Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V On Sun Fire™ X64 Servers

CONFIGURING MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008 HYPER-V ON SUN FIRE X64 SERVERS
Pierre Reynes, Systems Technical Marketing Sun BluePrints Online
Part No 820-6988-10 Revision 1.0, 12/11/08
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Table of Contents
Example Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Hardware and Software Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Disk Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 System Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Hardware Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Upgrade the Server Firmware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Create a Bootable RAID1 Array for the Host OS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Installing Windows and Hyper-V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Choose the Windows Server 2008 Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Install and Update Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Update the RAID HBA Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Install the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Upgrade the HBA Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Initialize the Disk Drives with Sun StorageTek RAID Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Create the RAID Volumes using Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software . . . . . . 12 Install and Configure Hyper-V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Optimizing Windows and Hyper-V Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Planning for Hyper-V Overhead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Optimize Performance in a Hyper-V Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Ordering Sun Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Accessing Sun Documentation Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V on Sun Fire x64 Servers Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V on Sun Fire x64 Servers
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is componentized, using granular and optional roles. The installation and configuration of Windows Server 2008 components is done by adding server roles, such as Hyper-V, File Server, Print Server, and Terminal Services. By default, no server roles are activated. The Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2008 provides a virtualized server computing environment. This hypervisor-based virtualization system for x64 servers can be used to subdivide a single physical server into multiple virtual machines, each running a separate operating system instance. Virtualization techniques such as Hyper-V can help enterprises consolidate the workloads of multiple servers onto one machine for better utilization, decreased hardware and energy costs, and lowered datacenter complexity. This guide shows the steps necessary to install and configure Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V on a Sun Fire x64 server with a Sun Storage J4000 series array for external storage.
Example Configuration
Three virtual machines (VMs) were created on a Sun Fire X4150 server using Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. A Sun Storage J4000 series array was used for additional storage and to provide increased performance by spreading the disk I/O over a greater number of disk spindles.
Hardware and Software Configuration

