Virtualization

iSCSI in VMWare ESX 3

iSCSI has become a very popular way of having shared storage among several physical or virtual computers. The benefits of shared storage are even greater when combined with the abilities of VMWare such as VMotion, High Availability and Distributed Resource Scheduler.

Below are the basic (and I do emphasize basic) to configuring iSCSI storage with VMWare 3.0. Like any shared storage infrastructure there are a number of possible methods and structures that could change the way that iSCSI is installed and used.

Step 1 - Add in extra Service Console and iSCSI VMKernal
The service console and VMKernal need to be on the same physical NIC on the ESX server. The IP’s for these services need to be on the same subnet as the iSCSI storage device. The pictures below outline the end-result if your iSCSI VLAN were to be 192.168.4.0/24. Note that the service console that you is shown below is the second and therefore additional service console. The original stays unchanged.

Sample Configuration Page

Sample End Result

Step 2 - Allow iSCSI traffic through the firewall
The Software iSCSI Client for ESX needs to be allowed through the firewall which is located under the security profile section. If you don’t do this then you will not be able to use the service. I found this interface “tricky” to use. Sometimes I would make changes and they wouldn’t take effect until the server was rebooted.

Step 3 - Enable Software Initiator Properties
The iSCSI storage adapter needs to be configured. Find the newly created iSCSI Software Adapter on the Storage Adapters tab you will need to:

1. Open the properties
2. Configure and subsequently enable the iSCSI Initiator
3. On the Dynamic Discovery tab you can add in the iSCSI server IP

Step 4 - Create iSCSI targert on iSCSI device
This will depend on your iSCSI hardware as to how you do this. Each manufacturer has their own way of doing this.

Step 5 - Add LUN to target

Links:
VMWare’s design guide for iSCSI – short but good: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_iscsi_cfg.pdf
Really good blog post by David Davis about VMWare and iSCSI:
http://www.petri.co.il/connect-vmware-esx-server-iscsi-san-openflier.htm

System center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Beta

At the Management Summit in Vegas, Microsoft announced the beta of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. This version can manage Hyper-V hosts!

It should be available on connect.

Microsoft has announced the formal name and beta availability of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, a member of the System Center suite of server management products. The announcements came April 29 at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, which showcased the beta of the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM), managing both Hyper-V and VMware virtual infrastructure. Additional functionality new to this version of VMM includes Performance and Resource Optimization (Pro), which dynamically tunes virtual infrastructure, simplified virtual host cluster support, and other improvements and enhancements.

Running Windows 2008 Server core under VMware

One of the first software that I install on any OS under VMWARE is VMware Tools. The most important benefit is the VMware enhanced video and mouse drivers. On VMware ESX, VMWare tools must be installed to get the NIC working. The Installation process of VMware Tools on Windows 2008 Server Core edition is a bit tricky. As far as you remember, Server Core it is a command line only version of Windows Server 2008. VMWareTools is a GUI installation so this is not an option for Server Core. Today we have few workarounds …Solution 1

• Log into your Windows Server 2008 Server Core VM with an admin account
• From the VMware Workstation console, click the VM menu Install VMware Tools. This will mount the VMware Tools disk (Windows. iso file) in the virtual CD-Rom drive.
• Switch to drive D: (or whatever drive is your CD drive)
• Type Setup and press Enter
• Click Install to the VMware informational message. The VMware Tools will begin to setup.
• Click Next to install
• Click Next to perform a Typical setup
• Click Install to begin the installation
• When you see the status stall, open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Ins Start Task Manager)
• Click the Applications tab, select the RUNDLL process and choose End Task
• Close Task Manager and click OK to any error messages. Setup will continue as normal.
• Click Finish and click Yes to restart the server
• When Windows Server 2008 Server Core starts up, it will be in 640×480 resolution. As a quick solution, read my “CoreConfigurator - Graphic Management Tool  for Windows Server 2008 Core” post to explain how to configure the resolution in Windows 2008 Server Core :).

Solution 2

• First step, On Server Core we need to mount the VMware Tools ISO by selecting the “Install VMware Tools” option:
• From a command line run the following command:

  msiexec / i “d:\VMware Tools. msi” / qn

Solution 3
This solution a specially for VMware ESX Server. The workaround is to transfer VMWareTools (contained in a file called windows.iso) from your ESX server to a local drive. Use Virtual Center to mount the windows.iso file as a CDROM drive in the Windows 2008 Server Core VM. The exact location of driver is: \ Program Files\VMWare\VMWare Tools\Drivers\VMXNet\w2k of the windows.iso file. The command used to install the drivers is:

C:\Windows\System32> pnputil - i -a vmxnet. inf

You should get the following message:

Microsoft PnP Utility
Processing inf : vmxnet. inf
Successfully installed the driver on a device on the system.
Driver package added successfully.
Published name : oem2. inf

The next step is to set “Hardware Acceleration” for the display adaptor to “Full”. Well, you have to use Registry.
Launch the Registry editor on the command prompt by typing “ regedit”. Then you navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{81E0A29D-B654-4848-9421-BEA1C8A6F938}000

The long number is a GUID and it will be different on your system. You should find Acceleration.Level key in the 0000 folder. To be sure that you’ve found a correct key check in the same location key “Device Description” with a value “VMware SVGA II“. You have to set the Acceleration.Level key value to 0.

