Hyper-V Update List

First time you implement Hyper-V a question pop-ups, what are the hotfixes needed for Hyper-V? Besides KB950050 that is required to bring your Hyper-V to the RTM version, there are serveral updates that might apply to your environment. This url has the “live” list of updates:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd430893.aspx

Hyper-V Server 2008 released

Today Microsoft has relased the Hyper-V Server 2008. 

http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/default.mspx

This is hypervisor only version, without Windows.

Donwload link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5CEACA28-7AC0-4613-9227-D0FA337331FD

Cloning Linux guests on Hyper-V

Most of the current linux distros use UDEV to map NIC to names (like eth0), that is based on MAC or PCI Ids. When you clone a virtual machine in Hyper-V, you’ll get a new PCI ID and MAC Address, so a new name will be assigned.

The easy way to fix this issue is editing /etc/udev/rules.d/z25_persistent-net.rules
Original (Debian 4.0):
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:11:22:33:44:55", NAME="eth0"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:11:22:33:44:56", NAME="eth1"
Edited:
<remove first entry>
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:11:22:33:44:56", NAME="eth0"
So MAC ending in :55 was the NIC in the original install, and the one ending in :56 is the NIC on the cloned VM; now mapped to eth0 as one could expect.

Network connection doesn’t work on a openSuSE guest (Hyper-V)

Using more than 1 CPU for Linux guest in an Hyper-V host with a Quad-Core CPU, makes network connection unusuable.

Tested with openSuSE 11, but reported on other sites that the same happens with Fedora 9.

As far as I know there is no workaround for this issue, besides using 1 CPU of course.

Windows Vista/2008 full mouse support on Hyper-V

If you migrate a VM with Vista or 2008 from Virtual Server, you don’t get full mouse support even when you install Integration Services. By full mouse support, I mean to be able to use mouse from a RDP session connected to the Hyper-V host. You’ll get “Mouse not captured in Remote Desktop Session”.

The solution that I found is adding more than 1 CPU to the virtual machine, and activate detect HAL option. More details in my previous post: http://folgaizer.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/migrating-windows-server-2008-guests-from-virtual-server-to-hyper-v/

Migrating Windows server 2008 guests from Virtual Server to Hyper-V

Virtual server is limited to one CPU per VM. When you go to Hyper-V, it’s posible to use up to 4 virtual CPU inside each VM.

To be able to use more than one CPU you have to change from uni-processor hal to multiprocessor hal. So far I could research this change is not well documented for Windows Server 2008. Here it is:

Execute MSConfig, and then go to tab Boot -> Advanced Options…, check option “Detect Hal”, restart to these options take effect.

Or using command line:

bcdedit /set detecthal yes

How to uninstall Virtual Machine Additions on Windows 2008 Core (Virtual Server to Hyper-V migration)

For you to be able to install new Integration Services for guest machine, first it’s requiered to uninstall Virtual Machine Additions from Virtual Server.

To uninstall the software on a W2008 core installation you have to use msiexec /x PACKAGEID|FILE.MSI

1. Copy VMAdditions.iso from %programfiles%\Microsoft Virtual Server\Virtual Machine Additions\ to the Hyper-V server

2. Mount VMAdditions.iso from Hyper-V manager -> Media -> DVD Drive -> Insert Disk…

3. Move to <dvd-drive-letter>:\windows and execute MSIEXEC /x WirtualMachineAdditions.msi

4. Restart server when prompted

5. Install Integration Services from Action -> Insert Integration Services Setup Disk , then execute <dvd-drive-letter>:\supporty\x86\setup.exe

6. Restart

Ready!