Linux Integration Services V2.1 is out

Linux IC V2.1 is available. It is a RTM version. Get it fast to enjoy 4 vCPU for supported guest operating system.

Mikester has make an announcement in this site: http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2010/07/29/linux-integration-services-v2-1-now-available.aspx

To download:- http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=eee39325-898b-4522-9b4c-f4b5b9b64551

Just download, extract the file and you will get the IC + the documentation which talk about the features and how to configure.

Supported guest OS:-

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 x86 and x64 (up to 4 vCPU)
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x86 and x64 (up to 4 vCPU)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)

Mouse support:- Citrix Project Satori

To make my life easy, i have added into "Learn more" section (on the right).

Install DPM 2010 Protection Agents for Workgroup or Untrusted Domain

Good news! With DPM 2010, now you can perform backup for workgroup computer and other domain (which refer as untrusted domain in dpm). Before you can start the backup, you need to install the protection agent. Follow below steps:-

1. On protection computer execute the following computer

Net use z: \\ dpm server name \c$

Note: i'm going to map to dpmserver c drive.
2. Go to Z:\program files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\ProtectionAgents\RA\3.0\3.0.7696.0\i386

3. Execute dpmra.msi to install DPM Protection agents

4.Open Command prompt and execute the following command

setdpmServer.exe –dpmservername DPMservername -isNonDomainServer –username dpmadmin_X

Note: Enter a new user account, for other protected computers. Do not use the same user account.
Define dpmservername using NETBIOS name.

Example:

Dpmadmin_server1
Dpmadmin_server2
Dpmadmin_server3

Note:- You can't use the same user account. The account must unique. One computer is using one user account. This account will create on DPM server and Protection computer.
5. Enter the password and reconfirm the password

6. On DPM Console, Click on Management tab and Agents tab. On Action pane, click Install. Select Attach computer and select “Computer is under workgroup or untrusted domain”.
 
7. Enter computer name and username and password that you enter on step 4. click Add and click Next . Make sure you can ping the computer account. If cannot, please add into hosts file which located in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

 

8. Review the summary and Click Attach. Wait until it display Success status.

 

You have just completed install protection agents for workgroup computer and computer in different domains.

Upgrade DPM 2007 (64x) to DPM 2010

Here is some guideline on how to perform upgrade from DPM 2007 to DPM 2010. Make sure your existing DPM is running DPM 2007 (64x) before proceed with below steps.

Upgrade steps:-
1. Install DPM 2007 SP1. You can get it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8AE5EDAC-4DE8-44E0-A6F9-8AFBB3E23585&displaylang=en

2. Install hotfixes from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=74ac7461-dbfe-4bc1-85a2-4d2948f30e42

3. Existing server has 3GB of free hard disk space.

4. Run DPM 2010 installation. It will perform the upgrade process.

5. Once the upgrade process complete, remember to restart the computer.

6. Then perform the following steps as recommended.

7. Before upgrade protection agents, make sure you have installed SP2 for windows Server 2003.

8. Use DPM 2010 console to upgrade the agents and perform consistency checks on all protection data.

Not too dificult and the process is quite straight forward. For precaution measure, please remember to backup the DPM database before perform the upgrade process.

Scripting in VMM 2008 R2

New link updated in "Learn more "(on the right) . This time i have added VMM 2008 R2 Scripting.

Below is some scripting available according to categories. check the link below to get some some sample on the VMM Scripting. Just go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc764259.aspx.

To learn more, get free document about:-

VMM Scripting Guide - Click here
CMDLet Reference - Click here

Some useful scripting command to start:

Get-VMMServer –ComputerName “VMM FQDN”

note: Before using any cmdlets to access your managed environment, you first need to connect to your VMM server

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SystemCenter.VirtualMachineManager

note: Run the VMM cmdlets from the Windows PowerShell command window instead of the VMM command shell, you will need to add the VMM snap-in.

Get-Command –CommandType cmdlet –PSSnapin Microsoft.SystemCenter.VirtualMachineManager

note: see VMM command

My best friend:-

Get-help
Get-help -detailed
Get-help -example

note:- to view sample and get help on the command.

Trust me ! You need to look into the above link when you do scripting in VMM.


p/s: document is provided by Microsoft.

Enjoy, Lai

RemoteFX USB Redirection

Another great stuff on RemoteFX is USB Redirection. It allows you to redirect virtually any USB device transparently over RDP. 

Prerequisites

You will need the following:

•A RemoteFX-capable client (Remote Desktop Connection 7.1 or later) .

