Microsoft Gets Hyper About Virtualization
Microsoft claims that today's Hyper-V beta is an early Christmas present to customers and partners. The view on VMware: The Grinch who stole Christmas.
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16.12.2007 Xen in the Windows kernal or Hyper-V?
Every now and again we'll use this blog to correct errors in the public domain, mainly by journalists or analyst trying to do a good job but who come up short on fact checking due to time constraints.
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21.12.2007 Microsoft Moves Closer To Hyper-V Rollout
Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Tuesday unveiled the second release candidate for its long awaited Hyper-V hypervisor, which adds minor tweaks like guest operating system support for Windows 2000 Server and mouse integration tools forNovell (NSDQ: NOVL) SUSE 10 Linux.
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22.5.2008 Microsofts Hyper-V puts VMWare and Linux on notice
After his last foray into the Linux guy reviews a Microsoft product space, Jason Perlow is back this time to take a look at Microsofts Hyper-V, the hypervisor-based virtualization solution built into the newly released Windows Server 2008.
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14.2.2008 Download Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RC
The release candidate of next version of Windows server operating system - Windows Server 2008 R2 RC has been released by Microsoft. Another variant of Windows Server 2008 R2 is Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.
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13.5.2009 Microsoft's Hyper-V release threat level reaches RC status
Microsoft today spat out a release candidate build of its delayed virtualisation software Hyper-V.
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19.3.2008 Running the numbers on Vista
Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista continue to significantly trail those of Windows XP during its early days, according to a soon-to-be-released report.
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11.9.2007 See Windows Vista site up and running
There is a new site online with more information on Windows Vista covering some very cool topics and there are some videos too.
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1.6.2006 Running Vista today is a headache
TECH COMPANIES don't care much about Vista today. They know that the deadline is the end of January 2007 and they can relax until then.
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15.12.2006 Running Microsoft Security Essentials
Yesterday I downloaded the installation files for Microsoft Security Essentials beta, Microsofts free consumer antimalware program. So, is it any good?
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24.6.2009 Free Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation Installation ISO and VHD for Hyper-V Official Direct Download Links
Windows Server 2008 R2 is the next iteration of Windows Server operating system, which has been RTMed with build version 6.1.7600.16385 together with Windows 7. Microsoft is now officially releasing the ISO image for Windows Server 2008 R2 Trial Software, which allowing administrators and users to install Windows Server 2008 R2 to evaluate the new operating system for 180 days for free.
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17.8.2009 Windows XP Running on PS3 - video
Thats right, a programmer has managed to get Windows XP running on a PlayStation 3 via Linux/QEMU.
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26.11.2006 TrayIt - Keep Running Applications Under System Tray
Release candidate for Version 4 of TrayIt! is finally out. It has an improved graphical interface and usability and also supports a lot of new features like window grouping, and support for SDI-type application like MS Excel or PowerPoint.
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2.3.2009 Windows CE 6 Beta running in Virtual PC
The first Virtual PC lab is now tested/running (see the screen shot below) - I'm handing the lab over to MSDN today for testing and to release to the MSDN Virtual Labs web site.
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13.7.2006 Running Virtual PC 2004 SP1 on Windows Vista
Normally, one would install Virtual PC to run a beta operating system on top of their production environment. In this case however, you might just be risk taking enough to run a beta operating system as your production environment. In such a case, you may have applications or other things that don't work the way you hoped under this operating system. This is where Virtual PC comes in run a production operating system on top of a beta environment. Clever, huh?
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4.3.2006 2,600 sites running Windows Server 2008 on the Internet
Thanks to pacpis for this post. Microsoft has recently switched its main website, www.microsoft.com to Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft-IIS/7.0.
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27.6.2007 27 Vista SP1 Copies Running Simultaneously on the Same Machine
Microsoft never contested the fact that Windows Vista's hardware requirements qualified the latest Windows client as resource hungry, but at the same time, the company did point out that, given the right system, the platform would deliver quite a performance.
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9.6.2008 Microsoft Halts XP SP3 Update to HP PCs Running AMD Processors
The recent Windows XP Service Pack 3 update has left certain AMD-based PCs manufactured by Hewlett-Packard caught in an endless reboot cycle caused by an Intel-specific disk image mistakenly being used with AMD hardware.
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20.5.2008 Minimem - Automatically Lower, Optimize or Reduce the Memory Usage for Any Running Program at Interval
Nowadays modern computers comes with high memory, from 1GB to 4GB and some even up to 8GB!