The example configuration described in this document was based on the Sun Fire X4150 server. The Sun Fire X4150 server, a compact 1RU two-socket x64 server powered by Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, was chosen for its performance, expandability, and energy efficiency capabilities. The Sun Storage J4200 array was chosen because it offers a reliable and easy to manage way to extend the server internal storage capabilities. In addition, the Sun Storage J4200 array coupled with Sun SAS HBAs delivers very attractive price-performance value. The specific hardware configuration used in this example is as follows: Sun Fire X4150 server with eight internal SAS hard disk drives (HDDs). Sun StorageTek SAS RAID Internal HBA (connected to internal disk drives) Sun StorageTek SAS RAID External HBA (connected to external storage array) Sun Storage J4200 array with 16 SATA HDDs (JBOD)
Note The configuration described in this document used the Sun Fire X4150 server. However, this configuration also applies to Sun Fire X4250, X4450, X4140, X4240 and X4440 servers. Similarly, although the Sun Storage J4200 array was used in this document, the configuration steps also apply to Sun Storage J4400 and J4500 arrays.
The following software was used in this example configuration: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x64, Enterprise Edition BIOS RAID Configuration Utility used to create RAID volume for the host OS Sun StorageTek RAID Manager used to create additional RAID volumes
Note This guide is intended for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, and not for
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008.
Disk Configuration
Two VMs in this example configuration were intended for use by disk-intensive applications, and therefore used two separate sets of disks each: one for the operating system and one for the data. The third VM was intended for a mostly network-intensive application (for example, a security gateway), and thus used a single RAID volume for storing both the OS and data. Table 1 and Table 2 describe the disk drive layouts of the internal and external disks used in this example. The main root partition (Windows Server 2008 x64) and each VM use a dedicated set of spindles, for performance reasons. A global hot spare is configured for each controller, for increased availability.
Table 1. Internal disk drives layout (Sun Fire X4150 server).
Disks
Volume Type
Volume Name
HDD0, HDD1 HDD2, HDD3 HDD4, HDD5 HDD6 HDD7
RAID1 RAID1 RAID1 Future Expansion Global Hot Spare
SYSTEM SERVER1-SYS SERVER2-SYS
Table 2. External disk drives layout (Sun Storage J4200 array).
Disks
Volume Type
Volume Name
HDD0, HDD1 HDD2, HDD3, HDD4 HDD5, HDD6, HDD7 HDD8, HDD9, HDD10 HDD11
RAID1 RAID5 RAID5 Unused Global hot spare
SERVER3 SERVER1-DATA SERVER2-DATA
The following volumes are used in this example configuration: The main root partition (Windows Server 2008 x64) is installed on a RAID 1 volume named SYSTEM, and uses two internal disks drives on the Sun Fire X4150 server. The two VMs intended for disk-intensive applications (SERVER1 and SERVER2), use two separate sets of disks each: a RAID 1 volume for the operating system and a RAID 5 volume for the data. The RAID 1 volumes are each created using two internal drives; the RAID 5 volumes each use three external drives. The third VM in this example (SERVER3) is intended for a mostly network-intensive application, and thus uses a single RAID 1 volume. This volume is created using two external drives on the Sun Storage J4200 array. Tip Transaction log volumes could be created in case a VM runs disk-intensive transactional database applications, such as SQL Server or Exchange.
System Setup
System setup includes the following primary tasks: Hardware Installation (page 3) Upgrade the Server Firmware (page 4) Create a Bootable RAID1 Array for the Host OS (page 4)
Hardware Installation
Refer to the server-specific Installation Guide for complete server installation instructions (for example, the Sun Fire X4150 Server Installation Guide). The documentation for any Sun Fire x64 server is available from the following URL:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/server.x64.
1. Insert the Sun StorageTek SAS RAID External HBA in the Sun Fire server. Tip When using a Sun Fire X4150 server, insert the Sun StorageTek SAS RAID External HBA in PCIe slot 2. This slot is directly connected to the Memory Controller Hub (MCH). Slot 1 is used by the internal HBA and Slot 0 is connected to the Input/Output Hub (IOH).
Tip Although it says SAS in its name, the Sun StorageTek SAS RAID External HBA also supports SATA disks and is used to connect external storage arrays with either SAS or SATA disks. 2. Insert the Sun Fire X4150 server and Sun Storage J4200 array in the rack using corresponding slide rails. Connect the SAS cable between the External SAS HBA and the Sun Storage J4200 array.
3. Plug the power cords into the AC power connectors on the Sun Fire X4150 server power supplies. The Service Processor will boot immediately and the power supply fans will start spinning (standby power mode), but the server should stay OFF. If not, turn it OFF using the power button at the bottom left on the front panel of the server. 4. Plug the power cords into the AC power connectors on the Sun Storage J4200 array power supplies. The array will immediately turn ON. The Sun Storage J4200 array does not have any on/off switch.
Upgrade the Server Firmware

It is strongly recommended to update the firmware to the latest available release before performing any system deployment. Download and use the server-specific Tools & Drivers CD to upgrade both the BIOS and Service Processor firmware. This example uses Sun Fire X4150 server. The most recent Tools & Drivers CD for the Sun Fire X4150 server can be found at the following download page:
http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4150/downloads.jsp
Once the server is updated with the latest firmware release, it is recommended to load the BIOS default settings by following these steps: 1. Turn the server ON. 2. As the first POST screen appears on the monitor, press <F2> to load the BIOS setup utility. The first POST screen can take over a minute to appear, depending on the amount of memory in the system. 3. Once in the BIOS setup utility, load the BIOS default settings by pressing <F9>. 4. Press <F10> to save the BIOS settings, exit and reboot the server.
Create a Bootable RAID1 Array for the Host OS

