Setitng up Hyper-V Linux Integration Components on SLES 10

After finally setting up a SLES 10 server on Hyper-V I thought I write a little how to on getting the Linux Integration components working.  Microsoft includes an install doc that doesn’t really tell the whole story.

I had already installed SLES before I read the manual and found out that XEN Virtualization support needed to be installed as well and Microsoft documentation also states that you need the C++ compiler.  What they really mean is the gcc compiler.  What they fail to mention is that you also need he kernel-sources installed as well.

Because I already had installed SLES I decided to install the additional packages using Yast.  You should be aware that there is no mouse support and you can’t get any until the Linux Integration components are installed, so be prepared to bang on your keyboard and possibly pull a Keifer and head bunt your monitor.  Once you get that out of the way we can go ahead and this installed.

To install the XEN Virtualization components I took the easy road and opened a Console and ran the text verison of Yast.  On the left menu their is a Virtualization menu item.  Aroow down then tab over ot the right side and install away.  Once it install you will need to reboot.  You’ll notice when you reboot their is another boot option for xenpae.  This won’t be the default and this is fine for now.  Next you need to install the gcc compiler and the kernel-sources.  I had a bit of a chore doing this because the Virtual CDROM drive was giving me trouble.  I was able to mount the cdrom using the console, but for whatever reason it wasn’t visible to Yast.  To get around that I created another source.  I chose to create a local source and just put in the path to the CDROM /media/CDROM.

Once the install finished I then mounted the Linux Integation Components CD and copied the contents to /opt/LIC which is a directory that I created.

mkdir /opt/LIC
cp -R /media/CDROM/* /opt/LIC

(*Note: The Microsoft Documentation tells you to copy /mnt/cdrom which is not correct).

Next I issued the following command which will set the xenpae kernel to be the default boot kernel.

chmod +x /opt/LIC/setup.pl
/opt/LIC/setup.pl x2v /boot/grub/menu.lst

Once complete you’ll need to reboot.

Once your server is back up you need to run the following command to install the drivers.

/opt/LIC/setup.pl drivers

This will install the VMBus, network, storage, and video drivers, the Hypercall adapter, and Fastpath Boot Support.  It however does not install a mouse driver.  To get mouse support you need to download the iso from XEN.  Once you have the ISO mount it and copy the contents to /opt/mouse.

mkdir /opt/mouse
cp -R /media/CDROM/* /opt/mouse

Once you have copied the files execute the following command.

chmod +x /opt/mouse/setup.pl
/opt/mouse/setup.pl inputdriver

Reboot your server and you should now have the Linux Integration Components successfully installed on your SLES 10 Virtual machine.  When you launce the Network Configuration you will see to network interfaces.  You are seeing the optimized NIC and the non-optimized NIC be sure to Delete the old interface.

Microsoft Hyper-V and Linux…is it a match made in heaven?

Microsoft has recently launched an initiative through it’s interoperability division to prove Hyper-V can compete in the Linux realm.  Microsoft has partnered with Novell to provide Hyper-V support for SUSE Linux (SLES 10).  Expanding on this support Novell has built a Systems Center Configuration manager Management Pack for SLES 10.  This management pack is compatible with the SCOM 2007 R2 Release Candidate with hopes to be GA by the end of this year.

Currently Microsoft has Linux Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Microsoft states that these are drivers that enable synthetic device support for supported Linux Virtual machines.  Currently there is only support for SLES 10 and no hopes of support for other distros in the near future.  That leads to the question; Why not call it Suse Linux Integration components? The Linux Integration components are actually more of an adapter that translates the XEN calls originally intended for use with the XEN hypervisor to Hyper-V hypercalls.  Hmmm why can’t this be the case for all XEN supported Linux Distributions?  Oh and if you want mouse support head on over to the CITRIX XEN site to get the drivers because they are not included in Microsoft’s Linux Integration Components.

The answer to that question is really very simple.  Politics.  Due to disagreements between Microsoft and some of the major Open Source Linux distribution Microsoft chooses not to provide this functionality to it customers.  The plan is convince it’s customers to migrate away from the other distributions and on to SLES 10.  Why you ask?  For two main benefits.  The first benefit would be the ability to purchase SLES 10 support credits from Microsoft at a steep discount and to have only one entity to point the finger at when something doesn’t work.  Microsoft customers who purchase these credits will have one support number to call where Microsoft and Novell will work together to solve your issues.

The second benefit is not getting sued.  That’s right by running SLES 10 you are protected from your “Commercial” Linux provider be sued for Patent infringements by Microsoft.  Microsoft and Novell held a press release stating they wouldn’t sue non-commercial and individual open source developers, but they certainly can still sue “Commercial” Linux distributors such as Red Hat, SlackWare, BSD, etc….  So if you Virtualize with Microsoft and run SUSE Linux you don’t have to worry about getting left holding he bag if Microsoft decides to sue.

