Module 3

1. Module 3 Creating and Managing Virtual Hard Disks, Virtual Machines, and Checkpoints

2. Module Overview • Creating and Configuring Virtual Hard Disks Creating and Configuring Virtual Machines Installing and Importing Virtual Machines Managing Virtual Machine Checkpoints Monitoring Hyper-V

3. Lesson 1: Creating and Configuring Virtual Hard Disks • What Are the Storage Options for Virtual Machines? Overview of the Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk Formats Fixed Size and Dynamically Expanding Virtual Hard Disks Differencing Virtual Hard Disks Directly Attached Storage Virtual Hard Disk Sharing and Quality of Service Management Hyper-V Considerations for Virtual Hard Disk Storage

4. What Are the Storage Options for Virtual Machines? • Virtual hard disk and directly attached disks • Support two storage controller types: • Fixed size, dynamically expanding or differencing disk files • Directly attached disks—local, or on iSCSI or Fibre Channel SAN

5. Overview of the Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk Formats • .vhd • Up to 2,048 GB in size • .vhdx • Up to 64 TB in size • Internal log for enhanced resiliency • User defined metadata • Large disk sector support • Larger sector size (improved performance) • Default format in Windows Server 2012 R2 • Can convert between both formats • .vhdx recommended, if not used on older versions of Hyper-V

6. Fixed Size and Dynamically Expanding Virtual Hard Disks

7. Differencing Virtual Hard Disks Create Modify Delete Read Grow 1 3 4 1 3 2 4 2 2 4 1 3 File A File D File B • Stores changes from the parent disk • Parent disk should not change • Differencing disk isolate changes • Multiple differencing disks can use same parent • Increases overhead (lower performance) • Can be used for standardized base images • Should avoid in production 1 3 2 4 3 x x x x File C Read-Only

8. Directly Attached Storage • Virtual machine directly accesses physical disk • Internal or LUN attached to Hyper-V server • Disk must be offline before it can be used • LUN on iSCSI or Fibre Channel SAN • Pass-through disk considerations • Best performance • Unlimited size, lowest CPU utilization • No checkpoints or differencing virtual hard disks • No portability and encapsulation • Not included in Hyper-V backup

9. Virtual Hard Disk Sharing and Quality of Service Management • Provides shared storage for virtual machines • Used as shared SAS disk by virtual machines • Virtual hard disk must be using VHDX format • Must be connected to virtual SCSI controller • Must be stored on failover cluster • CSV • Scale-out file server with SMB 3.0 • Separation between infrastructure and virtual machines • Storage QoS restrict disk throughput • Configured per virtual hard disk • Dynamically configurable while virtual machine is running

10. Hyper-V Considerations for Virtual Hard Disk Storage • Virtual hard disks consume large amounts of space • Can increase over time, implement monitoring • Use multiple physical disks for better throughput • Use redundant storage spaces • SSD dramatically increases performance • SMB 3.0 file share • Use SAN for storing virtual hard disks • Specialized, redundant, fast • Shared storage for failover clustering • Exclude VHDs from antivirus scanning

11. Lesson 2: Creating and Configuring Virtual Machines • What Are the Components of a Generation 1 Virtual Machine? Overview of Generation 2 Virtual Machines Configuring Virtual Machine Settings What Is Dynamic Memory? What Is Smart Paging? • Overview of Integration Services Using a Virtual Fibre Channel Adapter

12. What Are the Components of a Generation 1 Virtual Machine? • Virtual machine has virtual hardware devices • Only devices that Hyper-V supports can be used • Virtual hardware can be: • Emulated – available during boot • Synthetic – available in supported operating systems • SR-IOV – available in supported operating systems • Prior to Windows Server 2012 R2, only Generation 1 virtual machines were available

13. Overview of Generation 2 Virtual Machines • Emulated devices are removed • UEFI firmware instead of BIOS • Secure boot • Boots from SCSI controller • PXE boot uses a standard network adapter • Faster boot and operating system installation • Can run side by side with Generation 1 • Generation 1 must be used for legacy systems • Supported guest operating systems • Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 • 64-bit versions of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

