Create a virtual machine faster the usual way By installing a guest OS, you can use the process of virtualizing the main operating system - the one installed on the physical computer. This process turns the main system with all its settings, activation, installed programs into its virtual clone, which can be used in VMware, VirtualBox and Hyper-V hypervisors.
Virtualization capability real computer to a virtual machine is included in the functionality of the Professional edition of Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15. The program can convert physical hard disks V virtual format hypervisors VMware, VirtualBox and Hyper-V with a bootable guest OS. Into a virtual machine converted from physical computer, does not have to include all sections of the physical hard drive. You can select only some partitions, or even just one system partition with Windows installed.
How is the process of turning real Windows into a virtual machine carried out using the Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 program? We will consider this issue below using the example of Windows 7 and a hypervisor.
1. Virtualization of a physical computer
Hard Disk Manager 15 in the Professional edition from Paragon is a paid multifunctional software package that includes tools for working with hard drive, tools for transferring the operating system to another disk, backup functionality and other features. Among these other possibilities is the creation of virtual machines based on the data of a physical computer. The program can be purchased on the official Paragon website. There is also a demo version, but it will be of little use. Thus, the demo version is a guide that presents the potential capabilities of the program after purchasing a license. The demo version of Hard Disk Manager 15 does not apply scheduled program operations.
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 launches by default with a simplified interface similar to the initial one Windows screen 8.1. In the window of this interface, select the tile that says “P2V copying”.
Then we will see a window representing the disk space of the computer. Here you need to select the computer disk partitions that will turn into virtual machine disk partitions. In our case, we’ll check the selection box to select only the system partition on the second hard drive where Windows 7 is installed. It’s imperative to check the box for the boot MBR record. Having made your choice, click “Next”.
The next program window will offer several hypervisors to choose from, including two versions of Hyper-V. In our case, select the latest version – item “ Microsoft Hyper-V 2012”, since this version is compatible with the standard Windows 10 hypervisor, where work will be carried out with the virtual machine in the future. Click “Next”.
In the hardware settings window of the created virtual machine, we can change the automatically generated name and specify a different size random access memory. Hyper-V 2012 also offers virtual machine generation selection. If we were talking about the virtualization of 64-bit Windows 8.1 and 10, we could select generation 2. In our case, Windows 7 is involved in the virtualization process, so generation 1 of virtual machines was selected. Click “Next”.
We do not change anything in the virtual machine disk properties. Click “Next”.
Using the browse button at the end of the line, we indicate the location on the computer disk where the virtual machine files will be placed.
The process of virtualizing the physical computer will start.
When finished, click “Done”.
Along the saving path we will see standard folders with components of Hyper-V virtual machines.
2. Adding a virtual machine to Hyper-V Manager
So, we have a new virtual machine, which is a full or partial clone of a physical computer; Now we need to add it to Hyper-V Manager. In the latter window, select “Create”, and then “Virtual Machine”.
Enter the name that will be displayed for the virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager. We check the save in another location checkbox and use the browse button to specify the folder with the virtual machine storage files. Click “Next”.
In our case, the Paragon Hard Disk Manager program created a virtual machine of generation 1. We also indicate the generation selected during virtualization in the process of adding the virtual machine to the Hyper-V manager. Click “Next” again.
The default RAM size is 1024 MB. Click “Next”.
We indicate the virtual switch; in our case, it was created earlier. Click “Next”.
In the next window, select the second option for connecting a VHDX disk. This has already been created during the virtualization process, and data from the physical computer is placed on it. You just need to specify the path to it. The VHDX disk is located in the virtual machine files folder, in the subfolder labeled “Virtual Hard Disks.” Click “Next”.
Everything - a virtual clone of the computer in the Hyper-V manager can now be launched and connected for management.
After starting, some more drivers for the operation of virtual hardware will be automatically installed in the guest Windows 7. And after the reboot, you can start working fully with the virtual machine.
Have a great day!
We talk about the goals, objectives and benefits of implementing virtualization based on MS Hyper-V
Hyper-V virtualization of physical servers, workstations, installation and configuration of Hyper-V for network virtualization, technical support– Integrus specialists often encounter such problems in their daily work.
For what purposes is the Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization platform used in practice?
Installing the Hyper-V hypervisor allows you to create an infrastructure for virtualizing servers, network segments, client machines or individual applications. Thanks to Hyper-V virtualization tools, the operation of the IT infrastructure becomes more efficient, security and fault tolerance are increased, and maintenance costs are reduced.
Let's look at several advantages that Hyper-V virtualization technology provides.
Rational use of equipment
Hyper-V hardware virtualization support makes it possible to concentrate servers on fewer physical machines(as experience shows, without virtualization their resources are rarely used to their full capacity). An example from our practice - transferring a server to a Hyper-V virtual machine made it possible to simultaneously deploy a server, terminal servers and databases on a single physical server; accordingly, the customer was able to save money on the purchase of “extra” equipment and its operation.
