Create Linux VM Template in VMM 2012

 

Let have a look on how to create a linux vm template to use for virtual machine provisioning.

Alright, i’m using Suse Linux Enterprise 11 and you can download the evaluation for 60 days. To request an evaluation, click here.

1. Install Suse Linux operating system using Hyper-V.

Remember to install Linux Integration Component for other linux distribution. For Suse Linux, these has already pre-built.

You can refer to here on how to get the Linux Integration Component.

2. Once complete, shutdown the virtual machine and use VMM to create a template.

Hmmm…Do i need to sysprep the Linux VM before create a template. Well, the answer is “No”. For linux VM, you do not need to sysprep linux VM. Linux doesn't have SIDs and it's not registered, so there's nothing to do to "prepare" it. When create a linux VM, below is the step that you need to configure.

3. On the VM Template configuration, you should configure ‘None-customization not required” in the Guest OS Profile.

4. After finish creating a Linux VM Template, you can deploy to your environment.

Remember to manually change the the setting in the Linux VM once the VM has deploy.

Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2012 (VMST) Beta

 

VMST 2012 helps you more effectively—and safely—manage the workflow of updating you offline virtualization environment. Using VMST 2012, you can now service:

• Offline virtual machines in a SCVMM library.
• Stopped and saved state virtual machines on a host.
• Virtual machine templates.
• Offline virtual hard disks in a SCVMM library by injecting update packages.

VMST 2012 work with VMM 2012 and WSUS 3.0 SP2 or SCCM 2012. You can get the VMST 2012 beta from here.

Here is how i use it to patch an offline VM in my environment:-

Configuration:-

1. Specify VMM 2012 and SCCM 2012 or WSUS Server name

2.Specify the server that use to perform as servicing jobs

3. Specify the maintenance host which use to mount/dismount offline VHD

4. Specify the timeout period for moving and updating a VM.

Configure Servicing Job to patch the VMs:-

1. Enter Servicing Job Name

2.Specify the offline VMs

3. Specify the network to use for servicing job

4.Select the maintenance host to use for updating process.

5.Enter the administrative credential which has right to VM, SCCM and VMM 2012

6.Specify the schedule of the servicing job

USB Support in Hyper-V

 

A lot of people email and asking me about this question. Here is my compilation of the question and findings.

Q1. Is USB Support available in Hyper-V?

The answer is No!. No USB support natively built in into the Hyper-V.

How about Windows Server 2012? The answer is still NO! except for VDI over RDS. (refer to Scenario 2)

Q2. USB Support using Client Operating system?

Yes. Use Virtual PC for Windows 7. Please refer to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

More scenario, please refer to below

Scenario 1:- Any USB device to Guest VM

Use 3rd party tool which redirects any USB device (like USB dongles, USB modems, USB disks, etc.) over a local network from one server to another. One of the 3rd party tool is http://www.fabulatech.com/

Scenario 2:- USB to VDI. Guest VM is running Windows 7 or later

Use RemoteFX. It has functionality to redirect virtually any USB device transparently over RDP. Please refer to:-http://www.ms4u.info/2010/07/remotefx-usb-redirection.html

Scenario 3:-USB Thumbdrive to Guest VM for temporary copying data

1. Use Remote Desktop Connection. Before connect, change the setting on the Local Resources. Tick Ports, USB thumbdrive and other supported Plug and Play Devices.

After RDP. go to My Computer and you will be able to see the mapping to USB thumbdrive.

Hope this help to answer your doubt.

Configure DeDuplication for VMM Library

 

Yesterday i have attended Windows Server 2012 Jump Start training and found deduplication is a useful feature for VMM Library. For those who do not know, VMM library is a catalog of resources that provides access to file-based resources such as virtual hard disks, virtual floppy disks, ISO images, scripts, driver files and application packages that are stored on library servers, and to non file-based resources such as virtual machine and service templates and profiles that reside in the VMM database.

How about data deduplication? Deduplication is available in Windows Server 2012 and enables you to efficiently store, transfer and backup less data

Here is the average saving with data deduplication by workload type captured from the trainer slide:

Product: Windows Server 2012 RC, VMM 2012

I have existing VMM Library and share between multiple people in the organization and everyone seem to dump duplicate iso and file based resources.

