New features in Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016-windows Server 2016

This article describes the new features and changes feature on Windows Server 2016 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016. To create and move or import to a server using Windows Server R2, you will need to manually upgrade the virtual machine configuration version by using the new features on Windows Server 2016 running Hyper-V virtual machines. For instructions, see Upgrade the virtual machine version.

The following is whether the content and features contained in this article are new or updated.

Compatible with connected standby (new)

When you install the Hyper-V role on a computer that uses the Always on/always connection (AOAC) power model, the connection standby power state is now available.

Discrete device allocation (new)

This feature allows you to grant virtual machines direct and exclusive access to some PCIe hardware devices. Using the device in this way bypasses the Hyper-V virtualization stack, making access faster. For more information about supported hardware, see "Discrete device Allocation" in Hyper-V for system requirements on Windows Server 2016. For more information, including how to use this feature and considerations, see the article "Discrete device assignment-description and background" in the Virtualization blog.

Operating system disk encryption support for 1th generation virtual machines (new)

You can now protect operating system disks that are encrypted using BitLocker drives in a 1th generation virtual machine. A new feature, key store, creates a small dedicated drive to store the system drive BitLocker key. Instead of using a Virtual Trusted Platform Module (TPM), it can be used to perform this operation only in 2nd generation virtual machines. To decrypt a disk and start a virtual machine, the Hyper-V host must be part of an authorized protected fabric or have a private key from a virtual machine's guardian. The key store requires a version 8 virtual machine. For information on the virtual machine version, see the Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 rise level virtual machine version in Hyper-V.

Managed resource Protection (new)

This feature helps prevent a virtual machine from using more than one of its shared system resources by finding too many levels of activity. This can help prevent the excessive activity of the virtual machine from compromising the performance of the host or other virtual machines. When a virtual machine is detected with excessive activity monitoring, the virtual machines provide less resources. This monitoring and enforcement is turned off by default. Use Windows PowerShell to turn it on or off. To open it, run the following command:

Set-VMProcessor -EnableHostResourceProtection $true

For more information about this cmdlet, see Group Vmprocessor.

Hot Add and remove network adapters and memory (new)

You can now add or remove network adapters without downtime during the virtual machine run. This applies to 2nd generation virtual machines running the Windows or Linux operating system.

You can also adjust the amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine when you run it, even if you have not yet enabled dynamic memory. This applies to 1th-and 2nd-generation virtual machines, which run Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10.

Hyper-V Manager improvements (update)

• Alternate credential Support-You can now use a different set of credentials when you connect to another Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 remote host in Hyper-V manager. You can also save these credentials to make it easier to sign in again.

• Manage earlier versions-using Hyper-V Manager in Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10, you can manage Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Windows Server R2, and Computers running Hyper-V on Windows 8.1.

• The update Management Protocol-hyper-v Manager now communicates with remote Hyper-V hosts that use the WS-manual protocol, which allows CredSSP, Kerberos, or NTLM authentication. When you use CredSSP to connect to a remote Hyper-V host, you do not have to enable constrained delegation in Active Directory to complete live migration. The WS manual is also more easily enabled for remote management of hosts based on the infrastructure. The Ws-man is connected by Port 80, which is turned on by default.

Providing integration Services through Windows Update (update)

Integration Services updates for Windows guests are assigned through Windows Update. For service providers and private cloud custodians, this places control over app updates in the hands of tenants who have virtual machines. Tenants can now update all updates (including integration Services) for their Windows virtual machines in a single way. For more information about Integration Services for Linux guests, see Linux and FreeBSD Hyper-V virtual machines.

Important issues

The Vmguest.iso image file is no longer required, so it does not contain Windows Server 2016 that has hyper-V.

Linux Secure Boot (new)

Linux operating systems running on a 2nd generation virtual machine can now be started using the Supported secure boot option. Ubuntu 14.04 and later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and later, the red Number Enterprise Linux 7.0 and later, and CentOS 7.0 and later enable secure boot on hosts running Windows Server 2016 Move. Before you start the virtual machine for the first time, you must configure the virtual machine to use a Microsoft UEFI certification authority. You can do this from Hyper-V Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, or an elevated Windows Powershell session. For Windows PowerShell, run this command:

Set-VMFirmware vmname -SecureBootTemplate MicrosoftUEFICertificateAuthority

For more information about Linux virtual machines on Hyper-V, see Linux and FreeBSD Hyper-V virtual machines. For more information about the cmdlet, see Group Vmfirmware.

