Dugie’s Pensieve

Yup, the announcement was made today at TechEd IT Forum 2007.  Hyper-V will be available in 64 bit versions of:

• Windows 2008 Standard - $999 USD / 1,082 AUD
• Windows 2008 Enterprise - $3,999 USD / 4,335 AUD
• Windows 2008 DataCenter - $2,999 USD (per processor) / 3,250 AUD

Strangely enough you can also purchase editions of Windows without Hyper-V, which will be ~$28 cheaper.  I have my thoughts on why they did this, but I’ll do some digging first before posting a commentary.

So what happens now?  Well I imagine every man and his dog will start writing reports on TCO/ROI that look like this =)

Earlier this month Microsoft released a free download called Search Server.  It’s quite a nifty product, and I’m trialling it here, but for all the details see Jonathan Kauffman post "Microsoft Enterprise Search Blog  Announcing Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express".

Anyway, today they’ve released a preconfigured VHD.  It’s a 5 part download totaling 2.9 Gb.  To download a copy check out the page Search Server 2008 Express VHD.

The password is Evaluation1

This means there are now roughly 30 pre configured VHDs available for download from Microsoft.  For the complete list check my Downloads page

Microsoft have release a series solution accelerators, with one of them dedicated to Virtualization Infrastructure and planning. 

The Virtualization guide is a 46  page guide targeted for infrastructure specialists familiar with Microsoft virtualization.  Actually its word doc and slide deck.  It’s nice to see that this document includes forward planning for Viridian as well as Virtual Server.

The guide as the name suggests is more about asking "the big questions", and is broken down into a 14 step process.  

You can download and review the Infrastructure Planning and Design for yourself, and a snippet of the contents is below:

1. Determine the Virtualization Scope
2. Create the List of Applications
3. Determine Resource Requirements
4. Select the Backup Approach for Each Application
5. Applying Fault Tolerance
6. Summarize and Analyze the Application Requirements
7. Select a Form Factor for the Hosts
8. Determine Server Placement
9. Map Guests to Hosts
10. Determine the Host Backup Approach
11. Design Fault Tolerance
12. Design the Storage Infrastructure
13. Design the Network Infrastructure
14. Validate the Overall Approach

Q:  What is http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt and why is it in my proxy logs?!

A: Windows Vista includes a feature called Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI).  For more information see, "Appendix K Network Connectivity Status Indicator and Resulting Internet Communication in Windows" and a snippet is below:

NCSI might communicate with a Web site to determine whether a network has Internet connectivity.  A page called ncsi.txt (http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt) containing the following line of text with no terminating new line or other non-printing characters: "Microsoft NCSI".  NCSI can be disabled by changing a registry setting.

Coming to you live from the Windows Home Server Session presented by Todd Headrick and Joel Burt.  The guys have got 4 different servers here from different vendors.  There are pictures below, with an Aussie $20 note for perspective.

UPDATE:  No the speakers, didn’t put the $20 note there.  I did, it’s an Australian thing.

I’m not going to cover what home server is, so for the full review see Paul Thurott’s review.  I will to a write up on the features I use at a later day.  But I have to finish building my arcade cabinet first.

Here is some assorted snippets from all the questions asked during the session today:

• Home server does not use raid, but can duplicate the data to multiple drives.
• Home server installs from a DVD media
• Largest home server storage to date (that he knows of) is 25 drives with 12 Tb of storage
• 35 Software applications are available to run on top of Home Server to do different stuff.
• The inbuilt backup is for Windows XP and Windows Vista machines
• Apple Macs can use the home server as a file server Read the rest of this entry »

Below, is an extract of the  FAQ section for Virtualization and Volume Activation 2.0 whitepapers:

Q. Do virtual servers or virtual machines (VM) add to the KMS count?

A. No. Only physical computers are added to the KMS count.

Q. Can I KMS-activate virtual machines and guest operating systems?

A. Yes, but keep in mind that virtual machines are not added to the KMS count.

Q. Can I MAK-activate virtual machines and guest operating systems?

A. Yes. If MAK activation is used, it is subject to the same hardware tolerance restrictions as on physical machines. This means that if the host hardware changes, the virtual machine may require reactivation. MAK activation of virtual machines is also applied against the MAK activation limit, thus decreasing the activations remaining on the MAK.

