This is the first of a 2-part series delivered at Prairie DevCon in Calgry on March 15. 2012. The sessions provided a quick overview of the new features of Hyper-V in Windows Server "8" Beta and how these compare to VMware vSphere 5.

1. What’s New in Windows Server
“8” Beta for Hyper-V (Part 1)
Damir Bersinic
Senior Platform Advisor
Microsoft Canada Inc.
damirb@microsoft.com
Twitter: @DamirB
http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro

2. Session Objectives and Takeaways
• Session Objective(s):
• Windows Server "8": The Definitive Cloud OS
• Designed for Mission Critical, Scale Up
• New Storage Options
• Low cost, File Server Support
• New integration with SAN
• High Availability throughout the entire stack
• PowerShell: Automation engine for cloud

3. Session Objectives and Takeaways
• Why Windows Server "8" Hyper-V for Private Cloud
• What did we learn from you & our Partners?
• Platform Resiliency
• Storage
• Automation via PowerShell
• We can’t cover everything in one session.
• There is Part 2 coming up next…

4. The Definitive Platform for Cloud:
Windows Server “8”.

5. Cloud Considerations
• Mission Critical, Scale Up • VM Mobility
Workloads • Networking
• Storage – Multi-Tenancy, Security
– Costs – IP Address Management
– Complexity – QoS
– Security • Automation/Manageability
• Continuous Availability

6. Mission Critical Scale Up
Workloads

7. Mission Critical Workloads
• Scale isn’t just more virtual • Virtualization benefits such as
processors, it’s balance Live Migration should just work
– Compute – No tradeoffs
– Memory • Virtualize workloads considered
– Network I/O
– Storage I/O
“non-virtualizable”
• Maximize hardware usage • Server resiliency, uptime and
security is paramount
• VM performance must increase – More resources and capacity
with cores than ever

8. Scaling up: Physical NUMA
NUMA node 1 NUMA node 2
• NUMA (Non-uniform memory access)
• Helps hosts scale up the number of cores Processors
and memory access
Memory
• Partitions cores and memory into “nodes”
• Allocation and latency depends on the
memory location relative to a processor
• High performance applications detect
NUMA and minimize cross-node
memory access
Host NUMA

9. Scaling up: Physical NUMA NUMA node 1 NUMA node 2
• This is optimal…
Processors
Memory
• System is balanced
• Memory allocation and NUMA node 3 NUMA node 4
Processors
thread allocations within the
same NUMA node Memory
• Memory populated in each
NUMA node
Host NUMA

10. Scaling up: Physical NUMA NUMA node 1 NUMA node 2
Processors
• This isn’t optimal…
• System is imbalanced Memory
• Memory allocation and thread allocations
across different NUMA nodes
NUMA node 3 NUMA node 4
• Multiple node hops
• NUMA Node 2 has an odd number of Processors
DIMMS
• NUMA Node 3 doesn’t have enough Memory
• NUMA Node 4 has no local memory (worst
case)
Host NUMA

11. Scaling Up: Guest NUMA
• Guest NUMA
• Presenting NUMA topology within VM vNUMA node A vNUMA node B vNUMA node A vNUMA node B
• Guest operating systems & apps can
make intelligent NUMA decisions
about thread and memory allocation
• Guest NUMA nodes are aligned with NUMA node 1 NUMA node 2 NUMA node 3 NUMA node 4
host resources
• Policy driven per host –
best effort, or force alignment

12. Hyper-V Host Scale &
Scale-Up Workload Support
Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server “8” Beta
System Resource Improvement Factor
Hyper-V Hyper-V
Logical Processors 64 160 2.5
Host Physical Memory 1TB 2TB 2
Virtual CPUs per Host 512 1,024 2
Virtual CPUs per VM 4 32 8
Memory per VM 64GB 1TB 16
VM
Active VMs per Host 384 1,024 2.7
Guest NUMA No Yes -
Maximum Nodes 16 64 4
Cluster
Maximum VMs 1,000 4,000 4
12

13. VMware Comparison
Windows Server VMware VMware vSphere
System Resource
“8” Beta Hyper-V ESXi 5.0 5.0 Enterprise Plus
Logical Processors 160 160 160
Host Physical Memory 2TB 32GB1 2TB
Virtual CPUs per Host 1,024 2,048 2,048
Virtual CPUs per VM 32 8 32
2
Memory per VM 1TB 32GB1 1TB
VM
Active VMs per Host 1,024 512 512
Guest NUMA Yes Yes Yes
Maximum Nodes 64 N/A3 32
Cluster
Maximum VMs 4,000 N/A3 3,000
VMware ESXi 5.0 is a free download yet has the following restrictions:
1. Host physical memory is capped at 32GB thus maximum VM memory is also restricted to 32GB
usage.
2. vSphere 5.0 Enterprise Plus is the only edition that supports 32 vCPUs. All others support 8
vCPUs within a virtual machine. 13
3. For clustering/high availability, customers must purchase vSphere