Next, use the BIOS RAID Configuration Utility to create a bootable RAID1 array for the host OS. Tip At this time, create only the RAID1 array that will be used for the host OS. The other volumes will be created at a later time using the RAID Manager Software for Windows as it is a full-featured software application with a graphical user interface, it is the easiest to use and offers the widest range of management functions.
Tip The following URL gives access to the documentation available for all Sun StorageTek SAS RAID HBAs (Internal and External): http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/stortek.raid.hba Create the bootable RAID1 array using the following steps: 1. Turn the server ON.
2. Enter the BIOS RAID Configuration Utility by pressing <CTRL><A> when prompted during POST:
3. If multiple RAID HBAs of the same model or family are in the server, a list will appear. Select the internal (INT) HBA, connected to the disk drives inside the server:
4. Select Array Configuration Utility, then press <Enter>. 5. Select Initialize Drives, then press <Enter>. 6. Select all the disk drives, press <Insert> for each selected disk drive, then press
<Enter>. This will delete all the data from the disk drives.
7. Press <Y>, then press <Enter>. 8. Select Create Array, then press <Enter>. 9. Select the first 2 disk drives, press <Insert> for each selected disk drive, and press
<Enter>.
10. Select RAID 1. 11. Name the array SYSTEM.
12. Press <Enter> to accept all the other default parameters and to create the new RAID 1 array. Tip It is recommended to enable write caching with battery only. This will make sure that, in case of a power outage, the data in the cache that has not been written to disk is preserved until the power is restored. A fully charged battery will save the cache content for up to 72 hours. 13. Select Manage Arrays, then press <Enter>. 14. Select the RAID 1 array SYSTEM that was just created, and press <CTRL><B> to place it first in the boot order. 15. Press <ESC> to go back to the Select Controller menu. 16. If there are other HBAs in the system (e.g., EXT, or external, HBA), they can be selected now to initialize all disks connected to these adapters as well. Or, initialization can be done later using the RAID Manager Software for Windows. 17. Press <ESC> to quit the RAID Configuration Utility. The system will reboot.
Installing Windows and Hyper-V

The high-level steps required to install the Windows and Hyper-V software include: Choose the Windows Server 2008 Edition (page 6) Install and Update Windows (page 7) Update the RAID HBA Drivers (page 8) Install the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software (page 8) Upgrade the HBA Firmware (page 8) Initialize the Disk Drives with Sun StorageTek RAID Manager (page 11) Create the RAID Volumes using Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software (page 12) Install and Configure Hyper-V (page 20)
Choose the Windows Server 2008 Edition

The Hyper-V role is available with all three x64 editions (Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter) of Windows Server 2008. However each edition includes a different virtualization rights per server license, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Editions and virtualization rights per server license.
Windows Edition
Virtualization Rights (per Server License)
Windows Server 2008 Standard Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
1 physical + 1 VM 1 physical + 4 VMs
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter 1 Physical + unlimited VMs
The various editions of Windows Server 2008 also support varying amounts of maximum memory or sockets. Refer to the following URL to find the appropriate edition for a specific deployments needs:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/compare-specs.aspx
Install and Update Windows

The following steps describe the procedure used to install and update Windows: 1. Insert the Windows Server 2008 x64 media and install on the RAID1 volume created previously (see Create a Bootable RAID1 Array for the Host OS on page 4) following the normal installation steps. Windows Server 2008 can be installed by inserting the media directly in the server CD/DVD player or remotely over the Service Processor using the RKVMS (Remote Keyboard, Video, Mouse and Storage). If RKVMS is used, the Windows media can be either a physical CD/DVD or a downloaded iso image. Tip For more information on the Service Processor and the RKVMS feature, see the Integrated Lights Out Manager User's Guide in the product documentation section at: http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/server.x64 2. Once Windows is up and running, use Windows Update to install the latest system and drivers updates released by Microsoft. Reboots may be necessary. Repeat Windows Update until no new available update is listed:
Update the RAID HBA Drivers

Use the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager software to update the RAID HBA drivers: 1. Download the latest HBA drivers, firmware and the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software from the Sun RAID Web page located at the following URL:
http://support.intel.com/support/go/sunraid.htm
If no external connection is available, these files can also be found on the Tools & Drivers CD. Note The Sun StorageTek SAS RAID HBA drivers apply even if there are SATA disk drives in
the external storage array.
2. Make sure that the firmware is updated on all hardware components. 3. Update the RAID drivers using the Device Manager.
Install the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software

