Microsoft Virtual Server: Overview and Roadmap Mike Neil Product Unit Manager Windows Virtualization microsoft.com Microsoft Corporation

Session Outline Overview of Virtual Server 2005 Overview Architecture Usage scenarios Server configurations Server Virtualization Roadmap Virtual Server 2005 SP1 Overview of enhancements Windows virtualization futures

Session Goals Attendees should leave this session with the following A solid overview of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 A better understanding of the roadmap for Microsoft Virtual Server and Windows virtualization

Virtual Server 2005: Overview Windows server virtual machine solution RTM’d October 2004 Hosted on Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) Windows XP supported for non-production use Supported guests: Windows NT4 Windows Server 2000 Windows Server 2003 Many x86 operating systems run, but are not Supported Virtual Server is licensed per physical machine Standard Edition $499 (1-4P) Enterprise Edition $999 (unlimited)

Virtual Server 2005: Overview Windows service with a web interface Designed for remote administration Fully documented COM API for scripting and ISVs Virtualizes everything you find in a x86 system Provides virtual disks (VHD), virtual networking and virtual video

Virtual Server 2005: Architecture Provided by: Microsoft ISV OEM Virtual Server Designed for Windows Server Hardware Windows Server 2003 or XP KernelVMM.sys Ring 0 Ring 3 Host OS Virtual Server Service Ring 0 Ring 1 Ring 3 Guest OS VMM.sys Windows (NT4, 2000, 2003) Guest Applications VS Additions IIS Virtual Server WebApp

Virtual Server 2005: Usage Scenarios Production server consolidation Consolidation of low-utilization workloads Early adopters running around 3 workloads per CPU Physical constraints one of the key drivers Development and test Rapid provisioning of virtual machines Undo-disks and saved states help reproduce issues MSDN licensing covers scenarios Legacy application re-hosting Consolidate legacy OS and application on 2003 Legacy OS is still a management issue Reduces costs of older hardware

Virtual Server 2005: Server Configurations Memory A virtual machine needs as much memory as a physical machine Plus overhead (~25MB per virtual machine) Overhead for MMU virtualization, video emulation, etc CPU Virtual Server provides CPU allocation controls Maximum (not to exceed) Reserve (will always have enough) Weights (weighted average) One virtual processor per virtual machine Scales multiple virtual machines across multiple processors

Virtual Server 2005: Server Configurations I/O Virtual machines will be sharing disk and networking paths A virtual machine doesn’t do less I/O than a physical machine Configure systems with multiple I/O paths Multiple spindles for disks Controllers can become the bottleneck Multiple NICs for performance, isolation and resilience Fault resilient hardware With consolidation, all your eggs are in one basket

Server Virtualization Roadmap Today Virtual Server 2005 RTM Virtual Server 2005 SP1 Beta This year Virtual Server 2005 SP1 RTM Future Windows virtualization Windows hypervisor

Virtual Server 2005 SP1: Overview 64-bit x64 hosts - 32-bit guests Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition Windows XP Professional x64 Edition 64-bit port of VMM and service Better scaling from larger kernel address space x64 systems typically can have more RAM Additional guest supported Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition Service Pack 1 Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2

Virtual Server 2005 SP1: Overview Performance enhancements Improved shadow page table management Improved performance of guest process switching and memory intensive application 65% increase in internal TPC-C in memory tests Early customer saw a 50% drop in CPU utilization PXE booting Emulated Ethernet card now supports PXE booting No need for a RIS floppy Integrates virtual machines into deployment infrastructure

Virtual Server 2005 SP1: Overview Other improvements Bug fixes Improved Hyperthreading support F6 Disk (SCSI driver) Virtual disk pre-compactor Open necessary ports at install time Reserve space for saved states

Windows Virtualization Virtualization for Windows Server Windows hypervisor Uses Intel VT and AMD “Pacifica” virtualization extensions Very thin layer of software below all OSes Provides basic mechanisms for creating partitions Does not contain device drivers Virtualization stack Runs as a foundation role with a minimal set of components Provides the virtualization and emulation of devices WMI interface for management and configuration Virtualization Service Providers (VSPs) Hardware sharing architecture Microsoft will provide storage, network, video, USB, input, time

Windows Virtualization: Architecture Designed for Windows Server Hardware Windows Kernel Virtualization Service Providers (VSPs) Primary Partition VM Service Child Partitions Windows hypervisor Applications Ring “-1” MinWin IHV Drivers VMBus WMI Provider VM Worker Processes Ring 0 Ring 3 Virtualization Service Clients (VSCs) VMBus Virtualization Stack Windows Kernel Enlightenments

Windows Virtualization Some proposed features 32-bit and 64-bit guests x64-only hosts Guest multiprocessing Virtualized devices (VSPs) WMI management and control API Save & restore Snapshoting Server-specific features CPU and I/O resource controls Tuning for NUMA Dynamic resource addition & removal Live migration

Community Resources Windows Hardware & Driver Central (WHDC) Technical Communities Non-Microsoft Community Sites Microsoft Public Newsgroups Technical Chats and Webcasts Microsoft Blogs

Additional Resources microsoft.com Web Resources MSDN for Virtual Server 2005 COM API Related Sessions Windows virtualization architecture More detailed discussion of hypervisor and Virtualization Service Providers Virtualization Technology for AMD Architecture Virtualization Technology for Intel Architecture