Organization of a private cloud environment for an enterprise
The Hyper-V virtualization system will help you create public cloud resources for your company and flexibly manage their use. For greater security and protection of Hyper-V virtual servers, there is technology for shielding virtual machines (Shielded virtual machines).
Company data security
One of the security measures can be considered use on Hyper-V client PCs, virtualization of a physical machine. At the employee’s workplace, we transfer a physical machine to the Hyper-V virtual environment, deploy two virtual machines (VMs) – a work one and a personal one. On the work site, we set up all the necessary access restrictions and security policies adopted by the company, and on the personal page, the user can do whatever he wants, while the company data will remain completely safe, because VMs are isolated from one another. Hyper-V virtualization is natively supported in Windows 7, 10 Pro, or Enterprise.
Virtual desktops (VDI)
Installing and configuring Hyper-V Server 2012 and Remote Desktop Virtualization Host will provide users with personal virtual desktops – a ready-made working environment with access to it from anywhere in the world, will allow you to centralize administration and control all user data flows. And live VM migration tools will make it possible to migrate Hyper-V virtual machines almost seamlessly for users.
Modeling of any environment for application development and testing tasks
You can use virtualization with Hyper-V to simulate physical computing environments, in which the application should function. At the same time, there is no need to purchase and maintain all the hardware components that would be needed if the environment were to be physically recreated; it is enough to install Windows Hyper-V and simulate all the necessary components.
Business continuity
Server virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V helps reduce the impact of downtime, since the virtual server is not tied to physical hardware that could fail. In case of failure, it can be quickly and easily launched on redundant equipment (it is best if the Hyper-V Windows network is configured and a fault-tolerant server cluster is organized).
The Hyper-V hypervisor is distributed free of charge, it can be downloaded from the Microsoft website, it can be installed on any Windows or Linux server. It is easy to manage and simple to use.
Do you have any questions? Consultation is free!
Contact us for a free consultation. Call or write to us and we will tell you in detail:
- how we can help your business grow faster, reduce costs and speed up operations
- how and in what time frame the work on the project will be carried out
- how much will the project cost (calculated individually)
Integrus specialists are ready to configure virtual networks Hyper-V, creating or migrating a VMWare virtual machine to Hyper-V. The cost of work depends on the scale of the project.
According to information that appeared quite a long time ago, such as in the articleWindows Server 2012 Failover Cluster – Enhanced Integration with Active Directory (AD) , we are given the opportunity to virtualize and host domain controller in a cluster Hyper-V, even though this very cluster will start earlier than the virtual domain controller inside this cluster. To be honest, I hesitated for a long time to take on domain controller virtualization, however last communication and colleagues showed that from their experience, a virtual domain controller inside a Hyper-V cluster is a very real and workable scenario.
In this post we will look at an example Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) conversion physical server into a virtual environment based on a hypervisor Hyper-V as part of the OS Windows Server 2012 R2. In the example under consideration, the physical server is a server platform HP ProLiant DL 360 G5 with OS Windows Server 2012 R2 and basic server roles AD DS And DNS. And as is probably clear, from an infrastructure point of view, the server is a functioning domain controller.
To convert an existing physical server to a Hyper-V virtual machine, I will use the utilityMicrosoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) 3.0 . You can get acquainted with all the capabilities of this utilityin the TechNet library . In my opinion, in addition to its advantages, this utility also has a number of certain disadvantages. Among the disadvantages I can include, for example, that the resulting virtual machine as a result of P2V conversion has the format Generation 1., and also the fact that each logical disk is created as a separate VHD-file. But in general, these are surmountable things and we will consider them after completing the conversion procedure using MVMC. Ultimately, our plan of action will be as follows:
1
. P2V physical server conversion using MVMC.
2
. Convert virtual disks to VHDX format.
3
. Setting up a network in the guest OS of a virtual machine.
4
. Checking for Hyper-V Integration Component Update
5
. Removing support software for server hardware components.
6
. Converting a virtual machine to Generation 2 format.
7
. Removing non-existent devices from the virtual machine OS.
To reduce conversion time, we will perform all operations directly on one of the virtualization hosts. When choosing a host, you should consider a couple of simple rules, the observance of which will help you avoid errors associated with lack of disk space both during the P2V conversion process and in the subsequent process of converting VM G1 to G2:
A) For P2V operations, the virtualization host must have a free disk space a volume no less than the total size of occupied space on the disks of the virtualized server. And taking into account the temporary operations of MVMC, it is generally advisable to focus on double the amount of data.