More memory and processors for 2nd generation virtual machines and Hyper-V hosts (updated)

Starting with version 8, the 2nd generation of virtual machines can use more memory and virtual processors. The host can also be configured with significantly more memory and virtual processors than previously supported. These changes support new scenarios, such as large in-memory databases that run e-commerce online transaction processing (OLTP) and Data Warehouse (DW). The Windows Server Blog recently released performance results for virtual machines, with 5.5 trillions of-byte memory and 128 virtual processors running 4 TB of memory in the database. Performance of physical servers with performance higher than 95%. For more information, see Memory transactions for Hyper-V large VM performance in Windows server. For more information about the virtual machine version, see the Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 rise level virtual machine version in Hyper-V. For a complete list of supported maximum configurations, see plan for Hyper-V scalability in Windows Server 2016.

Nested Virtualization (New)

This feature allows you to use a virtual machine as a Hyper-V host and create a virtual machine in that virtualized host. This is especially useful for development and test environments. To use nested virtualization, you need to:

• At least 4 GB of RAM is available for virtualized Hyper-V hosts.

• To run at least Windows Server Technical Preview 4 or Windows 10 build 10565 physical Hyper-V hosts and virtualization on the host. Running versions in the same physical and virtual environment can often improve performance.

• Processors with Intel Vt-x (nested virtualization currently applies only to Intel processors).

For more information and instructions, see nested virtualization.

Network function (new)

New network features include:

• Remote Direct Memory access (RDMA) and switch embedded combination (SET). You can set RDMA on a network adapter that is bound to a Hyper-V virtual Switch, regardless of whether set is used at the same time. SET provides a virtual switch that has some of the same functionality as the NIC teaming. For more information, see Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and switch embedded grouping (SET).

• Virtual machine multi-queue (VMMQ). Increase VMQ throughput by assigning multiple hardware queues to each virtual machine. For a virtual machine, a default queue becomes a set of queues, and traffic propagates between queues.

• The quality of Service (QoS) of the software-defined network. The default class for managing traffic through virtual switches within the default class bandwidth.

For more information about the new features of your network, see New in the network.

Production checkpoint (new)

Production checkpoints are virtual machines that are "in-point-in-time" images. The following provides a way for you to apply a checkpoint that conforms to a support policy that runs a production workload in a virtual machine. Production checkpoints are based on internal rather than saved state of the guest's backup technology. For Windows virtual machines, use Volume Snapshot service (VSS). Linux virtual machines, file system buffers are refreshed to create a checkpoint consistent with the file system. If you want to use a checkpoint based on a saved state, select a standard checkpoint instead. For more information, see selection between Standard or production checkpoints.

Important issues

The new virtual machine will use the production checkpoint by default.

Rolling Hyper-V cluster upgrade (new)

You can now add a node to a Hyper-V cluster that is running Windows Server 2016, using a node that is running Windows Server R2. This allows you to upgrade without having to shut down the cluster. You run the cluster at the functional level of Windows Server R2 until you upgrade all the nodes in the cluster and use the Windows PowerShell cmdlet to update the cluster functional level update clusterfunctionallevel.

Important issues

After you update the cluster functional level, you cannot return it to Windows Server R2.

For information about the functional level of a hyper-V cluster that is running Windows Server R2 and Windows Server 2016, use the Windows Server R2 node, note the following:

• Manage clusters, Hyper-V, and virtual machines from a node that is running Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10.

• You can move virtual machines between nodes in all Hyper-V clusters.

• To use the new features of Hyper-V, all nodes must be running Windows Server 2016 and the cluster functional level must be updated.

• The virtual machine configuration version of the existing virtual machine is not upgraded. You can upgrade the configuration version only after you upgrade the cluster functional level.

• The virtual machine that you create will be compatible with Windows Server R2, Virtual machine configuration Level 5.

After you update the cluster functional level:

• You can enable new features for Hyper-V.

• To make the new functionality available for the virtual machine, update the Vmconfigurationversion cmdlet manually to update the virtual machine configuration level. For instructions, see Upgrade the virtual machine version.

• You cannot add a node to a Hyper-V cluster that is running Windows Server R2.

Note

Failover clustering is not supported on Hyper-V Windows 10.

For more information and instructions, see Cluster upgrade operating system scrolling.

Shared virtual hard disk (update)

Now, you can resize a shared virtual hard disk (. vhdx file) for the guest cluster without downtime. A shared virtual hard disk can grow or you can reduce the virtual machine's online status. The guest cluster can now also protect the shared virtual hard disk from disaster recovery using a replica of Hyper-V.