14. Platform Resiliency

15. Deep HW Integration Protects Workloads
• Errors detected outside of program detection
• Predictive Failure Analysis

16. Isolate HW Errors & Prevent Poisoning
1. Error detected outside of program execution (Patrol Scrub, LLC 4. Root marks the page as bad, adds it to
EWB) the persistent bad page list, will not be
allocated again
2. During #MC handling, all VMs are suspended
5. The VM will be restarted (depending on
a. Prevents consumption that would result in result in the Automatic Recovery Action policy)
promotion to a fatal error 6. If the page is not found, VMs are
3. Determine if error can be isolated to a single VM resumed, execution will attempt to
continue
a. Search GPAspace backing all VMs a. Event is logged
4. If the page is found in a VM, terminate the affected VM b. If the affected pages is consumed, a fatal
error will occur
a. VM is “powered off” & Event is logged
Automatic, Maximum Protection with Windows Server "8" Hyper-V

17. Preventing Failure, Avoiding Disaster
• Corrected Memory Errors (ECC errors) • Hyper-V support for PFA
– Native OS Handling – Root OS forwards the address of the affected page
– The Windows Hardware Error Architecture to the virtualization stack
(WHEA) supports PFA for ECC memory – Hyper-V searches GPA space backing VMs for the
– When the error count for a memory page affected page
exceeds the PFA threshold, WHEA calls the – If the page is found in a VM (not locked or shared)
system memory manager to take the • VM is momentarily suspended
page offline
• A new page is allocated, the affected pages is copied and
• There is no guarantee that the page will actually freed, VM resumes execution
be taken offline
• An event is logged
– WHEA adds the page to the persistent bad
page list. – WHEA adds the page to the persistent bad page list
Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) Hyper-V support

18. Hyper-V Error Recovery Logging

19. Storage

20. Customers Discuss Storage
• Lower the cost of storage • Fully Leverage Storage Array
• Ease of File, Performance of Capabilities
Block • Native Access to SAN from VM
• No Downtime Servicing with redundant IO (MPIO)
• Help me secure my data • Scalable Virtual Disks
• Storage Metering

21. Dynamic, High Performance Storage
• Live Storage Migration • Online MetaOperations
• Virtual Fiber Channel – Live VHD Merge
• Support for File Based Storage – Live New Parent
on SMB 2.2 • Native 4K Disk Support
• New VHDX Format • Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)
• Storage Resource Pools

22. VHDX: Highly Scalable
• >2TB disks
• Better performance (eliminate
alignment issues)
• Resilient to corruption
• Embed user defined metadata
• Larger block sizes to adapt to
workload requirements

23. Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)
Token
Offload Offload
Token Token
Read Write
Virtual Actual Data Transfer Virtual
Disk Intelligent Disk
Storage Array

24. Thin Provisioning Notifications
• Identification
• Identify Thinly-Provisioned LUNs via PowerShell, & WMI
• Query mapped/unmapped state of Virtual Disk extents
• Notification
• Events indicate when LUNs cross threshold boundaries
• Standardized notification mechanism consumable by
management applications
Windows Server “8” Beta fully supports Thinly Provisioned LUNs

25. Hyper-V ODX Support
Creation of a 10 GB
• Secure Offload data transfer Fixed Disk
200 ~3 Minutes
• Fixed VHD/VHDX Creation
150
Time
• Dynamic VHD/VHDX Expansion 100
(seconds)
50
• VHD/VHDX Merge 0
<1 Second!
Average ODX
• Live Storage Migration Desktop
• Just one example…

26. VMware Comparison
Windows Server “8” VMware VMware vSphere
Capability
Beta Hyper-V ESXi 5.0 5.0 Enterprise Plus
Virtual Fiber Channel Yes Yes Yes
3rd Party Multipathing (MPIO) Yes No Yes (VAMP)1
Native 4-KB Disk Support Yes No No
Maximum Virtual Disk Size 64TB VHDX 2TB VMDK 2TB VMDK
Maximum Pass Through Disk Size Varies2 64TB 64TB
Offloaded Data Transfer Yes No Yes (VAAI)3
1. vStorage API for Multipathing (VAMP) is only available in Enterprise & Enterprise Plus
editions of vSphere 5.0
2. The maximum size of a physical disk attached to a virtual machine is determined by
the guest operating system and the chosen file system within the guest.
3. vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) is only available in Enterprise & Enterprise
Plus editions of vSphere 5.0
26

27. So You’re a Building a Cloud…
I have good processes in place, but what
other safeguards can I use to protect my
data?