•A virtual machine hosted on a RemoteFX host (Windows 7 SP1 or later)

On the machine which you use to RDP, make sure you have the following operating system
a) Win 7 with SP1
b) Win 2008 R2 with SP1
c) Win Vista with SP2 + Remote Desktop Connection 7.1
d) Win XP with SP3 + Remote Desktop Connection 7.1

Note:- Perform this step on machine which use to RDP !
On the supported OS, go to mmc and open Group Policy Object - Local Computer or use Active Directory Group Policy

1. Navigate Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Remote Desktop Services | Remote Desktop Connection Client |RemoteFX USB Device Redirection.

2.Right-click Allow RDP redirection of other supported RemoteFX USB devices from this computer, and then click Edit. In the Allow RDP redirection of other supported RemoteFX USB devices from this computer dialog box, click Enabled and right set to Administrator and User. Once complete, restart the client machine.

3. After the machine boot up. Open RDC (mstsc), click on Option | Local Resources tab | More

4. You will able to see additional settings "Other supported RemoteFX USB device" and tick your Camera , Printer , Scanner, etc

5. When finish configure the RDC, remote into the Win7 VM with SP1. You will be able to see your device listed under Device and Printers.

Now USB device such as Webcams, headset, Windows Mobile devices, Printers, scanners work great on VDI!

RemoteFX in Action

With Public SP1 Beta just released,a lot of Virtualization Guru look into Dynamic Memory. Well, let not to forget, RemoteFX is one of key feature in SP1 which bring enhancement for VDI. Let look into how you should configure RemoteFX 3D Adapter for Windows 7 VM.

1. Open VM Settings, you will be able to see "Dimmed RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter" on add hardware.

2. To enable RemoteFX 3D adapter, add Remote Desktop Virtualization Role and select RemoteFX.
Make sure that your server graphic card is the supported GPU for 3D.

3. The RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter is available once you have added the roles. But before you add the hardware, make sure your Win7 VM is installed with SP1 Beta and added relevant user into Remote Desktop User Group.

4. Once you added the RemoteFX hardware, you can specify the resolution and multiple monitor support.

5. When you boot up VM, you can't use the Virtual Machine Connection. Below is the error that you will see.

If you would like to make changes, just go to Safe Mode (Press F8) during boot up.

6. In order for you to access to the Virtual Machine, you need to use Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc).
Before remote in, make sure you change this setting on Experience tab:- Set to LAN connection.

7. Go to Device Manager, you will see your VM Display Adapter has changed to RemoteFX.

8. The next step is enable Aero feature. Once you have the Aero feature enable, try the Windows Flip (Windows key + Tab)

Cool right !. I just wonder if i can play 3D games inside Virtual Machine.
Should try later.. Cheer, Lai

MAP 5.0

Good news !, MAP 5.0 has released to web (RTW). It's a nice tool which i use for virtualization assessment. Give it a try to understand your server utilization and perform server consolidation.

What's new with MAP Toolkit 5.0?

1. Heterogeneous server environment inventory
2. Software usage tracking for Windows Server, SharePoint Server, System Center Configuration Manager, Exchange Server, and SQL Server
3. Microsoft Office 2010 readiness assessment
4. SQL Server discovery and assessment for consolidation
5. Windows 2000 Server migration assessment

Use the MAP Toolkit 5.0 to plan your right-sized infrastructure, accelerate IT planning, and assess multiple products and scenarios from a single tool—helping you and your organization save valuable resources and money.

To download the MAP Toolkit 5.0, visit: http://microsoft.com/map.

MAP Toolkit 5.0 is an agentless tool designed to simplify and streamline the IT infrastructure planning process across multiple scenarios through network-wide automated discovery and assessments. This Solution Accelerator performs an inventory of heterogeneous server environments and provides you with usage information for servers in the Core CAL Suite and SQL Server, SQL Server 2008 discovery and assessment for consolidation, Windows 2000 Server migration assessment, and a readiness assessment for the most widely used Microsoft technologies—now including Office 2010.

More technical, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb977556.aspx

Dynamic Memory Supported Operating System

[Oct 27,2010]
SP1 RC has released. In the Release Candidate, additional guest operating system is supported.

• Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard, (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows Server 2003 R2 Web, Standard, (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows Server 2008 Web, Standard, (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Web, Standard, (32-bit and 64-bit)

At this moment, i have tested Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition.
Dynamic Memory work like a charm.

