Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012

Enterprise IT managers and techs all over have become increasingly familiar with names such as Xen, Open Xen, KVM, Virtual Box, VMWare and Hyper-V as the virtualization revolution swings in. With buzz words floating around like Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, IaaS and PaaS, it is no wonder that many professionals don’t know which way to turn for their virtualization needs. In the past, VMWare was definitely the dominant player in the data center whereas the market share for SMB’s has been fragmented with those very same names above. While Hyper-V has always had a good reputation, their has been a fierce battle for supremacy in the virtualization market and the stakes are high. Not unlike a Bill O’Reilly vs. Jon Stewart debate, advocates of both platforms come out swinging when the virtues of either is questioned.  I have never hidden my preference for Hyper-V and with Server 2012 the *LOVE* only grows stronger.  Read on for all of the goodness.

So what is it exactly that now puts Hyper-V at the front of the pack? Quite simply the most convincing of all arguments is the economics one. Hyper-V now offers a built-in feature set that is robust enough for the data center and flexible enough for even a small business at a cost that is significantly less than VMWare. The bang-for-the-buck factor is undeniable and frankly has brought a new level of fervor and excitement to the virtualization realm. Going with Hyper-V means you might have an extra 20K in your pocket for that IT department barbecue, camp out and paintball weekend you always wanted, or if you are in one of those countries where extra money in the budget means a real party – knock yourself out!

While I don’t want to sound like I am the script writer for the latest ShamWow commercial, I can say honestly that there is likely not a business in existence that couldn’t benefit from some of the new features that have been bought to the table with Hyper-V’s latest iteration.

At a glance, we have:
-multiple and simultaneous VM migration and failover
-live migration of storage
-Hyper-V Replica for entire site replication and failover
-Hyper-V extensible switch
-Support for high availability using non-shared storage and notably SMB
-Improved NUMA memory management

...and many many more under-the-hood improvements to make Hyper-V more performant, robust, and reliable. All of this is essentially included with your Windows server licence and with the Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition you get unlimited virtualization rights. No longer is Hyper-V just cheaper, it is often a cut above VMWare. It is also something that is designed according to Windows style guidelines and is intuitive and easy to manage for IT support staff already familiar with Windows server. (If they turn this into a Metro App, I will pull the article immediately. Please tell me why we need the ability to play Angry Birds on a server designed to be managed remotely from Powershell?) Anyway, the switch to server 2012, even in a data center environment, is compelling for sure.

Anyway, as I play with more of these features in the lab, you can look forward to more insight on each. I look forward to sharing this all with you in the form of writeups and training videos.

Cheers!

Matt

Windows 8–A Catastrophe or Sheer Genius?

Well, here we are back again and just in time as we are on the cusp of the next Windows revolution? Or are we? Others are voicing some concerns and seem to feel that we may instead be on the cusp of the next Windows revolt?  So, where do we really stand with all of this? Let’s take an objective look…..

But first, a small digression. As of late, I find myself apologizing  more that writing on the blog as updates became more and more scarce.  I hoping to improve that a bit, so hopefully more content will be appearing on here on a regular basis.  Now, on to the good stuff.

Windows 8 is surely going to be the most controversial Windows release of all time. That is clear. While many will point to major changes in  Windows 95, Windows XP, and Vista, never before has the UI been revamped in such a radical and unfamiliar way. Undoubtedly, many consumers will be left somewhat bewildered when they try and perform routine tasks like “opening My Computer” or “launching the Control Panel” The fact is, the operating system now relies on some fairly subtle gestures to perform some of these routine actions. Admittedly, when I installed the Developer Preview, I actually called up Paul and we both had simultaneous and mutually identical reactions and with a gasp we exclaimed “What have they done?” The truth is, I hated it when I first started using it and quickly uninstalled and replaced it with Ubuntu – which at the time was looking like it might be my next new OS.  At this point I let my interest in Windows 8 sit, digest, regurgitate and I thought evaporate. Whew….glad it went away.

News of the consumer preview was to follow. I had to check it out. I installed it on a Dell Latitude D620 (read – old hardware). The computer booted and it was sluggish and performing poorly. The screen resolution was terrible.  I knew that the video driver was obviously and issue, but this particular model of Dell only has Windows XP drivers available from Dell. My attempts to force those drivers onto the system resulted in all sorts of system errata. Windows update did not return any results for a good driver either. I then went to Windows catalog and began the hunt for a driver with a similar PCI dev/hardware Id. After some hunting, I found a Windows 7 driver. To my delight, this installed. Alright, reboot time….

As the machine spun down, I was expecting the old laptop to groan under the weight of the new and beta quality OS. Much to my surprise, the OS booted in a fashion that was shocking to say the least. It was as if the laptop now had an SSD drive installed it booted so fast. Was this for real?

The speed of Windows 8, truthfully, is nothing less than phenomenal. Despite fumbling my way around the new desktop, it was shocking to see the speed at which applications were launching. Anecdotally, this laptop, despite its age, was orders of magnitude faster than Windows 7, Windows XP, and the Ubuntu install running on it previously. Magnificent.  But speed alone wasn’t going to win me over. Lucky for me a true test for the OS was about to present itself  and even better yet, the test subject was a non-geek, common salary man.

To be continued…….