B) For subsequent operations of converting VM G1 to G2 on system disk The virtualization host, where the user profile folders are supposed to be located, must have free disk space of at least the total amount of occupied disk space on the virtualized server. During the conversion process, a temporary copy of the virtual disk will be created in the form of a wim image in the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp directory or C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp)
P2V physical server conversion using MVMC
As agreed, we will install MVMC on the virtualization host that will be the recipient of the new virtual machine. The selected host must have the role installed Hyper-V and the "feature" is enabled BITS Compact Server. The Hyper-V role was installed earlier, since it is a functioning virtualization host, but we will need to install BITS additionally, since it is disabled by default. Let's do this with PowerShell:
Import-Module ServerManagerInstall-WindowsFeature -Name "BITS-Compact-Server" -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools
After installation, launch MVMC and on the first screen select the conversion type - Physical machine conversion
Next on the tab that appears Source enter the full Domain name the physical server subject to the virtualization procedure, as well as credentials for administrative access to this server. Since in our case we are talking about a domain controller, domain administrator credentials are used.
In the next step, click the button Scan System, and wait until in the information window System Information information about the server being converted will appear.
Skip the step with information about logical drives convertible physical server that will be converted to virtual
On the move VM Configuration enter the name of the virtual machine to be created (must not coincide with the names of existing virtual machines on the virtualization host), the number of virtual processors (cores) and the amount of RAM.
Next step Disk By default, you will select a network folder on the virtualization host to save the created virtual disk. And again, since the MVMC instance and the destination host in our case are the same system, we can specify a local folder on this host.
On the move Workspace specify the name of any local folder that will be used by MVMC as an intermediate location when converting physical hard drives into virtual ones.
On the move Summary view a brief summary information and start the conversion process with the button Finish
We are waiting for the successful completion of the conversion process...
Immediately after the conversion process is completed, turn off the physical source server.
As we can see, as a result of the conversion, separate virtual disks were created in the previously specified folder for each logical volume of the physical disk of the converted server. 
A virtual machine of the format was also created Generation 1, whose virtual disks are connected to the virtual IDE-controller. A virtual disk with a long name (based on the volume label from the physical system) is used to launch the OS from the second, main virtual disk.
Now you need to perform the first test run of the virtual server to make sure that the virtualized system starts and runs successfully. Just in case, before the first start, you can disable network adapter virtual machine from a Hyper-V virtual switch.
Starting a virtual machine for the first time may take some time, as the guest OS needs to search for and install drivers for the new virtual hardware.
If the initial launch was successful, we can assume that the main stage of virtualization has been completed and all subsequent actions can be performed only as desired.
Converting virtual disks to VHDX format
Since the virtual machine was created by MVMC with disks in the format VHD we can independently convert disks to a more “advanced” format VHDX. To do this, turn off the virtual machine and in the console Hyper-V Manager from the menu Actions select an item Edit disk. By selecting virtual disk at the wizard step Choose Action select the conversion mode -Convert
After the disks are converted, change the path to the disks in the properties of the virtual machine
Let's save the settings and check the startup of the virtual machine with virtual disks of the new format again.
Setting up a network in the guest OS of a virtual machine.
If the system starts and boots successfully, we can release it into a productive environment, that is, we will allow it to interact with the network. Let's do it necessary settings network interface in the properties of the virtual machine, for example, if necessary, we can enable the use of a specific number VLAN
After saving network settings virtual machine, inside the guest OS we will set the IP settings, that is, we will restore the IP address and other network settings previously used on the physical server. After this, we will reboot the virtual machine again to make sure that it now starts fully interacting with the local network.
Checking for Hyper-V Integration Component Update
To make sure that the “newly created” virtual machine uses the Hyper-V integration components of the most current version available on the virtualization host, open a console connection to the virtual machine and in the menu Action select the option to mount the disk image with the integration components – Insert Integration Services Setup Disk
In mounted in virtual system on the disk, find and run the file \support\amd64\setup.exe
If the integration components have current version, then we will receive something like the following message:
Otherwise, you will need to install the components and then reboot the guest OS of the virtual machine.
Removing support software for server hardware components
After our server has become virtual, we need to make sure that everything software, which was previously installed on this server to support hardware components, was carefully removed. In our example, all applications from the HP Insight Software. We can also remove the previously installed UPS agent, since now the virtualization host will control the shutdown of the guest OS of the virtual machine in the event of a power outage.
After removing the software, reboot the guest system again to make sure it starts successfully.
Converting a virtual machine to Generation 2 format
At this stage, our virtual server is fully operational in normal mode, but if we want to improve it by converting it to the format Generation 2, you should first take care of creating a backup copy of the working VM. This can be done simply and conveniently, for example using System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (DPM)…
As one of my friends says in such cases, “The Ukrainian night is quiet, but the lard must be hidden.”
We will carry out the conversion to a second generation virtual machine using the well-known PS scriptHyper-V generation 2 VM conversion utility (Convert-VMGeneration) . To put it simply, the principle of operation of this script is that it creates a new second-generation virtual machine with a new virtual disk onto which it clones a copy of the main system partition from the source virtual disk of VM G1 and creates additional partitions necessary to boot VM G2. Thus, the original first-generation virtual machine remains untouched, and if insurmountable difficulties arise during the G1>G2 conversion process, then no one is stopping us from continuing to use the original virtual machine.