[July 13, 2010]
Thanks to Ben , Virtualization Program Manager- his blog mentioned about dynamic memory operating system support.
Here is some summary of his article:-
Only the following operating systems are supported with the beta release:

•Windows Server 2003 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Server 2008 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Vista Enterprise & Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows 7 Enterprise & Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)

The final release of SP will include support for the following operating system

•Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Server 2003 R2 Web, Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Server 2008 Web, Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Server 2008 R2 Web, Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows Vista Enterprise & Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows 7 Enterprise & Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)

Download Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta

Good News!

You can start to download Public beta: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta.

Just go to below link to download original SP1:-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-my/evalcenter/ff183870(en-us).aspx

Check out FAQ:-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-my/evalcenter/ff384134(en-us).aspx

Please Note: This early release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta is not available for home users. The SP1 Beta does not provide new end-user features, and installation is not supported by Microsoft.

Unsupported Cluster Configuration in a HA VM with a GPT Pass Through Disk

Everthing work fine when i setup DPM 2010 and has been running fine as reported in VMM. Just waiting for 2.5TB disk arrive to use for storage pool. For your information, DPM 2010 is residing on High Availability Virtual Machine.

As suggested by Microsoft article, the storage pool should configure to use pass through disk.

When the disks finally arrived, i have created another LUN and present to the cluster server. Not that difficult to configure. Just

1. Online the disk
2. Initialize the 2.5TB disk. Use GPT as i want the disk to grow more than 2TB. If you choose MBR, the partition will create up to 2TB. Additional space will create on another partition.
3. Offline the disk. No need to format the disk.
4. Use Failover Cluster Manager snap in to add the storage for the cluster and on the HA VM, add the disk. I have blog about this before. Pls refer to http://www.ms4u.info/2009/07/hyper-v-pass-through-disk.html
5. On the DPM 2010 VM, add the storage pool. To learn how, just refer to http://www.ms4u.info/2009/10/configure-preliminary-configuration-on.html

Guess what, everything work just fine. But VMM reported "Unsupported Cluster Configuration". Gosh !

Not to worry. All you need to do is run Windows Update to patch VMM.
Once you have patch the VMM, you need to upgrade the VMM agent on all hosts. Luckily Microsoft has released a patch to fix this issue on 8 June 2010 (a month). For more info, please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982522

Cheers,
Lai

Shrink VHD size

Well, we all know that Hyper V Manager snap in provide us a tool to expand VHD size when require.

Now, How about shrink a VHD size? You may come to a situation when your existing VHD is Fixed Disk which you accidentally create to large size which not even 10% utilize. In order to shrink the size of the VHD, you need to

* Backup original VHD first *
a) Perform defragmention of the guest VM (optional)
b) First, shrink partition size
c) Then ,shrink VHD size by using VHDResizer.

You can use VHDResizer tool . To get this tool, go to http://vmtoolkit.com/files/folders/converters/entry87.aspx but on Windows Server 2003, there is no option to shrink volume. The VHDResizer cannot shrink the VHD if the partition is still intact with original size.

Without wasting any more time. let me show you how i shrink a Windows Server 2003 -Fixed Disk.

1. Attach Win2k3 VHD by using Parent host (Hyper V), go to Start > Administrative Tool > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management > Right click Attach VHD

2. Right click the partition (Disk 4) and select Shrink Volume.

3. Enter the amount of space to shrink.

4. Once you have shrink the partition, right click the VHD Disk and select Detach VHD.

5. Open VHDResizer, enter destination VHD and specify the new size.
Original size is 50GB
Resize to : 31 GB

6. Wait until the process complete. Below is the snapshot of result.

7. Use Hyper V manager snap in to use the new disk (TestExpand2.vhd).

Cool right !...
p/s:- No guarantee provided. Use it at your own risk.
If working on your side, just leave a comment so other can review it.

Thank you , Stay Tuned.

Awarded MVP: Virtual Machine

Just received good news from Microsoft:

"Congratulation ,Lai Yoong Seng you have been awarded MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional: Virtual Machine")

Refer to Congratulations to July MVP Awardees!

Just a few word to my blog visitor

"Thanks for the support and hope we can continue to share more stuff to the community."

Cheers,
Lai

TechInsights - Presentation- Real World Implementation of VDI

Today i have presented "A Real World Implementation of VDI" at TechInsight 2010, KL. Here is my slide and demo who has missed the event.

TechInsight - Real World Implementation of VDI

View more presentations from Lai Yoong Seng.

Demo 1:- Remote Desktop Services (RDS)
Demo showing RDS functionality for Microsoft Office 2010 and VMM Console.



Demo 2:- VDI using Remote Desktop Services
Demo showing access VDI and showcase latest Xbox product video inside VDI


Demo 3:- VDI using Citrix XenDesktop
Demo showing access Citrix XenDesktop, play audio file and use microphone.