Guides for Microsoft's private cloud

These documents are for delivery of Private Cloud solutions based in Microsoft Virtualization technologies and provides guidance on planning and managing a Server Virtualization engagement.


Microsoft Private Cloud Foundation Deployment Kit:

1. Engagement Management Guide.pdf
2. Architecture and Sizing Guide.pdf
3. Deployment Guide.pdf
4. Operations Guide.pdf

What is Initial store in SCDPM

The below image is Management console in SCDPM 2010. There are protection groups to configure backup policy.

Figure: Protection menu of the management console


I found something new in console, that was Initial backup. I hadn't seen it in my testing server. So I searched what it was on the web.


Someone said: 
Initial Store is a Hyper-V security component that stores information relating to role based access permissions for the VMs on that server. It is located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\InitialStore.xml.
You do need to backup the Initial Store component but you don't need to back  it up along with a VM. The same thing with restore. Restore the component  when the InitialStore.xml file is missing, corrupt etc. This component is independent of the VMs.


Other added:  
The "Initial Store" is related to Azman. The initial store contains the AzMan role-base security specifications. Restore this component when you want to restore the AzMan security settings that you backed up. 
If you want to back up an online virtual machine (running VM) by using VSS, you should back up all of the volumes that contain the files for the virtual machine, including the InitialStore.xml file (in %systemdrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V, by default) and all volume(s) contains the VHD(s) and configuration XML files.

This would be the point of the post.
So, Do we have to back up initial store?

Figure: Adding initial store to protect

As for the initial store you don't have to protect it necessarily unless you're using authorization manager to delegate and define specific permissions and control for your virtual machines to users.

And it also is related to Hyper-V Authorization Manager. Refer to 
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd283088(WS.10).aspx

Enable mouse input on Hyper-V VM installed CentOS

1. Installing Integration Service 2.1 for Linux (download site)
After VM deployment, you have to install Integration Service 2.1 for Linux.
For more information, Refer to the enclosed Read Me for installation instructions.

2. Intalling InputVSC driver (download site)
(1) Download and attach the .ISO file to a Hyper-V guest with the Linux Integration
(2) Copy the contents of the .ISO to the desired directory
(3) Run setup.pl with the inputdriver argument:
# ./setup.pl inputdriver

No Hyper-V Snapshot for the purpose of VM Backup

We've heard a lot from microsoft web site that you're not supposed to use snapshot ( or checkpoint in VMM) for Virtual Machine backup.

You can read this from this or watch a video
This site is about FAQ of Hyper-V Snapshots describing what snapshot is and what effects we have while snapshotting.

As we aleady know, snapshot is to use for saving vm at a certain time like making ghost images.
It provides simle way to backing VM up in a very short time.

However, it has also demerit. the killer part is that your stoage could happen shortage problem.
After snaphot is deleted, snapshot files wouldn't be deleted if you don't shut down the VM or put it into saved status.

Here's exmaple.
I have a VM which took two snaphots in VMM console.

And this is snaphot files on the hard disk. (1 original VHD and 2 avhd)
Snapshot file has *.ahvd

Among files, I try to remove this one.

This snaphot file is to be deleted on HardDisk.

the snapshot was deleted !!!

But, As you can see, the snapshot file haven't been deleted on hard disk.

Let's me the VM change into Saved status.
I'm going to put it into Shutdown or Saved in VMM

the snapshot file was finally deleted.
Keeps in mind that deleting time on hard disk is depend on the size of the snapshot file or
how many snapshot was kept.

There are other points:

• Do not delete .avhd files directly from the storage location. Instead, use Hyper-V Manager to select the virtual machine, and then delete the snapshots from the snapshot tree
• Do not expand a virtual hard disk when it is used in a virtual machine that has snapshots. Doing so will make the snapshots unusable

We've checked what happend after delete snapshot. There are pros and cons using this functionality.
It's important to know this kind of mechanism. When you bakup your system up, you don't want to shut the system down. at this point of view, snapshot isn't proper backup solution.