Install the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager software previously downloaded from the Sun RAID Web page (see Update the RAID HBA Drivers on page 8): 1. Start the installation; the filename should be setup_sstrm_x64.exe or similar:
Figure 1. Sun StorageTek RAID Manager, InstallShield Wizard. 2. Click Next and follow the steps in the installation wizard.
Upgrade the HBA Firmware

The following steps use the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager software to update the RAID controllers firmware BIOS and NVRAM. It is strongly recommended to perform this task before creating the RAID volumes and using the external storage. 1. Start the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager installed in the previous section.
2. In the Enterprise View section, click on the server name under Managed system and enter the Windows system administrator password. Tip The Sun StorageTek RAID Manager can be used to configure and monitor the storage in other servers on the network in a single window by providing their IP address and login. For more information, open the documentation set for the Sun StorageTek SAS RAID HBA at the following URL: http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/stortek.raid.hba 3. Right-click on Managed system and select Update controller images to update the firmware on the HBAs:
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4. The Sun ROM Update Wizard will start:
5. Click Next then Add to add the ROM update images files. Select the files previously downloaded. There are several files with the .ufi extension.
6. Click Next and the controller corresponding to the firmware image file set will be automatically selected. If the firmware version in the image files is not newer than the version running on the controller, the controller will be grayed out. The figure
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below shows a system with two external RAID controllers, one at the same release level as the downloaded firmware (gray), the other one needs to be updated (selected).
7. Click Next, then Apply, then confirm with Yes to proceed with the update. If necessary, repeat the procedure using the set of image files corresponding to the other internal and external HBAs in the system. The process will take about one to two minutes per controller. 8. Once all the controllers are updated, reboot Windows for the HBAs to load the new firmware.
Initialize the Disk Drives with Sun StorageTek RAID Manager

If all the disk drives have not been previously initialized using the RAID Configuration Utility, they must be initialized now from the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager, to become available for RAID volumes creation. 1. Right-click on the first controller in the Enterprise View section and select Initialize all ready drives. 2. Click Yes in the confirmation popup window. 3. Status will be displayed in the Configuration event viewer pane at the bottom of the RAID Manager window. 4. Repeat for each controller if necessary. 5. All disk drives are now initialized and ready to use for RAID Volume creation.
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Create the RAID Volumes using Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software
The following sections describe how to use Sun StorageTek RAID Manager software to create RAID 1 and RAID 5 volumes. Tip For more detailed information on creating volumes, refer to the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software Users Guide. To access this document, open the documentation set for the Sun StorageTek SAS RAID HBA at the following URL: http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/stortek.raid.hba Create a RAID 1 Volume This procedure should be repeated as many times as necessary until all RAID 1 volumes required by the disk layout are created. The following example creates a RAID 1 volume named SERVER1-SYS. For the example configuration described in this paper, the procedure would be repeated to create additional RAID 1 volumes named SERVER2-SYS and SERVER3. (See Table 1 and Table 2 on page 2 for details on the disk layout used in this example.) 1. In the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager, select the RAID Controller under the Enterprise View:
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2. Click on the Create icon in the Tool Bar and select Custom configuration. Click Next:
3. Select RAID 1. Click Next:
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4. Enter the volume name (e.g., SERVER1-SYS) in the field Name. 5. Click to select the two disk drives to be used for the new RAID 1 volume:
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6. Click Next:
7. Click Apply:
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The new RAID 1 volume is created and the disks synchronized in the background. The RAID 1 volume will be displayed in the main window under Logical Devices. At this point, the volume is ready to use. Create a RAID 5 Volume This procedure should be repeated as many times as necessary until all the RAID 5 volumes required by the disk layout are created. The following example creates a RAID 5 volume named SERVER1-DATA. For the example configuration described in this paper, the procedure would be repeated to create an additional RAID 5 volume named SERVER2-DATA. (See Table 1 and Table 2 on page 2 for details on the disk layout used in this example.) 1. In the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager, select the RAID Controller under the Enterprise View. 2. Click on the Create icon and select custom configuration. Click Next:
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3. Select RAID 5. Click Next:
4. Enter the volume name (for example, SERVER1-DATA) in the field Name. 5. Click to select the two disk drives to be used for the new RAID 5 volume.
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6. Click Next:
7. Click Apply:
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The new RAID 5 volume is created and the disks synchronized in the background. The RAID 5 volume is ready to use. Create a Global Hot-Spare Drive The mean time to rebuild a RAID 5 array can be greatly improved by assigning a hot spare drive to the configuration. When a hot spare is defined, should a single-drive failure occur, the spare drive would immediately be utilized to rebuild the failed RAID member. This requires no operator intervention and improves mean time to recovery (MTTR), allowing for the immediate, unattended repair of any failed drive in an array. It is possible to define drives as either local spares or global hot spares. Local spares are assigned to a specific RAID volume. Global hot spares can repair any RAID volume that has suffered a drive failure, where the spare drive meets the requirements of the RAID volume that has lost a member. Regardless of which sparing scheme is used, the repair process is automated, so that the RAID volume is rebuilt as soon as possible. Using hot spare drives minimizes exposure to multi-drive failures, which can be devastating in a RAID 5 environment. Tip A global hot spare drive is dedicated to a disk controller. At least one hot spare drive should be created per HBA. In this example, two global hot spare disks are created one for the Internal HBA and one for the external HBA. 1. Right-click on one of the unused disk drives and select Create hot-spare drive:
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2. A plus sign will appear next to the selected disk drive, indicating that it is designated as a hot spare. Any other logical drives created on the controller will automatically be protected by that global hot spare disk.
Install and Configure Hyper-V