Shielded virtual machine (new)

Shielded virtual machines use multiple features to make it difficult for Hyper-V administrators and malware on the host to check, tamper with, or steal data from the state of a shielded virtual machine. To encrypt data and status, the Hyper-V administrator cannot see the video output and disk, and the virtual machine can be restricted to run only on known, normal hosts, by the host Guardian server. For more information, see regulatory structure and blocked VMs.

Note

From Technology Preview 5, start masking the virtual machine with a compatible copy of Hyper-V. To replicate a shielded virtual machine, you must authorize the host to which you want to replicate to run the masked virtual machine.

Order priority for starting cluster virtual machines (new)

This feature gives you more control over which clusters of virtual machines are started or restarted for the first time. This makes it easier to start virtual machines that provide services for virtual machines that use these services before. Define groups, place virtual machines in sets, and specify dependencies. Use Windows PowerShell cmdlets to manage sets, such as new Clustergroupset, get-clustergroupset, and add clustergroupsetdependency.

Quality of service (QoS) stored (updated)

You can now create storage QoS policies on scale-out file servers and assign them to one or more virtual disks on a Hyper-V virtual machine. Storage performance is automatically re-adjusted to match the policy with the storage load fluctuations. For more information, see Storage quality of service.

Virtual machine configuration file Format (update)

The virtual machine configuration file uses the new format to make reading and writing more efficient configuration data. Formatting also makes data corruption less likely to occur when a storage failure occurs. The virtual machine configuration data file uses the. vmcx file name extension, and the run-time state data file uses the. vmrs file name extension.

Important issues

. The Vmcx file extension indicates a binary file. Editing. vmcx or. vmrs files is not supported.

Virtual machine configuration version (update)

The version represents the compatibility of the virtual machine configuration, the use of Hyper-V versions to save the state, and the snapshot files. Virtual machines that use version 5 are compatible with Windows Server R2 and can be run on Windows Server R2 and Windows Server 2016. The version of the virtual machine that is introduced in Windows Server 2016 will not run in Hyper-V on Windows Server R2.

If you can move or import virtual machines in Hyper-V Windows Server 2016 that are running servers in Windows Server R2, the virtual machine's configuration is not automatically updated. This means that you can move the virtual machine back to a server running Windows server R2. However, this also means that you cannot use the new virtual machine functionality until you manually update the version of the virtual machine configuration.

For instructions on checking and upgrading the version, see Upgrade the virtual machine version. This article also lists the versions in which some of the features have been introduced.

Important issues

• After you update the version, you cannot move the virtual machine to a server that is running Windows server R2.
• You cannot downgrade to a previous version of the configuration.
• The update Vmversion cmdlet is blocked on a hyper-V cluster when the Windows Server R2 cluster functional level is enabled.

virtualization-based security for the 2nd generation of Virtual machines (new)

Virtualization-based security power features, such as device protection and credential protection, provide enhanced protection from malicious software against attack operating systems. Virtualization-based security is available in version 8 from the beginning of the generation of a virtual machine. For information on the virtual machine version, see the Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 rise level virtual machine version in Hyper-V.

Windows Container (new)

The Windows container allows multiple standalone applications to run on a computer system. They are fast to build, and highly scalable and portable. Both types of container runtimes are available, each with varying degrees of application isolation. Windows Server Containers use namespaces and process isolation. The Hyper-V container uses a lightweight virtual machine for each container.

Key features include:

• Support for using HTTPS for websites and applications

• Windows server and Hyper-V containers that can host a nano server

• Ability to manage data shared by a container

• Ability to limit container resources

For more information, including quick Start guides, see the Windows container documentation.

Windows PowerShell Direct (new)

This will provide you with a way to run Windows PowerShell commands from the host in the virtual machine. Windows PowerShell runs directly between the host and the virtual machine. This means that it does not require network or firewall requirements, and it works regardless of your remote administration configuration.

Windows PowerShell is an alternative way for administrators of Hyper-V to use an existing tool that connects to a virtual machine on a Hyper-V host:

• Remote administration tools, such as PowerShell or Remote Desktop

• Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection (VMConnect)

These tools are good, but need to be weighed:vmconnect is reliable but may be difficult to automate. Remote PowerShell is powerful, but can be difficult to set up and maintain. These tradeoffs may become hyper-V deployed with greater importance. Windows PowerShell directly addresses this by providing a powerful scripting and automation experience that is as simple as using VMConnect.

New features in Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016-windows Server 2016