Tag: Windows Server 2016

Windows Server Technical Preview – Delivery of Integration Components

Those of you who have run more than one generation of Hyper-V will understand the pain of updating integration components in a VM’s guest OS. If you run Windows (this is not applicable to Linux because the process is different) the you need to run the latest ICs in a guest OS for that VM to have:

  • The latest virtualization features
  • Stability
  • Performance

We typically have seen new versions of the ICs in three occasions:

  • A hotfix or Windows Update
  • A service pack – no longer relevant but an update rollup might bring new ICs
  • A new version of Hyper-V

The process was that VMGuest.ISO was updated on the host, and we would mount that ISO from the VM to install the latest integration components. This assumed that:

· We had admin rights to the guest OS – not applicable usually in a cloud

  • Network access
  • Time
  • Patience

We had workarounds such as using PowerShell or System Center, but again, this assumed we had rights to the guest OS or network access.

Microsoft was keen to solve this issue … and they went to a method that I think many of us will approve of: updates to the Windows integration components for Hyper-V will be delivered by Windows Update (and hence WSUS). This has started with delivery to any of the following guest OSs running on the Tech Preview of vNext:

  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 7

Microsoft uses KVP (enabled by default) to determine that the VM is running on vNext.

This new process will give cloud admins control over the IC release (via WSUS) and will automate the delivery of the ICs to all guests that run Windows Update, ensuring that clients are up to date and can avail of the best that Hyper-V can offer. No more McGuyvering required.

Windows Server Technical Preview – Cluster Functional Level

This feature is tied into Cluster Rolling Upgrade. When we are doing a rolling upgrade of a cluster (from WS2012 R2 to vNext), we will temporarily have a mixture of WS2012 R2 hosts and Windows Server vNext hosts. This is referred to as mixed mode.

To avoid issues, the cluster will either:

  • Run only features of the down-level hosts
  • Run features only on down-level hosts

For example, on a storage cluster (SOFS) running disk deduplication (for VDI personal VMs), the cluster will only run deduplication optimization jobs on the down-level hosts because vNext optimization will make changes that are not backwards compatible.

This mixed mode is TEMPORARY – it should not be run for months or years!!!!

EDIT: Today (17/Dec/2014) I learned that Microsoft will have a support limited of 4 weeks for running a cluster in mixed mode. They want you to finish the migration ASAP, but 4 weeks will be the support limit. There is not hard coded limit, but now you know what they’ll support.

EDIT: I also learned on 17/Dec/2014 that Microsoft will not put a limit on how long v5.0 VMs (VMs with WS2012 R2 host compatibility – more on this later) can run on a higher level cluster.

The goal is that you upgrade each node in the cluster as quickly as possible. You might pause half way through to observe the stability of your hosts (drivers, firmware and external storage/networking hardware). If you’re happy you continue the upgrade. If not, you can rebuild the upgraded hosts to WS2012 R2 and live migrated your VMs back.

Note: VMs will be manually upgraded to vNext and this is why you can live migrate VMs between WS2012 R2 and vNext hosts within the cluster without any issues.

When you have finished the upgrade you will complete the project by raising the cluster functional level. This opens up the cluster’s vNext features and then you should manually upgrade the VMs to v6.0 (vNext).

Windows Server Technical Preview – Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade

A big pain point with Microsoft’s increased cadence of releases of Windows Server is that upgrading a cluster has been a royal pain in the arse.

Previous to the release of WS2012 R2, there was only one process: build a new cluster (either by buying new hardware or draining a host from the old cluster) and do an out-of-band migration of VMs from the old cluster to the new one. WS2012 R2 decreased the pain slightly by allowing Cross-Version Live Migration – but we let Microsoft know that this wasn’t enough.

Windows Server vNext will allow you to perform a cluster rolling upgrade without creating a new cluster. You will be able to do this from WS2012 R2 to vNext (note I did not say WS2012 or W2008 R2 or W2008).

The process is that you will rebuild each node in the cluster, one at a time with Windows Server vNext. You will, for a short time only, have hosts running WS2012 R2 Hyper-V and vNext Hyper-V in the cluster at the same time. This is called Mixed Mode, and VMs can live migrate between the nodes. Eventually you will complete the project by raising the cluster functional level after all hosts in the cluster are on vNext.

