5. What you need to know to succeed
Getting started with Hyper-V is easy, but a number of points should
be addressed ahead of time. In addition to how and when Hyper-V will be
used, you will also need a thorough understanding of a number of critical elements of the virtualization technology as a whole so you will be successful.
Hyper-V operating systems
A broad offering of the Windows family of operating systems is supported with Hyper-V. Windows Server families include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows
Server 2008, and Windows Server 2012. Client operating system families
include Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Linux operating
systems are also supported in the CentOS 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6,
and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 families.
With the broad set of operating systems offered for Hyper-V, it is important to understand a critical aspect of how these operating systems work on Hyper-V. Guest enlightenment
is a generic term that refers to a virtual machine’s ability to work
correctly in the hypervisor. In layperson’s terms, this means drivers.
For most Windows family situations, this is built in, but a number of
scenarios require interaction to optimize the virtual machine in the
Hyper-V environment.
For Hyper-V on Windows 8, adding a Windows 8 Hyper-V virtual machine is a nonissue. Integration services are built in (see Figure 3). Adding a Windows 7 virtual machine, however, requires an update of the guest enlightenment drivers: Integration Services.
After a virtual machine is running, a virtualized disk can be
inserted to update Integration Services by pressing Ctrl+I while
viewing the virtual machine’s console.
The Integration Services guest enlightenment kit provides drivers and
critical Windows services on the virtual machine that can address
critical topics such as quiescence (the act of quieting a virtual machine), time synchronization, shutdown events, and other critical virtual machine events.
Note
INTEROPERABILITY
Linux and Hyper-V will get along just fine.
Integration Services took a major step forward recently when the
Hyper-V drivers (components of Integration Services) were put into the
main Linux kernel branch. This means that as the main Linux kernel is
deployed across multiple additional distributions, Hyper-V will work
right out of the box.
Important
KEY DIFFERENCES
It is important to note the difference between “an operating system that works” and a supported Hyper-V operating system.
Windows PowerShell extension
Windows 8 has Windows PowerShell 3.0 built in, and Hyper-V has a
PowerShell extension. This makes automation easy and is an excellent
opportunity to learn new ways to perform Windows administrative tasks.
The latest commands for Windows PowerShell can be found on TechNet and
other online communities such as blogs and PowerShell podcasts.
Although mentioned previously for Integration Services, virtualized media is an important step in using Hyper-V
virtualization. Specifically, it is how guest virtual machines can be
installed on the Hyper-V server system. Although many of the Hyper-V
technologies are new to Windows 8, virtualized media is something you
have been using all along. Consider the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM ISO file used
to install Windows. That is a form of virtualized media, and this file
is downloaded and then written to an optical disk. This same ISO file
is used in the first step to deploy a Hyper-V virtual machine. The ISO
format is the most frequently used virtualized media for installing
virtual machines.
If you will have a number of Hyper-V servers—which are computers
running Windows 8 with the Hyper-V feature enabled—you should designate
a predefined repository for all virtual media. In this manner, all
virtual machines being built will use the same media without causing
unnecessary bloat on client systems with a potentially confusing array
of files. This repository can be a network drive letter or a Universal Naming Convention (UNC)
path that the Hyper-V server can access. Non-virtualized media can also
be used, such as a local CD/DVD drive for source media. The CD/DVD
drive settings are shown in Figure 4.
If automated deployment technologies are already in place, you can also use these on Hyper-V. This can include technologies such as PXE (Preboot eXecution Environment) boot and Windows Deployment Services.
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V technology and Windows 8
Hyper-V
on Windows 8 is the same technology as the Hyper-V engine on Windows
Server 2012. Therefore, a number of important features become
available. Virtual machines can easily be moved from Hyper-V on Windows
Server 2012 to Windows 8. Virtual machines can then be portable, which
might work well in the “one user to one virtual machine” situation for
certain development and test situations.