So, download and copy the Convert-VMGeneration.ps1 script to the virtualization host, where in this moment Our virtual machine is running.
Before starting the conversion, make sure once again that there is enough space on the disk with user profiles (usually the C:\ drive) to create a temporary copy of the VM virtual disk (during the conversion process, a temporary wim image will be created in the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp directory )
Additionally, make sure that support for the recovery environment is disabled inside the virtual machine WinRE(requirement of the author of the conversion script). This can be done console command:
reagentc/disable
Let's turn off the virtual machine.
Let's run the conversion script on the virtualization host:
"KOM-DC01" -Path "D:\"
As you can see, the first attempt to run the script fails with an error.
The problem is that in the current configuration the virtual machine has two different virtual disks for two logical partitions.
On the first disc ( Disk 0) contains information necessary to boot the OS, but does not contain the OS itself. In this case, the script tries to use this particular disk for conversion. Since as a result of the script the boot partition will actually be created anew, we can try to delete the existing one boot disk. To do this, turn off the virtual machine and remove from the VM configuration the first virtual disk that has the volume label in the virtual OS “ System Reserved” (disk with a capacity of approximately 350MB).
That is, we will leave only one disk in the VM properties, the one on which the guest OS Windows Server 2012 R2 is located. After these changes, there is no need to try to start the virtual machine (nothing good will come of this anyway), but immediately try to run the conversion script:
.\Convert-VMGeneration.ps1 -VMName"KOM-DC01" -Path "D:\" -IgnoreWinREKey IgnoreWinRE added here in order to avoid a message after which the conversion stopped with an error (despite the fact that the guest OS supports WinRE off):
WinRE is configured. Run reagentc /disable inside guest first, or use IgnoreWinRE parameterCompleted with error. Trace status code 700
After the conversion script starts running, we will be given a frightening warning that all data on one of the disks currently available on the host system will be destroyed. An affirmative answer implies continuation of the script:
Before you click Yes, open the disk management snap-in on the virtualization host and make sure that a new virtual disk has appeared in the system, which is mounted under the serial number specified in the script message (in our example this is Disk 7). This is the new virtual disk that was created by the conversion script to clone the original virtual disk onto it (it is also mounted by the script in our example as Disk 6)
So, after clicking Yes will clone data from one virtual disk to another with the addition of additional partitions required for the second generation VM.
At the end of the script, the corresponding partitions will be automatically unmounted
If necessary, we will rename the original first-generation virtual machine...
Let's check the configuration of the newly created second generation virtual machine.
As before, before the first launch, just in case, we will disconnect the virtual network adapter from the Hyper-V virtual switch. Then we’ll try to start the virtual machine. The first launch will take some time as the guest system must update the hardware information again.
If the guest OS boots successfully, authenticate to it and check the network card settings. They must be preserved. If everything is in order, in the properties of the virtual machine we will return the network adapter’s access to virtual switch and reboot the virtual machine again. At this stage, our virtual server will be loaded in a fully productive form and its services will become accessible from the network.
Now you can safely delete the old virtual machine (in our case, this is the original VM, previously renamed KOM-DC01-OLD) generation G1 and transfer the finished G2 VM to the cluster, if one is used.
If necessary, you can turn it off before converting to G2 WinRE
reagentc/enableRemoving non-existent devices from the virtual machine OS
Currently, our virtual server is already a second generation Hyper-V virtual machine. The final important step is to remove all old “phantom” devices and their related drivers from the guest OS using the device management snap-in ( Device Manager).
And again, before manipulating the device manager, it is advisable to create a backup copy of the virtual machine on DPM.
We will remove old devices method.
We set a system variable to enable the display of ghost devices in the device management snap-in and the following command (without closing the window command line) launch the equipment:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 start devmgmt.mscIn an open snap-in menu View select the item " Show hidden devices"…
Expand each device type node and delete all devices displayed as inactive.
During the removal process for some devices, the option to remove the device driver may be available. Delete the driver software for this device" Since these drivers are no longer needed in the guest virtual system, you can enable the recommended option.
Upon completion, we reboot the guest OS of the virtual machine to make sure that it starts and works successfully.
At this stage, we can say that the work of converting a physical domain controller based on Windows Server 2012 R2 to a virtual machine Hyper-V Generation 2 completed and now all we have to do is make sure the application part of the virtual server is working, for example, check the status of the domain controller role using tools such as DCDIAG.
Good afternoon!. Nowadays, many physical servers are trying to be converted using technology P2V into virtual ones. They do this in order to get rid of old equipment, but keep their services in working order, giving them greater performance on new equipment, or everyone goes to the clouds, like vCloud Director. Today I want to tell you how to perform P2V migration and virtualize a physical server using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone.
P2V migration algorithm to Vmware
- So that you can convert your server into a virtual one Vmware machine, you need to install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.5 described in detail.
- Next, prepare the ESXI host where you will virtualize the physical server
- Launch the converter and go through all the steps of the conversion wizard
We launch VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.5, or there is already a newer version 6.2.
