Beta Linux Integration Services Available.. Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support

Microsoft announces the availability of the beta release of the Linux Integration Services v2.1. This new version includes new functionality, including timesync, integrated shutdown, and SMP support.

When installed on a virtual machine that is running a supported Linux operating system, the Linux Integration Services for Hyper-V provide the following functionality:

• Driver support for synthetic devices: The Linux Integration Services support the synthetic network controller and the synthetic storage controller that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.
• Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices now take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.
• NEW: Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will now remain synchronized with the clock on the host.
• NEW: Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can now be shut down from either the Hyper-V Manager or the VMConnect application using the “Shut Down” command.
• NEW: Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can now properly use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.

It is officially supported for the following versions of Linux:

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 x86 and x64
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 will no longer be supported by Novell as of April 12, 2010. Novell recommends that users migrate to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3.
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x86 and x64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 x86 and x64

This release is currently available on Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com) under the “Linux Integration Services for Microsoft Hyper-V” connection (which you can go and sign up for right now).

This is a beta release. To use the previously released version, download them from this link.

Microsoft’s Desktop Virtualization product line as of 2009

Gabe Knuth has wrote a very good article about Microsoft’s Desktop Virtualization product line as of 2009

Last up in our rundown of the Big 5′s desktop virtualization product lines is Microsoft.  This is probably the most ambiguous vendor, because so many of their products intertwine to make up their solution.  Many of those products have been around for a very long time, and in other capacities, so it’s not easy to pick which products to focus on.  To make it easier, this article will only cover the products listed on Microsoft’s Virtualization Products and Technologies website. (http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/en/us/products-server.aspx)

Check it out there

Can I run my Hyper V VM in Virtual PC ?

Is it possible to run a virtual machine created or running on Hyper V using Virtual PC 2007?

Actually moving from VPC to hyper V is easy process as all you have to do is removing the VM additions and copy the VHD and mount it during creating new virtual machine.

Yesterday I tried the reverse way, I have a virtual machine windows 2003 SP2 running on my Hyper V server. I removed the integrated services and copy the VHD to another machine and tried to run it with VPC.

I failed to start, after loading the BIOS configurations I got a black screen.

I tried to restart it again and get the same results :S

after having some search, I found that John Huang answered to a similar question.

This is because most operating system will detect the presence of an  IO-APIC in the virtual machine environment and install an appropriate HAL in the operating system image. Once that image is started on Virtual Server or Virtual PC where an IO-APIC is not present, the image will fail to boot.

In theory it is possible to swap the HAL, but not in a Microsoft supported.
So the answer remains no.

If you install the Integration Components (and let’s stick to Windows Server 2003 for the example), then we swap the HAL to an APIC HAL as the first part of the installer. At this point, the VHD will no longer boot under Virtual PC and Virtual Server.

For more information about this, please view the article below:

Are VHDs compatible between Hyper-V and Virtual Server and Virtual PC?

http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/02/28/are-vhds-compatible-between-hyper-v-and-virtual-server-and-virtual-pc.aspx