Q. What is the guidance for deploying Windows volume editions in virtual machines?

A. When the virtual machine is created, it is recommended to run sysprep /generalize to reset activation and other system-specific information as the last step before storing or capturing the VM image. Optionally, if you do not want to generalize all computer settings, you can run slmgr /rearm to reset the product activation timers only. This can be done a maximum of 3 times.

It is important to run either sysprep /generalize or slmgr /rearm the system before storing an image. This prevents the activation timer from running down while the product is in storage.

Q. Does KMS for Windows 2003 run within a virtual machine?

A. No. KMS for Windows Server 2003 is not supported in a virtual machine. An updated version of KMS for Windows Server 2003 supporting KMS in a virtual machine will be released by Windows Server 2008 launch.

Q. Does Windows Server 2008 support KMS on a virtual machine?

A. Yes. KMS is supported in a virtual machine in Windows Server 2008.

Q. Can I run VAMT on a virtual machine?

A. Yes.

I’ve just finished a technical session on Volume Activation 2.0 with Julius Sinkevicius, a Senior Product Manager, Windows Server Division.

I was impressed to see the amount of thought and planning Microsoft as put into managing licensing/activation with Virtual Machines.

It is recommended to use KMS infrastructure with a dynamic environment for virtual machines (aka:  Microsoft Quick Migration, or VMware VMotion)

MAK activation is not recommended, because there is the risk that a Windows 2008 VM will potentially "deactivate" when moving between hosts.

Microsoft have 6x Whitepapers that have been published today and are available for download "Volume Activation 2.0 Technical Guidance".

Yesterday, Microsoft have released 149 pages of scripting powershell sugary goodness, called the Virtual Machine Manager Scripting Guide (792 Kb in *.doc format)

The guide explains how to create PowerShell scripts that execute Virtual Machine Manger 2007 commands, and provides over a dozen (16 to be exact) sample scripts:

AddVSServerAsHost
AutomateNewVMCreation   
BackupLocalVMM   
BackupRemoteVMM
CreateSelfServicePolicy_AccessVMs
CreateSelfServicePolicy _CreateManageStoreVMs
CreateSelfServicePolicy_CreateManageVMs
CreateSelfServicePolicy_ManageVMs
DiscoverVMMComputers
EnableVMRC
InstallVMAdditions
NeedVMAdditions
RestoreLocalVMM
RestoreRemoteVMM
TrackJobStatus
UpgradeAgents

Ok, enough tech blogging for today.  Time for something a little more mindless. 

After the workshop today, we went out for dinner at the Seattle Aquarium.  I think we got the best seat in the house, and sat right in front of a 12m x 7m fish tank.  It was pretty cool.

Anyway, we started chatting about Australia, and I tried to convince everybody, that’s it’s a lovely place.   Lots of nice beaches, places to visit, and of course good roads to ride a motor bike on.  :)

…and then a few moments ago somebody sent me this:

*grins*, Australia is still a lovely place , really it is!

VMRCplus has been updated from v1.5 to v1.6 and is available from download, see:  Download details Virtual Machine Remote Control Client Plus (VMRCplus)

Thanks to Matthijs for update and explanation in his post "VMRCplus in TechNet Magazine!", a snippet is below:

So what is new in 1.6.0?
First of all, the UI reflects Virtual Server terminology. Both Paul and I had used a mix of Virtual Server terminology and internal (SDK) terminology. To reflect the terminology used in the web administration UI of Virtual Server, the terminology of VMRCplus has been updated.
Second, VMRCplus now offers configuration of scripts on both the Virtual Server and Virtual Machine level. This was missing from the previous release.
Third, VMRCplus offers configuring promiscuous mode on the network so you can trace traffic in the virtual switch. This is something Virtual Server does not offer in the web administration UI.

Of course there have been minor enhancements like storage of Console Manager coordinates, conflict handling when a shortcut already exists (something Virtual Server fails to resolve).

The COM and LPT port assignment logic has been fixed (most of it did not work).
The x86 installer package no longer installs on x64. This has been done to prevent issues with 32-bit VMRCplus on 64-bit Virtual Server.

Error handling has been enhanced and several issues have been fixed.