Tag: Hyper-V Server

Altaro Launches Hyper-V Backup v4

Congratulations to the really nice folks at Altaro (that’s been my experience and that of some of my customers) on the release of Altaro Hyper-V Backup v4.  Here are some of the features:

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Altaro, like a few others, are really quick to keep up with Microsoft.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they quickly celebrated the release while installing WS2012 R2 Hyper-V to get working on it … while certain big names in backup still don’t support WS2012.

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Hyper-V Backup is available as a nice free solution for the very small business and a fairly priced solution for larger businesses.

Windows Server and System Center 2012 R2 Previews Are Available

It’s all over social media this morning; You can download WSSC 2012 R2 (That’s WS2012 R2 and SC/SysCtr 2012 R2) from TechNet and MSDN right now.  The previews for the following are available now:

  • Hyper-V Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
  • Windows server 2012 R2 Datacenter
  • System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager (x86 and x64)
  • System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager (x86 and x64)
  • System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (x86 and x64)
  • System Center 2012 R2 App Controller (x86 and x64)
  • System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager (x86 and x64)
  • System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator (x86 and x64)
  • System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager (x86 and x64)
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual Machine
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Core

SQL Server 2014 CTP1 is also up there for you to test.

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Remember that these are preview releases – that’s like a beta (the product is not finished and has no support unless you are in a MSFT supervised TAP program) but without the feedback mechanism of a beta.  Do not use these preview releases in production!

I have the bits downloading now.  I’m on a customer site today so I don’t know if I’ll be deploying the bits or not until tomorrow.

Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 is Announced

EDIT: Download Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 from here.

I was talking to Jeff Woolsey (Windows Server Principal Program Manager Lead) tonight and he told me that today at TechEd North America he announced that there will be a Hyper-V Server 2012 R2.  This is the free version of Hyper-V, with all of the features (minus the GUI) and all of the scalability that you get with Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2.  Yes, that includes Failover Clustering (HA), unlimited Live Migration (with compression/SMB), shared VHDX, extensibility, Hyper-V Network Virtualiztion, Hyper-V Replica, etc.

It should be no surprise, but Hyper-V Server has been released with every version of Windows Server.  It’s the ESXi Free (and more) killer.  Once RTM, it’ll be a free download, as always.

Licensing-wise, Hyper-V Server has a niche market.  That’s because you never license VMs for Windows Server, even with VMware or XenServer; you license hosts with Standard (smaller installs) or Datacenter (makes sense financially with around 7 or more VMs per host, depending on Standard versus Datacenter license cost for your specific case).  So if you’re purchasing Windows Server per host for the VMs that will run on the host, then you might as well install Windows Server on the host to enable Hyper-V.  Where Hyper-V Server does have a place is:

  • VDI: where you’re not licensing the host for Windows Server VMs.  It might be pointless buying Datacenter edition (unless you’re a hosting company doing shared hosted VDI) when those licensing benefits are going to waste and not cancelling out the cost of the host OS.  the free Hyper-V Server has all the same functionality.
  • Linux VMs: Same argument as with VDI, and richer than ever with file system consistent backup and full Dynamic Memory support.
  • You don’t have licensing for Windows Server, you want to build a host once, and play with downloaded time-bombed demo stuff.
  • You licensed your VMs for an older version of Windows with no intention of upgrading, but you’d like to use the newest version of Hyper-V.
  • You want to ensure that no one can enable non-Hyper-V related roles/features on the Management OS.

There’s so much in Hyper-V Server.  But that’s always been the norm, because Hyper-V IS FREE.

End of Support Dates For Free Hyper-V Server

I got to wondering when the end of life for support was coming for the free-to-download/use versions of Hyper-V would be.  They are free, and there’s not much reason not to be either on the current or on the most recent edition.

I searched and found:

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Of note:

  • End of mainstream support for Hyper-V Server 2008 is 14th January, 2014.  That’s 1 year earlier than Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
  • Even though Hyper-V Server 2008 is still in mainstream support, it’s not supported by VMM 2012 SP1.
  • In fact, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RTM is also going out of mainstream support on the same date.
  • I haven’t a clue when Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 goes out of mainstream or extended support.  The note on that is … confusing:

Support ends 12 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product’s support lifecycle, whichever comes first. For more information, please see the service pack policy at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/#ServicePackSupport.

I cannot assume that the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 end dates are the same as W2008 R2 SP1.  As I’ve noted, the other dates don’t necessarily match up.  I’m asking Microsoft about this and I’ll update if I get an answer.

Before you ask:

  • Security updates will continue to the end of extended support
  • Mainstream support for Hyper-V is important because you want to get hotfixes (bug fixes) and support for managing it from newer versions of tools.

Install Hyper-V Server 2012 On USB Flash Drives

A common question I’ve seen is “Can I install Hyper-V on USB?”.  The answer is … sort of.

In the article, What’s New in Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012, it says:

Hyper-V Server 2012 supports all of the new features in the Hyper-V server role of Windows Server 2012 and a number of other general Windows Server 2012 features. It continues to support features from Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 such as failover clustering, multipath I/O, server backup, and the ability to install this product on bootable USB flash drives.

