1. 70-410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
Chapter 3
Configuring Hyper-V

2. Objective 3.1: Creating and Configuring Virtual Machine Settings

3. Virtualization Architectures
Type II Virtualization
Requires a “host” operating system
Using the Type II Hypervisor, you create a virtual hardware environment for each VM
Install a “guest” operating system on each VM, just like installing a new computer
The host operating system shares access to the computer’s processor with the hypervisor
Does not provide the same performance as separate physical computers
Good testing or lab environment
Examples: VirtualBox, VMWare Workstation
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

4. Virtualization Architectures
A hybrid VMM sharing hardware access with a host operating system
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

5. Virtualization Architectures
Type I Virtualization
Hypervisor is an abstraction layer that interacts directly with the computer’s physical hardware
No host operating system required
Individual environments, called partitions have their own operating systems installed and accesses hardware through the hypervisor
No host operating system is sharing processor
Parent partition runs the virtualization stack which creates and manages the child partitions
Examples: Microsoft Hyper-V, VMWare ESXi vSphere Hypervisor
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

6. Virtualization Architectures
A Type 1 VMM, with the hypervisor providing all hardware access
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7. Hyper-V Implementations
Hyper-V role is required for the operating system to function as the computer’s parent partition, enabling it to host VMs.
Only Standard and Datacenter editions support Hyper-V.
No special requirements are needed for the guest operating systems (Microsoft or non-Microsoft).
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8. Hyper-V Licensing
You must have licenses for both physical and virtual instances of the operating system.
Datacenter licensing allows you to create and run an unlimited number of VMs.
Standard provides 2 virtual instances only.
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9. Hyper-V Hardware Limitations
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host system:
Up to 320 logical processors
Supporting up to 2,048 virtual CPUs
Up to 4 TB of physical memory
One server can host as many as 1,024 active VMs
Each VM can have up to 64 virtual CPUs and up to 1 TB of memory
Hyper-V can support clusters with up to 64 nodes and 8,000 VMs
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10. Hyper-V Server Subset of Windows Server 2012
Free downloadable product, but does not include licenses for operating systems installed in the VMs
Includes the Hyper-V role and limited File and Storage services and Remote Desktop capabilities
Hyper-V role is installed by default
Only uses Server Core interface
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11. Installing Hyper-V
Installing the Hyper-V role installs the hypervisor software and Hyper-V Manager (GUI only)
Recommendations:
Use Hyper-V role on the host without any other roles
Put other roles on VMs
Use Server Core installation
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12. Hyper-V Hardware Requirements
64-bit processors that include hardware-assisted virtualization.
A system BIOS that supports the virtualization hardware, on which the virtualization feature has been enabled.
Hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP), which Intel describes as eXecuted Disable (XD) and AMD describes as No eXecute (NS).
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13. Using Hyper-V Manager
The primary graphical tool for creating and managing VMs
Can be used to manage VMs on multiple servers
Installed with the Hyper-V Role, or you can install the Hyper-V Management Tools feature, or RSAT package for Windows 8
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14. Creating a Virtual Machine
To create a virtual machine (VM), you define the hardware resources that the system should allocate to them:
Number of processors
Memory
Virtual network adapters
Virtual disks
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

15. Creating a Virtual Machine
Each virtual machine uses the following files:
Virtual machine configuration (.vmc) file: This file in XML format contains the VM configuration information, including all settings for the VM.
Virtual hard disk (.vhd or .vhdx) files: One or more files used to store the guest operating system, applications, and data for the VM.
Saved-state (.vsv) file: The VM may use this if it has been placed into a saved state.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

