Hyper-V Server 2008 is a free virtual server offering basic of virtualization features, making it ideal for, test, development and basic Server consolidation.
I have been giving Hyper-V Server 2008 a quick run through.
Installation
The installation is built on the PE model just like Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 so working with the disks is very easy.
After the installation things will still look familiar.
User Interface
The User Interface at the on the physical machine is made of of 2 simple command Windows. One for managing the Server and the other, an ordinary command Window.
All basic operations such as joining the Domain, setting the Computer Name and an update schedule can be called from this menu. At this point you can also enable Remote Desktop.
Creating a Virtual Machine.
Fortunately you do not do this using the Hyper-V Server ‘Interface.’ You need to use the Hyper-V Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. Once connected you can create the First Virtual machine.
First Impressions
Hyper-V Server 2008 seems like a simple and efficient way to run Virtual machines. The footprint of the Hypervisor is tiny in terms of RAM and Hard Disk usage and the amount of patching compared to Server 2008 should be greatly reduced which means more uptime.
The downside is that unlike other versions of Server 2008 each Windows guest VM requires it’s own license. You see a feature matrix of the different versions of Hyper-V here.
In summary, this product would be a good choice for departments working with test servers and an good way to get the most out of your older server hardware while making Migration to new hardware easier when the time comes (i.e. put the guest machine on another Hypervisor).
Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product, which contains only the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components, it provides a small footprint and minimal overhead.
This may be of interest to departments moving towards Virtualisation of their servers.
Microsoft’s answer to some peoples perception of Windows Vista (and the Apple Ad’s)
One of our OU Administrators was recently asking for feedback on using 64 bit versions of Windows. From what I have read it seems that x64 computing has truly arrived and I thought it was worth sharing my experiences with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista.
Previously use of Windows XP x64 edition and even Vista x64 to some extent was restricted to a handful of users with special hardware and dependant on special or modified versions of software and drivers.
This is certainly no longer the case (at least in my experience). I’ve been running Windows Vista x64 on a HP xw4600, Core 2 Quad with 8GB RAM and have never seen anything like it!
The performance increase given by the extra 4GB RAM which x64 allows is immense. I am able to run multiple Virtual machines 1 or more GB of RAM each without any noticeable reduction in performance.
I’ve also had no issues with mainstream software compatibility, Vista x64 seems to take running x86 applications in its stride. The software I am running includes Adobe Flash Player , 7-Zip, Adobe Reader, Apple QuickTime, Office 2007, Shockwave, ServiceCenter, Paint.NET, VMWare Workstation and CDBurnerXP.
Paul Thurrott wrote an interesting article describing his good experiences with Vista x64 nearly a year ago and there is little doubt that things have improved even more since then.
If you or any of your users need high performance computing then I would say that Vista x64 is a safe bet. The current low memory prices may also mean that existing x64 capable hardware with less than 4GB and x86 operating systems may be candidates for upgrade.
Rather than email campus-support every time we have some new equipment to trickle down we’ve created a web page (see campus-support for URL) for *server room* and general equipment.
Desktops\cluster room equipment will still be trickled down in the usual fashion.
The page will be updated as new equipment becomes available so you may wish to bookmark it.
In the spirit of green IT I’m happy to add any surplus equipment from departments too, just let me know.
This is an end user beta (unlike beta 1) so have a look. The current ETA for IE8 is before the end of the year and some people have said November so not long now. Please note we are only starting to test this internally within ISS so we’re not sure what works/doesn’t yet so please try it on a test PC 🙂
New features include…
Web Slices
Web Slices This new feature takes feeds to a whole new level! Now you can subscribe to specific sections within a site and have updated content delivered directly to your Internet Explorer 8 menu bar. Whether it’s a gossip column, favorite blog, auction item, or a weather report, with Web Slices you’ll never skip a beat.
Accelerators
No longer do you have to open multiple browser tabs or windows to get the information you need. Accelerators are tools in Internet Explorer 8 that easily allow access to multiple points of information (maps, definitions, web searches, translations, etc.) within a single Internet Explorer 8 window. Finally, web browsing feels automatic.
Domain Highlighting
When you visit a site, its domain is highlighted in the Address Bar. This helps alert you to Web sites that are imposters of trusted sites, thus reducing the chance of compromising your personal information.
InPrivate browsing
With industry-leading security features like InPrivate, you can browse and shop confidently using Internet Explorer 8, wherever you go on the Web, knowing you have control over the protection of your personal information.
Tab Grouping
Tab Grouping makes it easier to stay organized while browsing multiple Web pages. Tabs are now visually related to one another, and you can save time by closing a set of related tabs as a group instead of one at a time. You also can right-click on a tab to close tab groups, ungroup a single tab, or clone a tab.
Please let us know your experiences.
ISS will shortly start testing the feasibility of giving significantly larger filestore quotas to staff and PhD students. In the pilot scheme, qualifying users will be able to request a “Store Folder” of 20GB, in addition to their standard 2GB Drive H.
The Store Folder is intended as an “archive” for inactive files which need to be kept for a long period of time. It will have the qualities that are associated with the Drive H filestore in terms of security and accessibility from multiple locations, but backup and restore services will be less.
For more information and details on how you can join the pilot please click here.
