Windows Server Administration/Virtualization

This lesson covers virtualization. Activities include adding the Hyper-V role, creating virtual machines. working with snapshots, and converting physical machines to virtual machines.

Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the Understanding Server Roles portion of Windows Server Administration Fundamentals certification include:

• Understand server virtualization: virtualization modes; VHDs; virtual memory; virtual networks; snapshots and saved states; physical to virtual; virtual to physical

Readings

1. Wikipedia: Virtualization
2. Wikipedia: Hyper-V
3. Hyper-V Technology Overview
4. Top 7 Hyper-V Features in Windows Server 2019
5. Wikipedia: VHD (file format)
6. Wikipedia: Virtual memory
7. Managing VM RAM better with Hyper-V dynamic memory
8. Wikipedia: Virtual network
9. Plan for Hyper-V networking in Windows Server
10. Wikipedia: Snapshot (computer storage)
11. Top 10 Facts About Hyper-V Snapshots
12. Wikipedia: Physical-to-Virtual
13. Run Hyper-V in a Virtual Machine with Nested Virtualization

Multimedia

1. YouTube: How to Install and Configure Hyper-V on Windows Server 2019
2. YouTube: Create a Virtual Machine in Microsoft Hyper-V Manager
3. YouTube: Implementing Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V : Virtual Hard Drive Formats and Types
4. YouTube: CheckPoints in Hyper-V Server 2016

Activities

1. Review Hyper-V Technology Overview. Review how it works and some of its features
2. Review Install the Hyper V Role. Add the Hyper-V role.
3. Review Create a Virtual Machine. Create a Virtual Machine.
4. Review Supported Guest Operating Systems . Review and report on the supported Operating Systems in Hyper V
5. Review Create a virtual switch for Hyper V Create a virtual switch. Describe the different types of switches you can create.

Lesson Summary

• Virtualization is the simulation of a hardware platform, operating system, storage device, or network resources using software.

• In hardware virtualization, the host machine is the actual machine on which the virtualization takes place, and the guest machine is the virtual machine.

• The software or firmware that creates a virtual machine on the host hardware is called a hypervisor or virtual machine manager.

• Hyper-V is Microsoft's hypervisor, available in in two variants: a free stand-alone product called Hyper-V Server, and an installable role in Windows Server 2019 and later as well as the x64 edition of Windows 10 Pro.

• The Hyper-V role may be added to either full or server core installations.

• Hyper-V is a kernel mode (Ring 0) hypervisor rather than a user mode (Ring 3) hypervisor, resulting in better virtual machine isolation and better performance.

• Hyper-V requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM, but each virtual machine running on the Hyper-V server requires its own memory.

• Hyper-V uses the VHD (.vhd) virtual hard disk file format, with Windows Server 2012 and above also supporting the newer .vhdx format.

• The VHD file format may contain what is found on physical hard disk drives, such as disk partitions and file systems, which in turn can contain folders and files.

• VHD files have a maximum limit of 2 TB for the size of any dynamic or differencing VHD.

• Windows 10 and Windows 2019 operating systems support creating, mounting, and booting from VHD files.

• Virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels that allows the operating system to use secondary storage as virtual memory address space and move memory pages between physical memory and virtual storage as needed.

• A virtual network is a computer network that consists, at least in part, of virtual rather than physical network links. The two most common forms of network virtualization are protocol-based virtual networks such as VLANs, and virtual device networks such as those connecting virtual machines inside a hypervisor.

• Basic networking in Hyper-V is fairly simple. It uses two parts - a virtual switch and a virtual networking adapter.

• Physical-to-Virtual ("P2V") describes the process of decoupling and migrating a physical server's operating system (OS), applications, and data from a physical server to a virtual machine guest hosted on a virtualized platform.

• Microsoft provides the SysInternals disk2vhd utility for manually creating virtual images of Windows computers, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) for automated P2V capability.

• Dynamic memory is a Microsoft Hyper-V feature first introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and expanded in Windows Server 2012. This technology allows hypervisor to handle RAM consumption by host VMs in a flexible way, if possible. For example, hypervisor can dynamically add more RAM to a VM when the guest-OS needs it, or to reclaim excess back when a VM goes idle.

• Microsoft has added new features to Hyper V in Server 2019. One of these is the Windows Admin Center. Windows Admin Center is a server management solution which allows you to easily manage your servers as well as hyper-converged infrastructure from a single pane of glass.

• Nested virtualization is a feature that allows you to run Hyper-V inside of a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM).

Key Terms

autonomic computing

The self-managing characteristics of distributed computing resources, adapting to unpredictable changes while hiding intrinsic complexity to operators and users.

guest machine

A virtual computer which is run by a host machine.

host machine

A physical computer on which virtualization takes place.

hypervisor

A piece of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines.

link aggregation

Various methods of combining (aggregating) multiple network connections in parallel to increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, and to provide redundancy in case one of the links fails.

NIC teaming

Another name for link aggregation.

snapshot

The state of a system at a particular point in time.

thin client

A computer or computer program which depends heavily on some other computer (its server) to fulfill its computational roles.

thrashing

A computer's virtual memory subsystem is in a constant state of paging, resulting in degraded system performance.

virtual LAN (VLAN)

A single layer-2 network which is partitioned to create multiple distinct broadcast domains, which are mutually isolated so that packets can only pass between them via one or more routers.

virtual machine (VM)

A software implemented abstraction of the underlying hardware which is presented to the application layer of the system.

virtual machine monitor (VMM)

Another name for hypervisor.