Well, i’m a bit lazy on the housekeeping in the VMM Library. Then i decided to give deduplication feature in Windows Server 2012 a try.

1. Create a file share in Windows Server 2012

2. Copy the entire VMMLibrary content to the new file share running in Windows Server 2012.

Before enable DeDuplication size:

3. Enable Data Deduplication roles using Add Roles and Features Wizard from the Server Manager dashboard.

4. From the Server Manager dashboard, create a new share and then Configure the Data Deduplication

5. Tick enable data deduplication ,enter the number of days that should elapse from the date of file creation until files are deduplicated, enter the extensions of any file types that should not be deduplicated, and click Add to browse to any folders whose files should not be deduplicated. You can configure deduplication schedule as well.

 

The data deduplication role doesn't start data deduplication immediately. It will try to run in the background when the system is fairly idle and at the times specified in the schedule when data deduplication was configured.

To force an optimization pass to start, use the Start-DedupJob Windows PowerShell cmdlet, passing the name of the volume on which to start the optimization

 

start-dedupjob f: –Type Optimization

Check Dedup volume saving rate:

get-dedupvolume

Check Dedup Scheduling

get-dedupschedule

Here is the result after enabled dedup:-

get-dedupstatus

Related post which I'm have use when configure data deduplication-

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831434.aspx
• http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2012/05/21/introduction-to-data-deduplication-in-windows-server-2012.aspx

Infrastructure Planning and Design–Microsoft System Center 2012–Virtual Machine Manager Beta

 

I just checked out the solution accelerator from Microsoft Connect and found out IPD- Virtual machine manager 2012 Beta is available. The guide has been revised from VMM 2008 R2 to covered VMM 2012. It leads you through the process of identifying the business and technical requirements for managing virtualization, designing integration with System Center 2012 - Operations Manager if required, and then determining the number, size, and placement of the VMM servers. This guide helps you to confidently plan for the centralized administration of physical and virtual machines.
Here is the sneak peak of VMM 2012 and App Controller planning and design guideline

By using this guide, you can learn to design the virtualization infrastructure for

• VMM Management Server
• VMM Database
• VMM Console
• VMM Library
• System Center App Controller Infrastructure
• Integration with SCOM
• Update Service Infrastructure

Here is some guideline that i’ve gathered in the IPD

Design VMM components:-

1.For better performance, VMM Management Server and database should be separated when manage more than 150 hosts.

2. How about fault tolerance?

• VMM Management Server – setup active/passive cluster
• VMM database – setup sql cluster
• VMM Library – cluster file server. Note:- Do not create clustered file shares for the VMM library on the same cluster as a clustered VMM management server installation. VMM does not support this configuration.

Design the App Controller

App Controller fault tolerance:- NLB App Controller, Cluster SQL Server

Do check out the IPD- VMM 2012 from MS Connect if you have access to the portal.

Microsoft Cloud Summit Singapore Preview Interview With The Speaker

 

Microsoft Cloud Summit (Singapore) event is coming. Detail about the event, please go to :- http://spiffy.sg/it-pros/microsoft-cloud-summit-2012/

Below is the preview interview about the speaker and the sneak peak of the sessions.

1st Speaker : Lai Yoong Seng – MVP Virtual Machine

MS Cloud Summit Singapore Preview - Interview with Lai from Raymond Chou on Vimeo.

2nd Speaker : Kwan Thean Keong – MVP System Center and Cloud Management

MS Cloud Summit Singapore Preview - Interview with Kwan from Raymond Chou on Vimeo.

3rd Speaker : Edmund Lim  - MVP SCCM

MS Cloud Summit Singapore Preview - Interview with Edmund from Raymond Chou on Vimeo.

4th Speaker : Raymond Chou – MVP System Center and Cloud Management

MS Cloud Summit Singapore Preview - Interview with Ray Chou from Raymond Chou on Vimeo.

5th Speaker : James Yeoh (coming soon)

Stay tuned on this page!..

Create SysPrep VHD and VHDX for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8

 

Convert-WindowsImage is the new version of WIM2VHD and it is only designed for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 operating system. You can use this script to create a sysprep VHD and VHDX images for the following operating system:

• Windows Server 2012
• Windows 8

Compare to WIM2VHD, you do not need to install WAIK.

