Virtualisation using Microsoft Products

1
Virtualisation using Microsoft Products

• Anthony Crotty
• Systems and Network Engineering
• Computer Centre, UCC

2
Agenda

• What is Virtualisation?
• Why use Virtualisation?
• Microsoft Virtualisation Products
• How UCC uses Microsoft Virtualisation Products

3

• What is Virtualisation?

4
Types of Virtualisation

• Machine Virtualisation
• Virtual Server and Virtual PC
• Desktop / Session Virtualisation
• Windows Terminal Services
• Application Virtualisation
• Microsoft Softgrid

5
Virtualisation Terms

• Host Operating System
• The operating system of the physical computer
  running the Virtual Server or Virtual PC software
  
• Guest Operating System
• The operating system running on a virtual machine

6
Virtual Machine Architecture

• Virtual Machine hardware is abstracted from the
  host machine hardware

Guest OS 1
Guest OS 2
Host OS
VMM
Hardware
7
Virtual Machine

• A virtual machine on the host machine consists of
  two files
• a virtual machine configuration file
• a virtual hard disk file(s)

8
Virtual Hard Disk

• For Virtual Server and Virtual PC, a file,
  referred to as a .vhd file, which provides
  storage for a virtual machine. The .vhd file can
  reside on any storage topology that the host
  operating system can access, including external
  devices, Storage Area Networks, and
  network-attached storage.
• fixed size hard disk
• a virtual hard disk with a fixed size that is
  determined and for which all space is allocated
  when the disk is created
• dynamically expanding virtual hard disk
• a virtual hard disk that grows in size each time
  it is modified

9
Virtual Machine CPU and Memory

• Memory
• A virtual machine needs as much memory as a
  physical machine
• Plus overhead (25MB per virtual machine)
• Memory not shared between VMs, or with host OS.
• CPU
• CPU Clock speed of host system
• One virtual processor per virtual machine

10
Virtual Machine Networking

• Guest operating systems connect to the LAN
  through the Host system network adapters
• Up to four network adapters per virtual machine
• Virtual Machines can connect to each other on a
  internal virtual network
• Virtual PC supports 1 internal virtual network
• Virtual Server supports many internal virtual
  networks, it also allows for DHCP server on each
  internal network

11

• Why use Virtualisation?

12
Reasons for using Virtualisation

• Server consolidation
• Reduced cooling costs
• Reduced power consumption
• Legacy application support
• Legacy applications on newer platforms
• Isolation / Sandbox Environment
• Isolate OS from production environment
• Development and Testing
• Test updates and hotfixes

13

• Microsoft Virtualisation Products

14
Microsoft Virtualisation Products

• Virtual PC 2004 / Virtual PC 2007
• Virtual Server 2005 R2
• Virtual Server 2005 Management Pack for MOM
• Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager (Beta)
• Microsoft Softgrid

15
Virtual PC 2007

• Use with desktop Operating Systems
• 32bit / 64bit versions
• Support for Windows Vista as a host OS
• Support for Windows Vista as a guest OS
• Hardware-assisted Virtualisation
• Available since 20 February 2007

16
Virtual Server 2005 R2

• 32bit / 64bit versions
• Free download (since April 2006)
• Host
• Max CPU 32
• Max Memory 64GB
• Guests
• Max CPU 1
• Max Memory 3.6GB
• 32bit Guests only
• Cluster across multiple physical machines

17
Virtual PC and Virtual Server Differences

• Virtual PC
• Virtual PC Console is available locally on host
  system
• IDE VHD Support
• Sound Support
• Virtual Server
• Virtual Server 2005 Console is available via
  browser
• SCSI or IDE VHD Support
• Support for multiple internal networks
• Support for DHCP server on internal network
• Clustering of two VMs running on the same host
  server

18
Supported Operating Systems for Virtualisation

• Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise and Web
  Editions
• Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server Editions
• Windows SBS 2003 Standard and Premium Editions
• Windows NT4 Server SP6a
• Windows XP SP2
• SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0
• SuSE Linux 9.2, 9.3 and 10.0
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (update 6), 3.0
  (update 6) and 4.0
• Red Hat Linux 7.3 and 9.0

19

• How UCC uses Microsoft Virtualisation Products

20
How UCC uses Virtualisation

• Systems Administration
• Exchange Migration Project
• Windows Test Environment
• SUS to WSUS Migration

21
Systems Administration

• Using Virtual PC 2004 or Virtual Server 2005 R2
• Windows XP Professional Virtual Machine
• Separate user credentials
• No Internet Access
• Windows Administration Tools
• Exchange Administration Tools

22
Exchange Migration Project

• Used to test migration from a forest running
  Exchange 5.5 to a new forest with multiple child
  domains running Exchange 2003
• Used Virtual Server 2005 R2
• 19 Virtual Machines running server operating
  systems across 2 physical servers running 32bit
  operating system
• 10 Virtual Machines running client operating
  systems across 2 PCs running 32bit server
  operating systems
• Point in time backups of entire environment to
  allow testing to be repeated
• Day 0 Environment Setup
• Active Directory Connector Install
• 1st Exchange Server
• Removal of last Exchange 5.5 Server

23
Windows Test Environment

• Used environment built for Exchange Migration
  Project
• Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter edition and
  Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition
• Test Windows Updates before deployment to
  production environment
• Test updates hotfixes for Exchange Server and
  SQL Server
• The environment consists of the following servers
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Standard Edition
• Windows 2000 Server Windows 2000 Advanced
  Server
• Exchange 2003 2 Node Cluster OWA Servers
• SQL Server 2000

24
SUS to WSUS Migration

• Configure TTL on SUS DNS record
• Install OS and configure SUS on Virtual Machine
• Change SUS DNS record to Virtual Machine IP
  address
• Upgrade hardware, re-install OS and install WSUS
• Create a new DNS entry for WSUS server
• Modify Group Policy to point to new WSUS DNS
  entry
• Decommission SUS Virtual Machine

25
For more informationLinks

• Microsoft Virtual Server
• http//www.microsoft.com/virtualserver
• Supported Operating Systems in Virtual Server
  2005 R2
• http//support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/86757
  2
• Third-party guest operating systems that are
  supported for use with Virtual Server 2005 R2
• http//support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/91743
  7
• Windows Server System software not supported
  within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment
• http//support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/89761
  4
• Microsoft Virtual Server support policy
• http//support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/89761
  3
• Support policy for Microsoft software running in
  non-Microsoft hardware Virtualisation software
• http//support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/89761
  5

26
For more informationWhitepapers

• Virtualisation Licensing Brief
• www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/volbrief.msp
  x
• Using iSCSI with Virtual Server 2005 R2
• http//go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId55646
• Virtual Server Host Clustering whitepaper and
  script
• http//go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId55644
• Virtual Server Guest Clustering
• www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/virtualserve
  r/deploy/cvs2005.mspx
• Virtual PC for Development and Debugging
• www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/techinfo/debug
  .mspx

27

• Thank you for your time