your existing domain

First you need to Adprep your 2003 Domain by running
adprep /forestprep    and
adprep /domainprep   and
adprep /gpprep

do this by placing the from 2008 DVD in the Windows 2003 DC  - ADPREP is in the SOURCES folder on the DVD.

Once done you can run the setup program from the 2008 DVD and do an upgrade, or you can do a clean install on a new box and join the 2008 machine to the domain – the latter is my preferred option.

If you take the latter route you need to assign the 2008 new computer an IP address and subnet mask on the existing network. Make sure that the preferred DNS server on new machine points to the existing DNS Server on the Domain (normally the existing domain controller)

Join the new 2008 machine to the existing domain as a member server

From the command line promote the new machine to a domain controller with the DCPROMO command from the command line Select “Additional Domain Controller in an existing Domain”

Once Active Directory is installed then to make the new machine a global catalog server, go to Administrative Tools, Active Directory Sites and Services, Expand, Sites, Default first site and Servers. Right click on the new server and select properties and tick the”Global Catalog” checkbox. (Global catalog is essential for logon as it needs to be queried to establish Universal Group Membership)

If necessary install DNS on the new server. Assuming that you were using Active Directory Integrated DNS on the first Domain Controller, DNS will automatically replicate to the new domain controller along with Active Directory.

If you want to transfer the FSMO roles to the 2008 machine (probably a good idea) then the process is as outlined at http://www.petri.co.il/transferring_fsmo_roles.htm

Netometer has a nice video – http://www.netometer.com/video/tutorials/windows-dc-2008-add-upgrade/index.php

Site Recovery Manager

practical_guide_dr 

This VMware VMbook focuses on business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) and is intended to guide the reader through the step-by-step process to set-up a multisite VMware Infrastructure that is capable of supporting BCDR services for designated virtual machines at time of test or during an actual event that necessitated the declaration of a disaster, resulting in the activation of services in a designated BCDR site.

Index of contents

§ Chapter 1: Introduction

§ Chapter 2: Understanding and Planning for BCDR

§ Chapter 3: Virtualization and BCDR

§ Chapter 4: High-Level Design Considerations

§ Chapter 5: Implementing a VMware BCDR Solution

§ Chapter 6: Advanced and Alternative Solutions

§ Chapter 7: Service Failover and Failback Planning

§ Chapter 8: Service Failover Testing

§ Chapter 9: Network Infrastructure Details

§ Chapter 10: Storage Connectivity

§ Chapter 11: Storage Platform Details

§ Chapter 12: Server Platform Details

§ Appendix A: BCDR Failover Script

§ Appendix B: VMware Tools Script

MS Exchange in Vmware

24 page document on running MS change under vmware exchange_best_practices

VMware Storage (SAN/iSCSI/NFS)

SAN Configuration Guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_esx_san_cfg.pdf

A big guide from VMware on SAN background, installation and management

 

SAN System Design and Deployment Guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf

Another big guide from VMware on designing and deploying SAN environments to use with VI3

 

Design, Build and Manage your SAN Environment using VI3

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/mylearn?classID=11052

A VMworld 2007 presentation from VMware that discusses how VMware Infrastructure 3 can solve SAN management problems by providing solutions such as managing multiple hosts/clients from sprawling, multipathing management without the high cost and complexity, cluster file system for HA solutions, LUN security, and storage consolidation. This is a vendor neutral session providing topics for SAN architects and administrators ideas on ways to best deploy VMware Infrastructure 3 on SAN.

 

NFS & iSCSI – Performance Characterization and Best Practices

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/mylearn?classID=11708

A VMworld 2007 presentation from VMware that provides a performance-oriented overview of the technology along with performance troubleshooting techniques and best-practice recommendations in typical ESX Server deployment. Up-to-date performance data, a review of performance optimizations available currently and a preview of features in upcoming releases are also be presented.

 

Choosing and Architecting Storage for your Environment

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/adc0135.pdf

A VMworld 2006 presentation on selecting and architecting the right storage solution for your ESX environment

 

ESX Storage Virtualization Insights

http://www.vmware-tsx.com/download.php?asset_id=40

A TSX 2007 presentation on the ESX storage stack, VMFS vs. RDM and multi-pathing

 

Network Appliance and VMware ESX Server 3.0 Storage Best Practices

http://www.netapp.com/library/tr/3428.pdf

A white paper from Netapp with general best practices and recommendations on using storage with ESX

 

iSCSI, NAS and IP Storage Configuration for Vmware ESX Server

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/tac9722.pdf

A VMworld 2006 presentation on using iSCSI and NAS instead of a SAN with ESX

 

Comparison of Storage Protocol Performance

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/storage_protocol_perf.pdf

A VMware performance study comparing Fibre Channel, Hardware iSCSI, Software iSCSI and NFS

 

Configuring iSCSI in a Vmware 3 environment

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_iscsi_cfg.pdf

A white paper from VMware on using and configuring iSCSI in your ESX environment