If the error A File I/O error occurred while accessing pops up, then look at what is causing it
Choose Convert machine
- Powered-on machine, working computer or server. This is the basic "non-disruptive" method of VMware converter operation. The server can be physical or virtual. To be in local network or be local (the machine on which the converter is installed). Operating system Windows or Linux, not Unix. Linux has a very limited list of operating systems.
- VMware Infrastructure virtual machine, if you need to transfer a virtual machine from an old platform (Virtual Center 2.5, ESX(i) 2-4.1) to a new, fifth one. The main change in version 5 of VMware vSphere is a new version virtual hardware is number 8, and VMware tools have changed along with it.
- VMware Workstation or other Virtual Machine. Workstation is very popular among administrators and often the virtual machine turns from a test machine into a temporary working one. The converter will transfer it to ESXi, into the vSphere environment without any problems. We also select this item if your virtual machines are running on VMware Fusion, VMware Player, VMware server 2.x
- Backup image or third-party virtual machine. Restoring from an existing backup or a virtual machine from another manufacturer. Restoring from a backup is very useful feature and I'll tell you why below.
- Hyper-V server. To migrate from the Microsoft platform to VMware. It differs from a third-party virtual machine in that you must have a working Hyper-V server and the converter will connect to it. Virtual machines must be turned off.
In order for VMware Converter to work with a Windows like operating system under the “Powered-on machine” scheme, you need system administrator credentials so that the converter can connect, install the agent and begin migration. For Linux systems you need to enter the root password and be able to connect remotely via SSH. May need to be corrected configuration file sshd and allow root login. To log in, root must be in the wheel group.
If connected correctly, VMware Converter determines which operating system it will migrate. How many and what kind of disks and partitions it has, how many network interfaces, RAM, processors. All this data will be used to create a new virtual machine on the ESXi host. I enter the vCenter address and credentials.
I ignore the certificate warning
Select the project folder for the machine being migrated
Next step. We specify the ESXi host on which the virtual machine will be launched. The storage where the VM files and the virtual hardware version will be written (the 10th is the latest at the moment). I suspect that if I had specified “Destination system vCenter server”, there would have been more than one option to choose from. All available hosts and data stores would be displayed
On next page you can specify which drives need to be converted, which ones not, how many network interfaces are needed, and much more.
Let's look at the summary
Finish. Now if you look at vCenter, the task of creating a virtual machine appears there.
The converter itself will display the task completion time. As you can see, P2V migration to Vmware is very trivial.
Also, after completing the task, you may encounter the error An error occurred during reconfiguration, and when you turn on the virtual machine on the esxi hypervisor, you will get a blue screen, the solution to this problem is in the link on the left. Site material
In operating rooms Windows systems XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 have a utility called systeminfo.exe, which shows basic system information. Utility Coreinfo from Mark Russinovich provides much more opportunities in this regard.
This command line utility can show you the logical processor-to-physical processor mappings, the NUMA node and the socket it resides in, and the cache sizes assigned to each logical processor. Coreinfo also uses the Windows function GetLogicalProcessorInformation site:msdn.microsoft.com to obtain information and print it on the console screen, where the logical processor binding will be indicated by an asterisk ‘*’. Coreinfo is also useful for getting detailed information about the processor (for example, whether it supports Hyper-V virtualization) and about the cache topology of your system.
[How to install Coreinfo]
Installation is very simple. Download the archive with the program, unpack it to any convenient place, and run it. The program will ask you a question about accepting the license terms and after that it will be ready to work. To always have the utility at hand, copy Coreinfo.exe to the %SystemRoot%\system32 folder.
[Using Coreinfo]
Run Coreinfo from a command line running with administrator rights. For each available resource, a map of binding to processors visible to the OS will be shown, where * will indicate the affiliation with the available processors. For example, for a system with 4 cores, the cache information line will show a map of the shared cache between cores 3 and 4.
-c Displays information about kernels. -f Displays information about the capabilities of kernels. -g Displays information about groups. -l Displays information about the cache. -n Displays information about NUMA nodes. -s Displays information about processor sockets. -m Prints the cost of accessing NUMA. -v Displays the processor and system capabilities to support virtualization (Hyper-V), including support for second-level address translation (requires administrator rights on Intel systems).
By default (if you run coreinfo.exe without options), information on all options except -v is displayed.
Note: in the output, a dash '-' means that such a function is disabled or not supported, and an asterisk '*' means the presence of the corresponding function (option, binding).
1 . Coreinfo site:technet.microsoft.com.