The following sections describe the steps necessary to install and configure Hyper-V, including: Add the Hyper-V Role (page 20) Create Virtual Networks (page 24) Create Virtual Machines (page 27) Tune Virtual Machine Parameters (page 29) Add the Hyper-V Role The following procedure describes how to add the Hyper-V role: 1. Open Server Manager: Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, click Server Manager, and then, if prompted for permission to continue, click Continue.
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2. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Add Roles:
3. On the Select Server Roles page, click Hyper-V then click Next:
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4. Click Next on the Hyper-V page:
5. On the Create Virtual Networks page, click one or more network adapters if you want to make their connection to a physical network available to virtual machines:
Tip Additional virtual networks can be created later from the Hyper-V Manager. It is a recommended best practice to leave one NIC untouched, to ensure that the parent partition can always be managed independently of the virtual machines.
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6. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install:
7. The computer must be restarted to complete the installation. Click Close to finish the wizard and restart the server:
8. Click Yes to restart the computer:
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9. After the computer restarts, log on with the same account that was used to install the role. The Resume Configuration Wizard will complete the installation. Click Close to finish the wizard:
10. Once the Hyper-V role is successfully installed, use Windows Update to install any Hyper-V updates released by Microsoft. Specifically, ensure the following updates are installed on the system: KB 950050 Hyper-V RTM code KB 956710 24 LP support KB 956697 VSS backup issue KB 951308 Enhanced cluster experience with HA VMs
Note Not all updates are downloaded automatically to the system; it may be necessary to
explicitly download one or more of these updates from the Windows Download Center.
Create Virtual Networks In this example, a Virtual Network connecting the Virtual Machines and the main data external network is created. 1. Open Hyper-V Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, click Server Manager, and then, if prompted for permission to continue, click Continue.
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2. Select the server in the left pane:
3. In the Actions pane, click Virtual Network Manager. 4. Select External and click Add:
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5. Enter a name for the network in the Name: box (for example, Main Data External). 6. Select External as Connection Type and select the network interface connected to the main data network:
Tip As a recommended best practice, leave one physical NIC untouched for management reasons. 7. Click Apply to create the new virtual network.
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Create Virtual Machines The following procedure shows how to create virtual machines (VMs) using Hyper-V. In this example configuration, three VMs (SERVER1, SERVER2, and SERVER3) are created. 1. Open Hyper-V Manager. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, click Server Manager, and then, if prompted for permission to continue, click Continue. 2. Select the server in the left pane 3. In the Actions pane, click New then click Virtual Machine:
4. The New Virtual Machine Wizard opens. Click Next. 5. Enter a name for the new Virtual Machine. In this example, the Virtual Machine for SERVER3 is created. This server stores both system and data virtual disks in the same RAID Volume. (See Table 1 and Table 2 on page 2 for details on the disk layout used in this example.)
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6. Click the Store the Virtual Machine in a different location check box and specify the volume created for SERVER3:
7. On the Memory page, specify enough memory for the guest operating system that is planned to run on this virtual machine. In this example, 2 GB of RAM is assigned to this VM. 8. On the Networking page, connect the network adapter to the virtual network Main Data External created previously. (See Create Virtual Networks on page 24.)
Note If you select to boot from network, a PXE compatible legacy adapter will be configured into the VM. If this option is not selected, a synthetic NIC will be configured automatically and the guest OS will be able to take advantage of it after it has loaded the correct Integration components.
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9. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, specify a name, location, and size to create a virtual hard disk so that an operating system can be installed on it:
10. On the Installation Options page, choose the desired method to install the operating system. 11. Click Finish. Tune Virtual Machine Parameters Once the Virtual Machine created, it may be necessary to fine tune additional parameters such as disk, processor or memory. (See Optimizing Windows and Hyper-V Performance on page 30 for more details.) 1. In the results pane of Hyper-V Manager, under Virtual Machines, right-click the virtual machine to be configured, and then click Settings.
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2. The settings Window allows modifying the Virtual Machine configuration:
3. Click OK once all the parameters are set.
Optimizing Windows and Hyper-V Performance

The Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008, published by Microsoft, describes important tuning parameters and settings that can result in improved performance for the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Each setting and its potential effect are described to help readers make an informed judgment about its relevance to their system, workload, and performance goals. The following sections provide Hyper-V performance guidelines and recommendations as published by Microsoft. Tip Download the Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 from the Microsoft Web site at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121171
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Planning for Hyper-V Overhead

Plan to allocate 110% to 125% of the hardware resources required by an equivalent physical hardware solution to the Hyper-V virtual machines used for the solution. By configuring the Hyper-V virtual machine with additional resources, you will ensure that it can provide performance on par with physical hardware while accommodating any overhead required by Hyper-V virtualization technology. Disk Overhead When using the pass-through disk feature in Hyper-V, disk I/O overhead associated with running a guest operating system in a Hyper-V virtual machine was found to range between 6% to 8%. Memory Overhead The memory cost associated with running a guest operating system on a Hyper-V virtual machine was observed to be approximately 300 MB for the hypervisor, plus 32 MB for the first GB of RAM allocated to each virtual machine, plus another 8 MB for every additional GB of RAM allocated to each virtual machine. Network Overhead Network latency directly attributable to running a guest operating system in a Hyper-V virtual machine was observed to be less than 1 ms, and the guest operating system typically maintained a network output queue length of less than one. CPU Overhead The CPU overhead associated with running a guest operating system in a Hyper-V virtual machine was found to range from 9% to 12%.
Optimize Performance in a Hyper-V Environment

