Hyper-V Guides

by Walter Oliver

Introduction

This article provides you with a set of guides, including tools, videos, and presentations to help you:

  • Learn about Microsoft virtualization technologies.
  • Make decisions about the right licenses for the right scenarios.
  • Plan your Hyper-V deployment.
  • Manage a virtual machines environment.
  • Apply security best practices.

Hosters can take advantage of Hyper-V to implement a variety of scenarios, for example:

  • Unmanaged dedicated server with Hyper-V
  • Virtual dedicated server (VDS) for Web scenarios (using Windows Server guests in anonymous mode)
  • Virtual dedicated server with line-of-business (LOB) scenarios (using Windows Server guests in authenticated mode)
  • Use of virtualization in shared hosting scenarios
  • Desktops as Hyper-V guests
  • End customers running Microsoft products using the customers' own licenses on the guest OS

Learn Hyper-V

The following video (https://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/IISNET/Media/HDA20-HyperV/Virtualization%20360-Microsoft%20Virtualization%20Strategy.wmv "video") provides an overview of Microsoft virtualization technologies and strategy, and explains why the technology has evolved to what it is now and where it is going in the future. It walks you through the various forms of virtualization: profile, presentation, desktop, application, server, and network.

Diagram displaying the types of Microsoft Virtualization technologies.

This download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/ValueProp.zip "download") includes the slides that are presented in the video above.

The following download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/ValueProp.zip "download") describes the value proposition for Hyper-V:

Chart detailing the advantages of Microsoft Virtualization technologies.

Licensing Guide for Common Hosting Scenarios with Hyper-V

This paper (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/HypeVLicensingWhitepaper.zip "paper") explains how to license different editions of Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 in a virtualized hosting environment that leverages the SPLA model. Additionally, it outlines the SPLA licensing implications of some common Hyper-V-based virtualized hosting scenarios.

This whitepaper also documents common hosting scenarios that use Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ virtualization technology and Microsoft SQL Server® database management software with the Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). The SPLA has two licensing models – Per Processor and Per Subscriber (by using a Subscriber Access License, or SAL). Some products are available through both licensing models. In a virtual environment, there are no new restrictions on the number of instances running under the SAL licensing model. However, the per-processor model introduces new considerations, which are outlined in this whitepaper.

Planning for Hyper-V

This video (https://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/IISNET/Media/HDA20-HyperV/Scalable%20Virtualized%20Infrastructure.wmv "video") provides a guide to planning your virtualization project:

Screenshot displaying the Planning for Hyper V Session Objectives and Agenda outline.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator (MAP)

After becoming familiarized with Hyper-V scenarios and license options, the next step in implementing Hyper-V is to plan the deployment of a virtualized environment. The MAP tool is a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool that can securely run in small or large IT environments without requiring the installation of agent software on any computers or devices. The data and analysis provided by this Solution Accelerator can significantly simplify the planning process.

This download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/IntroducingMicrosoftAssessmentandPlanningSolutionAccelerator.zip "download") provides an overview of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 (MAP). This tool provides planning support beyond just virtualization; it helps you analyze the different parts of your infrastructure and helps you determine which servers need to be consolidated. It offers recommendations for server and application virtualization and works with the Return on Investment (ROI) tool to generate ROI calculations.

This download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/Migration.zip "download") explains how you can take advantage of MAP to plan your migration projects.

More on Capacity Planning

This video (https://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/IISNET/Media/HDA20-HyperV/Hyper-V%20Architecture,%20Scenarios%20&%20Networking.wmv "video") provides a brief introduction to the MAP tool, Hyper-V architecture, system requirements, virtualization demo, Hyper-V systems and VM creation, and Microsoft System Center.

Screenshot displaying the Objectives and Takeaways outline.

This download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/CapacityPlanning.zip "download") contains the slides for the video above and further documentation about capacity planning.

Review the Planning and Design Guide for a comprehensive guide about Microsoft infrastructure products.

Deploying Hyper-V

The following video provides a guide to Hyper-V deployment. It includes hardware requirements, storage, networking, high availability, backup, and SVMM deployment best practices.

Screenshot of the Deploying Hyper V Session Objectives and Agenda.

High Availability

This download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/HighAvailability.zip "download") provides documentation about Hyper-V for high availability environments, including a step-by-step guide for setting up Hyper-V clusters.

This video (https://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/IISNET/Media/HDA20-HyperV/Virtualization%20and%20High%20Availability.wmv "video") walks through the various aspects of Hyper-V high availability, including demos for creating a cluster and virtual machines.

Screenshot of the Session Objectives and Agenda for Hyper V High Availability.

Provisioning Virtual Machines, a Guide for Hosters

This whitepaper (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/ProvisioningHyper-VVirtualMachineinHostingEnvironment.docx "whitepaper") discusses different approaches to provisioning and managing Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines in hosting environments. It especially focuses on approaches for automating the processes of provisioning and managing, so hosting companies can construct their Hyper-V offers quickly and integrate them with their existing environment. This whitepaper is targeted toward hosting companies that offer or are planning to offer virtualization hosting solutions that use newly released Microsoft Hyper-V technology.

Managing Hyper-V

Microsoft provides the tools that hosters need to make the most of their Hyper-V deployment:

  • Virtual Machine Management (VMM )2008 is a comprehensive management solution for the virtualized datacenter, enabling increased physical server utilization, centralized management of virtual machine infrastructure, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator and by authorized end users.
  • The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool allows hosters to keep their offline (or dormant) virtual machines updated with the latest patches. This video provides an overview of the tool and a guide about how to streamline the process of servicing offline virtual machines.
  • The following download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/ManagingHyperV.zip "download") provides an overview about the automation facilities for virtualization management.

Security

The following videos provide step-by-step guidance on how use the best security practices to enable Hyper-V in your environment:

  • Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Security and Best Practices – Part I (https://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/IISNET/Media/HDA20-HyperV/Windows%20Server%202008%20Hyper-V%20Security%20and%20Best%20Practices1.wmv "Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Security and Best Practices - Part I")
  • Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Security and Best Practices – Part II (https://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/IISNET/Media/HDA20-HyperV/Windows%20Server%202008%20Hyper-V%20Security%20and%20Best%20Practices2.wmv "Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Security and Best Practices - Part II") Screenshot of the Agenda outline for Hyper V Security.

This download (https://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/F/A2F199C0-672E-44E6-BF1D-878E233C3F08/Security.zip "download") provides the slides for these videos.

Conclusion

This article provides a map to the various guides, tools, videos, and presentations to guide you in all key aspects of Hyper-V: learning, licensing, planning, deploying, provisioning, managing, and securing your Hyper-V deployments.