By:Rik Hoffelder Microsoft recently released a new lab as part of their TechNet Virtual Lab series that allows you to learn how to integrate Citrix XenDesktop 4 with Hyper-V 2.0. As regular readers of this site know, The Generation V has touted Citrix and Microsoft as “Better Together” for some time. This free 90 minute virtual lab will allow you to learn how these two products integrate and how easy it is to deploy and manage your VDI environment. You’ll see why we believe this. The virtual lab walks you through System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Citrix Delivery Services, and Citrix Provisioning server. This coupled with a Hyper-V 2.0 virtualization platform makes for a solid operating and management infrastructure. What makes this even better is you have the opportunity to explore other aspects of these applications and services; you don’t have to follow the lab steps necessarily, although I strongly recommend it your first time through.
You can access this free lab here. Microsoft offers many other virtual labs on a wide range of products at no charge. Many labs are pre-configured for a specific situation, such as an Exchange migration, or SQL upgrade, while others a fully install and preconfigured giving you an opportunity to try a product without investing time in building your own lab. This is a great learning tool and it’s FREE! Yes there is a catch, isn’t that always the case? So what is it? Well the labs are time limited, after time expires it resets, but you can run them as often as you like. Did I mention it’s FREE? So, what are waiting for, browse on over and give one a try today!
Running XenServer, you may run into instances where you needed to directly mount and boot a VHD file in XenServer. I have encountered this several times, including migrating a virtual server from Hyper-V to XenServer as well as updating XenTools and Provisioning Tools for Citrix-based deployments.
The following process will take you through preparing a storage repository in XenServer and importing your VHD file for direct boot. PART I - Creating an EXT3 DRIVE
VHD files require an NFS or EXT3 formatted storage repository. The standard install of XenServer creates a local storage repository using LVM format. You can destroy this and create an EXT partition instead. In my XenServer farms where I am using shared storage, I like to create at least one host with an EXT drive for flexibility. Please note, this will also destroy ANY VMs on that partition, so proceed with caution.
Connect to your XenServer command line interface. You can use XenCenter for this, but I like to use PuTTY for the copy/paste and scroll features.
Collect your necessary information:
Find the default SR device ID (DEFAULT_SR_PHYSDEVS=) In a single disk system this should be /dev/sda3: # cat /etc/xensource-inventory
Determine the UUID for your default SR: # xe sr-list type=lvm
Determine the UUID your default SRs PBD your default SR: # xe pbd-list sr-uuid=your SR UUID (from step 2b above)
in a multi-host pool, you want to make sure you reference to correct host. You can find this results step 2a under the label INSTALLATION_UUID= or run the command: # xe host-list
NOTE:This command takes a few minutes to run and will return the UUID of the new partion when complete. Also, if you are on a single host system, you can tab after host-uuid= to poplate the host-id value
YOUR NEW SR IS READY TO USE AND SHOULD APPEAR IN XENCENTER
However, if you need to define a default SR, such as in a single host / single drive system, use the following:
Set the default SR: # xe pool-param-set default-SR=YOUR NEW SR UUID uuid=xxxxxxxx
Set your SR as the default location for suspended VM images: # xe pool-param-set suspend-image-SR= YOUR NEW SR UUID uuid=xxxxxxxxxx
PART II - COPYING VHD FILES TO XENSERVER
Connect to your target XenServer with an SCP Utility to copy the files. I have used WinSCP with good results.
Copy to /var/run/sr-mount/[uuid of ext3 SR create in Part 1]
If using explorer mode of WinSCP, you can drag and drop your files to initiate the copy
IMPORTANT NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU COPY YOUR FILES TO THE CORRECT PARTITION!!!! (not the Root!)
PART III - DIRECT MOUNTING
In XenCenter, create a new VM with setting similar to the configuration of the VHD you copied over. DO NOT POWER ON THIS VM
Using your SSH utility, note the name (UUID) of the new VHD file created by the wizard.
Delete this file (UUID.VHD)
rename your target VHD to this UUID name
Power on your machine... and if everything goes right, VIOLA!
