Fabrice Meillon BLog's (Archives) : Virtual Server

Sessions Virtual Server à l'IT Forum

fabricem — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 14:47:00 GMT

Voici un extract des sessions de l'IT FORUM sur Virtual Server 2005

Automating a Dev/Test Lab with Virtual Server

Virtualization can significantly reduce the cost of developing and testing complex multi-tier applications. Multiple servers can easily be provisioned and manipulated 'virtually' without requiring large amounts of physical hardware. In this Chalk-&-Talk we will discuss how virtualization is changing dev/test and provide some real world examples

Understanding and Working with the Virtual Server Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Disk Format

Microsoft has standardized on the VHD file format for the running and management of virtual machines. This file format provides for a range of disk types, including dynamically expanding, linked, undo and differencing disks. In this session we will take a deep dive into the file format, and discuss best practices and partner offerings for disk image management and migration

Virtual Server - Advanced Scripting and Other Secrets

Virtual Server provides a powerful selection of COM interfaces for manipulating all facets of a virtual machine. This can support everything from provisioning to day-to-day management operations. In this session we will showcase the COM API and demonstrate a range of scripting examples. We will also demonstrate how partner offerings are using the API to productize key provisioning and management functionality

http://www.mseventseurope.com/msitforum/05/pre/content/default.aspx

Enjoy et inscrivez-vous !!

Virtual Server 2005 R2 et l'hyperthreading

fabricem — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:17:00 GMT

Pour ceux qui avait lu mon post sur Virtual Server 2005 et et l'hyperthreading (cf http://blogs.msdn.com/fabricem/archive/2005/05/25/421673.aspx) et bien cela change avec Virtual Server 2005 R2, il ne sera plus nécessaire de desactiver l'hyperthreading en cas de sollicitation importante de la CPU par les machines virtuelles.

Des évolutions au niveau du driver Virtual Machine Monitor avec la version R2 permettent maintenant de s'affranchire de cette contrainte et donc laisser l'hyperthreading activé (bien sur cela ne veut pas dire qu'un serveur host bi processeurs hyperthreadés ou dual core soit aussi performant qu'un quadri mais il n'y aura pas de pénalisation à utiliser de tel processeur).

Matériel émulé avec Virtual Server 2005

fabricem — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:02:00 GMT

BIOS

Virtual Server 2005 emulates an American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) basic input/output system (BIOS) using the Intel 440BX with the PIIX4 chipset and the following on-board components:

• Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)

• Real-time clock

• Random access memory (RAM) and video RAM (VRAM)

• Memory controller

• Direct memory access (DMA) controller

• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus

• ISA bus

• System Management (SM) bus

• Power management

• 8259 programmable interrupt controller (PIC)

• Programmable interrupt timer (PIT)

Floppy disk drives

Virtual Server 2005 emulates floppy disk drive support for floppy disk drives of up to 1.44 megabytes (MB). Virtual Server 2005 also supports mapping to real floppy disk drives or to floppy drive images.

Serial ports (COM ports)

Virtual Server 2005 emulates two serial ports. These ports can be mapped to the host computer's serial ports.

Note You can only map to the standard COM 1 to COM 4 physical serial ports. Additionally, you can do this only if the ports are using standard I/O address ranges. Therefore, many add-on serial cards do not work with Virtual Server. However, older ISA cards that contain jumper switches may work.

Printer port (LPT port)

Virtual Server 2005 emulates a single printer port that maps to the host computer's parallel port.

Note You can only map to the LPT1 physical parallel port. Additionally, you can do this only if the port is using the standard I/O address range of 378h to 37Fh. Therefore, add-on parallel cards are not supported in Virtual Server 2005.

Mouse

Virtual Server 2005 emulates a standard PS/2 Microsoft IntelliMouse device that can be mapped to either a PS/2 mouse or to a USB mouse on the host computer.

Keyboard

Virtual Server 2005 emulates a standard PS/2 101-key Microsoft keyboard that can be mapped to either a PS/2 keyboard or to a USB keyboard on the host computer.