Use the following guidelines published by Microsoft to optimize performance of disk, memory, network, and processor in a Hyper-V virtual environment. Optimize Disk Performance Consider using the pass-through disk feature in Hyper-V when running SQL Server in a Hyper-V virtual machine. Depending on the application, disk I/O on the SQL Server can be very high. To ensure optimal performance of the disk subsystem used by SQL Server running in a Hyper-V virtual machine, configure the disks used by SQL Server as passthrough disks in the Hyper-V Manager. Pass-through disk support provides improved performance, on par with physical disk performance, which is critical for disk I/O intensive applications. Note that pass-through disk support provides improved performance at a small cost to convenience. Pass-through disks are essentially physical disks/LUNs that are attached to a virtual machine and do not support some of the functionality of virtual disks, such as Virtual Machine Snapshots.
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Consider configuring pass-through disks for data volumes using only the SCSI controller. This is recommended because the SCSI controller can only be installed if Hyper-V integration services are installed whereas the IDE controller is available without installing Hyper-V integration services. If the IDE controller is installed without installing Hyper-V integration services, then disk I/O will be performed without the benefit of the IDE filter driver and will be sub-optimal. Therefore, to ensure optimal disk I/O performance for the data files in a Hyper-V virtualized environment, install integration services on both the host and guest operating system and configure passthrough disks for data volumes with the SCSI controller. Tip Do not attach a system disk to a SCSI controller. A virtual hard disk that contains the boot disk must be attached to an IDE controller. Optimize Memory Performance Ensure sufficient memory is installed on the physical computer that hosts the Hyper-V virtual machines. Each virtual machine must reside in non-paged-pool memory, or memory that cannot be paged to the disk. Because non-paged-pool memory cannot be paged to disk, the physical computer that hosts the virtual machines should have available physical memory equal to the sum of the memory allocated for each virtual machine plus the following: 300 MB for the Hypervisor (512 MB to 1024 MB recommended for higher performance) Plus 32 MB for the first GB of RAM allocated to each virtual machine Plus another 8 MB for every additional GB of RAM allocated to each virtual machine Plus 512 MB for the host operating system running on the root partition For example, if a Hyper-V virtual machine is allocated 2 GB of memory in the Hyper-V Manager, the actual physical memory used when running that Hyper-V virtual machine would be approximately 2388 MB (300 MB for the hypervisor + 2 GB allocated for the virtual machine + 32 MB + 8 MB = 2388 MB). Because the hypervisor only needs to be loaded once, initialization of subsequent virtual machines does not incur the 300 MB overhead associated with loading the hypervisor. Therefore, if two Hyper-V virtual machines are each allocated 2 GB of memory in the Hyper-V Manager, the actual physical memory used when running these Hyper-V virtual machines would be approximately 4476 MB (300 MB for the hypervisor + 4 GB allocated for the virtual machines + 64 MB + 16 MB = 4476 MB). As a general rule of thumb, plan to allocate at least 512 MB memory for the root partition to provide services such as I/O virtualization, snapshot files support, and child partition management.
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Consider using a 64-bit operating system for each guest operating system. This should be done because by default, 32-bit Windows operating systems can only address up to 2 GB of virtual address space per process. Installation of a 64-bit operating system allows applications to take full advantage of the memory installed on the physical computer that hosts the Hyper-V virtual machines. Optimize Network Performance Ensure guest operating systems are configured to use a Network Adapter as opposed to a Legacy Network Adapter. Emulation associated with running the Legacy Network Adapter consumes significant CPU overhead. Optimize Processor Performance Configure a 1-to-1 mapping of virtual processor to logical processors for best performance. When running a CPU intensive application, the best configuration is a 1to-1 mapping of virtual processors in the guest operating system(s) to the logical processors available to the host operating system. Any other configuration is less efficient. Be aware of the virtual processor limit for different guest operating systems and plan accordingly. The number of processor cores that are available to the guest operating system running in a Hyper-V virtual machine can impact the overall performance of the hosted application. Hyper-V accommodates the following number of virtual processors for the specified guest operating system, as listed in Table 4:
Table 4. Supported virtual processors per operating system version.
Operating System
Virtual Processor Limit
Windows Server 2008 64-bit Windows Server 2008 32-bit Windows Server 2003 64-bit Windows Server 2003 32-bit Windows Vista SP1 32-bit Windows XP SP3 32-bit
4 4 2 2 2 2
For more information about the guest operating systems that are supported on Hyper-V see:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=118347
Summary
The paper describes the procedures used to install and configure Hyper-V on a Sun Fire X4150 server. This example configuration also used a Sun Storage J4200 array for additional storage and to spread the disk I/O over a great number of spindles for
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improved performance. To simulate a typical deployment environment, three virtual machines (VMs) were configured on the Sun Fire X4150 server. Two VMs were configured to use separate RAID volumes for the operating system and data; the third VM was configured to use a single RAID volume. Deploying a virtualized configuration such as this with Hyper-V can help enterprises consolidate the workloads of multiple servers onto one machine, providing better system utilization, lower hardware and energy costs, and a simpler datacenter configuration.
About the Author

