This page discusses the Hyper-V Release Candidate (RC). The information in this article is provided as is and is subject to change without notice. No formal product support is available from Microsoft for this beta release of this feature.
Prerequisites
The Release Candidate for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is only available for x64 editions of Windows Server 2008 RTM. If you are using a version of Windows Server 2008 that is pre-RTM, you will need to perform a clean install of Windows Server 2008 RTM x64 edition on your host system. Hyper-V cannot be enabled on systems running inside virtual machines or on x86 versions of Windows Server 2008.
The full set of prerequisites for installing Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 will be published separately closer to RTM. The RC release of Hyper-V is available with Windows Server 2008 x64 editions. Hyper-V requires an x64-based processor, hardware-assisted virtualization, and hardware data execution protection. For the RC release, a maximum of sixteen logical processors are tested.
Pre-installation Steps for Migrating from the Beta
If you had previously installed the Beta of Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 RTM, the following steps are recommended for moving to the RC version of Hyper-V:
Take a backup of all your Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs) once you have shutdown the virtual machines.
Take a note of all of the Virtual Machine (VM) configuration settings such as storage configuration, memory allocations, etc. You will need to re-create the virtual machine settings as these are not compatible with the RC version.
Take a backup of all your data on the system.
Install the updates from Download Center or Windows Update (available post March 25, 2008) for the RC version. As mentioned above the RC update package will only install on RTM version Windows Server 2008. Reboot as requested.
Enabling the Hyper V role in Windows Server 2008
To enable Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V on a full installation of Windows Server 2008, follow these steps.
If you are updating your existing server that is running a pre-RTM version of Windows Server 2008, you must back up necessary files from the existing Windows Server before proceeding and perform a clean install of Windows Server 2008 RTM x64 edition. All steps in the pre-installation section must be completed before continuing.
Ensure that you have hardware-assisted virtualization and No-Execute Bit enabled prior to installation. If BIOS reconfiguration changes were made to enable hardware features, you must complete a full power-cycle before proceeding. A warm-reboot is not sufficient.
Download and install the update package for Hyper-V RC version.
There are two update packages for Hyper-V RC – Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 editions (KB 949219) and Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB949219). You will need to install the Updates for Windows Server 2008 x64 editions on the parent partition for upgrading to Hyper-V RC.
If you had not previously enabled the Hyper-V Beta role, you will need to follow the instructions in Steps 4-7.
Start Server Manager. To do this, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. To add roles to a server, you must be logged on with an account with administrative rights.
In Server Manager, add the Hyper-V role. To do this, click Add Roles under Roles Summary, and then select Hyper-V in the Add Roles wizard.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Add Roles wizard.
Note: It is optional to allow Virtual Machines access to network resources; at least one network adapter must be selected to bind a Virtual Network Switch to. If there is a single network adapter in the computer, a warning popup will appear. It is recommended that at least two network adapters are available.
At the end of the Add Roles wizard, you must restart the system for the Hyper-V role to be enabled.
Note: It is recommended that no other Windows Server 2008 role be enabled on the host system if the Hyper-V role is enabled on the system.
Important: Upon restart, log on with the same account used to install the Hyper-V role above.
Enabling Hyper-V in a Server Core deployment
The following steps will replace steps 4-7 above for a Server Core installation.
Type “start /w ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V” to enable Hyper-V role.
Restart when prompted.
Note: To Manage Hyper-V, you can remotely connect to the server from an existing Hyper-V Manager MMC on a different system.
Migrating Virtual Machine Configurations and VHDs from Beta to RC
Migration of virtual machine configurations from Hyper-V Beta is not supported. All virtual machine configurations must be recreated using Hyper-V RC. However, customers will be able to migrate VHD files for released operating systems (Pre-release version of Windows Server 2008 will need to be recreated with the RTM version). There are several important factors to consider and steps to be followed for migrating VHDs to Hyper-V RC. These steps are covered below. Please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949222 for instructions on how to move VHDs created on Hyper-V Beta to RC. The following steps provide a high-level summary:
Document existing settings for
Virtual machines (example: memory, CPU, virtual network adapter settings, etc.).
Virtual switches including all configuration information.
Network adapters within the virtual machine (example: IP Address, DNS address, etc.).
Your virtual machines must be shut down and all saved-states must be deleted.
All snapshots must be deleted or merged into the parent VHD. You cannot bring a virtual machine into Hyper-V RC if it has snapshots. Merging of your snapshots can take some time. Ensure that your snapshots have merged and all that remains is a single .VHD file.
Copy your VHD files to a safe location.
Apply the updates for RC as described in the section Enabling Hyper-V. After you upgrade to Hyper-V RC, your virtual machine configurations must be recreated.
Create new virtual switches and configure based on the information you collected in Step 1.
Create new virtual machines using the ‘New Virtual Machine Wizard’ in the Hyper-V Management Console. Use the information you collected during Step #1. When prompted, attach your existing VHD to the newly created virtual machine.
Once you launch your virtual machine, you should install the new integration components included with Hyper-V for supported guest operating systems following one of the options below:
Pre Windows Server 2008 Guest virtual machines including Windows Vista SP1: Install the latest Integration Components contained in the VMGuest.ISO file. This is achieved by clicking on the ‘Action’ menu in the VM Connect session and selecting ‘Insert Integration Components’.
Windows Server 2008 Guest virtual machines: Apply the same update (QFE) inside the child virtual machine that is used to update the parent partition to Hyper-V RC, choosing the appropriate x86 or x64 architecture. This QFE can be installed within the virtual machine in various ways including:
Adding a legacy network adapter to the virtual machine while the virtual machine is not running. Then, launch the virtual machine and download the QFE directly from Windows Update. Once the QFE is applied, you may wish to remove the legacy network adapter from the virtual machine configuration.
Download the QFE and burn the update onto a physical CD using the parent partition or a separate client computer. Mount the physical CD drive within the child virtual machine and install the update.
Download the QFE and create an ISO image. Mount the ISO image within the child virtual machine and install the update.
Note: Running the setup program contained in the VMGuest.iso within a Windows Server 2008 child virtual machine does not update the integration components. Following the steps listed above is the only method to install the latest integration components for Windows Server 2008.
Configure the network settings within the virtual machine using the information you wrote down in step #1.
Managing Hyper-V via MMC
Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V can be managed via Microsoft Management Console (MMC) similar to other roles in Windows Server 2008. Select the "Hyper-V Manager " from the Administrative Tools folder on the Start menu to start the virtualization MMC console. With this console, you can manage either the local system or connect to other Hyper-V host systems and manage them.
Recommended Configuration for Guest OS
Hyper-V will support a broad array of devices, including both iSCSI and fibre channel SAN storage solutions. Additionally, Hyper-V will support both 32-bit and 64-bit multi-processor child partitions. Virtual machines are able to utilize the large memory allocation (up to 64 gigabytes per virtual machine) and leverage virtual switch support to virtualize most workloads.
Recommended Hardware Devices
Hyper-V will be supported on a broad range of x64 capable hardware devices at RTM. For the RC release, please refer to the www.windowsservercatalog.com for the list of supported hardware platforms. An update to the latest available BIOS version for your server hardware is required. Use of other hardware platforms could result in some incompatibilities.
Removing Hyper-V
To remove the Hyper-V role from active use, click Remove Roles under Roles Summary in Server Manager, and then select Hyper-V in the Remove Roles wizard. You will need to restart the system to complete the removal.