16. Installing an Operating System
Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 supports the following as operating systems you can install in virtual machines:
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008
Windows Home Server 2011
Windows Small Business Server 2011
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2003 SP2
Windows 8
Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate SP2
Windows XP Professional SP3
Windows XP x64 Professional SP2
CentOS 6.0–6.2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0–6.2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2
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17. Installing an Operating System
To start an installation from a DVD, or image file, you must configure the VM’s virtual DVD drive in the Settings dialog box. Enter one of the following options:
None: The equivalent of a drive with no disk inserted.
Image file: Points to a disk image file with an .iso extension stored on one of the host computer’s drives or on a shared network drive.
Physical CD/DVD drive: Links the virtual DVD drive to one of the physical DVD drives in the host computer.
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18. Configuring Guest Integration Services
Some of the functions added to solve compatibility issues with guest operating systems (OSs):
Operating system shutdown: Enables the Hyper-V Manager console to remotely shut down a guest OS in a controlled manner, eliminating the need for an administrator to log on and manually shut the system down.
Time synchronization: Enables Hyper-V to synchronize the OS clocks in parent and child partitions.
Data Exchange: Enables the OSs on the parent and child partitions to exchange information, such as OS version information and fully qualified domain names.
Heartbeat: Implements a service in which the parent partition sends regular heartbeat signals to the child partitions, which are expected to respond in kind. A failure of a child partition to respond indicates that the guest OS has frozen or malfunctioned.
Backup: Allows backup of Windows VMs using Volume Shadow Copy Services.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

19. Allocating Memory
When you create a new VM you specify the amount of memory allocated to the VM.
Based on the amount of physical memory on the computer.
Change the allocated memory by shutting down the VM, opening Settings, and changing the Startup Ram setting.
Experiment to find the optimum performance.
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20. Using Dynamic Memory
Allows the VM to automatically reallocate memory to the VM from a shared memory pool as its demands change
Must be enabled by selecting the Enable Dynamic Memory check box on the VM’s memory page, and the following settings must be configured:
Startup RAM
Minimum RAM
Maximum RAM
Memory Buffer
Memory Weight
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21. Monitor Memory Allocation
Memory statistics for a virtual machine
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22. Configure Smart Paging
Smart paging is a new feature.
If a VM has to restart, and there is not enough memory available to allocate its Startup RAM value, the system uses hard disk space to make up the difference and begins paging memory contents to disk.
Because of slow disk access, performance degrades.
Select the fastest possible hard drive for the Smart Paging file.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

23. Resource Metering
Resource metering uses PowerShell cmdlets to track a variety of performance metrics for individual VMs, including:
CPU utilization
Minimum/Maximum/Average memory utilization
Disk space utilization
Incoming/Outgoing network traffic
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

24. Objective 3.2: Implementing Patch Management

25. Working with Virtual Disks
Hyper-V uses a virtual hard disk (VHD) format to package part of the space on a physical disk to appear to the VM as though it is a physical hard drive.
You can construct virtual storage subsystems to emulate almost any physical storage solution.
The New Virtual Machine Wizard creates the following virtual storage subsystem:
2 IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) controllers (system drive + DVD drive)
1 SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) controller (unpopulated)
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26. Virtual Disk Formats Three types of VHD formats:
Fixed hard disk image: An image file of a specified size in which all the disk space required to create the image is allocated during its creation.
Dynamic hard disk image: An image file with a specified maximum size, which starts out small and expands as needed to accommodate the data the system writes to it.
Differencing hard disk image: A child image file associated with a specific parent image. The system writes all changes made to the data on the parent image file to the child image, to facilitate a rollback at a later time.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

27. Virtual Hard Disk Formats
VHD
Limited to 2 TB
Compatible with all versions of Hyper-V, Virtual Server, and Virtual PC
VHDX
Up to 64 TB
Support 4 KB logical sector sizes
Larger block sizes (up to 256 MB)
Not backwards compatible
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

28. Creating Virtual Disks
Hyper-V allows you to create virtual hard disks as a part of a virtual machine, or create them later and add them to a VM.
Hyper-V Manager provides access to most of the VHD parameters.
Windows PowerShell provides the most granular control.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

