So decided to take my new server for a spin and try out the Hyper-V role. I have a couple of vhd files (Virtual Hard Drives) kicking around circa Virtual PC days and I figured that I would try and “convert” them to Hyper-V. I ended up finding several articles that say “you can do this” but you need to do xxx steps to do it. All I have to say is don’t bother, I found that I spent as much time trying to get a copy of the XP SP3 IE7 testing VM to work as it would doing a fresh install of XP w/SP3 slip-streamed which is what I ended up doing in the end. There are countless articles on how to setup a Hyper-V VM out there so I will only give you my observations/tips on how I ended up installing some guest OS’s.
In General
-
Mount an ISO rather than use a CD/DVD as your install media, it seems to go faster
-
XP needs SP3 or the Integration Services will not install
-
Vista needs SP1 or the Integration Services will not install (you will get an error "you need a newer verison to continue")
-
-
If you are RDPing into your server to create VM’s and you connect to the VM using the VM Connection app don’t be surprised if your response time for the guest OS UI is brutal (especially Vista). Turning off the visuals does help but not as much as you would think
-
Somtimes it seems that you have lost control of the keyboard during an install (or even in the OS), you actually have not the carat | is just not visible, try typing anyway. This may happen untill you install the Integration Services.
Installing XP w/SP3
-
During the install you will get to the “Windows will now automatically setup your screen resolution” dialog box. What may happen here is the dialog box goes out of focus leaving you without anyway possible to click on the Ok button. Why? Well because you have not installed the Integration Services yet and that means no mouse support and limited keyboard access. ALT-CTR-TAB does not work (flipping between open windows in the VM) so what do you do? Well the easies thing to do is just turn off the VM and restart it again. You will get the “Windows did not shut down properly” prompt but no big deal, just start in Normal Mode.
Installing Vista w/SP1
-
Add the legacy network adapter for the Vista install just in case your network adapter does not work (like mine, an Intel no less) if you are going to access the network when installing
-
Make sure you have a copy of Vista with SP1, trying to update your VM with this will take a long time, especially using windows update and the legacy network adapter.
-
When RDP into host server and using the VM Connection app the response times for the guest OS UI would take at least 10 seconds (or more) for anything to happen from the time you hit the keyboard till the OS responded. I am not sure what to make of this as my configured VM had 2GB of memory and 2 virtual processors (see my hardware specs).
The weirdness I had with the slow response times in the guest OS using the VM Connection app still baffle me since I cannot figure out why it was like that. I have run VMs in Virtual PC under a RDP connection in the same manner and the response times (while not stellar) were way better than this. RDPing into each guest OS it worked like it was installed on an actual physical box, which is probably the whole point of virtualizing in the first place.
All in all both VM’s did get installed and I had a chance to fool around with Hyper-V some. While I have used Virtual PC and Virtual Server quite a bit in the past, the Hyper-V management console and creating VM’s using it was a vast improvement over the clunky Virtual Server UI. I can see MS creating trial versions of their products on pre installed vhd’s to be run under Hyper-V in the not to distant future. It would be a pretty slick way to try out the product without having to waste time installing it if you just want to give it a spin and not worry about configuration.
So I decided a couple of weeks ago to retire my old home server that was doing dual purpose as a file share/media server/testing/everything else including AD server by investing in a real setup, something that I can be proud of. This is what I decided on for the hardware and some of my thoughts on each piece while installing it.
-
1 x CoolerMaster CM690 Black ATX Case
-
1 x XFX GeForce 8200 MB
-
1 x AMD Phenom X4 9550 CPU
-
4 x 2096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel RAM
-
1 x Thermaltake TR2-R1 CPU Cooler
-
2 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB HD
-
2 x WD Caviar 160GB HD
-
1 x Ultra X3 ULT40073 600-Watt PSU
-
1 x Intel Desktop 1000GB Network card
CoolerMaster CM690 Black ATX Case
-
Tool-less design so everything is pretty much snap in place
-
5 x 3.5" drive bays are at a right angle to the MB so it’s way easier to get them in and out
-
Each bay has a drive tray that you mount the drive in so you can slide the drive in and out with a little handle, also snaps in place
-
If installing 4 drives at once you may want to take off the opposite case panel (backside of MB) to get the power and SATA wires setup first as it gets a little tight for space back there
-
Has loads of fan mounts even two on the bottom (one for power supply)
-
Power supply is mounted on the bottom of the case and can be mounted upside down
-
This allows for the power supply to suck cool air in from underneath the case and out through the back, thus not using the hot air from the case to help with cooling
-
The internal mounts for the power supply on the case have rubber grommets to help with vibration as well as a foam gasket on the back to give a better seal
-
Does have some mounting issues (see my thoughts on the PSU I purchased)
-
Comes with preinstalled fans:
-
To install the optical drive you will need to remove the front panel, the manual is useless for this and the panel required a good pull to get it off. Even though I gave it a good yank the plastic clips that hold it in place did not break (something I have done on cheaper cases to easily)
-
The front IO panel (USB, Mic, Headphones, 1934 and eSATA) ports are actually on the top which is kind of cool
-
The feet on the bottom are actually a hard rubber rather than plastic
XFX GeForce 8200 MB
-
MicroATX board with 6 SATA ports
-
LED Display on IO panel for error codes (was never able to find the error code list)
-
Cooling on integrated chipsets was low profile so CPU cooler fit without a hitch
-
Comes with easy setup guide (4 pages), manual would have been better
-
Does support DEP and hardware virtualization assistance (needed for Hyper-V)
-
Has indicator lights for DDR Dual channel setup properly (for newbs)
-
Comes with a way to configure RAID via the BIOS or a Windows control panel like interface (called MediaShield)
AMD Phenom X4 9550 CPU
PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel RAM
Thermaltake TR2-R1 CPU Cooler
-
Great little fan, very quite and keeps the CPU cool
-
Comes with what looks like "silver" thermal paste on the bottom not that white stuff
-
Is a bit high, if you have one of those CPU cone things on the main side panel of your case for the CPU fan to pull air in you may have to take it off.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB HD
-
Stayed clear of the 1.5TB drives due to the reports of poor performance
-
Raid 1 configured without a hitch
-
Will be used as the data drive
WD Caviar 160GB HD
Ultra X3 ULT40073 600-Watt Power Supply
-
Modular cable design with lots of connectors
-
Large 135mm fan (very quiet, low flow)
-
With the case that I bought the 135mm fan on the PSU made mounting it a bit tricky, the mounting grommets on the bottom of the case did not align properly at times. It seemed that one or more of the mounting grommets on the case slipped into the PSU fan screw holes (probably because the fan is not a standard 120mm so the hole is bigger) which caused the PSU to tip from side to side at times. Once it was screwed into place it seemed fine.
Intel Desktop 1000GB Network card
-
It was either this or a 3com, this was cheaper
-
No worries about drivers with either Intel/3Com for any Windows OS probably the best supported card out there.
-
I will be mapping the VM’s to this card only; the OS gets its own dedicated LAN via the onboard one.