Microsoft Windows (c) 2009 Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\System32>Coreinfo.exe
Coreinfo v3.31 — Dump information on system CPU and memory topology Copyright (C) 2008-2014 Mark Russinovich Sysinternals — www.sysinternals.com
AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor AMD64 Family 21 Model 2 Stepping 0, AuthenticAMD HTT * Multicore HYPERVISOR — Hypervisor is present VMX — Supports Intel hardware-assisted virtualization SVM * Supports AMD hardware-assisted virtualization X64 * Supports 64-bit mode
SMX - Supports Intel trusted execution SKINIT * Supports AMD SKINIT
NX * Supports no-execute page protection SMEP — Supports Supervisor Mode Execution Prevention SMAP — Supports Supervisor Mode Access Prevention PAGE1GB * Supports 1 GB large pages PAE * Supports > 32-bit physical addresses PAT * Supports Page Attribute Table PSE * Supports 4 MB pages PSE36 * Supports > 32-bit address 4 MB pages PGE * Supports global bit in page tables SS — Supports bus snooping for cache operations VME * Supports Virtual-8086 mode RDWRFSGSBASE — Supports direct GS/FS base access
FPU * Implements i387 floating point instructions MMX * Supports MMX instruction set MMXEXT * Implements AMD MMX extensions 3DNOW — Supports 3DNow! instructions 3DNOWEXT — Supports 3DNow! extension instructions SSE * Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions SSE2 * Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 SSE3 * Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 SSSE3 * Supports Supplemental SIMD Extensions 3 SSE4a * Supports Streaming SIMDR Extensions 4a SSE4.1 * Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 SSE4.2 * Supports Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2
AES * Supports AES extensions AVX * Supports AVX intruction extensions FMA * Supports FMA extensions using YMM state MSR * Implements RDMSR/WRMSR instructions MTRR * Supports Memory Type Range Registers XSAVE * Supports XSAVE/XRSTOR instructions OSXSAVE * Supports XSETBV/XGETBV instructions RDRAND — Supports RDRAND instruction RDSEED — Supports RDSEED instruction
CMOV * Supports CMOVcc instruction CLFSH * Supports CLFLUSH instruction CX8 * Supports compare and exchange 8-byte instructions CX16 * Supports CMPXCHG16B instruction BMI1 * Supports bit manipulation extensions 1 BMI2 — Supports bit manipulation extensions 2 ADX — Supports ADCX/ADOX instructions DCA — Supports prefetch from memory-mapped device F16C * Supports half-precision instruction FXSR * Supports FXSAVE/FXSTOR instructions FFXSR * Supports optimized FXSAVE/FSRSTOR instruction MONITOR * Supports MONITOR and MWAIT instructions MOVBE — Supports MOVBE instruction ERMSB — Supports Enhanced REP MOVSB/STOSB PCLMULDQ * Supports PCLMULDQ instruction POPCNT * Supports POPCNT instruction LZCNT * Supports LZCNT instruction SEP * Supports fast system call instructions LAHF-SAHF * Supports LAHF/SAHF instructions in 64-bit mode HLE — Supports Hardware Lock Elision instructions RTM — Supports Restricted Transactional Memory instructions
DE * Supports I/O breakpoints including CR4.DE DTES64 — Can write history of 64-bit branch addresses DS — Implements memory-resident debug buffer DS-CPL — Supports Debug Store feature with CPL PCID — Supports PCIDs and settable CR4.PCIDE INVPCID — Supports INVPCID instruction PDCM — Supports Performance Capabilities MSR RDTSCP * Supports RDTSCP instruction TSC * Supports RDTSC instruction TSC-DEADLINE — Local APIC supports one-shot deadline timer TSC-INVARIANT * TSC runs at constant rate xTPR — Supports disabling task priority messages
EIST — Supports Enhanced Intel Speedstep ACPI — Implements MSR for power management TM — Implements thermal monitor circuitry TM2 — Implements Thermal Monitor 2 control APIC * Implements software-accessible local APIC x2APIC — Supports x2APIC
CNXT-ID - L1 data cache mode adaptive or BIOS
MCE * Supports Machine Check, INT18 and CR4.MCE MCA * Implements Machine Check Architecture PBE — Supports use of FERR#/PBE# pin
PSN - Implements 96-bit processor serial number
PREFETCHW * Supports PREFETCHW instruction
Maximum implemented CPUID leaves: 0000000D (Basic), 8000001E (Extended).
Logical to Physical Processor Map: *—— Physical Processor 0 -*—- Physical Processor 1 —*— Physical Processor 2 —*— Physical Processor 3 —-*- Physical Processor 4 ——* Physical Processor 5
Logical Processor to Socket Map: ****** Socket 0
Logical Processor to NUMA Node Map: ****** NUMA Node 0
No NUMA nodes.
