Developer OneNote

Category: Azure

  • Install Remote Server Administration Tools on Windows 7 SP1

    Remote Server Administrator Tools (RSAT) is not compatible with Windows 7 SP1. If you install Remote Server Administration Tools on Windows 7 SP1 slipstreamed media, you will get following error.

    The update is not applicable to your computer

    That’s because current RSAT version only supports Windows 7 RTM. To workaround this issue, you can Install Remote Server Administration Tools before installing Windows 7 SP1. The SP1 upgrade will update RSAT to SP1 version. The other option is wait for official release of Remote Server Administrator Tools for windows 7 SP1, which will happen this April.

    Update 4/8/2011: Microsoft released Windows 7 SP1 RSAT Tools to public today. The download link is here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 New Features

    Other than rolls up all previous released windows patches since RTM, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 contains two new features. Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX.

    Dynamic Memory

    Dynamic Memory is a memory management feature for Hyper-V VM administrators. Dynamic Memory allows administrator allocates a range of memory to indivual VMs and windows system will automatically adjust memory of each VM based on performance.

    RemoteFX

    RemoteFX creates a local like experience for remote users, including windows Aero and 3D contents.

    You can read more about SP1 from Windows 7 Team Blog

  • Find Physical Host Name of a Virtual Machine

     

    If the virtual machine is hosted on a Windows Server with Hyper-V and has Integration Service installed, you can look at following virtual machine’s registry to identify the physical host machine.

    HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftVirtual MachineGuestParametersPhysicalHostName

     

    If you use PowerShell, here is a one line script that can indicate host name.

    (Get-Item "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftVirtual MachineGuestParameters").GetValue("PhysicalHostNameFullyQualified")

  • Hyper-V VM Slow on Windows Server 2008 R2

    I recently upgraded my virtual machine hosting server from Window Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2. There are some noticeable performance drop, especially on virtual machines that handles big log files, the automation script execution time can take 200% or more than it was in a VMHOST with Windows Server 2008.

    I have done some testing and the performance downgrade seem introduced by the new power management system in windows server 2008 R2. There are 3 build in power plan in Windows Server 2008 R2

    • Balanced (recommended)
    • High Performance
    • Power Saver

    The default power plan in Windows Server 2008 R2 is Balanced. After I change Power Plan to High Performance and the performance downgrade issue does no occur any more. My guess is when power plan is set to balance, applications might not full utilize all available hardware resources.

    You can also checkout this post for Set the power configuration to High Performance in scripts.

  • Limitations you need know before installing Hpyer-V on laptop

    If you are thinking about installing Hyper-V on laptop, you need to put following into consideration. Some of Hyper-V’s design will limit laptop’s functions, these limitation are reasonable for a server operation system but would be a pain when you consider installing Hyper-V on a laptop.

    You cannot connect a virtual network to a wireless network adapter

    As a result, you cannot provide wireless networking capabilities to virtual machines. if you mainly use wireless NIC or all communication between the VM and the outside world would have to be through the Wireless NIC, this will turn out to be a great deal.

    Power-saving features are disabled after Hyper-V role is enabled

    (more…)

  • How to Install Hyper-V

    What is Hyper-V

    Hyper-V is Microsoft’s supported form of machine virtualization.  It allows you to run any number of guest machines on your host machine.  Each guest thinks it’s running on its own hardware, and is unaware that it’s just a simulation.

    Hyper-V also provides an easy way to snapshot and rollback virtual machine to an old saved stage.

    Hyper Installation Prerequisites

    • Operation System – Hyper-V is only available in 64 bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2
    • Hardware – Processors should include a virtualization option. For example, Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V).

    If you are not sure if your computer processor supports hardware virtualization, you can checkout Microsoft’s Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool. The tool also checks if virtualization is enabled on the processor.

    (more…)

  • Manage Hyper-V remotely from windows 7

    Once Hyper-V role is enabled on windows server 2008/R2, Hyper-V manager will be installed automatically. However, you don’t need to log on to Hyper-V host server to use Hyper-V manager. Instead, you can manage Hyper-V machines remotely from you Win7 desktop.

    To manage Hyper-V machines remotely from Win 7, following these steps:

    1. Install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en
    2. Go to Start > Control panel Under Programs, click on Get programs
    3. On the left panel, click on Turn Windows feature on or off
    4. On the feature list, expand Remote Server Administration roles > Role Administration Tools, mark Hyper-V Tools, then click OK
    5. Go to Administrative tools > Hyper-V Manager, launch it
    6. Now you can manage Hyper-V virtual machines from your windows 7 box. (more…)

  • Enabling Virtualization in Your BIOS

    For Dell Systems

    1. Restart your machine, and press F2 at boot (or whichever key is necessary) to enter BIOS setup
    2. Under Performance > set Virtualization to ON
    3. Under Performance > set VT for Direct I/O Access to ON
    4. Save & Exit BIOS
    5. Restart computer

    For HP Systems

    1. Restart your machine, and press F2 at boot (or whichever key is necessary) to enter BIOS setup
    2. Under OS Security > set Intel Virtualization Technology (VTx) to ON
    3. Under OS Security > set IO Virtualization to ON
    4. Save & Exit BIOS
    5. Restart computer