Ethernet controller

Virtual Server 2005 emulates a multi-port Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 21140 10/100TX 100 megabit Ethernet network adapter with one to four network connections, multiplexed on a single Virtual Server slot. An unlimited number of virtual networks are supported. All supported versions of the Windows operating system include drivers for the DEC 21140 network card.

Note To obtain MS-DOS drivers for the DEC 21140 network card, visit the following Intel Web site:

http://www.intel.com/design/network/drivers/index.htm#21143

Note The DEC 21140 network card may appear on the virtual machine as "Intel 21140." These are equivalent network adapters.

Processor

A virtual computer uses the CPU of the physical computer. Therefore a virtual machine has the same type of CPU as the physical computer where Virtual Server 2005 is installed. Although Virtual Server runs on systems that have up to 32 processors, guest operating systems only see a single CPU for each virtual machine. Virtual Server is optimized for industry standard hardware that has up to eight CPUs.

Memory

Virtual Server 2005 supports up to 64 gigabytes (GB) of RAM on the host computer and up to 3.6 GB for each virtual machine. Highly scalable systems can only support very large memory configurations if PAE (Physical Addressing Extensions) and AWE (Advanced Windowing Extensions) are installed on the host operating system.

Video card

Virtual Server 2005 emulates the S3 Trio64 graphics adapter with 4 MB of VRAM, Visual Electronics Standards Association (VESA) 2.0 compliant VGA and SVGA support, and support for DirectX.

Note Before a virtual machine can recognize every available resolution, you must install the virtual machine additions.

Integrated device electronics (IDE)/ATAPI storage

Virtual Server 2005 emulates up to 4 IDE devices, such as hard drives, CD drives, DVD-ROM drives, or ISO images. Additionally, Virtual Server 2005 emulates virtual disk images of up to 128 GB per IDE channel.

Note IDE is limited to one transaction per bus, whether it is a physical IDE device or a virtual IDE device. If you have two IDE disks attached to the same virtual or physical IDE bus, you are limited to a single transaction for both devices.

Small computer system interface (SCSI) storage

Virtual Server 2005 emulates the Adaptec 7870 SCSI controller chip set. This chip set has up to four virtual SCSI adapters. Each SCSI hard disk can be up to two terabytes. Each virtual SCSI adapter can support up to seven virtual SCSI hard drives. Therefore, the total direct-connect storage capacity is over 56 terabytes per virtual machine. Virtual Server supports simple active or passive clustering between virtual machines.

Note SCSI controllers and disks support multiple, concurrent input/output (I/O) to increase the performance of both physical SCSI devices and virtual SCSI devices. We recommend that you use SCSI whenever you can.

Sound card

Virtual Server 2005 does not include an emulated sound card.

Chat Microsoft TechNet : Nouveautés de Virtual Server 2005 R2 le 28 septembre de 17h à 18h

fabricem — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:55:00 GMT

Quelles sont les nouveautés de Virtual Server R2, mais aussi toutes questions sur Virtual Server ?

Plus performante, plus simple, découvrez la nouvelle version de la solution de virtualisation Microsoft.

Vous pourrez également poser vos questions sur la stratégie et les futures évolutions concernant la virtualisation et la plateforme Windows Server System.

Un Chat TechNet animé par Fabrice Meillon (Microsoft France).

c'est moi :).

Inscription sur http://www.microsoft.com/france/events/event.aspx?EventID=118763496

Formez-vous gratuitement sur Virtual Server 2005 avec Technet Plus

fabricem — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:33:00 GMT

Access FREE Virtual Server 2005 e-learning with TechNet Plus (US, Canada, and EMEA only)

With TechNet Plus, you’ll receive 90-days of free access to Microsoft E-Learning with hands-on learning to help you build your Virtual Server skills and knowledge. The following course is available to TechNet Plus subscribers from October 1 to December 31, 2005:

Course 2288: Using Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005

This course prepares students to migrate legacy applications and consolidate server functions by using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.