Logical Processor to Cache Map: *—— Data Cache 0, Level 1, 16 KB, Assoc 4, LineSize 64 *—— Instruction Cache 0, Level 1, 64 KB, Assoc 2, LineSize 64 *—— Unified Cache 0, Level 2, 2 MB, Assoc 16, LineSize 64 -*—- Data Cache 1, Level 1, 16 KB, Assoc 4, LineSize 64 -*—- Instruction Cache 1, Level 1, 64 KB, Assoc 2, LineSize 64 -* —- Unified Cache 1, Level 2, 2 MB, Assoc 16, LineSize 64 —*— Data Cache 2, Level 1, 16 KB, Assoc 4, LineSize 64 —*— Instruction Cache 2, Level 1, 64 KB, Assoc 2 , LineSize 64 —*— Unified Cache 2, Level 2, 2 MB, Assoc 16, LineSize 64 —*— Data Cache 3, Level 1, 16 KB, Assoc 4, LineSize 64 —*— Instruction Cache 3, Level 1, 64 KB, Assoc 2, LineSize 64 —*— Unified Cache 3, Level 2, 2 MB, Assoc 16, LineSize 64 —-*- Data Cache 4, Level 1, 16 KB, Assoc 4, LineSize 64 —-*- Instruction Cache 4, Level 1, 64 KB, Assoc 2, LineSize 64 —-*- Unified Cache 4, Level 2, 2 MB, Assoc 16, LineSize 64 ——* Data Cache 5, Level 1, 16 KB, Assoc 4, LineSize 64 ——* Instruction Cache 5, Level 1, 64 KB, Assoc 2, LineSize 64 ——* Unified Cache 5, Level 2, 2 MB, Assoc 16, LineSize 64 ****** Unified Cache 6, Level 3, 8 MB, Assoc 1, LineSize 64
Logical Processor to Group Map: ****** Group 0
By Mark Russinovich
Published: August 18, 2014
Download Coreinfo(192 KB)
Introduction
Coreinfo is a command-line utility that shows you the mapping between logical processors and the physical processor, NUMA node, and socket on which they reside, as well as the cache’s assigned to each logical processor.
Processor requirements to enable Hyper-V in Windows 8
It uses the Windows’ GetLogicalProcessorInformation function to obtain this information and prints it to the screen, representing a mapping to a logical processor with an asterisk e.g. '*'. Coreinfo is useful for gaining insight into the processor and cache topology of your system.
Installation
You run Coreinfo by typing "coreinfo".
Using CoreInfo
For each resource it shows a map of the OS-visible processors that correspond to the specified resources, with "*" representing the applicable processors. For example, on a 4-core system, a line in the cache output with a map of shared by cores 3 and 4.
Usage: coreinfo [-c][-f][-g][-l][-n][-s][-m][-v]
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| **-c** | Dump information on cores. |
| -f | Dump core feature information. |
| -g | Dump information on groups. |
| **-l** | Dump information on caches. |
| -n | Dump information on NUMA nodes. |
| -s | Dump information on sockets. |
| -m | Dump NUMA access cost. |
| -v | Dump only virtualization-related features including support for second level address translation. |
| (requires administrative rights on Intel systems). |
All options except -v are selected by default.
Coreinfo Output:
Download Coreinfo(192 KB)
Easy migration of Windows Server to Hyper-V environment
Sooner or later, in almost any IT infrastructure the question arises of replacing old equipment with newer equipment. Over time, any equipment exhausts its resource and must be replaced (with a new and, accordingly, faster one), but an increase in computing power is not always required. In this case, as a rule, there is a need to migrate existing applications, ideally without changing the configuration.
It's no secret that many software products require specific settings of the operating system and environment, and work more stably in a separate instance of the operating system. In addition, there are a number of other reasons for isolating services in separate OS instances: application-specific maintenance and update cycles, crash and error isolation requirements, isolation for security reasons, etc. But it is very wasteful to allocate a separate physical server for some task that does not require large computing resources.
In the case where high performance is not required, especially the performance of the I/O subsystem, it is quite possible to use virtualization to consolidate physical systems (Physical-to-Virtual, p2v).
The first candidates for consolidation into virtual machines may be:
- unloaded services with low consumption of I/O subsystem resources
- services that require specific operating system settings
- services that require a separate maintenance cycle - frequent installation of updates, rebooting the OS, etc.
Of course, despite fashion and trends, you shouldn’t virtualize everything. If possible, virtualization should be avoided in the following cases:
- Loaded services, especially those requiring intensive disk activity (for example, DBMS)
- Infrastructure services on which the operation of the hypervisor itself depends. For example, Active Directory Services in a virtual machine included in the same AD domain is not a good idea
- Use of specific equipment
Virtualization cannot be nested. If the source equipment has virtual machines in any form (Virtual PC, Virtual Box, VmWare, etc.), they should be transferred separately using the v2v (Virtual-to-Virtual) method.
And finally, don’t forget about “all your eggs in one basket.” This becomes especially important when multiple virtual machines are running on one server.
Let's look at the migration process using a real example.
Initial data
Several servers, approximately the same configuration, Windows Server platform. It was necessary to free up some equipment, so the decision was made to consolidate unloaded services through consolidation in Hyper-V, thus freeing up a separate physical server.
Transfer technique
There is a market a large number of commercial products that allow you to migrate to a virtual environment - primarily Microsoft System Center Operations Manager with the Hyper-V Management Pack. Almost all such tools require the purchase of a license and should be considered in the case of mass consolidation of dozens of servers and further management.
