Alberto Ortega’s Blog

I was in the middle of the setup of SCVMM 2008 R2 on a lab environment and got to the point that I needed to configure the Library Share Settings. I wanted the Library to be on a separate physical drive (1TB SATA drive) but it was really annoying to shutdown the VM, add the drive, map the drive to the VM and turn it on again…

Enlightened, I realized that I was running Hyper-V R2 and I had Storage Hot-Add feature ready to be tested!!! Well, it went pretty well I must tell, in 3 minutes I was continuing with my wizard without even closing it! thanks, thanks…

1. Hot-add a 1TB SATA drive to my box
   
2. Hot-add the Offline drive to my VM a an SCSI disk
    
3. Add the volume on my VM and we are done!
   

Begin with the End

Well, I have this System X with VT capable processors so Installing Hyper-V should be pretty straightforward, I deployed tons of Hyper-Vs and never run into major problems more than well known remote management issues. This time I had to work a little harder, lets introduce the system

• IBM System x3650 7979
• Intel Xeon 5130 2.0 Ghz (2 Processors) –> (Intel VT Enabled, link)
• IBM ServeRAID 8k-l Controller

SOLUTION: To have Hyper-V working I had to

1. Updated ServeRAID 8k-l Controller firmware to v5.2-0 Build 15429 (Not strictly necessary but I needed to manage 1TB SATA drives).
2. Updated IBM BIOS to v1.16 (Because mine was not updated)
3. BIOS: Guarantee “Intel VT” was enabled.
4. BIOD: Guarantee “Execute Disable Bit” was enabled.

Until I did not executed Step 4, I got this discouraging error “The virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running.”, this is, I was able to deploy Hyper-V but for some dark reason the Hypervisor was not running

I hope this will save someone a couple of hours at least!

Thanks,

Update x3650 7979 ServeRAID 8k-l Controller firmware to v5.2-0 Build 15429

We have updated the IBM ServeRAID 8k and 8k-l BIOS and Firmware Update to the version v5.2.0-15429 (Build 15429) on our x3650 system. We failed to use the IBM Xpress Updater as it did not found any critical update applicable to the system.

This update is important to work with 1TB SATA drives. Check the firmware change log here: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/system_x/ibm_fw_aacraid_8k-8kl-5.2.0-15429_windows_32-64.chg

Procedure

1. The procedure was not so straightforward, first the firmware update went good (running executable directly from Win2k8 R2) but showed a kernel panic on next boot, when the update was supposed to be applied.
2. Then I prepared a set of diskettes (4 in total) to found that I was not able to update the firmware using the diskettes (“PC DOS System message” appeared and machine went unresponsive).
3. Finally I found the the problem was the installed 1TB SATA drives. If you remove the disk on boot the controller kernel boots OK and the RAIDs are found. The, with the OS running you are able to insert the disk and access the 1TB drive.
   1. Copy the .exe to the x3650 system
   2. Run the Setup.

Note: As I mentioned before I had to copy the firmware to a set of diskettes, this procedure was not possible on a windows system. Tried Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, I guess the bits on the IBM site are corrupted (I downloaded them twice) and the windows distribution is not able to create a diskette to update the firmware. Although I was able to create the set of diskettes using a Linux OS.

Updated x3650 BIOS to v1.16

I began downloading the Windows distribution from the IBM support site, I downloaded the IBM Flash BIOS Update v1.16 for Microsoft Windows - IBM System x3650, x3650 NAS, then

1. (Failed) I re-programmed the BIOS running the executable directly from my Windows box, the update occurred successfully but when I rebooted the system the BIOS was not upgraded at all. It happened that I was running on a backup copy of the BIOS “Booted from backup POST/BIOS image” with a BIOS Version v1.07, this was surely an old inherited problem from the last administrator using the box, so I switched to a floppy based BIOS flash.
2. (Success) I created a floppy using the Windows Executable (single floppy) and the BIOS re-programming worked like a charm.

BIOS Configuration

Intel VT was enabled in my BIOS, that seemed to be enough to me, however I also needed the Intel XD Execute Disable Bit enabled too, this is for security purposes.

This thread helped me a lot as it was exactly my problem. That’s enough for today!

John Howard developed a script (http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/HVRemote) to facilitate client and server configuration to be managed by HyperV, I found this script very useful and I this article is about configuring the client side. Below is a summary and how it worked for me.

Summary

1. Download the HVRemote.wsf script from: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/HVRemote
2. Allow DCOM access by running (Elevated):  cscript HVRemote.wsf /mode:client /AnonDCOM:grant
3. Allow firewall exceptions for WMI
   1. Open Windows Firewall management: Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Firewall
   2. Allow programs to communicate though Windows Firewall
   3. Select “Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)” for the Domain network. Click OK.