I’m thinking Steve Ballmer watched to many episodes of the Sopranos because that sounds like legalized extortion to me.  I like to pretend that we can all just get along.  Personally I am a huge fan of virtualization and I don’t discriminate.  I believe in a world where all hypervisors are treated equal and by equal I mean choose whichever flavor you like and be able to run whatever OS you choose with the performance and support you require.  I support and defend all walks of virtualizaiton; VMware, Hyper-V, or XEN I will be more than happy to work with any of these products, but will our customers?

Customers demand flexibility and solid support.  Limiting their options and not being flexible does not seem like a bullet proof strategy to me.  Lately there has been a lot of press around Hyper-V and vSpere.  Microsoft claims vSphere is 5 times the cost of Hyper-v and VMware claims vSpere is much less expensive if you look at the cost per vm.  In the end the reality of the situation is you get what you pay for.   VMware vSphere is feature reach and supports many more operating systems especially when it comes to Linux than Microsoft and it is no secret that ESX/vSphere can support much higher consolidation ratios.

The real question is would you be willing to migrate to SLES linux for the promise of not being sued, unified technical support as well as cost savings?  Remember those cost savings come with a price and that price is the lack of features and flexibility.  Chime in post some comments I would really like to hear your thoughts on this.

VMware vSphere Upgrade Path Overview

Many of you are wonder how you will go about upgrading to VMware vSphere when it is release.  Well I’m here to say don’t worry.  The upgrade path from ESX 2.x & 3.x is very painless and fairly simple.  A lot of you will remember all the phone you have had in the past performing upgrades and scripting installs, well VMware is quickly trying to make all of that a thing from the past with new features available in vSphere.

First let’s talk about vCenter.  vCenter is a fairy simple upgrade unless of course you are using the no longer supported SQL 2000 as your database server.  If you are running SQL 2005 or higher you are in the clear.  Simply run the install, choose to upgrade your installation of vCenter, choose to upgrade your database and you are on your way.  I know what many of you are thinking.  Your thinking it can’t be that simple.  Don’t get me wrong every environment is different and I’m sure there will be challenges is some, but for the most part it is simple and straight forward.

Ok so you have upgraded vCenter whats next?  Now you will want to upgrade Update Manager.  If you’re not using Update Manager now would be a good time to start.  Upgrade Manager is the key to making this upgrade as simple and easy as possible. Just like vCenter SQL 2000 is no longer support for the database so make sure if you are currently still running SQL 2000 that you upgrade to at least SQL 2005 before upgrading.

Now that you have vCenter and Update Manager installed you are ready to upgrade your ESX hosts and VM’s to VMware vSphere.  There are two paths to take to move form your current version of ESX.  You can perform an actual upgrade, or you can perform a fresh install.  I have always been a big fan of fresh installs for two reasons.  The first reason is because they are simply cleaner than upgrades and I find fresh installations to be less problematic.  The second reason is to allow you to consider the new features.  Prior to installing vSphere you can learn the new feature and account for them as part of a new configuration.  This method requires careful planning and close considerations to the current environment configuration and sometimes may require an intermediary staging host.

In either case you have many options that were not available to you in previous versions.  If you decide to perform a fresh install you can now utilize Configuration Baselines to consistently configure your new installs.  If you decide to upgrade you can easy perform the upgrade using Update Manager.

Once you have upgraded your ESX hosts to vSphere hosts there are a few additional thing that need to take place.  You need to upgrade he virtual hardware to Virtual Hardware Version 7 in order to take advantage of new VM features such as:

8 vCPUs
256GB Ram
VMDirectPath I/O
Hot Plug Support (Supports CPU’s, Memory, Netowrk Adapters, SCSI Adapters, etc…)
Paravirtual SCSI adapter
MSCS 2008
LSI Logic SAS (Virtual SAS controller)

You will also need to upgrade the VMware tools.  It’s important that you upgrade the VMware tools prior to upgrading the Virtual Hardware.  The VMware tools provide drivers necessary for the Guest OS to be able to utilize some of the newer Virtual Hardware.  With Update Manager you can simple create a baseline, add the VMware tools, and upgrade   away.  The one issue here is the installation of the VMware tools still requires a Guest OS reboot.  This is the only part of the upgrade that will require downtime for the Virtual Machines.

Once the VMware tools are upgraded to the latest version you are ready to upgrade the Virtual Hardware.  Unlike previous verions to do you have to go VM to VM and right click on them and choose to upgrade VMare Tools.  You are now able to create a baseline in Update Manager that will scan and remediat VM’s with out of date VMs.  Update Manager has become a very powerful.  I highly recommend you become familiar with the improvements.

As you can see update manager plays a large role the upgrade process.  VMware has also released a new tool for those of you not running vCenter.  Included with the VI client is the VMware host update utility.  The VMware host update utility allows you to perform similar upgrades as well as update vSphere hosts without vCenter.