Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Release Candidate Key Features
RC Information
Hyper-V provides a reliable virtualization platform that enables customers to virtualize their infrastructure and reduce costs. It has a thin microkernelized hypervisor architecture with minimal attack surface and is available as a Server Core role. With integrated management customers can use a single set of tools to manage both their physical and virtual resources. It easily plugs into customers’ IT infrastructure as they can leverage their existing patching, provisioning, management and support tools and processes. It provides great value as it is available as a feature of Windows Server 2008 and customers can leverage the breadth of solutions from Microsoft’s partners, existing IT Pro skill-set and comprehensive support from Microsoft.
This page discusses the release candidate (RC) of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, now feature-complete, and provides the key features now available for customers and partners to start evaluating and provide feedback to Microsoft. Do note that no formal product support is available from Microsoft for this RC release of Hyper-V.
What's new in this RC Release
Hyper-V RC as a part of x64 editions of Windows Server 2008 (Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter) includes the following new capabilities:
Customers can now install Hyper-V MMC on Vista SP1 for remote management of Hyper-V systems
Stability fixes for intense use workloads based on customer feedback
Partial localization support for Japanese and German
Ability to enable Hyper-V RC on international locales (Apart from Japanese and German, the Hyper-V UI will be in English for all other locales)
Hyper-V RC now includes support for Windows Server 2003 x86 2-way SMP
Hyper-V RC now includes support for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 (x86 only)
Integration Components for these additional Guest OSes have been included in RC
Key Features of Hyper-V
Hyper-V as a part of x64 editions of Windows Server 2008 RTM (Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter) includes the following capabilities:
Quick migration. Enables movement of running virtual machines from one host to other host servers with minimal downtime.
High Availability. Hyper-V includes support for host-to-host connectivity and enables you to cluster all virtual machines running on a host.
Server Core role. Hyper-V is now available as a role in a Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008.
Integrated into Server Manager. Hyper-V is integrated into Server Manager by default and customers can now enable the role within Server Manager.
Live Backups with VSS. Hyper-V includes support for Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) to enable you to take Live Backups of running virtual machines in terms of snapshots.
VHD tools. Hyper-V also includes support for VHD tools to enable compaction, expansion and inspection of VHDs created with Hyper-V.
VM Manageability. Enables customers to easily import or export virtual machine settings to take backups of configurations and to be able to clone the virtual machine characteristics across different hosts.
Linux integration components. Beta Linux integration components are now available for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 x86 and x64 Editions. These integration components enable Xen-enabled Linux to take advantage of the VSP/VSC architecture and provide improved performance. Beta Linux Integration components are available for immediate download through http://connect.microsoft.com
Improved performance. Hyper-V includes several fixes to improve performance. All new Windows Server 2008 virtual machines will now automatically include the integration components.
Improved access control with AzMan. Hyper-V now includes support for Authorization Manager (AzMan) to enable Role-Based Access Control models for better administration of the Hyper-V environment with increased security.
Remote Management. Hyper-V supports remote management and also provides a Hyper-V MMC only installation option for a separate management node.
Increased Virtual SCSI support. Hyper-V now includes support for up to four virtual SCSI controllers per virtual machine enabling broader disk support.
Increased Memory Support. Hyper-V supports up to 64GB of memory per virtual machine.
Quick Reset. Hyper-V provides administrators the option to quickly Reset Checkboxes and Delete saved credentials that are used to connect to virtual machines.
Get started with Windows Server 2008