Troubleshooting: DNS. This is the number one reason why remote management fails. It is vitally important that the client can locate the server by name, and that the server can locate the client by name. Try doing an “nsLookup <othermachinename>” on each machine or “ping <othermachinename> -t”. It should return the IP Address of the other machine as seen when running “ipconfig”. If it doesn’t find the correct IP address, or doesn’t find the other machine at all, fix DNS, or consider editing /windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts to hard-code an entry for the other machine as needed. But if editing the hosts file, be wary of possible changes should you also be using DHCP in your environment.

Details

D:>cscript HVRemote.wsf /mode:client /AnonDCOM:grant

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Hyper-V Remote Management Configuration & Checkup Utility
John Howard, Microsoft Corporation.
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward
Version 0.6 2nd Mar 2009

INFO: Computername is ######
INFO: Computer is in domain ######
INFO: Current user is ######
INFO: Detected Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 OS

INFO: Obtaining current Machine Access Restriction…
INFO: Examining security descriptor
INFO Granted Remote DCOM Access to Anonymous Logon
WARN: See documentation for security implications
INFO: Are running the latest version

The following script did not worked for me, but John Howards seems to use this successfully, this is why I had to manually allow the WMI exception on my Windows Firewall.

D:\>cscript HVRemote.wsf /mode:client /FirewallHyperVClient:Enable
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Hyper-V Remote Management Configuration & Checkup Utility
John Howard, Microsoft Corporation.
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward
Version 0.6 2nd Mar 2009

INFO: Computername is ######
INFO: Computer is in domain ######
INFO: Current user is######
INFO: Detected Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 OS
WARN: Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (Async-In) firewall not updated
WARN: Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (TCP-Out) firewall not updated
WARN: Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (TCP-In) firewall not updated
WARN: Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (DCOM-In) firewall not updated
INFO: Are running the latest version

——————————————————————————-
4 warning(s) or error(s) were found in the configuration. Review the
detailed output above to determine whether you need to take further action.
Summary is below.

1: FW Rule Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (Async-In) was not updated
2: FW Rule Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (TCP-Out) was not updated
3: FW Rule Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (TCP-In) was not updated
4: FW Rule Hyper-V Management Clients - WMI (DCOM-In) was not updated

——————————————————————————-

The experience of deploying an Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta was quite friendly. It took no more than 30 minutes to be logged for the first time. I run for a couple of minutes into problems when trying to manage the box remotely using the Hyper-V Manager, here is a track of my first steps into Hyper-V Server R2 Beta:

1. Running the remote management script as it comes with Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta did not allowed remote management. Moreover, this powershell script hanged up to me several times and I discarded its usage.
2. So, I run the Netsh commands manually
   1. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Windows Firewall Remote Management” new enable=yes
   2. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Windows Remote Management” new enable=yes
   3. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Service Management” new enable=yes
   4. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Desktop” new enable=yes
   5. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”iSCSI Service” new enable=yes
   6. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Volume Management” new enable=yes
   7. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Failover Clusters” new enable=yes
   8. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Microsoft Hyper-V” new enable=yes
   9. Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Service Management” new enable=yes
3. However I was still not able to connect to the Hyper-V Server
4. When I disabled the firewall running (Netsh firewall set opmode disable) I was able to connect using the Hyper-V Manager snap-in from my Windows Vista x64 Wks, but I received the message “You are not allowed…”
5. I joined the machine to my domain running (netdom join <ComputerName> /domain:<DomainName> /userd:<UserName> /passwordd:*) and after reboot (shutdown /t 0 /r) I was able to connect.
6. I put the firewall up again (Netsh firewall set opmode enable) and now I am still able to manage the server. This are more likely to be Beta issues.

Resources

• Install Remote Management Tools: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952627
• Run the Hyper-V Manager snap-in and connect to MACHINE_NAME.domain
• Toubleshooting: http://blogs.southworks.net/aalvarez/2008/11/15/hyper-v-server-first-steps-and-troubleshooting/

Next week Southworks SRL will take part of the SMSE (Systems Management Server Enterprise) event series on Microsoft Argentina, targeted for MS EPG customers. From Southworks we will be involved as expert in the System Center family Solutions. I will be a speaker on sessions about: System Center Operations Manager, System Center Configuration Manager, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center Data Protection Manager and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V sharing the stage with the great Alejandro Ponicke and Leandro Sgallari the magician

Sessions Details

The series will be:

• SMSE Live Day 1: Wednesday 27-Aug (9-13 Hs): Live Event – Clients by invitation only.
• SMSE Live Day 2: Thursday 28-Aug (9-13 Hs): Live Event – Clients by invitation only.
• SMSE WC Day 1: Thursday 28-Aug (14:30-16 Hs): Public webcast
  http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032383808&EventCategory=4&culture=es-AR&CountryCode=AR
• SMSE WC Day 1: Friday 29-Aug (14:30-16 Hs): Public webcast
  http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032383810&EventCategory=4&culture=es-AR&CountryCode=AR

The outline for the Live sessions is (still developing on our UNMG network!):