Review Questions

Click on a question to see the answer.

1. Virtualization is the simulation of _____ using software.

   Virtualization is the simulation of a hardware platform, operating system, storage device, or network resources using software.
2. In hardware virtualization, the _____ is the actual machine on which the virtualization takes place, and the _____ is the virtual machine.

   In hardware virtualization, the host machine is the actual machine on which the virtualization takes place, and the guest machine is the virtual machine.
3. The software or firmware that creates a virtual machine on the host hardware is called a _____ or _____.

   The software or firmware that creates a virtual machine on the host hardware is called a hypervisor or virtual machine manager.
4. Hyper-V is Microsoft's _____, available in in two variants: a _____ called Hyper-V Server, and an _____ in Windows Server 2019 and later as well as the x64 edition of Windows 10 Pro.

   Hyper-V is Microsoft's hypervisor, available in in two variants: a free stand-alone product called Hyper-V Server, and an installable role in Windows Server 2008 and later as well as the x64 edition of Windows 8 Pro.
5. The Hyper-V role may be added to either _____ or _____ installations.

   The Hyper-V role may be added to either full or server core installations.
6. Hyper-V is a _____ mode (Ring 0) hypervisor rather than a _____ mode (Ring 3) hypervisor, resulting in better _____ and better _____.

   Hyper-V is a kernel mode (Ring 0) hypervisor rather than a user mode (Ring 3) hypervisor, resulting in better virtual machine isolation and better performance.
7. Hyper-V requires a minimum of _____ of RAM, but each virtual machine running on the Hyper-V server requires its own memory.

   Hyper-V requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM, but each virtual machine running on the Hyper-V server requires its own memory.
8. Hyper-V uses the _____ file format, with Windows Server 2019 and above also supporting the newer _____ format.

   Hyper-V uses the VHD (.vhd) virtual hard disk file format, with Windows Server 2019 and above also supporting the newer .vhdx format.
9. The VHD file format may contain what is found on physical hard disk drives, such as _____, which in turn can contain _____.

   The VHD file format may contain what is found on physical hard disk drives, such as disk partitions and file systems, which in turn can contain folders and files.
10. VHD files have a maximum limit of _____ TB for the size of any dynamic or differencing VHD.

    VHD files have a maximum limit of 2 TB for the size of any dynamic or differencing VHD.
11. Windows 10 and Windows 2019 operating systems support _____, _____, and _____ from VHD files.

    Windows 10 and Windows 2019 operating systems support creating, mounting, and booting from VHD files.
12. Virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for _____ kernels that allows the operating system to use _____ as virtual memory address space and move memory pages between _____ and _____ as needed.

    Virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels that allows the operating system to use secondary storage as virtual memory address space and move memory pages between physical memory and virtual storage as needed.
13. A virtual network is a computer network that consists, at least in part, of _____ network links. The two most common forms of network virtualization are _____, and _____.

    A virtual network is a computer network that consists, at least in part, of virtual rather than physical network links. The two most common forms of network virtualization are protocol-based virtual networks such as VLANs, and virtual device networks such as those connecting virtual machines inside a hypervisor.
14. Basic networking in Hyper-V is fairly simple. It uses two parts - a virtual ______ and a virtual _________ _______.

    Basic networking in Hyper-V is fairly simple. It uses two parts - a virtual switch and a virtual networking adapter.
15. Physical-to-Virtual ("P2V") describes the process of _____.

    Physical-to-Virtual ("P2V") describes the process of decoupling and migrating a physical server's operating system (OS), applications, and data from a physical server to a virtual machine guest hosted on a virtualized platform.
16. Microsoft provides the SysInternals _____ utility for manually creating virtual images of Windows computers, and _____ for automated P2V capability.

    Microsoft provides the SysInternals disk2vhd utility for manually creating virtual images of Windows computers, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) for automated P2V capability.
17. Dynamic memory is a Microsoft Hyper-V feature first introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and expanded in Windows Server 2012. This technology allows hypervisor to handle ___ consumption by host VMs in a flexible way, if possible. For example, hypervisor can ___________ add more RAM to a VM when the ________ needs it, or to reclaim excess back when a VM goes idle.

    Dynamic memory is a Microsoft Hyper-V feature first introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and expanded in Windows Server 2012. This technology allows hypervisor to handle RAM consumption by host VMs in a flexible way, if possible. For example, hypervisor can dynamically add more RAM to a VM when the guest-OS needs it, or to reclaim excess back when a VM goes idle.
18. Microsoft has added new features to Hyper V in Server 2019. One of these is the Windows Admin Center. Windows Admin Center is a server management solution which allows you to easily manage your _______ as well as hyper-converged infrastructure from a single pane of glass.

    Microsoft has added new features to Hyper V in Server 2019. One of these is the Windows Admin Center. Windows Admin Center is a server management solution which allows you to easily manage your servers as well as hyper-converged infrastructure from a single pane of glass.
19. Nested virtualization is a feature that allows you to run ________ inside of a Hyper-V virtual _______

    Nested virtualization is a feature that allows you to run Hyper-V inside of a Hyper-V virtual machine.

Flashcards

• Test your understanding of this lesson.
• Test your understanding of the key terms.

See Also

• Microsoft Virtual Academy: Introduction to Hyper-V
• Wikipedia: Protection Ring Covers Ring levels.

References

Subject classification: this is an information technology resource.

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

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