For a one-time migration of one server, I wanted to use simple and available means.
The first thing that came to mind was to use the built-in backup function of Windows Server Backup for transfer, which, starting with Windows Server 2008, creates an output image of a VHD virtual disk with backup copy systems.
After some experimentation with backup a simpler solution was found.
The Microsoft website has a set of very useful utilities from Mark Russinovich from the Sysinternals team, including the utility disk2vhd. It does exactly what is required - it allows you to remove a VHD image from the disk. Moreover, unlike Windows Server Backup, which creates a separate VHD image for each volume, disk2vhd allows you to copy a physical disk with all volumes (or selectively) into one virtual disk. In addition, disk2vhd also works in older versions of Windows (2000/XP/2003).
The image can be taken both offline by connecting the disk to another server or booting from a WinPE image, or on the go from a VSS snapshot of the file system.
The utility also works from the command line, which is very useful, for example, when migrating servers to Core installations.
The created disk image can later be used when creating a virtual machine.
Creating a virtual machine
After removing the image from the existing system, you need to create a Hyper-V virtual machine with the necessary settings.
Specify the required amount of RAM
Select network connection
And finally, select the existing disk image created earlier using disk2vhd
After creation, edit the necessary settings - the number of processor cores, specific network settings
And don’t forget to deliver the Hyper-V utilities to the virtual machine.
Thus, you can quite easily transfer the operating system from a physical server to a Hyper-V virtual machine.
Potential problems
In principle, the migration process itself is quite simple and should go smoothly.
Coreinfo v.3.2
However, small pitfalls may still occur. They concern, first of all, the guest operating system Windows versions Server 2000/2003 and Windows 2000/XP.
Firstly, for older versions of Windows OS running Hyper-V to work correctly, you will need to install the appropriate utilities and drivers in the guest OS. Which, in turn, require installation latest version Service Pack. Therefore, before migrating to a virtual environment, you should, if possible, update the transferred OS to the maximum.
The second problem is related to the activation of OEM versions of Windows below Vista/2008 (there is no such problem in Volume versions). Since when migrating from a physical system to a virtual one, the hardware (network adapter and motherboard) changes, Windows activation becomes invalid. In the case of Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista and higher, this problem is not critical and does not lead to operation failure; it will be enough to simply perform activation again. But older versions of Windows will require you to restore activation before starting, but it will not be possible to perform it via the Internet until the drivers are installed on the network adapter.
By the way, from the point of view of licensing purity, P2V transfer for OEM versions is unacceptable and is allowed only for Volume or Retail versions of Windows. Therefore, do not forget to calculate the cost of licensing when planning such operations.
sysinternals virtualization hyper-v
| saved
Nested virtualization Hyper-V in draftsTranslation
Virtualization, Server administration, System administration
This week Microsoft released Windows assembly 10 Insider Preview Build 10565. This build adds several new features to the operating system. In particular, Ben Armstrong (Hyper-V manager at Microsoft) mentions in his blog that the ability to create nested Hyper-V virtualization in Windows 10 has been added. Nested virtualization allows you to run Hyper-V inside a virtual machine and create multiple virtual machines within this main one virtual machine. You can run multiple Hyper-V hypervisors without the need for additional physical hardware.
How to enable nested virtualization is described by Theo Thompson in his blog, the process consists of the following steps:
Step 1: Creating a virtual machine
Step 2: Run the Enable-NestedVm.ps1 script to simplify the process of checking requirements (for example, that dynamic memory should be disabled). This script will check the configuration, change what is incorrect (with permission) and enable nested virtualization for the virtual machine. Please note that the VM must be turned off.
Step 3: Installing Hyper-V components in a guest VM
Step 4: Turn on the network. After nested virtualization is enabled in the virtual machine, enable MAC spoofing for network operation. Launch PowerShell as administrator on the host machine and run:
Step 5: Create a nested VM.
Nested virtualization is still in the early stages of development and testing, so it has several known issues:
1. Both hypervisors must be the latest version of Hyper-V. Other hypervisors will not work. Windows Server 2012R2 and builds prior to 10565 will not work.
2. Once nested virtualization is enabled on a virtual machine, some features will no longer be compatible with that virtual machine.
PAE/NX/SSE2 Support Requirements Guide for Windows 8
They will cause errors or even prevent the virtual machine from starting:
— dynamic memory must be turned off, otherwise the virtual machine will not be able to boot;
— it will not be possible to change the memory size;
— it will not be possible to apply checkpoints to a running VM;
— hot migration does not work;
- there is no way to save the VM.
3. After nested virtualization is enabled in a virtual machine, MAC spoofing must be enabled for the network of its guest machines to work.
4. Currently only works on Intel processors with Intel VT-x support enabled.
5. Nested virtualization requires a large amount of memory. I managed to launch a virtual machine in a virtual machine with 4 GB of RAM, but everything was terribly slow.
hyper-v, Nested Virtualization
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Source of articles: Habr.
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