Random updates on HYPER-V faq

While we are helping the customers to upgrade or consider for moving to HYPER-V  there are questions fire up in various ways. One thing I notice is most of them have already heard about the virtualization but laying back due to the lack of information been passed to them about the Virtualization products or maybe they have questions not been answered yet. With this blog article I’m expecting to share some of the questions I have been face and also come common ones I have seen in the forums. I’ll give priority to HYPER-V on this article :) Now as a general understanding I didn’t add the questions like what are the advantages on moving to virtualization since it’ll be well covered by particular vendors :) apart from that do a search at Bing or Google.

1. Is my existing servers capable of running HYPER-V? For this questions we need to check the processor compatibility. To check each respective processor manufactures processor compatibility they have their own tools,
AMD , Intel, Other software

2. What is the most effective way to run HYPER-V? Running HYPER-V on top of server core is the recommended method. In this way you make sure maximum hardware resources are available for the Virtual PC’s. Step by step info available here

3. How can I backup HYPER-V VPC’s using the native windows backup? You can integrate the Windows backup program to backup the virtual PC’s.To do so you need to register the Hyper-V VSS Writer with Windows Server Backup. Click here 

4. How can I move my production servers to virtual environment without reconfiguring or loosing data? You can use Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine (SCVMM) to convert existing physical systems to virtual environment. This conversion can be carried out in two methods, Live conversion and offline conversion. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages plus when to use which option. More about P2V using SCVMM can be found over here.

Those are the questions I can think top of my mind apart from deep level technical questions which I didn’t insert over here. Feel free to drop a note and request more information.

Windows 2008 R2 upgrade paths

In my public session on “Windows 2008 R2” I have been raised with questions about the upgrade path options and how to do the upgrade. Some of the questions related to the upgrade from Windows 2003 domains rest are from Windows 2008 to 2008 R2.

Microsoft has been always trying to focus and listen to customer / partner comments and requests for their product improvement. With R2 they have included a feature called as “Windows server migration tools” This will allow you to carry our the process of transferring services (AD, DNS, DHCP..etc) from your previous Windows operating system to the new Server environment.

So how to do those task using the given tools will be a total separate topic and a separate blog article :)

What operating systems are supported and unsupported in the migration path has been updated on the TechNet.

Windows 2008 Server Core Configurator 2.0

If you’re managing Windows 2008 CORE operating system you know the pain of typing long commands in the console :) (Well we can use RSAY of course but not for everything) I’ve been using Core configuration tool to make life easier since most of the common commands can be managed UI within the core itself. Recently Core configurator version 2.0 has been released. Core configurator 2.0 only works with R2! so if you want to manage the previous versions of Windows 2008 core edition better keep the old version in handy as well.

Core configurator version 2.0 under open source so you have the complete rights to modify it as well :)

Some of the tasks you can do with core configurator are,,

Product Licensing

Networking Features

DCPromo Tool

ISCSI Settings

Server Roles and Features

User and Group Permissions

Share Creation and Deletion

Dynamic Firewall settings

Display | Screensaver Settings

Add & Remove Drivers

Proxy settings

Windows Updates (Including WSUS)

Multipath I/O

Hyper-V including virtual machine thumbnails

JoinDomain and Computer rename

Add/remove programs

Services

WinRM

Complete logging of all commands executed

You can download it from here.

Sharing knowledge with bright minds

I’ve been very happy when I have been invited to do a session about Microsoft products for students at a University. This is one memorable occasion which I got the chance to work closely with few Sri Lankan MVP’s as well. This University is located in Kandy, too bad we forgot get some pictures of the surroundings.

So what is interesting is the eager students had to learn about the new technologies and especially about the Microsoft side. They have been well armed with Open source technology but had certain knowledge about the Microsoft products and how those products can be used effectively. In this event we had the chance to demonstrate several products and how to use them effectively on their lifestyle.

I also got to know University students has been selected to receive several Microsoft products free!! (Can’t name the products now until the announcement comes from the Microsoft itself :) ) But that indication has been given to the students at that time. Look forward for more events like this and to share the knowledge.