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6.8.2008 Internet Explorer 7 running side by side with IE6. (standalone)
If you already have Internet Explorer 7 installed you might be interested in
Multiple-IE . An installer for the standalone versions of IE6, IE5.5, IE5, IE4 & IE3!
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11.12.2006 New iPhone 3.0 OS available
A revised operating system for Apple's iPhone is now available, adding functionality such as system-wide search and cut-and-paste to the popular handset.
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17.6.2009 How to install another OS on your PS3
Who'll get the last laugh now? They said the PS3 sucks, is late, is too expensive, isn't worth it, isn't a bargain. Well, look at it now! It's shaping up to be something worth its weight in news.
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13.11.2006 Vista Most Secure OS
Microsoft has applauded Vista from the get go as the most secure Windows platform, but according to a comparison put together by Jeff Jones, Security Strategy Director in Microsofts Trustworthy Computing group, the status quo is also valid for rival operating systems.
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23.6.2007 Windows 7 can learn from OS X
An Apple user's take on what Windows 7 needs to succeed. Our hands-on Windows 7 pre-beta review shows that things are looking promising for Windows 7.
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28.11.2008 Windows 7 to go: New portables for the new OS
Exciting, innovative notebooks and netbooks are being built around Microsoft's latest operating system. Here's a preview.
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15.10.2009 Next OS X rumored to feature new GUI
Mac OS Xs Aqua has matured very slowly over the last few years. It seems like many OS X users are tired of Aqua and ready for a new revolutionary GUI to compliment and enhance the experience of using a Mac.
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13.12.2006 Windows vs. Linux vs. Mac OS X
There has been a consistent amount of ink spilled over comparing Windows, Linux and Mac OS X this month. The reports have generated some controversy, because they point out that Windows delivers a more secure platform than Linux and Mac OS X.
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30.3.2007 Download Mac OS X 10.5.6 Now
Not surprisingly, Apple has released Mac OS X Update version 10.5.6 for both Client and Server users of the Mac OS. Weighing in at around 370MB and 470MB respectively, the two updates are immediately available to download and install on Leopard-running Macs.
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15.12.2008 Google Chrome OS Announced
After eons of speculation stating that Google is secretly working on an OS, they finally are, except its not so secret anymore.
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8.7.2009 New Features in iPhone OS 3.1 Firmware
The final version along with general availability of the highly anticipated iPhone OS 3.1 firmware is expected to be announced on September 9th, in Apples Rock iPhone OS 3.1 and Roll event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.
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7.9.2009Hyper-V and slow guest OS installation
Ben Armstrong: I have seen a number of reviews and comments about the fact that while Hyper-V virtual machines appear to be quite fast once they are
up and running - operating system installation seems to take quite a while. The reason for this is relatively easy to explain.
With Virtual Server and Virtual PC we only had emulated devices to use - and as a result we spent a lot of time optimizing and tweaking the
performance of these emulated devices. When we implemented the emulated devices under Hyper-V we had to remove many of these optimizations due to the
entirely different architecture of Hyper-V. We did not, however, spend much time re-optimizing the emulated devices on Hyper-V because we had the new
synthetic device architecture where we have focused our attention for performance tuning.
This means that Hyper-V emulated
devices are slower than Virtual Server / Virtual PC emulated devices - but Hyper-V synthetic devices are much faster than Virtual Server / Virtual PC
emulated devices.
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27.02.2008Hyper-V Performance Counters Part two of many
The "Hyper-V Hypervisor" counter set is a good place to start when looking for overall system information and what is running under Hyper-V.
Hyper-V Hypervisor counter set counters...
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09.05.2008Hyper-V Security Guide
This Solution Accelerator provides instructions and recommendations to help strengthen the security of computers running the Hyper-V role on Windows
Server® 2008. It covers three core topics: hardening Hyper-V, delegating virtual machine management, and protecting virtual machines.
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31.03.2009Virtual Machine Snapshots with Hyper-V
Robert Larson: Snapshots are a new feature of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Snapshots are a point in time version of a virtual machine..what does that
mean you ask? It means that you can be running a virtual machine, take a snapshot and at any point you can select a previous snapshot and revert back
to that point in time.
You end up with the virtual machine in the EXACT configuration that it was when you took the
snapshotand I mean exact.memory, virtual hardware, processes, state, etc. So you can have a running virtual machine, take a snapshot, change the
virtual hardware configuration, format the disk and install a different OS, it does not matter, when you apply the previous snapshot it looks exactly
like it did when you took the snapshot.