28. Critical Safeguard for the Cloud
Encrypted cluster volumes
• BitLocker encrypted cluster disks
• Support for traditional failover disks
• Support for Cluster Shared Volumes
• Cluster Name Object (CNO) identity used to lock
and unlock Clustered volumes
• Enables physical security for deployments outside
of secure datacenters
• Branch office deployments
• Volume level encryption for compliance
requirements
• Negligible (<1%) performance impact

29. High Availability

30. Customers Discuss High Availability
• We have applications on the Fiber Channel SAN
• Legacy apps that don’t support Failover Clustering
• Redundancy throughout all levels of the stack
• Integration with Storage Replication

31. Availability Enhancements
• Windows NIC Teaming
• Continuously Available File Server (SMB) storage
• CSV 2.0 Integration with Storage Arrays for Replication & HW snapshots out
of the box
• Guest Clustering via Fiber Channel for HA
• Support for Concurrent Live/Live Storage Migrations
• Major Failover Cluster Enhancements…

32. Scale, Management, Policy & Storage
Failover cluster
• Support for 64 nodes & 4000 • Cluster Wide Task Scheduling
VMs in a Cluster • Inbox Live Migration Queuing
• Cluster Aware Updating • SMB Support
• Cluster Shared Volumes 2.0 • Hyper-V App Monitoring
• VM Failover Prioritization • Guest Clustering via Fiber
• Anti-Affinity VM Rules Channel…

33. Guest Fiber Channel Architecture
• Up to four virtual HBAs assigned to each VM
• WWNs assigned to each VM
• Doesn’t require re-zoning
• NPIV utilized to surface VM ports
on the host
NPIV port(s)
• Works with Live Migration

34. Complete Redundancy In the Box
• Hyper-V Replica for Asynchronous Replication
Disaster Recovery
• CSV 2.0 Integration with Storage Arrays for Synchronous Replication
• Non-Cluster Aware Apps: Hyper-V App Monitoring
Application/Service
• VM Guest Cluster: iSCSI, Fiber Channel
Failover
• VM Guest Teaming of SR-IOV NICs
• Network Load Balancing & Failover via Windows NIC Teaming
I/O Redundancy • Storage Multi-Path IO (MPIO)
• Multi-Channel SMB
Physical Node • Live Migration for Planned Downtime
Redundancy • Failover Cluster for Unplanned Downtime
Hardware Fault • Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA)/RAS

35. Automation

36. Windows Server “8” Deployment:
Minimal Server Interface (MinShell)

37. Manageability Comparison
Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server "8" Beta
Hyper-V PowerShell No No Yes
Network PowerShell No No Yes
Storage PowerShell No No Yes
SCONFIG No Yes Yes
Enable/Disable Shell No No Yes, MinShell
(Server Core @ OS Setup) (Server Core @ OS Setup)
VMConnect Support for N/A No Yes
RemoteFX

38. VMware Comparison
Windows Server “8” VMware VMware vSphere 5.0
Capability
Beta Hyper-V ESXi 5.0 Enterprise Plus
Unified Management Yes VMware View1 VMware View1
Intelligent Patching Yes VMware View2 VMware View2
Rapid VM Provisioning Yes VMware View2 VMware View2
Hardware GPU Support Yes No No
Software GPU Support Yes Basic3 Basic3
Remote Touch Support Yes No No
User Profile & Data Mgmt. Yes VMware View2 VMware View2
1. VMware have no Remote Desktop Services technology of their own, but offer basic
management of TS/RDS.
• No PCoIP Support | No Persona Management | No USB Support
2. Intelligent Patching, Rapid Provisioning and Persona Management are features of
VMware View Premier, available at additional cost.
3. vSphere 5.0 enables basic 3D applications like Windows Aero, Office 2010 or those
requiring OpenGL or DirectX in View desktops. This feature provides acceptable
performance on the WAN, up to 100ms latency. 38
• http://pubs.vmware.com/view-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/view-50-architecture-planning.pdf

39. In Review: Session Objectives and Takeaways
• Windows Server "8": The Definitive Cloud OS
• Designed for Mission Critical, Scale Up
• New Storage Options
• Low cost, CA File Server Support
• New integration with SAN
• High Availability throughout the entire stack
• PowerShell: Automation engine for cloud

40. Next Steps in Your Journey

41. Download Windows Server “8” Beta
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538

42. Microsoft Virtual Academy
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com

43. Download System Center 2012 RC Eval
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/evalcenter/hh505660.aspx

44. Microsoft Virtualization Certifications
Exam Number
Core Exam for the Following Track
and Title
70-659, TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
Server Virtualization (MCTS)
70-669, TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
Desktop Virtualization (MCTS)
70-693, PRO: Virtualization Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional
2008 R2 (MCITP)
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/

45. Q&A

46. What’s New in Windows Server
“8” Beta for Hyper-V (Part 1)
Damir Bersinic
Senior Platform Advisor
Microsoft Canada Inc.
damirb@microsoft.com
Twitter: @DamirB
http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro

47. © 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should
not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.