Your VHD is now imported and locally mounted. Once you power on the VM, you can update drivers, files, etc. If you plan on provisioning this server, connect a new blank vDisk and use XenConvert to capture an updated image. If you have enough storage space, I recommend keeping this image on the server for future updates/captures. Additional Reading:
I’ve recently been toying with the idea of using Microsoft Hyper-V to perform offline maintenance of my Provisioning Server VDisks. Furthermore, I’ve discovered that it is very possible to install the Hyper-V role directly on the PVS server or servers in your production environment.
While this may not be the best solution for all deployments, I have found that installing the hyper-V role directly on the PVS server saves a lot of time when having to perform tasks such as updating PVS target device software, Anti-Virus software that modifies the network stack, or updating physical computer network drivers.
This blog hosted on the Citrix Blog site shows exactly how to use Hyper-V to update your Vdisk images. Be sure to follow these instructions to the “T”.. Using Hyper-V to update Offline vDisks , and since the best way to get super performance out of your PVS server is to run it on a Windows Server 2008 x64 box, it just makes sense to use the same server to run the hyper-v role.
If you choose to do this, I strongly suggest adding a new directory outside of your PVS store to perform the offline maintenance. You may also choose to keep the Hyper-V services stopped when you are not using them, and finally, create a dedicated network on the Hyper-V host (maybe your management network) to assign your external network to your VM’s. Although these steps are not necessary, it will ensure that your hyper-V services never interfere with your PVS services.
I would like to know if anyone else is doing this, I currently have one production deployment and my own lab running this scenario and it really does seem to work great.
Read more!
By:Rick Rohne
Knowing what is actually going on under the hood is important. Especially if you are planning implementing firewalls in between the SCVMM box and the HyperV servers or you are installing another application such as Citrix Essentials or any other management app on the same SCVMM box. You need to ensure that you do not have a port conflict. You know, it's hard to find this information. Thought I would at least share.
Name
Direction
Port
NOTES
SCVMM Admin Consol
Admin PC to SCVMM Server
8100
WCF
SCVMM Self Service Console
Admin PC to Self Service Portal (Host Header)
80
WCF
SCVMM Agent
SCVMM Server to hyperV server
80
WRM
SCVMM Agent
SCVMM Server to hyperV server
443
BITS
SCVMM Library
SCVMM Library to HyperV Host
80
BITS
SCVMM Database
SCVMM Server to SQL Server
1433
SQL
HyperV Host Communication
HyperV host to HyperV host
80
BITS
VM Connect
SCVMM to Hyperv Hosts
2179
custom
SCVMM Self Service portal to HV host
SCVMM to Hyperv Hosts
3389
RDP
SCVMM Self Service portal to VM host
SCVMM Self Service to VM Hosts
5900
VMRC
SCVMM to ESX Management
SCVMM to ESX
443
HTTPS
SCVMM to ESX File Transfer
SCVMM to ESX
22
SSH
Ops Manager Reporting Server
SCVMM to OPS Manager Reporting Server
80
HTTP
I hope this helps, I will add to it when I find more information.
If you are planning to install the Self Service Console on the SCVMM box, you will have to add a host header. This can be done during install.
By:Rick Rohne
By Default, SCVMM copies an ISO from the Library share to the directory of the VM. This is desired behavior for the most part because it eliminates VM failures if the ISO directory becomes un-available, and it also reduces network bandwidth and Disk I/O during the use of the CDROM.
In some cases (Such as a lab environment or a situation where you are limited on storage), this might be un-desirable behavior and you might wish to have the ISO shared instead of copied. To accomplish this, you will have to reconfigure SCVMM and Hyper-V to have access to the shared directories. The following steps are required to share the ISO instead of copying it:
Configure the SCVMM service to start with an Active Directory Account
Configure the required NTFS permissions on the VMM library share
Configure Constrained Delegation for “Each” Hyper-V host
Configure the VM to Share instead of Copy the iso.
NOTE: This is only supported with SCVMM R2.
Configure a SCVMM Service Account
Open Computer Management or Server manager and find the Virtual Machine Manager service.
Change the service to start using a Domain User Account
Configure NTFS Permissions on the Library Share
Grant the following permissions to the share:
Read Access for the SCVMM Service Account
Machine Account of each Hyper-V host that will use the ISO images
Configure Constrained Delegation for “Each” Hyper-V host
Using Active Directory Users and Computers, navigate to the Machine Account running Hyper-V
Right click the Hyper-V server and select properties
Select the Delegation tab and select “Select this computer for delegation to specified services only”
Click Use any Authentication Protocol
Click Add.
