Upgrade VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012

 

Let start the journey to Private Cloud. But first, for existing customer which has purchased VMM, it is time to perform an in place upgrade. You can perform an in-place upgrade from

VMM 2008 R2 SP1 –> VMM 2012 RTM

On my previous post, i have talked about upgrade existing VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012 RC. Now, let have a look on the upgrade with RTM version

Now let have a look on how to upgrade from VMM 2008 R2 SP1 with SQL Server 2008 R2

1. Backup the VMM database using VMM Console in case the upgrade fail.

Click on Administration workspace and select Backup VMM on the Action pane.

2. Uninstall older version of WAIK and download WAIK for Windows 7- Click here

3. Put in the VMM 2012 CD Media and perform an in-place upgrade

Upgrade was straight forward and the entire VMM has successful upgraded without any problem.

4. After upgrade complete, remember to upgrade the VMM agent for entire Hyper-V Host

Upgrade DPM 2010 to DPM 2012

 

Here is the step that i took to upgrade DPM 2010 to DPM 2012 in my lab environment.

Before we start make sure that you have perform a DPM database backup.You can backup the database using below method:

a) Backup DPM DB to Tape or

b) Backup DPM DB to DR DPM Server or

c) Lastly, manual backup by execute command

dpmbackup.exe –db

Just open DPM Management Shell, to execute the above command. The database will backup to the following folder:- %program files%\Microsoft Data Protection manager\DPM\Volumes\ShadowCopy\Database Backups

d) Then on the DPM 2010, patch the server with the hotfix KB2615782 from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2615782 . Once apply the hotfix, upgrade the dpm protection agent.

e) After an agent upgrade is complete, put DPM 2012 CD Media and perform in-place upgrade. Installation is straight forward and hassle free.

f) Lastly, upgrade the entire dpm protection agent to complete the DPM 2012 upgrade.

Webinar :- How to Restore a Terabyte Sized Server in Five Minutes

 

An announcement from Appasure. They are organizing a Free Webinar and speaking by Greg Shield, MVP. This is going to be an interesting topic on how to restore a Terabyte sized server in 5 minutes.

If you are interested, please check out

http://go.appassure.com/webinar-how-to-restore-060512

Go to on Appassure website      URL: http://www.appassure.com/live-webinars/

Microsoft Techdays Best of MMS 2012 at Malaysia

 

Dear Malaysia visitor,

If you are @Malaysia, please feel free to drop by and attend “Best of MMS 2012 @Malaysia”. The following is the event details:-

Date: 5^th June 2012 (Tuesday)

Time: 9am – 6pm

Venue: Microsoft Auditorium, L29

Registration Link: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032511973&Culture=en-MY

For more details about the event, please go to Malaysia TechNet Blog here.

I will be speaking about “The New Generation of Microsoft Virtualization with Windows Server 2012”. See you on that day..

 

SMI-S Provider Available in StarWind Native SAN for Hyper-V

 

Not long ago, i have talk about SMI-S Provider which you need to have in order to manage storage via VMM 2012. You can check out the previous blog:- Click here

Then recently, Starwind (one of my blog sponsor) has given me the NFR key to evaluate StarWind Native SAN and Hyper-V Backup.

Well, what’s the heck? Just download, play around and see how the product work.

Login to the portal and found out a word that interesting me.

Guess what? SMI-S Provider for VMM 2012! Wow..If you refer to my blog, only certain SMI-S provider is supported and available. Most of them is only available on expensive and new physical hardware and you cannot test managing storage with VMM 2012.

This is so sad . but all this going to change soon since Starwind has just released SMI-S Provider on their Hyper-V Native SAN.

1. Well, to begin i have downloaded the Starwind Native SAN for Hyper-V and  the SMI-S Provider preview for VMM 2012. Install it and configure the iSCSI Target .

2. Create classification in the VMM 2012

3. Add the Starwind SMI-S Provider into VMM 2012. Just key in the IP address of the Starwind Hyper-V Native SAN and port number 5989 and specify the Run As account. The Run As Account is the local administrator password of the Starwind Native Hyper-V SAN physical server/vm.

4. On the Gather Information page, VMM will be able to detect the Starwind SMI-S Provider.

5. On Storage Pool, tick the storage and assign the classification.

6. Here is how I've assigned Storage to Bronze classification.

Well, at least now i can test manage my storage via VMM 2012. Thanks to Starwind to make this feature available on their Native Hyper-V SAN.

Do check out their trial version by clicking this link and test the feature yourself.

Enjoy!

Presentation:- Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012

 

As the invited speaker during Microsoft Technical Partner Community Event @Microsoft KLCC Auditorium , i have presented 3 Key Area: Scalability,Mobility and Delivery High Availability for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012. If you miss the event, check out the slide and video recording.

Enjoy!

Slide

Hyper V in Windows Server 2012

View more presentations from Lai Yoong Seng.

Recording

Export Multiple Virtual Machine

 

In the current version, you only can perform export or import on one virtual machine. However in Windows Server 2012, these changes. Did you know that you can now perform export of multiple virtual machine. This feature come in handy especially you have prepare the Virtual machine and would like to export the entire set of  virtual machine with just a single click. View the below video to see it in action:-

Recover Bare Metal Restore (BMR) Using DPM and Hyper-V

 

You can perform BMR (Bare Metal Restore) for Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 using DPM 2010 or DPM 2012. Let say, we have perform Bare Metal Restore and you would like to perform recovering.

