Virtualization of Windows Server 2008

Companies of all sizes have recognized that virtualization starts as a factor in changing the current scenario. Server consolidation, energy efficiency, enhanced functionality, and simpler management and deployment have real benefits for moving to virtualized servers and virtual primary services.

Microsoft has seen the prospect of virtualization and started to grab the market with Hyper-V (previously known by its code name Viridian, or through previous brand name Windows Server virtualization), Its beta version was released early this month, earlier than the expected February 2008 release. According to the company, Hyper-V is the next generation of hypervisor (hypervisor) virtualization platform, and it integrates into the operating system, allowing you to dynamically increase physical and virtual resources.

You may have understood the concept of virtualization as a whole, but you may not be familiar with specific details. Below we'll see how hyper-V works, its main benefits, and when you can expect to deploy these new features in a production environment.

How does it work?

To understand Hyper-V, first consider its three main components: the hypervisor (hypervisor), the virtualization stack, and the new virtualized I/O model. Windows Management programs are basically used to create different partitions, and each instance of the code runs on those partitions. The virtualization stack and the I/O build provide interactivity with Windows itself and the different partitions that are created.

All of these three components are sequentially working. With servers equipped with Intel vt-or amd-v-enabled technology processors, Hyper-V can interact with hypervisor, and the hypervisor is a very small software that is directly on the processor. The software is hooked up to a thread on the processor running the operating system, which can effectively manage multiple virtual machines and multiple virtual operating systems, all running on a single physical processor.

Because there are no third-party software products or drivers to install, you can almost get full compatibility guarantees. With effective process management, you can "hot plug" all kinds of resources on your virtualization service host. From the processor to the memory, to the network adapter, to the attached storage medium, you can add these devices to your machine without having to deactivate any services and interrupt the user's session. You can also have 64-bit customer sessions that are a great benefit for companies that use 64-bit software in the future. You can virtualize your system migrations, save on deployment costs, and when you're done migrating, you can assess how many physical hosts you need.

High Availability

Some of the ideas behind virtualization are not just to reduce the number of copies of machines and to save costs, but also to ensure that the services available are more numerous than those that do not use virtualization. In this context, Hyper-V includes support for multiple customer clusters.

In addition, you can cluster a number of physical machines running Hyper-V components, so instances of virtualization can be recovered from another host when the primary host is effective. Finally, you can transfer a virtual client from one physical host to another without the need for shutdown time, service reduction, and organization, which typically greatly limits the effectiveness of the production service.

You can also take advantage of the new disk quota feature on Windows Server 2008, which allows you to have clusters in multiple locations--for example, between the east and west coasts of the United States, or between different continents across the world. You can do this without having to have a single shared disk between them, which is necessary for clustering on Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

In addition, you can implement Hyper-V on the Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 and take advantage of the stability and extra burden that this deployment brings. Of course, this also brings tangible benefits to highly available objects.

Future prospects

So when do you get the benefits of Hyper-V and enjoy these features? The good news is that you can start exploring the product today: there is currently a beta version of Hyper-V available for download on the Microsoft.com website. Microsoft plans to stop the final build of Hyper-V within 180 days of the production of Windows Server 2008, and it will provide multiple versions of Windows Server 2008 that you can choose with Hyper-V or without Hyper-V. Windows Server 2008 is expected to be released in February 2008.

If you are more concerned about the time and money you invest in your virtualization architecture, you will be happy to learn that when Hyper-V is officially available, users of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 can migrate to Hyper-V relatively seamlessly, Without worrying about losing the input to the virtual server so far. However, you need to know about the new hardware in some instances, because Hyper-V will require 64-bit hardware and will not be released in a x86 version (32-bit).

Hyper-V will be an important next step in Microsoft's virtualization history. With the right hardware, you can enjoy many of the benefits of unprecedented virtualization.