Guest OS that is supporting Dynamic memory

Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Release Candidate(RC) has been released.
This SP1 makes Hyper-V to eanble Dynamic memory and Remote FX.

After install, it shows build number Service Pack, v721 on the property tab of comuputer in Control panel. (this number is the same with SP1 beta)
To check SP1 whether RC or not on your server , start regedit.exe and go to this key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion"
Check BuildLabEx value. There you can see RC.

Follow list is Guest OS which has supported Dynamic memory since beta.
- Windows Server 2003 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2008 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise & Datacenter (64-bit)
- Windows Vista Enterprise & Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows 7 Enterprise & Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)


Here are Guest OS that has newly supported since RC (Web & Standard)
- Windows Server 2003 Web & Standard (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2003 R2 Web & Standard (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2008 Web & Standard (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Web & Standard (64-bit)


Prerequisite for Guest OS (Only Web or Standard)
- Windows Server 2003 or R2: Installing Integration Services
- Windows Server 2008: After installing SP2, then apply this hotfix
- Windows Server 2008 R2: Installing SP1

How to add or remove virtual stroage without shutting down VM

Windows Server 2008 R2 provides functionality that adding or removal of virtual storage to the virtual machine while it is in operation. It refers to as "hot add".
There are two controller types of virtual hard disk on Hyper-V. The one is IDE controller type that is used to boot virtual machine and the other is SCSI controller. This SCSI controller type supports "hot add" or "hot removal" of virtual hard disks.

1. To add virtual hard disk to VMs, SCSI controller must be added to a virtual machine.

2. Left is configuration window of a VM and right one is Disk Management console in the guest OS of the virtual machine. Looking at the right, there are three hard disks on the list. - Two partitioned disks (C, D) and the one is a system-reserved disk.
In order to add a new one, it needs to make a virtual hard disk, and then attach it to the VM.

3. On the right window, the new hard disk which its status is unformatted and unallocated has been added.

4. It stars format of the disk. On the contrary this example, if you attach a formatted disk, you don't have to format again the disk.

5. After the format is completed, you can see that letter E is allocated to the drive.
This is so-called hot add of virtual storage without any shutdown of VM on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.

5. How about hot removal of VHD? You just click "remove" button on the configuration window of VM.

These links are topics related hot addition / removal of virtual storage.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/c904e9be-a4ab-461e-8020-f0ce400b07df
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/12/01/why-hyper-v-cannot-boot-off-of-scsi-disks-and-why-you-should-not-care.aspx

Supported Guest OS on Hyper-V

This lists the guest operating systems that are supported on Hyper-V.

The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of virtual processors that should be configured to a virtual machine.

• 
  
  Windows 2000 (one)
  • 
    
    Windows 2000 Server SP4
  • 
    
    Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4
    
    
• 
  
  Windows Server 2003 x86 / R2 x86 (one, two)
  • 
    
    Web (SP2), Standard SP2, Enterprise SP2, Datacenter SP2
    
    
• 
  
  Windows Server 2003 x64 / R2 x64 (one, two)
  • 
    
    Web (SP2), Standard SP2, Enterprise SP2, Datacenter SP2
  
  
• 
  
  Windows Server 2008 x86, x64 (one, two and four)
  • 
    
    Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, HPC
  • 
    
    Standard without Hyper-V, Enterprise without Hyper-V, Datacenter without Hyper-V
    
    
• 
  
  Windows Server 2008 R2 x86 / x64 (one, two and four)
  • 
    
    Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web Server
    
    
• 
  
  Windows XP Professional x86
  • 
    
    XP Professional SP2 (one)
  • 
    
    XP Professional SP3 (one, two)
    
    
• 
  
  Windows XP Professional x64 SP2 (one, two)
  
  
• 
  
  Windows Vista x86 / x64 (one, two)
  • 
    
    Business SP1, Enterprise SP1, Ultimate SP1
    
    
• 
  
  Windows 7 x86, x64 (one, two and four)
  • 
    
    Business, Enterprise, Ultimate
    
    
• 
  
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3 x86 (one)
  