Below is the screenshot of how to recover BMR using DPM 2012. Click on Recovery workspace and select the protected server which you have backup using DPM. (Click on the image to view in larger view)

1. Recover to network folder. I’m putting it into DPM server second partition or you can put into a folder. We will share the folder later.

2. After recovery complete, rename the folder DPM_Recovered_At… to DPMRecovery. (one level before WindowsImageBackup folder)

3. Share the DPMRecovery folder

4. Now using Hyper-V Manager snap-in to create a virtual machine. Specify the VM hardware configuration. I’m using Network adapter. (not necessary to use Legacy network adapter as long your virtual machine can get an IP address in your environment)

5. Boot up the VM with the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 CD and select Repair your computer option.

6. On the System Recovery Option, select Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier.

7. Select a system image

8. Click Advanced

9.Select Search for a system image on the network

10. Specify the share folder location

11. Enter the domain authentication that connect to share folder to get the BMR data.

Restore in progress:-

Recovery completed with the entire application is still intact and end result is the same as existing physical server.

Here is another option for you to consider when using DPM 2012 to perform P2V conversion. Just remember to uninstall the physical server driver and install with the Hyper-V Integration component to complete the process.

What To Set on NIC Teaming in Windows Server 2012?

 

Product:- Windows Server 8 Beta.

I’ve just complete the NIC teaming on my test machine. Configuration when well without any hassle. The Intel NIC is now teamed with Realtek NIC. Now i got 2GB of throughput. Thanks to NIC Teaming feature.

During the configuration, just hit to some technical jargon that require me to search around to better understand the term. Here is the finding:-

There are two modes of operation of teaming

a) Switch Independent – Suitable to use when team interface which is connected to DIFFERENT switches

b) Switch dependent (Static & LACP)- Suitable to use when team interface must connected to the SAME switch

For outbound traffic, there are two types of load balance algorithm:-

a) Address Hash

b) Hyper-V Port

Interaction between configuration and load balance algorithm:-

	All Address hash modes	Hyper-V Port mode
Switch Independent	· Outbound traffic is spread across all active members. · Inbound traffic (from beyond the subnet) arrives on only one interface (primary member). If primary member fails another team member is selected as primary and all inbound traffic moves to that team member.	· Outbound traffic is tagged with the port on the Hyper-V switch where it originated. All traffic with that port tag is sent on the same team member.[1] · Inbound traffic destined for a specific Hyper-V port will arrive on the same team member that the traffic from that port is sent out on.
Switch Dependent (Static and LACP)	· Outbound traffic is spread across all active members. · Inbound traffic will be distributed by the switch’s load distribution algorithm.	· Outbound traffic is tagged with the port on the Hyper-V switch where it originated. All traffic with that port tag is sent on the same team member.4 · Inbound traffic will be distributed by the switch’s load distribution algorithm.

Based on above table, choose your operation of teaming and load balance algorithm wisely.

Besides than operation and load balance, you can configure the role of each NIC either:- Active, Standby or Disabled

Here is the best recommended configuration when you deploy for Hyper-V

Switch Independent

• If the administrator wants the team to be connected to different switches then the teaming mode must be Switch Independent.
• If the administrator wants inbound traffic spread across the team members, use Hyper-V Port load balancing.
• If the administrator accepts all inbound traffic arriving on one team member and wants outbound traffic from each VM to be limited by the bandwidth of the team, use Address Hash (TransportPorts).

Static or LACP

• If the administrator wants all team members to be connected to the same switch and is willing to administer the switch, select Static or LACP configuration.
• If the administrator wants to ensure that no VM can send enough traffic to block other VMs from communicating user Hyper-V Port load balancing.
• If the administrator wants to allow a VM to send more data than one team member can handle or the load between VMs fluctuates considerably, use Address Hash (TransportPorts).

Move Stand Alone VM Into Cluster Shared Volume

 

In current version (Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1), we can move the stand alone VM into Cluster Shared Volume by using Export/Import feature. However Export/Import always maintain the original VM and you need to manually delete the VM before import the VM into Cluster Shared Volume.

I just setup a new cluster in my test environment and have few stand alone VM running in existing host and would like to move them to Cluster Shared Volume. Let look into how we can achieve this in Windows 2012.

In Windows 2012, you can use a new feature called Storage Migration. Recently Ben (Virtual PC Guy) talk about Storage Migration and highlighted that the concept of Storage Migration is “copy and delete, not move” .

With Storage Migration, you can now have an alternative to move an existing stand-alone VM from current host to Cluster Shared Volume.

Just right click the VM | select Move | select Move the virtual machine storage. This option allow Hyper-V to

• create a copy,
• move to new location
• delete the original VM.

Select “Move all of the VM data to single location”. Make sure you put into C:\Cluster Storage\ Volume X (Cluster Shared Volume location)

Note:- Make sure VM is offline before select High Available Virtual Machine (HAVM)

Once complete, open Failover Cluster Manager snap-in. Right click the cluster, click Configure Role and select Virtual Machine

Tick the VM and complete the High Availability Wizard.

This feature allow me to easily move a stand alone VM into Cluster Shared Volume. Not that complicate tool to use in order to get the job done.

Related post:-

• Storage Live Migration
• Moving Virtual Machine Without Using Hyper-V Export/Import