14. Configuring Virtual Machine Settings • Only limited options are available during creation • Many more options are available after the virtual machine is created • Configuration options depend on the generation of the virtual machine • Most settings can be configured only if turned off • Adding or removing hardware components • Configuring memory, processor, disk settings • Few settings are configurable while virtual machine is running • Connecting a network adapter to a virtual switch • Adding a virtual hard disk to a SCSI controller • Enable or disable Integration Services • Use Hyper-V Manager or Windows PowerShell • Set-VM, Add-VMHardDiskDrive, Add-VMNetworkAdapter

15. What Is Dynamic Memory? • More efficient use of available physical memory • Shared resource that can be reallocated automatically • Demand, available memory, and virtual machine memory settings • Dynamic memory settings • Startup RAM • Operating system typically requires more memory when started • Minimum RAM • Can be decreased while virtual machine is running • Maximum RAM • Can be increased while virtual machine is running • Memory buffer • Percentage of extra memory to reserve for a virtual machine • Memory weight • Prioritizes memory allocation when physical memory is low

16. What Is Dynamic Memory? Finance virtual machine 8 GB Sales virtual machine Engineering virtual machine 6 GB 4 GB 2 GB T = 0 T = 15 T = 30 Total System Memory 8 GB Memory in Use by virtual machines 3 GB Virtual Machines Physical Memory Used 37.5 % Memory Settings

17. What Is Dynamic Memory? Finance virtual machine 8 GB Sales virtual machine Engineering virtual machine 6 GB 4 GB 2 GB T = 0 T = 15 T = 30 Total System Memory 8 GB Memory in Use by virtual machines 6 GB Virtual Machines Physical Memory Used 75 % Memory Settings

18. What Is Dynamic Memory? Finance virtual machine 8 GB Sales virtual machine Engineering virtual machine Service virtual machine 6 GB Engineering reaches max allocation 4 GB 2 GB T = 0 T = 15 T = 30 Total System Memory 8 GB Memory in Use by virtual machines 7,5 GB Virtual Machines Physical Memory Used 94 % Memory Settings

19. What Is Smart Paging? • Memory Management technique that uses physical disk resources as temporary memory • Ensures that a virtual machine can always restart • Used during virtual machine restart only • If Hyper-V is low on memory, and • The virtual machine has more startup than minimum RAM, and • Memory cannot be reclaimed from other virtual machines • Temporarily degrades virtual machine performance • Used only for a limited time, and then removed • Not used when a virtual machine started from the Off state • Virtual machine operating system paging is always preferred

20. What Is Smart Paging? Finance virtual machine Sales virtual machine 8 GB Engineering virtual machine Service virtual machine 6 GB 4 GB 2 GB T = 0 T = 15 T = 30 Total System Memory 8 GB • Sales virtual machine and Service virtual machine can be restarted only if Smart Paging is used Virtual Machines Memory Settings

21. Overview of Integration Services • Makes a guest operating system aware that it is running on a virtual machine • Many operating systems include integration services • Install the latest integration services • VMBus and synthetic devices support • Time synchronization, mouse release, VSS • Managed as virtual machine settings

22. Overview of Integration Services Without Integration Services With Integration Services

23. Using a Virtual Fibre Channel Adapter • Access to Fibre Channel SAN storage from virtual machine • Hyper-V server has Fibre Channel HBA • Use Virtual SAN Manager to configure a virtual SAN • Virtual Fibre Channel adapter maps to the physical HBAs • Virtual Fibre Channel adapter connects to the Virtual SAN • Storage hardware must support N_Port ID virtualization • Virtual machine can have four virtual Fibre Channel adapters

24. Lesson 3: Installing and Importing Virtual Machines • Virtual Machine Installation Methods Importing Virtual Machines Virtualizing a Physical Computer The Virtual Machine Connection Application Overview of Enhanced Session Mode

25. Virtual Machine Installation Methods • Install from a bootable CD/DVD-ROM • Single virtual machine can only use physical media at one time • Install from an .iso file • Multiple virtual machines can use .iso file • Install from a network-based installation server • Generation 1 – legacy network adapter required • Copy virtual hard disk file with operating system installed • Similar to computer cloning • Virtual hard disk should first be generalized • Use differencing virtual hard disks • Parent virtual hard disk should first be generalized • Parent virtual hard disk must not change

