MVUG Blog

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007

Overview

• Comprehensive health monitoring of virtual machines
• Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) in VMM
• VMM reports
• Diagram views available from the VMM Administrator Console
• Note: The Microsoft.SystemCenter.VirtualMachineManager.Pro.2008.Public class in the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 PRO Library management pack has been redefined as an abstract class.

You can find the MP here on the Microsoft download site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d6d5cddd-4ec8-4e3c-8ab1-102ec99c257f&displaylang=en

Patrick Lownds

Broadcom NIC Teaming and Hyper-V

I have been working with Hyper-V since November 2007 and one issue that is still unresolved, even now, is the issue of NIC Teaming.

I want to start off by pointing out upfront that NIC Teaming is NOT supported by Microsoft in either a virtual of a physical environment. It is typically supported by the manufacturer, in this case Broadcom, and is also supported by the OEM.

I am not personally aware of the support status from an OEM perspective, and recommend that before anyone attempts to implement NIC Teaming, in combination with Hyper-V that they talk to their OEM first, to validate the support status.

So why am I blogging about Broadcom NIC Teaming and Hyper-V? Well Broadcom have added support for NIC Teaming with Broadcom’s BASP6 v1.2.10 release.

Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) is the Broadcom teaming software for Windows. BASP runs within the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite 3 (BACS).

BAPS supports four types of teams for layer 2 teaming:

·         Smart Load Balancing and Failover

·         Link Aggregation (802.3AD)

·         Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3AD-Draft Static

·         Smart Load Balancing (Auto-Failback Disable)

Smart Load Balance and Failover
In this type of team, a standby member handles the traffic if all of the load balance members fail (a failover event). All load balance members have to fail before the standby member takes over. When one or more of the load balance members is restored (fallback), the restored team member(s) resumes the handling of the traffic.

Link Aggregation (802.3AD)
In this type of team, you can dynamically configure the network adapters that have been selected to participate in a given team. All adapters in the team are configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. The outbound load balancing scheme is determined by the BASP driver. The link partner of the team determines the load balancing scheme for inbound packets. In this mode, at least one of the link partners must be in active mode.

Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3AD-Draft Static
This type of team is very similar to the link aggregation type, in that all adapters in the team must be configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. This mode does not provide link aggregation control protocol (LACP) or marker protocol support. This mode supports a variety of environments where the link partners are statically configured to support a proprietary trunking mechanism. Trunking supports load balancing and failover for both outbound and inbound traffic.

SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable)
This team is identical to Smart Load Balance and Failover, with the following exception: when the standby member is active, if a primary member comes back online, the team continues using the standby member rather than switching back to the primary member. This type of team is supported only for situations in which the network cable is disconnected and reconnected to the network adapter. It is not supported for situations in which the adapter is removed/installed through Device Manager or Hot-Plug PCI. If any primary adapter assigned to a team is disabled, the team functions as a Smart Load Balancing and Failover type of team in which auto-fallback occurs.

What Teamed Network Adapters does Broadcom support with Hyper-V? Broad support the following team types:

·         Smart Load Balancing and Failover (configured only for one primary and one standby adapter)

·         Link Aggregation (802.3AD)

·         Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3AD-Draft Static

New Microsoft Hyper-V Backup/Restore Hotfix released

If you are backing up your Hyper-V environment using the VSS writer (i.e. backing up from the physical server) you should be aware of a new hot fix http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;959962 that addresses three issues:

Issue 1
If you back up a Hyper-V virtual machine that has multiple volumes, the backup may fail. If you check the VMMS event log after the backup failure occurs, the following event is logged:

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Event ID: 10104
Level: Error
Description:
Failed to revert to VSS snapshot on one or more virtual hard disks of the virtual machine '%1'. (Virtual machine ID %2)

Issue 2
The Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer may enter an unstable state if a backup of the Hyper-V virtual machine fails. If you run the vssadmin list writers command, the Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer is not listed. To return the Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer to a stable state, the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service must be restarted.

Issue 3
You cannot restore a Hyper-V virtual machine if the virtual machine was configured to use a legacy network adapter.

Patrick Lownds

Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions - Free eBook

The above eBook is available for free if you register at http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urmvs17u33 

Synopsys
This guide will teach you about the benefits of the latest virtualization technologies and how to plan, implement, and manage virtual infrastructure solutions. The technologies covered include: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2009, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, and Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

Patrick Lownds

Hot Add/Remove of Storage in Hyper-V (Windows 2008 R2)

One of the new features in the next release of Hyper-V is the ability to hot add/remove storage. However, this feature does not apply to storage connected to the IDE Controller. The ability to hot add/remove storage is limited to disks connected to the SCSI Controller i.e. VHDs and Pass-Through disks. Note that the ability to hot add/remove the storage controller itself is not supported, so you need to ensure that the Guest Partition is configured with a SCSI Controller first.

Patrick Lownds

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Since Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 beta is now available for public download I thought it was worth summarising the differences between Hyper-V Server 2008 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 at a high level.

Note – content was presented publically at TechEd IT Pro EMEA 2008 – session SVR202 and was presented by Rajesh Dave and Jeff Woolsey.

Windows Server 2008 R2 beta is now available for download.

Yes, it is official Windows 2008 R2 is available on Connect, TechNet subscribers have access and it will be available generally on the Windows 2008 R2 landing page http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/r2.aspx tomorrow (9th January) from what I understand. I also just noticed that Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 beta has been posted! If you are having trouble finding Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 then look under Applications rather than Operating Systems.

New Infrastructure Planning and Design - System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 SP1

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released a new guide IPD guide for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 SP1 and this can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD3921FB-8224-4681-9064-075FDF042B0C&displaylang=en along with the other IPD guides.

Patrick Lownds

Must see webcast 17/02 - How Microsoft Designs the Virtualization Host and Network Infrastructure At Microsoft.

At Microsoft, server virtualization has become a primary way to address data center power and space issues, and to rationalize server utilization. Find out how Microsoft IT developed best practices to configure host computers, storage, and network infrastructure in order to optimize virtual machine deployments. Register at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032399927&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US 

Regards

Patrick Lownds

Top Issues for Microsoft Support for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V

Great blog detailing the top issues being reported by customers during the first few months after Hyper-V went RTM at http://blogs.technet.com/askcore/archive/2008/12/23/top-issues-for-microsoft-support-for-windows-server-2008-hyper-v.aspx