Exit from registry and reboot your server.

The END :).

Hyper-V Management tool for Vista Released

Install this update to enable remote management of a Windows Server 2008 computer running the Hyper-V RC0 role.
Update for Windows Vista (KB949758)

Install this update to enable remote management of a Windows Server 2008 computer running the Hyper-V RC0 role
Update for Windows Vista x64 Edition (KB949758)

SoftGrid 4.1 SP1 and 4.2 HFRU2 Now Available

This cumulative update for SoftGrid v4.1 SP1 and v4.2 provides the latest updates to SoftGrid.

New capabilities
This update provides the following new capabilities:

• SoftGrid now supports deployment of Virtual Application .msi files that are generated by the MSI Utility for Microsoft Application Virtualization to SoftGrid clients that are running Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server and that have Terminal Services enabled.
• SoftGrid 4.2 HFRU2 now supports Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1).

Please Note:  The 4.1 SP1 KB article incorrectly identifies Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) as a new capability of 4.1 SP1 HFRU2.  We’re in the process of changing the article now so you should see it updated soon.

SoftGrid 4.1 SP1 HFRU2 Bits: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938497
SoftGrid 4.2 HFRU2 Bits: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941408

Remotely manage another Hyper-V System

If you want to install the Hyper-V MMC on Windows Server 2008 to remotely manage another Hyper-V System, here are the steps:

1. Launch Server Manage from the Start Menu

2. Click Add Features

3. Under Remote Server Administration Tools  - Role Administration Tools

a. Enable Hyper-V Tools and click Next.

4. Click Install.

5. After the reboot, go to Administrative Tools in the Start Menu and you will see the Hyper-V Manager.

Hyper-V WMI API’s

Hyper-V WMI APIs. Hyper-V uses WMI APIs (similar to the Virtual Server COM API) to create, manage, monitor and configure virtual resources.

The Hyper-V WMI APIs are publicly available here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc136992(VS.85).aspx

Important: This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change.

Virtual PC needs to be run as Administrator ?

Virtual PC is able to run when you are using a non-administrative user account and most part will work. However - a couple of things that will not work correctly unless Virtual PC is run under an Administrative account:

• Using ping (or other ICMP based tools) over shared networking.
• Using or converting linked virtual hard disks.
• Accessing copy protected CDs.
• Configuring the Virtual PC security options.

Under Windows Vista Virtual PC will be running as a non-administrative process even if you are using an administrative account. To work under Vista you need to right click on the Virtual PC icon in the start menu and select ‘Run as administrator’.

SoftGrid 4.1 SP1 Hotfix Rollup Package 1

This cumulative update for SoftGrid v4.1 SP1 provides the latest updates to SoftGrid v4.1 SP1. In addition to stability improvements, this update contains the following changes:

• Improvements to package upgrade when importing upgraded sequencings into the SoftGrid Server Management Console Snap-in.
• Improvements to package downgrade operation.
• Improvements to nonpaged pool usage when sequencing large applications.
• Improvements to sequencing of applications that use both Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
• Improvements to command-line parameter handling of virtualized child processes.

New capabilities
SoftGrid 4.1 SP1 Hotfix Rollup Package 1 also provides the following new capabilities:

• Microsoft SoftGrid now provides support for the MSI Utility for Microsoft Application Virtualization.
• Microsoft SoftGrid now supports SoftGrid Server components running under WOW64 on 64-bit Windows.

Download locations
SoftGrid for Windows Desktops (4.1.2.21)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/6/d/d6dd54bd-2c9f-41ba-8fd7-4b8b03d5c12f/SoftGrid_wd_setup_4.1.2.21.exe

SoftGrid for Terminal Services (4.1.2.21)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/3/d/f3deb4c3-f484-4bf7-ae49-c9f8a010b594/SoftGrid_ts_setup_4.1.2.21.exe

SoftGrid Server (4.1.2.20)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/9/4/994b08d3-7f01-4696-994d-a67f2e0bdf33/SoftGrid_server_setup_4.1.2.20.exe

SoftGrid Sequencer (4.1.2.20)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/8/0/e80de2bf-bebd-480e-a1ee-f9febb996b8b/SoftGrid_sequencer_setup_4.1.2.20.exe

Updated Documentation for Hyper-V Beta

Release Notes:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/8/e48d5cff-53d2-4eed-85bf-4af50e25b78c/relnotes.htm

Step-by-step guide:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/b/6/1b687175-0b30-4f56-bb58-2349b2ee1c98/Step-by-Step_Guide_to_Getting_Started_with_Hyper-V.doc