26. Importing Virtual Machines • You can import a virtual machine without first exporting it • Only virtual machine data files are needed • Over 40 different types of issues detected, such as: • Missing parent virtual hard disk • Virtual switch not available • Virtual machine has more processors than available • Import process: • Creates a copy of the virtual machine configuration file • Validates hardware configuration settings • Compiles a list of incompatibilities • Displays incompatibilities and asks for new settings • Removes the configuration file copy • Cannot start older saved states and checkpoints

27. Virtualizing a Physical Computer • Converting a physical computer to a virtual machine • Hyper-V does not include P2V functionality • Hyper-V can copy content of data disks • Configure disk in New Virtual Hard Disk Wizard • Copy entire disk, not volume or partition • Supported only for data, system disks are not supported • Disk2vhd • Creates virtual hard disks • Uses VSS • Captured system has same identity • Add virtual hard disk to virtual machine

28. Virtualizing a Physical Computer

29. The Virtual Machine Connection Application • Connects to virtual machines on local and remote Hyper-V • Port 2179 used (can be modified in the registry) • Connection allowed by Windows Firewall • Installed as part of Hyper-V role or RSAT feature • Single users can connect to virtual machines • Remote Desktop in virtual machines is not used • Hyper-V Administrators can connect to virtual machines • You can restrict access to virtual machines • Revoke-VMConnectAccesscmdlet

30. Overview of Enhanced Session Mode • Remote Desktop connection to a virtual machine • Virtual machine can be without network connectivity • Devices can be redirected • Printers, drives, smart cards, audio, other PnP devices • Shared clipboard, enhanced copy • Folder redirection • RDS component is used • User must sign in to virtual machine • Remote Desktop Users group membership required • Enabled at Hyper-V virtual machine connection and virtual machine level • Guest operating system support required • Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows 8.1 • Available only when the virtual machine is running

31. Lesson 4: Managing Virtual Machine Checkpoints • What Are Virtual Machine Checkpoints? Implementing Hyper-V Checkpoints Overview of Checkpoints at File Level Exporting Virtual Machines and Checkpoints Issues with Checkpoints in Distributed Environments Checkpoints and Virtual Machine Generation ID

32. What Are Virtual Machine Checkpoints? • Checkpoint is a point-in-time virtual machine state • Can be taken if virtual machine is not in Paused state • Contains virtual machine configuration, memory and disk state • Does not affect the running state of a virtual machine • Primarily used for testing and development • Can cause issues in distributed production environment • Create differencing disk – decrease performance • Cannot be created for directly attached disks • Used by Hyper-V Replica or in VDI deployments

33. Implementing Hyper-V Checkpoints • When created, a checkpoint cannot be modified • Only viewed, applied, exported, renamed, or deleted • Checkpoint creation steps: • Pause virtual machine • Create differencing disk for each disk that virtual machine is using • Create a copy of virtual machine configuration • Resume virtual machine • Copy virtual machine memory to disk • Checkpoint consists of • Configuration file (*.xml) • Saved state file (*.vsv) • Memory content (*.bin) • Differencing disks (*.avhd)

34. Overview of Checkpoints at File Level .vhd .avhd Snapshot Apply (create branch) Apply (= delete Now) Delete (= delete) Delete (= merge)

35. Exporting Virtual Machines and Checkpoints • Exporting a virtual machine is not required • You can copy virtual machine files • Exporting virtual machine consolidate its files • If differencing drives are used, the entire hierarchy is exported • Exporting multiple virtual machines increases total size • When exporting a virtual machine, all its checkpoints are exported • Exporting a checkpoint exports only a single state • Differencing disks in checkpoint hierarchy are merged • Live export – you can export while a virtual machine is running • Update integration services after import • Discard memory content and saved state from different architecture or pre-Windows 2012 Hyper-V