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27.04.2008Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta Build Clarification
Just a quick note to anyone that plans on testing the new Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta. The build Microsoft posted
here is in
fact a much newer build than either the original Server 2008 RC1 or Vista SP1 RC1. While the original RC1 was Build 6001.17051 for Server 2008 and
6001.17052 for Vista SP1, the new Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V beta is substantially newer at 6001.17119 and may even contain further
stability/performance improvements to the actual OS so it may be worth checking it out even if you don't intend to test the Hyper-V bits. Also note
that due to Hyper-V being a 64-Bit OS only option, there is no 32-Bit build available of the newer Server 2008 RC1.
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14.12.2007Netbooks running new 'Cloud OS' rumored for CES
At CES next month, future netbooks are likely to be on hand running Cloud OS, newly introduced software from Good OS that lets users access
lightweight applications like Google Apps in a browser...
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06.12.2008Hyper-V Performance Counters Part four of many
The "Hyper-V Hypervisor Virtual Processor" and "Hyper-V Hypervisor Root Virtual Processor" counter sets have the same counters. The only
difference between the two is the "Hyper-V Hypervisor Root Virtual Processor" contains counters for only the Root Virtual Processors (VPs) whereas
"Hyper-V Hypervisor Virtual Processor" has counter for all other partitions.
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12.05.2008Supported MS applications on Virtualization environments
Microsoft has released the Microsoft applications support on the virtualization environments below:
- Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V
(The OS with Hyper-V enabled)
- Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 (Microsoft Hyper-V Server is a bare metal virtualization platform that
includes the same Hyper-V virtualization Technology that is included in Windows Server 2008. However, Microsoft Hyper-V Server is not branded
Windows. Its official name is Microsoft Hyper-V Server, this product is currently in beta stage, will be targeted later this year)
- Supported partners' virtualization software (Third party virtualization products)
To see the list of supported applications,
click here
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=957006
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27.08.2008Microsoft announces availability of Hyper-V Server 2008
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today announced the release of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 during the TechNet Server and Tools keynote address in
London. Hyper-V Server 2008 is now available from
the Microsoft website as a
no-cost download.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 is a bare metal hypervisor, meaning that it runs directly on top of physical hardware
allowing virtual machines operating systems to run on top of it, similar to VMWare's ESX platform or Citrix XenServer. Previous Microsoft
virtualization platforms requires a separate Windows session running as a host, with virtual machines running on top of that.
Companies
that deploy a Hyper-V virtualization solution for can consolidate Windows or Linux workloads onto a single physical server or to run client operating
systems and applications in server-based virtual machines in the data center. Management is done through Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2008, which is currently available as beta software, although Microsoft expects final version will be released by the end of the month.
Minimum hardware requirements for Hyper-V Server include an x64 processor with hardware-assisted virtualization (either Intel VT or AMD
Virtualization) that is also Data Execution Protection (DEP) enabled. It also requires a second computer, typically in an Active Directory environment
running the Hyper-V manager.
Both Dell and HP will be delivering servers based on this new hypervisor.
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01.10.2008Why is there a 32-bit Windows Server 2008 option "without Hyper-V"?
Michael Greene: A few questions have come up as to why when you go out to download Windows Server 2008 there is a "without Hyper-V"
option. Further, if Hyper-V is only offered on the 64-bit version, why is there a "without Hyper-V" option for 32-bit?
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01.03.2008Hyper-V WMI Documentation Available
The WMI provider for virtualization and the hypervisor API enable developers, and scripters, to quickly build custom tools, utilities, and
enhancements for the virtualization platform. The WMI interfaces can manage all aspects of the virtualization services.
Virtualization services require a x64-based system that supports hardware-assisted virtualization running Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Programs
that interact with the WMI interfaces however, can run remotely on any system that supports WMI.
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24.01.2008Microsoft to give away upgraded Hyper-V software
Microsoft is set to release over the next 30 days an upgraded version of its Hyper-V technology for free, upping the game in the virtualization sector
as it chases VMware. Hyper-V, released in June, is included in most versions of Windows Server 2008. But the company has been charging $28 for a
stand-alone version that could be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site. The new version of Hyper-V will also have a Live Migration feature that
lets administrators move applications as they're running to other servers. The latest Hyper-V will be offered as a download on Microsoft's Web
site.