Note: Microsoft E-Learning courses are available in English only. Availability of learning resources may vary depending on your geographic location and subscription level.

Inscrivez-vous donc !!!!!

Virtual Server 2005 disponible dans Technet Plus à partir de Novembre !!!

fabricem — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:31:00 GMT

Virtual Server 2005 Standard Edition will ship to TechNet Plus subscribers in November. With TechNet Plus evaluation software, there are no time limits so you can make informed decisions about new technologies and test server consolidation or application re-hosting scenarios at your own pace. Find out more about TechNet Plus subscriptions.

Virtual Server 2005 disponible dans MSDN

fabricem — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:29:00 GMT

Enfin, en home page de Microsoft Virtual Server http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx, l'annonce de la prochaine disponibilité de Virtual Server 2005 dans les abonnements MSDN

"Virtual Server 2005 is a great tool for consolidation and automation in development and test environments. Virtual Server 2005 Standard Edition will be available to MSDN Universal and MSDN Enterprise customers from MSDN downloads."

Virtual Server 2005 Standard will be available immediately from MSDN downloads and will be included in the MSDN CD kits starting with the December distribution.

Virtual Server 2005 Standard will be included in MSDN Enterprise and Universal Subscriptions with consistent development, test, and demonstration use rights.

Virtual Server 2005 Standard will also subsequently be included in the MSDN Premium Subscription for all editions of Visual Studio 2005 Team System.

Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise Edition will be subsequently included with Visual Studio Team Suite (License) and Visual Studio Team Suite with MSDN Premium Subscription.

Que du bons...

Excellent document sur l'installation du site d'administration de Virtual Server sur un serveur distinct

fabricem — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 23:20:00 GMT

Le document est disponible sur http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c4dcf45b-72ea-44ed-86aa-1c389ece12f9&displaylang=en

Overview

Microsoft Virtual Server can be configured so that the Virtual Server service and the Administration Web site, with its corresponding installation of IIS, are on different computers. You may want to install the Administration Web site on a different physical computer if you want to have multiple physical computers running Virtual Server, but only one IIS server, or if you want to dedicate a physical computer to running only the Virtual Server service. This might be for performance or security considerations. This paper describes how to configure the Virtual Server service and Administration Web site on separate computers for both a new installation of Virtual Server and an existing installation of Virtual Server.

Virtual Server 2005 SP1 change de nom pour devenir Virtual Server 2005 R2

fabricem — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:44:00 GMT

Annonce faite la semaine dernière lors de l' Intel Developer’s Forum , Virtual Server 2005 SP1 change de nom au profit de Virtual Server 2005 R2

Today at the Intel Developer Forum, Microsoft disclosed new information about its Virtual Server product roadmap, including the official name for the next version and planned support for hardware virtualization technologies from AMD and Intel.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 – not Virtual Server 2005 SP1– will be the official name of the next version of Virtual Server 2005. The official name will appear in the RTM of the product, which is scheduled for release in Q4 2005. Virtual Server 2005 R2 provides customers improved performance, availability, and scalability in order to increase operational efficiency in server consolidation, application re-hosting, disaster recovery, and software test and development. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/sp1beta.mspx
Microsoft will deliver a new release of Virtual Server after Virtual Server 2005 R2. Scheduled for beta in the first half of 2006 and availability in the second half of 2006, this release will provide customers and partners an important transition between Virtual Server 2005 and Windows hypervisor, which will be delivered in the Windows Server “Longhorn” wave of products.
During a keynote given by Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’ s Digital Enterprise Group, IDF attendees saw an early preview of this future (post-Virtual Server 2005 R2) release of Virtual Server. The release will support the hardware virtualization capabilities of Intel’s VT and AMD’s Pacifica. By supporting both products, this future release of Virtual Server will provide customers better interoperability, strengthened isolation- preventing corruption of one virtual machine from affecting others on the same system, and improved performance for non-Windows guest operating systems, such as Linux. Microsoft announced plans for Virtual Server to support non-Windows guest operating systems in April 2005.