Pierre Reynes is currently working in Technology Marketing focusing on x64-based servers, and Microsoft Windows. Before joining Sun in 1999, he worked as a Technical Director at DNS Telecom in Paris, France, and was in charge of secured network offerings and distribution of Cobalt Internet appliances. Prior to that he co-founded a multimedia design and hosting company in France. Throughout his career, he has helped define, document and market x86-64 platforms, networking infrastructure components and software, firewalls, and data communication systems.
References
Sun Fire x64 server documentation:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/server.x64.
Sun Fire X4150 Server download page:

http://www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4150/downloads.jsp
Sun StorageTek SAS RAID HBAs (Internal and External):

http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/stortek.raid.hba
Sun RAID Controllers Support:

http://support.intel.com/support/go/sunraid.htm
Microsoft Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121171
Hyper-V:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv.aspx
Ordering Sun Documents

The SunDocsSM program provides more than 250 manuals from Sun Microsystems, Inc. If you live in the United States, Canada, Europe, or Japan, you can purchase documentation sets or individual manuals through this program.
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Accessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun.com web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online. You can browse the docs.sun.com archive or search for a specific book title or subject. The URL is http://docs.sun.com/ To reference Sun BluePrints Online articles, visit the Sun BluePrints Online Web site at: http://www.sun.com/blueprints/online.html
Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V on Sun Fire x64 Servers
On the Web sun.com
Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA Phone 1-650-960-1300 or 1-800-555-9SUN (9786) Web sun.com
2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun BluePrints, Sun Fire, Solaris, StorageTek are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Intel Xeon is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Information subject to change without notice. Printed in USA 12/08

Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V On Sun Fire™ X64 Servers

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Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V On Sun Fire™ X64 Servers

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CONFIGURING MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008 HYPER-V ON SUN FIRE X64 SERVERS

Pierre Reynes, Systems Technical Marketing Sun BluePrints Online

Part No 820-6988-10 Revision 1.0, 12/11/08

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Hardware and Software Configuration

HDD0, HDD1 HDD2, HDD3 HDD4, HDD5 HDD6 HDD7

RAID1 RAID1 RAID1 Future Expansion Global Hot Spare

SYSTEM SERVER1-SYS SERVER2-SYS

Table 2. External disk drives layout (Sun Storage J4200 array).

RAID1 RAID5 RAID5 Unused Global hot spare

SERVER3 SERVER1-DATA SERVER2-DATA

Upgrade the Server Firmware

Create a Bootable RAID1 Array for the Host OS

10. Select RAID 1. 11. Name the array SYSTEM.

Installing Windows and Hyper-V

Choose the Windows Server 2008 Edition

Virtualization Rights (per Server License)

Windows Server 2008 Standard Windows Server 2008 Enterprise

1 physical + 1 VM 1 physical + 4 VMs

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter 1 Physical + unlimited VMs

Install and Update Windows

Update the RAID HBA Drivers

Install the Sun StorageTek RAID Manager Software

Upgrade the HBA Firmware

4. The Sun ROM Update Wizard will start:

Initialize the Disk Drives with Sun StorageTek RAID Manager

3. Select RAID 1. Click Next:

3. Select RAID 5. Click Next:

Install and Configure Hyper-V

2. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Add Roles:

4. Click Next on the Hyper-V page:

6. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install:

8. Click Yes to restart the computer:

2. Select the server in the left pane:

2. The settings Window allows modifying the Virtual Machine configuration:

3. Click OK once all the parameters are set.

Optimizing Windows and Hyper-V Performance

Planning for Hyper-V Overhead

Optimize Performance in a Hyper-V Environment

Virtual Processor Limit

About the Author

Sun Fire X4150 Server download page:

Sun StorageTek SAS RAID HBAs (Internal and External):

Sun RAID Controllers Support:

Microsoft Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008:

Ordering Sun Documents

Accessing Sun Documentation Online

On the Web sun.com

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