In the Add Services dialog box, click Users or Computers, select each VMM library server that stores ISO image files.
In the Available services list, select the cifs protocol for each of the VMM library servers, and then click Add.
To configure a virtual machine to share an ISO image
Right-click the virtual machine, and then click Properties.
Click the Hardware Configuration tab.
In the left pane, under Bus Configuration, click IDE devices, and then select the IDE device that is being used to capture the ISO image file.
Under Capture mode, select Existing image file, and then use the Browse button to select the shared ISO image file in the VMM library that you want to use.
To share the image file from the VMM library instead of attaching a copy of the image to the virtual machine, select the Share image file instead of copying it check box.
NOTE: Do not keep the ISO mounted when it is not in use. Keeping the ISO mounted may result in a failed VM. More information on System Center
By: Jarian Gibson Provisioning Services 5.1 has been out for awhile now and it amazes me how many people are still running 4.5 or 5.0. Why haven't they upgraded yet? Do they know about the new features?
New Features
User Assigned vDisks - You can now assign vDisks based on Active Directory or Windows groups.
Auditing - You can now record and review administrative changes to the farm. Find out who did what and when to troubleshoot the Provisioning Services farm. It's kind of like Configuration Logging in your XenApp farm. This isn't enabled by default. You have to enable it on your farm.
Standard Mode NIC Teaming - Teaming Intel and Broadcom NICS are now supported.
Read-Only vDisk Storage - You can now have Provisioning Servers share the same LUN from a SAN without the need of shared file system.
Multiple vDisk Partitions - Provisioning Services 5.1 has removed the image builder utility and replaced it with XenConvert. You can now create a multiple partition vDisk very easily using XenConvert.
Offline Database Support - Target devices now have database cache. If the database server goes down, they will continue to run. This is kind of like local host cache in XenApp. This isn't enabled by default. You have to enable it on your farm.
Offline vDisk Maintenance - You no longer have to reverse image back to a regular disk to update your network drivers. You can now use Hyper-V or Virtual server to update your vDisks offline. One thing to note about using Virtual Server to do an offline update is that it doesn't support multi-core hals. Virtual Server only supports single core hals and can't boot a multi-core hal VHD. For the Hyper-V offline process see the Citrix blog - New Way to Upgrade with PVS 5.1 and HyperV. Another cool feature about using Hyper-V for offline maintenace is if you install Hyper-V's Integration Services you can boot the VHD from both virtual and physical machines. How cool is that?
With all of these new features why haven't you upgraded yet? It's definitely worth a look!
The new release of Sanbolic's advanced clustered file system, Melio 2009 R2, is now available as a beta product and offers improved performance, better scalability, and new options for data protection. This product incorporates several new components designed for customers who will use Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V for IT consolidation, business continuity and datacenteroptimization projects.
The new lock architecture in the file system adds the ability to support very large numbers of virtual machine hosts accessing virtual machine files on a shared SAN volume with near raw disk performance. Distributed snapshot capability allows snapshots to be created from any host server, and is compatible with any backup software using a standard volume shadow copy service (VSS) client.
One of the largest complaints that I've had, and that I've heard is the lack of Integration that Microsoft has with storage. But I really don't think Microsoft wants to get into the nitty-gritty business of satisfying every need for every company, this is what they have always used third party products to accomplish. It simply goes to show that Microsoft is getting exactly what they want, Third Party integration and community support. With the release of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V and Melio 2009 R2, you can bet that the virtualization community will be shifting focus very quickly. Melio 2009 R2 beta and Sanbolic'sLaScala clustered volume manager can be used with any physical or virtual Windows Server, and is available as a 120-day evaluation version for Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V release candidate at http://www.sanbolic.com/
The views and opinions of this site and its contributors are the personal views of these individuals and in no way reflect the views, opinions, or recommendations from any organization.
Microsoft recently released a new lab as part of their TechNet Virtual Lab series that allows you to learn how to integrate Citrix XenDesktop 4 with Hyper-V 2.0. As regular readers of this site know, The Generation V has touted Citrix and Microsoft as “Better Together” for some time. This free 90 minute virtual lab will allow you to learn how these two products integrate and how easy it is to deploy and manage your VDI environment. You’ll see why we believe this.