Please pay careful attention: It refers to the free product Hyper-V Server 2012.  No where, I repeat … NO WHERE does it say that Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V is supported on USB.  It’ll be entirely your fault if you assume that you have support to install Windows Server 2012 on USB and enable Hyper-V.  The TechNet text only mentions Hyper-V Server 2012 and that is a different product.

Remember my mantra on this: if you assume, then assume that you are wrong.

If you follow the link to the USB instructions (which are dated for Hyper-V Server 2008 R2) you will see another important sentence:

The scenario described in this document is only supported for original equipment manufacturers (OEM).

In other words, it is OK for Dell, HP, etc, to install Hyper-V Server 2012 on a USB stick and ship it to you.  It is not supported if you do this for yourself.  The instructions are there; you can use them to build yourself a lab that runs from USB.  And that’s that.  Do not go building this for yourself for production support.  You have been warned.

Before anyone asks, no, I have not seen a server company offer this.  In fact, I talked to some very senior server people in one of those companies a few months ago and they had never even heard of this boot option.  They even thought it was an ESXi only solution.

Also, boot from SD is not listed as an option.

Pre-Order Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation And Configuration Guide

The new book that I am working on, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation and Configuration Guide, has recently appeared on Amazon.com.

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I’m going to ask for the “small-medium business” bit to be changed.  Trust me, we’re writing this for the SME and the big enterprise deployments.  What Damian is currently working on is definitely big enterprise, trust me!

You can pre-order the book now.  And yes, the March 13th date is a complete shot in the dark by Amazon.  All I can tell you is that the last of our draft deadlines is in November (that’s me), and I’ve already done reviews on the first 3 chapters I’ve written, am finishing my 4th, and have 2 more left after that.

Hyper-V Server 2012 is RTM

You can download Hyper-V Server 2012 now.  This is the same hypervisor, with all the same scale and features as in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V (Standard and Datacenter edition).  The only differences are:

  • There are no free virtualisation rights to install Windows Server in guest OS’s on this machine.  This means it is good for labs, VDI, Linux hosting, and upgrading older hosts without SA (without upgrading the guest OSs on those hosts).
  • There is no GUI.  You use PowerShell, SConfig, or remote administration to manage the machine.
  • It’s stripped down so it is just a Hyper-V host and nothing else.

You can learn more and download Hyper-V Server 2012 now at this site.

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Post-TechEd North America 2012 Additions To My WS2012 Hyper-V Features List

A number of new Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and related features were made public last week at TechEd NA 2012.  I have updated my list to include those features.

Ssssh! There Is A Hyper-V Server 2012 Release Candidate

Note: Microsoft announced the new licensing for Windows Server 2012 since this post.  Check out the licensing scenarios here.  And note that Hyper-V is free anyway if you are legally licensing your Windows Server VMs.  Hyper-V Server has a place, but usually not when running Windows Server VMs.

I was downloading some stuff from TechNet for the lab at home when I noticed this:

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In fact, I nearly accidentally downloaded it … ick! Winking smile I didn’t read anything about this release at all.

Hyper-V Server is the free to download hypervisor from Microsoft.  Licensing-wise, it has a teeny tiny niche market.  That’s because you never license VMs for Windows Server, even with VMware or XenServer; you license hosts with Standard (usually SBS Premium), Enterprise (very small site), or Datacenter (makes sense financially with around 7 or more VMs per host).  And if you license the host + VMs with one of those, then you might as well use it.  I prefer the full install, even in WS2012, and others who like Core can flip back/forth to the GUI in WS2012.

Where Hyper-V Server does have a place is:

  • VDI: where you’re not licensing the host for Windows Server VMs.  It might be pointless buying Datacenter edition when those licensing benefits are going to waste and not cancelling out the cost of the host OS.  the free Hyper-V Server has all the same functionality.
  • Linux VMs: Same argument as with VDI.
  • You don’t have licensing for Windows Server, you want to build a host once, and play with downloaded time-bombed demo stuff.

Maybe you’re in that market for Hyper-V Server?  If so, go grab the RC and start playing and learning.

EDIT#1

As soon as I post this, I see tweets that it’s just been announced at TechEd Smile It will continue to match the Datacenter edition for features by the looks of the tweets.

EDIT#2

Oh for the hell of it, let’s have a look at the ESXi free edition comparison, courtesy of a tweet by David Davis:

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Hyper-V Server 8 Beta

I’ve been asked, and I’ve seen others are asking, about the future of Hyper-V Server and if there will be a Hyper-V Server 8.  I can confirm that, yes, there will be.  In fact you can get the beta here.

Hyper-V Server 8 is the free Hyper-V product, that includes all the functionality of Hyper-V and Failover Clustering.  The market for it is actually very small.  If you have 4 or more Windows VMs, and if you license them correctly and legally, it’s actually cheaper to license the host (and avail of the virtualisation rights) to license the VMs (BTW, the license is always assigned to the host even if you think you licensed a VM, and Windows volume licenses can only move once every 90 days). 

However, a small percentage benefit from Hyper-V Server, including those doing VDI or Linux virtualisation.