Published: December 8, 2008
What’s New
This release of the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool completely replaces version 1 and adds important new support for Hyper-V and Windows Server 2008. In addition, version 2.0.1 of the tool supports the new versions of System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft® Windows Server Update Services that have become available since version 1 was released.
When you install this Solution Accelerator, the installer determines which version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager resides on the target computer and configures the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool accordingly. Certain features are only available with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.
Download This Solution Accelerator
Click here to download the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0.1.
About This Solution Accelerator
The increasing use of virtual machines—for purposes ranging from support of older operating system environments to power savings—has created new challenges for IT.
In particular, virtual machines may be left offline (stored in a non-operating state) for extended periods of time, which conserves resources when the server capacities of the virtual machines are not needed or frees up physical computing resources for other purposes.
However, offline machines do not automatically receive operating system, antivirus, or application updates that would keep them compliant with current IT policy. An out-of-date virtual machine may pose a risk to the IT environment. If deployed and started, the out-of-date virtual machine might be vulnerable to attack or could be capable of attacking other network resources.
Therefore, IT groups must take measures to ensure that offline virtual machines remain up-to-date and compliant. At present, these measures involve temporarily bringing the virtual machine online, applying the necessary updates, and then storing it again.
In the future, image updating solutions may be able to update virtual machines while they remain offline. Until such solutions become available, the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool, a Solution Accelerator from Microsoft, provides a way to automate the process of updating virtual machines. This tool is now available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center.
Business Scenarios
You can use this Solution Accelerator to help you with business scenarios such as these:
- Your IT organization is converting physical servers to virtual machines to reduce costs, including administrative overhead. How can you regularly update offline virtual machines while minimizing administrative costs?
- Your IT organization has thousands of virtual machines stored for months at a time in a number of libraries. How do you keep the virtual machines reliably up to date?
Included in the Download
The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0.1 includes the following components:
- Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool (msi)
- Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool Getting Started Guide
- Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool Help file
In More Detail
Using the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool
The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0.1 manages the workflow of updating large numbers of offline virtual machines according to their individual needs. To do this, the tool works with Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2007 or 2008 and with either of the following software update management systems:
- Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 or WSUS 3.0 SP1
- System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, or Configuration Manager 2007 R2.
The following figure illustrates the workflow.
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How information flows between the tool and other system components
The tool uses “servicing jobs” to manage the update operations based on lists of existing virtual machines stored in VMM. Using Windows Workflow Foundation technology, a servicing job runs snippets of Windows PowerShell™ scripts to work with virtual machines. For each virtual machine, the servicing job:
- “Wakes” the virtual machine (deploys it to a host and starts it).
- Triggers the appropriate software update cycle (Configuration Manager or WSUS).
- Shuts down the updated virtual machine and returns it to the library.
The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0.1 is straightforward to use. To use the tool:
- Install the tool in your environment. A configuration wizard guides you through the process of connecting the tool to VMM and your software update management system.
- Configure virtual machine groups. You have the option to group your virtual machines to simplify the process of creating servicing jobs.
- Create and schedule servicing jobs. A servicing job specifies which virtual machines to update, what resources to use for the update process, and when to start the servicing job. You can schedule jobs to run immediately, or to run during low-traffic maintenance windows. You can also schedule servicing jobs to recur at regular intervals to keep your virtual machines up-to-date in the long term.
Note The tool works with Windows Task Scheduler to determine when to run the servicing job.
Related Resources
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