• SMSE Live Day 1
  • SCVMM: Platform showcase | Intro | Snapshots | Live Migration
  • SCOM: Intro | SUSE Monitoring | Service Level Dashboard | Custom MP
  • SCCM: Intro | Win2k8/Vista Mgmt | Asset Intelligence | Update Mgmt
  • SCDPM: Intro | DB recovery | End User File recovery
• SMSE Live Day 2
  
  • Intel: VPro (By Gabriela Gallardo, Intel)
  • SCVMM: Live Migration Drill-Down | Self Service Portal
  • SCCM + SCOM: Control Panel Advertisements | SCCM Monitoring | Desired Configuration Management | Internet based clients
  • SCDPM + SCCM + SCOM: VM backup | DPM Reporting | DPM Health with Ops Mgr | SCCM Recovery from DPM triggered by Ops Mgr

The agenda for the Webcasts sessions will be a sub-set of the above focused on SCVMM 2008 Beta and Hyper-V. Subscribe today using the above links so you will have a reminder on your calendar!

SMSE is a licensing model developed this year by Microsoft to encourage the adoption of System Center products on the Enterprise.

Here at Southworks we deployed many times from scratch a fully virtualized infrastructure and we have many lessons learnt so far. Since 2006, the industry is betting hard to workloads virtualization as it will address the increasing complexity IT environments are facing improving agility on the datacenter. In this post I will share a snapshot of what happened last month on the Virtualization Industry. Later (next post) I will discuss common drawbacks when moving to a virtualized infrastructure.

Virtualization Short Take

VMWare 2.0 (free server from VMWare) has reached the RC1 stage (http://www.vmware.com/beta/server/), nowadays SW-IT has every workload in production virtualized over VMWare 1.0.6 and has proved stability but we suffered in terms of management. VMWare 2.0 RC1 top features are Volume Shadow Copy, SCSI pass-though disk, USB 2.0 devices, Web access management interface and more OS support (including Win2k8 x64).

VMWare ESX 3i is free as I mentioned on my previous post, this had an impact on the SMB market so if you want to drill-down: http://blogs.southworks.net/aortega/2008/07/30/vmware-esx-3i-for-free/

VMWare has joined last week The Linux Foundation as announced here: http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/press/2008/08/06/vmware-joins-the-linux-foundation/, this is an strong bet from VMWare to empower the use of their virtualization platform on Linux systems.

Sun xVM VirtualBox 1.6.2 was released. VirtualBox is an absolutely free virtualization product for x86 and x64 platform (x64 support included in this 1.6.2 release) and can be used for server and desktop virtualization, a highlight of this virtualization platform is that it is compatible with VMWare VMs, however it will not load MS VHDs files as VMWare is supposed to do. I say “is supposed to do” as we failed many times in SW-IT when trying to boot a VHD disk over VMWare Player.

Hyper-V went to RTM! And is now available through Windows Update so all your Windows 2008 running Hyper-V will have the update available for install. Although Microsoft says the VMs are compatible from RC1 to RTM be careful as we experienced performance issues related with the Integration Tools (a.k.a VM Additions) when migrating. Together with this RTM a Powershell Management Toolkit (PSHyperV) was released by James O´Neill to automate Hyper-V many management tasks check it out at http://www.codeplex.com/PSHyperv

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Beta has now support for managing Hyper-V hosts (get it from http://connect.microsoft.com), moreover, SW-EE (Engineering Excellence Team) deployed this Beta version and successfully managed 8 Win2k8 hosts, so we will closely look how this solution evolves as we are early adopters.

Novell upgrades PlateSpin PowerConvert to v 7.0, PowerConvert is an enterprise-ready Virtualization Management solution that optimizes the data center by streaming server workloads over the network between physical servers, PlateSpin was acquired by Novell on March 2008 and will be a key components of Novell visions to the dynamic datacenter.

Finally the Xen Summit at Boston took place this June and many posts appeared in http://blog.xen.org regarding the tracks, Yoshi Tamura from the NTT Cyber Space Laboratories in Japan gave a very interesting presentation on Kemari. Kemari is a new approach to cluster systems that synchronize VMs for fault tolerance without modifying neither hardware nor applications, Kemari proposes a sync approach instead of a shared storage approach like VMWare’s VMotion or Hyper-V Live Migration.

References: How to be on top of Virtualization news?

If I had to choose only three vendor agnostic virtualization posts I recommend:

1. http://virtualization.com/: is a great aggregator of industry news  with short posts straight to the point.

2. http://blog.scottlowe.org/: Scott Lowe has a breath view of the virtualization and storage market and frequently posts on his “Virtualization Short Take” a snapshot of the virtualization industry.

3. http://www.virtualization.info/roadmap/: Virtualization Industry Roadmap logs every product release in a time-line style for the vendors that the Virtualization Congress has in its radar

References

o Novell upgrades PlateSpin PowerConvert to v7.0
http://virtualization.com/news/2008/06/24/novell-platespin-powerconvert-7.0/

o Desktop Virtualization Portal
http://www.desktop-virtualization.com/

o Xen Summit Highlights
http://blog.xen.org/index.php/2008/07/03/xen-summit-highlights-kemari-high-availability-20/