Microsoft also plans to release within the next month System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, which has been available as a beta
since April. The software is used for provisioning and managing virtual machines, among other tasks. It's compatible with Windows Server 2008
Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 or VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3, the company said.
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08.09.2008Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started with Hyper-V
The guide helps you become familiar with Hyper-V™ by walking you through the steps of installing the Hyper-V role, creating a virtual machine, and
installing an operating system on a virtual machine.
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19.12.2007Microsoft Hyper-V still a work in progress, group says
Windows Server 2008 R2 will help Microsoft narrow the feature gap with virtualization products from VMware and Citrix Systems, but its new Hyper-V
software still won't be "production-ready" for most enterprise applications, according to Burton Group.
The analyst company
did a side by side comparison of VMware's vSphere 4, released in May, Citrix's XenServer 5.5, released in June, and Microsoft's Hyper-V Server 2008
R2, which is due to ship with its Windows Server OS upgrade in October.
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02.09.2009Hyper-V release candidate due for availability today
When Microsoft really is on track with something, it likes to march to a very loud drumbeat. This time, it appears the Hyper-V virtualization platform
project is going well, and with the latest milestone, the company's trumpets are blaring...
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19.03.2008Hyper-V performance - feedback wanted
Tony Voellm (Principle Development Lead) is after feedback on Hyper-V performance:
Check his post "
Windows Hyper-V Beta" for more
details and a snippet is below
As the person responsible for performance inside the Hyper-V product team Im confident is saying
youll see the hypervisor investment is really paying off. As you use the product Id love to get your feedback on Hyper-V performance.
If youve got feedback,
get in touch with Tony =)
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07.12.2007Building a Host Cluster with Hyper-V Beta 1
Robert Larson: Well by now you have heard the news that Microsoft shipped Hyper-V Beta 1 early!!
Like many of you I have been
testing away and thought I would share the steps for creating a host cluster in Windows 2008 and Hyper-V. For those that have built host clusters in
Virtual Server, you will find the process in Windows 2008 and Hyper-V much more streamlined and user friendly. One major improvement is the
integration of Hyper-V as a cluster aware application and native support for making a virtual machine highly available.
So what
are the 10 steps you have to go through to build a host cluster using iSCSI shared storage?
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20.12.2007Microsoft publishes draft Hyper-V Events and Errors guide
After the previous article about how Microsoft IT department internally uses Hyper-V, the TechNet library exposes another key resource: a list of all
possible errors returned by Hyper-V.
The troubleshooting
guide, called
Hyper-V Health Model by Microsoft, is still a draft (last update was on April 7) but its already very detailed.
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14.04.2009Hyper-V in Server 2008 RTM doesn't like non-US locales
Tim Anderson: Hyper-V is Microsoft's whizzy new virtual server manager, which uses new virtualization features in recent Intel and AMD processors so
support more efficient virtual machines. Intel's extensions are called Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel-VT), formerly code-named Vanderpool,
while AMD's extensions are called AMD Virtualization (AMD-V), formerly code-named Pacifica.
<...> When it does get finished,
Microsoft recommends using Server Core rather than the full Server 2008 as the host OS. However, Hyper-V is interesting to developers as well as
admins, so I wanted to take a look. Unfortunately, after I added the Hyper-V role to the server, the Virtual Machine Management Service failed to
start, presenting the gloriously obscure message:. When it does get finished, Microsoft recommends using Server Core rather than the full Server 2008
as the host OS. However, Hyper-V is interesting to developers as well as admins, so I wanted to take a look. Unfortunately, after I added the Hyper-V
role to the server, the Virtual Machine Management Service failed to start, presenting the gloriously obscure message:
The service
changed to an unexpected state.
This problem has been
mentioned by others. Apparently the
fix is simple but extreme: re-install Server
2008 using the English (United States) locale. Can't you just change the locale in your existing installation? It didn't work for me, and
Microsoft's Ben Armstrong said: "It is not sufficient to change the locale after OS installation."
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11.02.2008Hyper-V Performance Counters Part one of many
Anthony Voellm: In the next few posts I'll be covering Hyper-V performance counters. There have been a lot of changes from Beta -> RC -> post RC.
In Beta the counters sets for Hyper-V were not grouped under a common namespace. This made them hard to find. In RC the
counters are grouped under the Hyper-V namespace. That is each counter set starts with Hyper-V. For example Hypervisor Logical Processors are
now Hyper-V Hypervisor Logical Processors. The prefix causes all the Hyper-V counters to be grouped together.
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04.05.2008