  
• 
  
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3 x64 (one)
  
  
• 
  
  Suse Linux Enterprise Server x86 / x64 (one)
  • 
    
    Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 or SP2
    
    

Link about a list of guest OS on Hyper-V of Microsoft web site.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv-supported-guest-os.aspx

Link about a post that Hyper-V support Redhat as guest OS.
http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2009/02/15/Microsoft-and-Red-Hat-Joint-Technical-Support.aspx

Windows SVR 2008 R2 Edition Comparison by Technical Specification

N/A: Not Available

Specification	Web	Standard	Enterprise	Datacenter	Itanium	Foundation	HPC
Cross-File Replication (DFS-R)	N/A	N/A	Available	Available	Available	N/A	N/A
Failover Cluster Nodes (Nodes)	N/A	N/A	16	16	8	N/A	N/A
Fault Tolerant Memory Sync	N/A	N/A	Available	Available	Available	N/A	N/A
Hot Add Memory	N/A	N/A	Available	Available	Available	N/A	N/A
Hot Add Processors	N/A	N/A	N/A	Available	Available	N/A	N/A
Hot Replace Memory	N/A	N/A	N/A	Available	Available	N/A	N/A
Hot Replace Processors	N/A	N/A	N/A	Available	Available	N/A	N/A
IA64 RAM	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2 TB	N/A	N/A
IA64 Sockets	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	64	N/A	N/A
Network Access Connections (IAS)	N/A	50	Unlimited	Unlimited	2	10	N/A
Network Access Connections (RRAS)	N/A	250	Unlimited	Unlimited	N/A	50	250
Remote Desktop Admin Connections	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Remote Desktop Services Gateway	N/A	250	Unlimited	Unlimited	N/A	50	N/A
Virtual Image Use Rights	Guest	Host + 1 VM	Host + 4 VM	Unlimited	Unlimited	N/A	Host + 1 VM
X64 RAM	32 GB	32 GB	2 TB	2 TB	N/A	8 GB	128 GB
X64 Sockets	4	4	8	64	N/A	1	4

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/r2-compare-specs.aspx

Determining IP Adress from guest O/S

When you run Windows Server 2008 R2 as a guest Operating System on the virtual machine, you determine IP address easily.

That is Msvm_KvpExchangeDataItem of WMI class.
Keys and values from this class are used to exchange information between Host and Guest O/S.


Unfortunately, some items are not supported in the eariler version of 2008 R2:

IntegrationServicesVersion
NetworkAddressIPv4
NetworkAddressIPv6
RDPAddressIPv4
RDPAddressIPv6
OSEditionId


Results are here:

Windows Server 2008
VMElementName : demo2
FullyQualifiedDomainName : deleted
OSName : Windows Server (R) 2008 Standard
OSVersion : 6.0.6001
CSDVersion : Service Pack 1
OSMajorVersion : 6
OSMinorVersion : 0
OSBuildNumber : 6001OSPlatformId : 2
ServicePackMajor : 1ServicePackMinor : 0
SuiteMask : 16
ProductType : 3
ProcessorArchitecture : 0
Descriptions : {x86, Server, Terminal}

Windows Server 2008 R2
VMElementName : demo
FullyQualifiedDomainName : deleted
OSName : Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
OSVersion : 6.1.7600
CSDVersion :
OSMajorVersion : 6
OSMinorVersion : 1
OSBuildNumber : 7600
OSPlatformId : 2
ServicePackMajor : 0
ServicePackMinor : 0
SuiteMask : 274
ProductType : 3
OSEditionId : 10
ProcessorArchitecture : 9
IntegrationServicesVersion : 6.1.7600.16385
NetworkAddressIPv4 : deleted
NetworkAddressIPv6 : deleted
RDPAddressIPv4 : deleted
RDPAddressIPv6 : deleted
Descriptions : {x64, Server, Terminal, Single User...}



For more details, Click the follwoing link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc136850(VS.85).aspx