29. Creating a Virtual Disk with a VM
The New Virtual Machine Wizard includes a Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, with which you can add a single disk to your new VM with these options:
Create a virtual hard disk: Enables you to specify the name, location, and size of a new virtual hard disk, but you can only create a dynamically expanding disk using the VHDX format.
Use an existing virtual hard disk: Enables you to specify the location of an existing VHD or VHDX disk, which the VM will presumably use as its system disk.
Attach a virtual hard disk later: Prevents the wizard from adding any virtual disks to the VM configuration. The assumption is that you will manually add a disk later, before you start the virtual machine.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

30. Adding Virtual Disks to Virtual Machines
If you chose the Attach a virtual hard disk later option when creating your virtual machine, you will need to attach a virtual hard drive to one of your controllers.
In the VM’s settings you will see 2 IDE controllers (IDE 0 and IDE 1) and 1 SCSI controller.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

31. Creating Differencing Disks
Allows you to create a cloned version of a baseline installation
The parent disk is the baseline installation
The child is the differencing disk
Make changes to the child differencing disk without changing the baseline
You can revert back to the baseline installation anytime
Excellent tool for testing or labs
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

32. Configuring Pass-Through Disks
A pass-through disk is a type of virtual disk that points not to an area of space on a physical disk, but to a physical disk drive itself, installed on the host computer.
The VM must have exclusive access to the physical disk.
You must take the disk offline in the parent operating system.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

33. Modifying Virtual Hard Disks
You can edit a virtual hard disk, whether you have attached it to a VM or not.
Use the Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard in the Hyper-V Manager.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

34. Creating Snapshots
A snapshot is a captured image of the state, data, and hardware configuration of a virtual machine at a particular moment in time.
Offers a convenient way for administrators to revert a virtual machine to a previous state at will.
Select Snapshot from the Actions pane.
The system creates a snapshot file, with an AVHD or AVHDX extension in the same folder as the virtual hard disk file.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

35. Connecting to a SAN
A storage area network (SAN) is simply a network dedicated to high-speed connections between servers and storage devices.
A SAN consists of one or more drive arrays equipped with network interface adapters, which you connect to your servers using standard twisted pair or fiber optic network cables.
A SAN-connected server has a minimum of two network adapters—one for the standard LAN connection, and one for the SAN.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

36. A server connected to a SAN
Connecting to a SAN
A server connected to a SAN
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37. Advantages of SANs
Avoid the limitations imposed by the maximum number of devices you can connect directly to a computer.
Provide added flexibility in their communications capabilities.
Can also greatly extend the distances between servers and storage devices.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

38. Clustering in a SAN
Because any device on a SAN can communicate with any other device on the same SAN, high-speed data transfers can occur in the following ways:
Server to storage: Servers access storage devices over the SAN just as if they were connected directly to the computer.
Server to server: Servers use the SAN to communicate directly with each other at high speeds to avoid flooding the LAN with traffic.
Storage to storage: Storage devices communicate among themselves without server intervention (e.g., performing backups from one medium to another or to mirror drives on different arrays).
By connecting redundant servers to the same network, enabling them to access the same data storage devices, you create fault tolerance—clustering.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

39. Multiple servers connected to a SAN
Clustering in a SAN
Multiple servers connected to a SAN
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40. SAN Technologies
Hard drive arrays directly connected to a server consist of multiple drives and a SCSI interface.
Some include RAID controllers, while some are JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks).
Drive arrays for SANs are more complex because they also include support for networking and intelligent agents that provide advanced functions, like serverless backups.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

41. Using Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel is a high-speed serial networking technology that was originally designed for use with supercomputers, but which is now associated primarily with storage area networking.
Supports various network media, transmission speeds, topologies, and upper-level protocols
Its primary disadvantage is that it requires specialized hardware that can be extremely expensive.
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42. Connecting Virtual Machines to a SAN
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V now supports the creation of virtual Fibre channel adapters.
This is essentially a pass-through device that enables a virtual machine to access a physical Fibre Channel adapter installed in the computer, and through that, the external resources connected to the SAN.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