To get started, follow below instruction:-

1. Download the powershell script from here.

2. On the Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, copy to C:\

3. Before execute the powershell script, set your machine execution policy to remotesigned. By default script execution is disable. To  run the script, type the following command

set-executionpolicy remotesigned

4. For ease of using the utilities, open the GUI by execute the following command

.\Convert-WindowsImage.ps1 –ShowUI

Based on my testing, Working Directory and VHD name is not working in the GUI. 

Therefore,

• Working Directory – The utility will dump the vhd or vhdx to C:\
• VHD name – leave it empty (The utility will use a default name follow the SKU name). You can rename it later.

Refer to the link in step 1 and try the command line if it working. Enjoy!

Related post:-

• Wim2VHD - http://www.ms4u.info/2010/08/create-faster-base-image-using-wim2vhd.html

StarWind SAN NFR License Key To Vmware, Microsoft and Citrix Certified Professional

 

Here is an announcement from Starwind Software (one of our blog sponsor):

“We are giving away a free NFR license key to VMware vExperts, VMware Certified Instructors (VCI), Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP), Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT), Citrix Technology Professionals (CTP), and Citrix Certified Instructors (CCI). The offer includes such solutions as StarWind iSCSI SAN and StarWind Native SAN for Hyper-V both enhanced with a powerful VM Back-up Plug-in.”

The free NFR license keys of StarWind SAN software are available until September 30, 2012. The licenses may be used for non-production purposes only.

More information you can find here: http://www.starwindsoftware.com/news/77

Get the NFR license key while the stock last. Enjoy!

Linux Integration Services 3.3 for Hyper-V

 

Microsoft just released Linux Integration Services 3.3 for Hyper-V. This linux integration services 3.3 supported the following guest operating system:-

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0-6.2 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)
• CentOS 6.0-6.2 x86 and x64 (Up to 4 vCPU)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0-6.2 x86 and x64 (Up to 32 vCPU when used on a Windows 8 Release Preview or Windows Server 2012 host)
• CentOS 6.0-6.2 x86 and x64 (Up to 32 vCPU when used on a Windows 8 Release Preview or Windows Server 2012 host)

To get the linux integration services 3.3, click here.

For other supported operating systems (including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5) should use the version of Linux Integration Services available at here.

This version of Linux Integration Services supports the following versions of Hyper-V:

• Windows Server® 2008 Standard, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, and Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (64-bit versions only)
• Microsoft® Hyper-V Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, and Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter
• Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
• Windows 8 Release Preview
• Windows Server 2012

With the Integration component installed, it provide:

• Driver support: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller, and the IDE and SCSI storage controllers that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.
  Fastpath boot support for Hyper-V: Boot devices now take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.
  
• Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the virtualization server with the help of the pluggable time source device.
  
• Integrated shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager by using the “Shut Down” command.
  
• Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors per virtual machine.
  
  Heartbeat: Allows the virtualization server to detect whether the virtual machine is running and responsive.
  
• KVP (Key-Value Pair) Exchange: Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key-Value Pair Exchange functionality on the Windows Server 2008 virtualization server.
  
• Integrated mouse support: The cursor is no longer bound to the VMConnect window when used with the Linux Graphical user interface.

Presentation: Windows Server 2012 RC Hyper-V

 

During Best of MMS (Malaysia) event, i have presented about the new features of Windows Server 2012 RC Hyper-V at Microsoft Auditorium Malaysia. I have talked about three key areas

a) Scalability

b) Flexible Infrastructure

c) Deliver High Availability

Slide

Windows Server 2012 RC Hyper V

View more presentations from Lai Yoong Seng.

Recording

Windows Server 2012 RC Hyper-V from Yoong Seng Lai on Vimeo.

Install Windows Server 2012 RC Using USB device

 

Alright guy, Windows Server 2012 RC is just released to public and you can download from the MSDN/Technet Website. You also can download from here.

Once you have downloaded the iso, let transfer to USB for ease of operating system installation rather than using DVD.

I’m using 4GB of USB thumb drive.

To start, go to Microsoft Store to download Windows 7 USB/DVD. Click here. (FREE tool)

1. Then run the tool and select the ISO

2. Select USB device

3. Insert USB device and click Begin copying

4. The tool will start to format the USB device. So make sure, it is empty! .

After finish transferred, i still got 419MB of free space in my USB thumb drive.

That’s all for today and good luck when testing Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate.