Comments for Microsoft Hyper-V Blog by Altaro http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v Tue, 21 May 2013 12:55:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 Comment on Teaming and MPIO for Storage in Hyper-V 2012 by Eric Siron http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/teaming-and-mpio-for-storage-in-hyper-v-2012/#comment-34560 Eric Siron Tue, 21 May 2013 12:55:20 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2699#comment-34560 Hi Tonnie, That sounds like a good idea for an article. I'll get that queued up. I'm going to defer the question about the Altaro Hyper-V Backup product to an expert on that team. Someone is already looking into your question. Hi Tonnie,
That sounds like a good idea for an article. I’ll get that queued up.
I’m going to defer the question about the Altaro Hyper-V Backup product to an expert on that team. Someone is already looking into your question.

]]> Comment on Teaming and MPIO for Storage in Hyper-V 2012 by Tonnie http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/teaming-and-mpio-for-storage-in-hyper-v-2012/#comment-34498 Tonnie Tue, 21 May 2013 00:54:40 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2699#comment-34498 Thanks for the information. i stumbled upon this article after having some issue's because of doing it the wrong way (the situation was fast and stable, but our management vlan wasn't usable anymore on the virtual switch because it was an team interface, after changing it to the right way (with the virtual switch) it worked, maybe you could create an article about the proper setup and why (a lot articles dont explaint the why part) We already use the Altaro HyperV backup since our 2008 hyper-v cluster and continue to do this for the 2012 version, but is there any benefit for the Altaro software with SMB3.0 share's? will this automatically/magically work for altaro backup? Thanks for the information.
i stumbled upon this article after having some issue’s because of doing it the wrong way (the situation was fast and stable, but our management vlan wasn’t usable anymore on the virtual switch because it was an team interface, after changing it to the right way (with the virtual switch) it worked, maybe you could create an article about the proper setup and why (a lot articles dont explaint the why part)

We already use the Altaro HyperV backup since our 2008 hyper-v cluster and continue to do this for the 2012 version, but is there any benefit for the Altaro software with SMB3.0 share’s? will this automatically/magically work for altaro backup?

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Nirmal http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-34131 Nirmal Sat, 18 May 2013 13:00:22 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-34131 Hi Stephen, Thanks for reading articles! It is a pleasure interacting with you! Well, as to location of page file on SCSI channel discussion - nothing is stopping us from putting the page file on a SCSI channel but OS components (Memory Manager) will not recognize it. SCSI driver, part of Integration components, will be able to load itself only after the Kernel Mode components have done finishing its job including creating/initializing paging file! So technically, it’s doable but no benefits of doing this as Operating System is not going to use it. When Memory Manager (part of Kernel Mode) initializes the paging file, the location of the initialized paging file will be set in registry at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Controls\Session Manager\Memory Management. There are two entries which you need to check to determine the “current” paging file location; PagingFiles and ExistingPageFiles. Note: Registry is a big repository for OS components to locate any information. So from this point onwards, whenever any paging operation occurs, the OS will check the location of the page file to use by querying the above registry entries. You will get an informational message when you reboot OS stating that "Windows created a paging file on your computer because of some problem/s...". The new page file will be set in the above registry entries. On a side note, Kernel Mode does not know whether the OS is running on a Virtualization platform or a physical box and this is how Windows OS has been working. I would say OS has been programmed to deal with these types of situation (e.g. If no user defined paging file then create a new one on the OS drive) Thanks! Nirmal Hi Stephen,

Thanks for reading articles! It is a pleasure interacting with you!

Well, as to location of page file on SCSI channel discussion – nothing is stopping us from putting the page file on a SCSI channel but OS components (Memory Manager) will not recognize it. SCSI driver, part of Integration components, will be able to load itself only after the Kernel Mode components have done finishing its job including creating/initializing paging file!

So technically, it’s doable but no benefits of doing this as Operating System is not going to use it. When Memory Manager (part of Kernel Mode) initializes the paging file, the location of the initialized paging file will be set in registry at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Controls\Session Manager\Memory Management. There are two entries which you need to check to determine the “current” paging file location; PagingFiles and ExistingPageFiles.

Note: Registry is a big repository for OS components to locate any information. So from this point onwards, whenever any paging operation occurs, the OS will check the location of the page file to use by querying the above registry entries.

You will get an informational message when you reboot OS stating that “Windows created a paging file on your computer because of some problem/s…”. The new page file will be set in the above registry entries.

On a side note, Kernel Mode does not know whether the OS is running on a Virtualization platform or a physical box and this is how Windows OS has been working. I would say OS has been programmed to deal with these types of situation (e.g. If no user defined paging file then create a new one on the OS drive)

Thanks!
Nirmal

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Stephen Barash http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-34017 Stephen Barash Fri, 17 May 2013 17:23:06 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-34017 Agreed, a mute point. Still curious though. 2003 must load drivers differently, different processor ring level or something. Just for kicks, I'm going to clone one of these guests and set its system/boot drive to scsi and see what happens... Stephen Agreed, a mute point. Still curious though. 2003 must load drivers differently, different processor ring level or something.

Just for kicks, I’m going to clone one of these guests and set its system/boot drive to scsi and see what happens…

Stephen

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Eric Siron http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-33992 Eric Siron Fri, 17 May 2013 12:59:32 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-33992 I've been in touch with someone who has more thorough knowledge of the actual architecture than I do, and, well, we're intrigued. The screenshots won't be necessary, but it would be nice to know how you managed to do what shouldn't be possible. It's a somewhat academic pursuit at this point, though, since 2003 is sunsetting out. I’ve been in touch with someone who has more thorough knowledge of the actual architecture than I do, and, well, we’re intrigued. The screenshots won’t be necessary, but it would be nice to know how you managed to do what shouldn’t be possible. It’s a somewhat academic pursuit at this point, though, since 2003 is sunsetting out.

]]> Comment on Hyper-V Replica Explained – Part 4 by Nirmal Sharma http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/hyper-v-replica-explained-part-4/#comment-33980 Nirmal Sharma Fri, 17 May 2013 10:38:21 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2889#comment-33980 Hi Michael, Thank you for catching that! Fixed it! Thank You, Nirmal Hi Michael, Thank you for catching that! Fixed it!

Thank You,
Nirmal

]]> Comment on Hyper-V Replica Explained – Part 4 by Stephen Barash http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/hyper-v-replica-explained-part-4/#comment-33937 Stephen Barash Fri, 17 May 2013 03:58:31 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2889#comment-33937 Great article Nirmal, thank you. I think it should be further emphasised that unlike a normal backup, replication is really only good for one thing - hardware failures. Changes such as inadvertent deletes user objects, mailboxes or files, contracting a virus, installing something that causes problems, etc. will be quickly replicated to the other server. Replication won't help you here! Of course if you enabled 'application consistent', and catch the software issue fast enough, then you may have an hour window to stop replication, fail over, and save the day. But, like I wrote in part 2 of your replication series, I bet this would bring the performance of most servers to its knees. I would love for you to write a part 5 concerning performance. To emulate a typical small / medium sized business, take two mid-ranged servers, put a few virtual machines one one (Make one a terminal server), configure replication, and lets see how they actually perform in a (mocked) production environment. Regards, Stephen Great article Nirmal, thank you.

I think it should be further emphasised that unlike a normal backup, replication is really only good for one thing – hardware failures. Changes such as inadvertent deletes user objects, mailboxes or files, contracting a virus, installing something that causes problems, etc. will be quickly replicated to the other server. Replication won’t help you here!

Of course if you enabled ‘application consistent’, and catch the software issue fast enough, then you may have an hour window to stop replication, fail over, and save the day. But, like I wrote in part 2 of your replication series, I bet this would bring the performance of most servers to its knees.

I would love for you to write a part 5 concerning performance. To emulate a typical small / medium sized business, take two mid-ranged servers, put a few virtual machines one one (Make one a terminal server), configure replication, and lets see how they actually perform in a (mocked) production environment.

Regards,
Stephen

]]> Comment on Hyper-V Replica Explained – Part 4 by Michael http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/hyper-v-replica-explained-part-4/#comment-33863 Michael Thu, 16 May 2013 13:32:38 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2889#comment-33863 I have one quibble with this article. You said that, "In case you need to backup individual files or folders, you will have no choices expect to use a virtual machine backup software like Altaro Hyper-V Backup Pro software." However, I am unaware of a way to backup individual files or folders using Altaro Hyper-V Backup. It does not even allow you to select individual volumes to backup. It will backup each volume within the virtual machine, utilizing VSS. I think you may have meant to say that you can *restore* individual files or folders. That statement is absolutely true. However, the statement that you can backup individual files or folders appears to be false, unless there is a feature in the software that allows you to do that, of which I am unaware. Michael I have one quibble with this article. You said that, “In case you need to backup individual files or folders, you will have no choices expect to use a virtual machine backup software like Altaro Hyper-V Backup Pro software.” However, I am unaware of a way to backup individual files or folders using Altaro Hyper-V Backup. It does not even allow you to select individual volumes to backup. It will backup each volume within the virtual machine, utilizing VSS.

I think you may have meant to say that you can *restore* individual files or folders. That statement is absolutely true. However, the statement that you can backup individual files or folders appears to be false, unless there is a feature in the software that allows you to do that, of which I am unaware.

Michael

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Stephen Barash http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-33782 Stephen Barash Thu, 16 May 2013 03:31:58 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-33782 Well, Eric I tried this with a 2012 guest and you're 100% correct. No page file on my scsi page drive. Odd, there was no mention in any event logs of my scsi page file being rejected. So, I went back to my 2003 servers to see what was up. Page files on the scsi drives on all of them. Checked everything to verify the page files were working correctly. Crazy, makes no sense, I know. Be happy to send you screen shots... All in all, I'd say that your original advise was correct! Thanks, Stephen Well, Eric I tried this with a 2012 guest and you’re 100% correct. No page file on my scsi page drive. Odd, there was no mention in any event logs of my scsi page file being rejected.

So, I went back to my 2003 servers to see what was up. Page files on the scsi drives on all of them. Checked everything to verify the page files were working correctly. Crazy, makes no sense, I know. Be happy to send you screen shots…

All in all, I’d say that your original advise was correct!

Thanks,
Stephen

]]> Comment on Hyper-V Replica Explained – Part 2 by Nirmal Sharma http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/hyper-v-replica-explained-part-2/#comment-33512 Nirmal Sharma Tue, 14 May 2013 14:52:31 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2493#comment-33512 Hi Stephen, >>>Not only does this increase the amount of VHD storage space required, but the level of disk IO goes through the roof making server performance unacceptable. Replication engine just "tracks" the changes on all VHDs. Think of the replication engine running as a TSR program. Tracking the change in TSR mode does not require much I/O. But, of course, you will see performance issues if there are a number of changes taking place at the same time for multiple VHDs. That is acceptable since the current version of Replication Engine does not implement the "multi-threading" concept. Thanks! Nirmal Hi Stephen,

>>>Not only does this increase the amount of VHD storage space required, but the level of disk IO goes through the roof making server performance unacceptable.

Replication engine just “tracks” the changes on all VHDs. Think of the replication engine running as a TSR program. Tracking the change in TSR mode does not require much I/O. But, of course, you will see performance issues if there are a number of changes taking place at the same time for multiple VHDs. That is acceptable since the current version of Replication Engine does not implement the “multi-threading” concept.

Thanks!
Nirmal

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Eric Siron http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-33496 Eric Siron Tue, 14 May 2013 13:30:56 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-33496 This is what I get every time: http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pf_on_scsi.png The page file isn't even present on the vSCSI disk after a reboot. This is what I get every time: http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/pf_on_scsi.png
The page file isn’t even present on the vSCSI disk after a reboot.

]]> Comment on Working with VHD Files by Eric Siron http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/working-with-vhd-files/#comment-33489 Eric Siron Tue, 14 May 2013 12:38:00 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2640#comment-33489 Is the NAS presenting it by SMB share? 2012 may not like a share that's not SMB 3.0. Is the NAS presenting it by SMB share? 2012 may not like a share that’s not SMB 3.0.

]]> Comment on Working with VHD Files by Gerald Nell http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/working-with-vhd-files/#comment-33485 Gerald Nell Tue, 14 May 2013 11:54:56 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2640#comment-33485 I have a unique situation and google is not helping at all with this one. We have a NAS with a .vhd on it that I can attach to a 2008 R2 server but not on 2012. Is there a security setting that does not allow this? Thanks I have a unique situation and google is not helping at all with this one.

We have a NAS with a .vhd on it that I can attach to a 2008 R2 server but not on 2012. Is there a security setting that does not allow this?

Thanks

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Eric Siron http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-33441 Eric Siron Tue, 14 May 2013 05:14:17 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-33441 On the "Performance Options" screen, the "Total paging file size for all drives" is reduced to whatever I leave on C:. In the "Virtual Memory" window, the "Currently allocated" size is similarly reduced. It still shows that the number is set on the SCSI drive itself. I tested with a 2012 and a 2008 R2 client on Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V. I didn't check TM but I'll look at that tomorrow. On the “Performance Options” screen, the “Total paging file size for all drives” is reduced to whatever I leave on C:. In the “Virtual Memory” window, the “Currently allocated” size is similarly reduced. It still shows that the number is set on the SCSI drive itself. I tested with a 2012 and a 2008 R2 client on Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V. I didn’t check TM but I’ll look at that tomorrow.

]]> Comment on What You Must Know About Hyper-V by Stephen Barash http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/what-you-must-know-about-hyper-v/#comment-33440 Stephen Barash Tue, 14 May 2013 05:07:12 +0000 http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/?p=2795#comment-33440 I've tried this with several Server 2003 guests. The page files are created. The drive is visible in explorer. The performance tab in advanced system settings show it there. Its the right size in task manager. I'm setting a static 6gb swap on each drive. I'll play tomorrow with some Server 2012 & 2008 guests. What do you mean when you say the allocated number drops? I’ve tried this with several Server 2003 guests. The page files are created. The drive is visible in explorer. The performance tab in advanced system settings show it there. Its the right size in task manager. I’m setting a static 6gb swap on each drive.

I’ll play tomorrow with some Server 2012 & 2008 guests. What do you mean when you say the allocated number drops?

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