43. Objective 3.3: Monitoring Servers

44. Virtual Networking
Virtual networking components are used in place of physical ones in a virtual environment, such as:
Virtual network adapters
Virtual switches
Allows you to connect to virtual and physical environments
Hyper-V allows you to create multiple switches and adapters to provide a flexible networking environment
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

45. Creating Virtual Switches
A switch has a series of ports, each of which is connected to a computer’s network interface adapter. Any computer connected to the switch can transmit data to any other computer connected to the same switch.
Virtual switches created by Hyper-V can have an unlimited number of ports, so administrators don’t have to be concerned about connecting switches together or about uplinks and crossover circuits.
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46. Creating the Default Virtual Switch
Hyper-V provides you with the opportunity to create a virtual switch for each of the physical network adapters installed in the host computer. These switches enable virtual machines to participate on the networks to which the physical adapters are connected.
When you create a virtual switch, the networking configuration in the host operating system on the parent partition changes:
The new virtual switch appears in the Network Connections window, and if you examine its properties, you can see that the switch is bound to the operating system’s TCP/IP client.
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47. The Default Virtual Switch
An external network switch provides connections external to the Hyper-V environment
The virtual network configuration overlays the physical network configuration
The virtual switch is connected to the physical switch and the network adapter in the host computer is connected to the virtual switch
It is the same as connecting two physical switches together
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48. Creating a New Virtual Switch
There are three types of switches that you can create in the Virtual Switch Manager:
External: Bound to networking protocol stack in the host OS and connected to a physical network interface adapter in the Hyper-V server. Virtual machines running on the server’s parent and child partitions can all access the physical network to which the physical adapter is connected.
Internal: Bound to a separate instance of the networking protocol stack in the host OS, independent from the physical network interface adapter and its connected network. The virtual machines on the child partitions cannot access the physical network through the physical adapter.
Private: Exists only in the Hyper-V server and is accessible only to the virtual machines running on the child partitions.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

49. Configuring MAC Addresses
Every network interface has a Media Access Control (MAC) address that uniquely identifies the device on the network.
On physical network adapters, the MAC address is assigned by the manufacturer.
Hyper-V has a pool of 256 addresses to assign to VMs as you create them.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

50. Creating Virtual Network Adapters
Once you have created virtual switches in Hyper-V Manager, you can connect virtual machines to them by creating and configuring virtual network adapters.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

51. Synthetic Adapters and Emulated Adapters
A purely virtual device that does not correspond to a real-world product.
Synthetic devices in a virtual machine running on a child partition communicate with the parent partition using a high-speed conduit called the VMBus.
Emulated adapter (or a legacy adapter)
A standard network adapter driver that communicates with the parent partition by making calls directly to the hypervisor, which is external to the partitions, and is substantially slower.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

52. Configuring Hardware Acceleration Settings
You can configure the following hardware acceleration settings if your network interface adapters supports them:
Enable virtual machine queue (VMQ): Stores incoming packets intended for VMs in separate queues on the physical network adapter, and delivers them directly to the VMs, bypassing the processing normally performed by the virtual switch on the parent partition.
Enable IPsec task offloading: Uses the components on the network adapter to perform some of the cryptographic functions required by IPsec.
Single-root I/O virtualization: Enables the virtual adapter to take advantage of the SR-IOV capabilities of the physical adapter.
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53. Creating Virtual Network Configurations
Hyper-V makes it possible to
Extend virtually any existing physical network configuration into its virtual space, or
Create a completely separated and isolated network within the Hyper-V environment.
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54. Extending a Production Network into Virtual Space
Microsoft recommends the use of at least 2 physical network adapters in a Hyper-V server, with 1 adapter servicing the parent partition, and the other connected to the child partitions.
When you have more than 2 physical adapters in the server, you can create separate external virtual network switches for the physical adapters, and connect each one to a separate VM.
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55. Creating an Isolated Network
By creating internal or private virtual switches, you can create a network that exists only within the Hyper-V space, with or without the parent partition included.
Excellent for testing and evaluation purposes, or for classroom situations.
You can also use VLANs to create isolated networks.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.