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The flow chart of the process is shown here:

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This feature will be a major time and money saver, and will allow Hyper-V customers to keep up with the fast release of new versions of Windows Server Hyper-V.

Windows Server Technical Preview – Cluster Cloud Witness

Imagine a multi-site or stretch cluster that spans sites A and B. Hosts are running in Site A and Site B and are nodes in that cluster. A critical function of a cluster is to calculate quorum in the event of a site outage or a link failure – one site must have more than half of the available votes to have quorum and continue operating as a cluster (and failover the VMs from the other site).

The recommended solution for this in the past was to create a file share witness … operating in a third site. So first you needed a third site. That’s not going to be cheap! And then you needed, ideally, a file server cluster running in that third site to ensure that the file share witness was highly available.

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Windows Server vNext offers a new advanced quorum option of using a Cloud Witness. This is where we use Azure as a witness. Folks – this is going to be one seriously affordable option!

You create a blob storage account in Azure. This will store just an incremental sequence number; it’s just a vote so the cluster will remain operational if Azure has issues. This will cost just a few cents per month to operate.

You then configure the cluster with the storage account name and storage account key for secure access. The cluster will then use Azure as a witness. This is a lot easier and cheaper than configuring a file share witness on a cluster in a third site.

Introducing The Features of Hyper-V In Windows Server 2016 (WS2016)

As I have done with Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2, I am going to do my best to list out and document (level 100 to begin with) the features of Windows Server 2016 (WS2016) Hyper-V.

There will be two levels of “documentation”:

  • The glossary: Where I list out each feature, summarize it, and link to more detailed descriptions.
  • Feature specific posts: Where I will talk a bit more about the feature in question.

The glossary will grow over time and I will add links as feature specific posts are published. I have a bunch of those feature specific posts scheduled daily from today into 2015 covering content on Hyper-V and related technologies in Windows Server. The feature specific posts will take more time – things are subject to change so I am waiting for stabilization first.

Note that I am aggregating publicly discussed/document information from TechNet, Microsoft blog posts, TechEd Europe 2014, Ignite 2015 and interviews by Microsoft staff. There is no content beyond that scope.

Windows Server Technical Preview – Binary VM Configuration Files

Microsoft is changing the format of virtual machine configuration files by going back to the drawing board. There are two files in question:

  • .VMCX which is the virtual machine configuration file.
  • .VMRS which is for runtime state data

Both files are binary files; yes Microsoft is moving away from XML. And editing these files directly is strictly not supported – it never has been! You should use the admin tools, PowerShell, and WMI to edit a VM configuration.

There are two benefits to switching to binary files:

  • Performance: Reading from and writing to the files will become more efficient
  • Stability: There is a lower risk of corruption due to storage failure

This resiliency is being enabled by resilient logging of changes _ a change is written to the log, the log is replayed to the configuration file, and they clear away the log. And believe it or not, Microsoft has seen some customers where the XML format has caused performance bottlenecks!

Microsoft News – 10 December 2014

I’ve included a few videos that Carsten Rachfahl recorded at the MVP Summit in Redmond last November.

Hyper-V

Windows Server

System Center

Azure

Office 365

Intune

  • Microsoft Intune App Wrapping Tool for iOS: The tool is a Mac OS command line application that creates a ‘wrapper’ around an app. Once an app is processed, you can then change the apps functionality using an Intune mobile application management policy that you configure.

Microsoft News – 5 December 2014

It’s December, and not much happens then in the world of Microsoft. However, we do have GA of Azure RemoteApp (RDS in the cloud) on the 11th!

Windows Server

Windows Client

Azure

Intune

Microsoft News – 3 December 2014

It’s been a slow period but there’s some interesting stuff in Azure networking and websites.

Hyper-V

Windows Server

Azure

Office 365

Miscellaneous

Microsoft News – 24 November 2014

It’s been a slow few news days in the Microsoft world. Stuff I’m not linking to: the infinitely linked webcasts on mobility management and the Reign malware infecting computers in Ireland, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

Windows Server

Windows Client

Azure

Office 365

Miscellaneous