36. Issues with Checkpoints in Distributed Environments • Applying a checkpoint takes a virtual machine back to a previous state • Can have serious implications and result in corruption • Vector-clock synchronizations are impacted • Distributed applications depending on increasing logical clock • AD DS, DFS Replication, SQL Server replication • Applying checkpoint rolls back the logical clock • Members of replica set to not converge to the same state • Cryptography - reducing entropy of the random data • Distributed applications using vector clock algorithms have no awareness of running in a virtual environment • Removes changes in virtual machine as if they never happened • User data is lost, passwords are reverted • Regardless of whether they were already synchronized or replicated

37. Issues with Checkpoints in Distributed Environments DC2 DC1 T1 T4 T3 T2 +100 users USN: 100 Create Checkpoint ID: A RID Pool: 500 - 1000 • Only 50 users are replicated to both domain controllers. Others are either on first or second domain controller. 100 users (RID 500-599) have duplicated SIDs. USN: 200 Time Replication to DC2: USN >100 ID: A RID Pool: 600 - 1000 DC1(A)@USN = 200 DC1(A) @USN = 250 USN: 100 Apply T1 Checkpoint ID: A RID Pool: 500 - 1000 +150 users USN: 250 Replication to DC2: USNs >200 ID: A RID Pool: 650 - 1000

38. Checkpoints and Virtual Machine Generation ID • Designed to address issues of reverting to a past state • 64-bit integer, tied to a virtual machine configuration • Generation ID passed to a virtual machine in the BIOS • Application can compare current and previous values • If values differ, then something happened to virtual machine • Hypervisor must support virtual machine generation ID • Operating system in virtual machine must be generation ID-aware

39. Checkpoints and Virtual Machine Generation ID

40. Checkpoints and Virtual Machine Generation ID

41. Checkpoints and Virtual Machine Generation ID

42. Lesson 5: Monitoring Hyper-V • Overview of Performance Monitoring Monitoring a Hyper-V Host Monitoring Virtual Machines Resource Metering in Hyper-V

43. Overview of Performance Monitoring • Monitors operating system and applications using system resources • Provides up-to-date information on performance • Health of the IT infrastructure • Compare current activity with the baseline • Planning for future requirements • Whether current performance is sufficient • Identifying issues • Detecting problems • Proactive (real-time) and reactive (historical data) • Windows Server 2012 R2 includes several tools • Operations Manager centralizes monitoring, alerting, and reporting for the enterprise

44. Overview of Performance Monitoring • Task Manager provides local, real-time performance data • Helps to identify and resolve performance-related issues

45. Overview of Performance Monitoring • Resource Monitor provides in-depth real-time performance data • CPU, Memory, Disk, Network

46. Overview of Performance Monitoring • Event Viewer shows events that relate to server activity • Collected locally and remotely • Filtering, custom views, attaching tasks to the events

47. Overview of Performance Monitoring Reliability Monitor provides an historical view of server reliability and associated events

48. Overview of Performance Monitoring • Performance Monitor provides real-time monitoring and viewing of historical data gathered by data collector sets • Additional performance objects added with server roles

49. Monitoring a Hyper-V Host • Only Performance Monitor can monitor Hyper-V • Many Hyper-V performance objects added • Other tools monitor only their virtual environment • Parent partition is also considered a virtual machine • Memory, disk and network monitored the same • \Logical Disk(*)\Avg. Disk sec/Read and /Write • \Memory\Available Mbytes • \Network Interface(*)\Bytes Total/sec • Processor utilization based on available resources • Hyper-V allocates resources to each virtual machine • \Processor(*)\% Processor Time shows relative utilization • \Hyper-V Hypervisor Logical Processor(_Total)\% Total Run Time should be used

50. Monitoring Virtual Machines • Virtual machine tools monitor the virtual environment • Heavy utilization in virtual machine does not mean that Hyper-V host is heavy utilized (and vice versa) • Available resources adjusted based on server load • Memory and disk counters are the same as on the server • Hyper-V performance counters should be used • Hyper-V Hypervisor\Virtual Processors • Hyper-V Hypervisor Logical Processor \% Guest Run Time • Hyper-V Virtual Network Adapter(*)\Bytes/sec • Limit the processor resources that the virtual machine can use