Comment Microsoft IT utilise Virtual Server pour consolider ses serveurs et réduire son coût

fabricem — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:49:00 GMT

Retrouver le livre blanc sur http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=25DCB14A-03F5-434D-83F7-4D46C1675B87&displaylang=en

Benefits

Reduction in server provisioning intervals from 22-25 days to 1 day

Cost reductions of ~30% over 3 years

Improved customer satisfaction

Optimisez les performances sous Virtual Server 2005 (VS 2005 performance Tips)

fabricem — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:44:00 GMT

Install Virtual Machine Additions

Install additional RAM in the host computer

Install additional CPUs in the host computer

Use a fast hard disk subsystem in the host computer

Put virtual hard disks on different physical disks than the hard disk that the host operating system uses

Use virtual SCSI hard disks instead of virtual IDE hard disks

Use fixed-size virtual hard disks instead of dynamically expanding virtual hard disks

Install multiple network adaptors in the host computer

Do not run other programs on the computer that runs Virtual Server 2005

et l'article complet sur http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;903748 ou dans les articles que j'ai ecrit (sur mon blog :))

Environnements supportés sur Virtual Server 2005 et politique de support

fabricem — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 10:56:00 GMT

KB: 897613 Politique de prise en charge de Microsoft Virtual Server (Microsoft Virtual Server support policy)

http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/897613

KB: 897614 Non prise en charge des logiciels système serveur Windows dans un environnement Microsoft Virtual Server (Windows Server System software not supported within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment)

http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/897614

KB: 897615 Stratégie de support pour logiciel Microsoft s'exécutant dans logiciel virtualisation matériel non Microsoft (Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software)

http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/897615

KB: 867572 Systèmes d'exploitation pris en charge dans Virtual Server 2005 (Supported operating systems in Virtual Server)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;867572

Virtual Server 2005 SP1 devrait etre disponible en version francaise

fabricem — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 18:10:00 GMT

Bonne nouvelle pour tous ceux qui désespéraient de disposer d'une interface d'administration de Virtual Server 2005 en version Francaise, les amoureux de l'interface en version Français seront aux anges avec Virtual Server 2005 SP1 qui devrait être disponible en FR. Information sous réserve de confirmation...

10 etapes pour ameliorer les performances sous Virtual Server 2005

fabricem — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 15:33:00 GMT

10 etapes qui vous permettrons d'améliorer les performances de vos machines virtuelles sous Virtual Server 2005

1. Installez les compléments pour les ordinateurs virtuels (Virtual Machine additions)

2. Installez autant de mémoire que vous le pouvez sur le serveur physique hôte

3. Plus de processeurs sur l’hôte = plus de d’ordinateurs virtuels

4. Utilisez un sous système rapide de disques

5. Stockez les disques durs virtuels sur un disque physique différent de celui du système d’exploitation de l’hôte

6. Utilisez des disques durs virtuels SCSI de préférence aux disques virtuels IDE

7. Utilisez des disques durs de taille fixe de préférence aux disques à expansion dynamique

8. Installez plusieurs cartes réseaux

9. Évitez de faire fonctionner d’autres applications ou services sur le serveur Virtual Server

10. Des serveurs x64 + Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 + Windows 2003 édition x64 = :)

Nous detaillerons chaque semaine ces points en détails

Un grand merci à Stéphane (il se reconnaitra) pour la traduction :)

En savoir plus ....http://blogs.msdn.com/fabricem/articles/category/8863.aspx

Quelle version des virtual machine additions pour quelle application de virtualisation

fabricem — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 15:06:00 GMT

Voici un petit recapitulatif des versions des Virtual Machine additions :

13.40 VPC 2004 RTM
13.206 VS 2005 RTM
13.306 VPC 2004 SP1
13.518 VS 2005 SP1 BETA

Il est important de respecter la version des VM additions de la machine virtuelle et l'application de virtualisation installée sur le serveur hôte.

J'utilise ma machine virtuelle sous VPC SP1 et VS 2005, je met à jour la bonne version de mes VM Additions