Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Download Frequently Asked Questions

Virtual machine technology applies to both server and client hardware. Virtual machine technology enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single machine. In particular, Microsoft Virtual PC products enable one or more operating systems to run on the same computer system as the current Windows operating system. Today, many x86-based operating systems are supported by Virtual PC 2004 and Virtual Server 2005. In addition, Virtual PC for Mac enables one or more other operating systems to run on the Macintosh operating system so that users can run a Windows operating system and Windows applications on a Macintosh.

Virtual machine technology serves a variety of purposes. It enables hardware consolidation, because multiple operating systems can run on one computer. Key applications for virtual machine technology include cross-platform integration as well as the following:

• Server consolidation. If several servers run applications that consume only a fraction of the available resources, virtual machine technology can be used to enable them to run side by side on a single server, even if they require different versions of the operating system or middleware.
• Consolidation for development and testing environments. Each virtual machine acts as a separate environment, which reduces risk and enables developers to quickly recreate different operating system configurations or compare versions of applications designed for different operating systems. In addition, a developer can test early development versions of an application in a virtual machine without fear of destabilizing the system for other users.
• Legacy application re-hosting. Legacy operating systems and applications can run on new hardware along with more recent operating systems and applications.
• Software demonstrations. With virtual machine technology, users can quickly recreate a clean operating system environment or system configuration.
• Simplify disaster and recovery. Virtual machine technology can be used as part of a disaster and recovery plan that requires application portability and flexibility across hardware platforms.

Windows Server virtualization, previously codenamed Viridian, is a hypervisor-based technology that is a part of Windows Server 2008. It provides a scalable, secure and highly available virtualization platform. It is part of Microsoft's ongoing effort to provide our customers and partners with the best operating system platform for virtualization.

A core component of Windows Server virtualization, Windows hypervisor is a thin layer of software between the hardware and the OS that allows multiple operating systems to run, unmodified, on a host computer at the same time. It provides simple partitioning functionality and is responsible for maintaining strong isolation between partitions. It has an inherently secure architecture with minimal attack surface, as it does not contain any third party device drivers.

Windows Server virtualization provides customers an ideal platform for key virtualization scenarios, such as production server consolidation, business continuity management, software test and development, and development of a dynamic data center.

Windows Server virtualization provides key functionality which an ideal virtualization platform should provide - scalability, high performance, reliability, security, flexibility and manageability. It provides scalability and high performance by supporting features like guest multi-processing support and 64-bit guest and host support; reliability and security through its hypervisor architecture; flexibility and manageability by supporting features like live migration of virtual machines from one physical host to another, and integration with System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

Yes, Microsoft will provide virtual machine add-in technology and technical support for customers running select Linux distributions as guest operating systems within Windows Server virtualization.

Microsoft tests and supports Windows running in its current virtualization products, Virtual PC and Virtual Server. ISVs and IHVs work with Microsoft to certify that their applications and systems run with Windows, which covers both physical and virtual machines. This will hold true with Windows Server virtualization as well.

Some of the capabilities of Windows Server virtualization will include x64 host and guest support, ability to run guest machines in a multi-processor environment, and ability to migrate virtual machines with minimal downtime.

Customers who invest the .vhd file format - the format used by Virtual Server, as well as a multitude of vendor licensees - will have a clear path forward to Windows Server virtualization. Customers can work with Microsoft’s partners who provide solutions to conveniently migrate from VMware to Windows Server virtualization or use System Center Virtual Machine Manager conversion tools to migrate from physical systems or VMware virtual machines to the VHD format for Windows Server virtualization..

Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) uses Windows Server 2003 SP2 as the foundation operating system. In addition to general bug fixes, Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 contains new features that make it an even more compelling virtualization platform. These features include:.

• The ability to use virtual hard disks like a unique logical drive.
• Improved Volume Shadow Copy Service support,
• Support for hardware-assisted virtualization, and
• Scalability improvements.

Yes. With UAC enabled, to use the Virtual Server Administration Website and the COM interfaces, one needs to explicitly configure specific user and group permissions for managing Virtual Server . As always, the user has to be a local admin. Permissions can be configured using the Virtual Server Administration Website.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 is the next version of Virtual Server 2005, which was released October 1, 2004. Virtual Server 2005 R2 is the current shipping product and is now available as a free download. Virtual Server R2 provides customer improved performance, availability, and scalability in order to increase operational efficiency in server consolidation, application re-hosting, disaster recovery, and software test and development. Now with Service Pack 1, Virtual Server 2005 R2 provides customers with improved capability for continuous data protection with VSS support and the ability to leverage the latest hardware platforms for improved performance.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is a virtual machine solution for desktop operating systems. Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, on the other hand, is a solution for server operating systems. Although Virtual PC and Virtual Server share many features in common, they are designed for different purposes. As a result, some of their features are also quite different. Microsoft has created a white paper that explains the differences between Virtual PC and Virtual Server, and discusses the scenarios in which it is appropriate to use one or the other.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 will be available in English, Japanese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Korean, and Spanish.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 is now available as a free download.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 is now available as a free download.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 is now free and can be downloaded. For more information on volume licensing, see the Volume Licensing site or these resources: Microsoft Adapts Windows Server System Licensing to Virtualization Scenarios.

It is important to understand your licensing rights and obligations when running Microsoft Windows Server and/or other Microsoft applications in a virtual machine environment. For details, see these resources: Microsoft Adapts Windows Server System Licensing to Virtualization Scenarios.

In addition, it's good to understand the licensing terms offered by independent software vendors (ISVs) for any software provided by those vendors. For more information on licensing considerations in these cases, you should consult with your ISV.

No. While you may receive benefit from moving the applications from physical hardware to virtual machines, running applications in a virtual environment does not extend their support life cycles. For more information about the support life-cycle timeframes, please see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle page.

See the System Requirements page or search for “system requirements” in the Virtual Server Administrator’s Guide.

The following operating systems are required as hosts to run Virtual Server 2005:

32-bit Operating Systems

• Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition or later
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition or later
• Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition or later
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition or later
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition or later
• Windows XP Professional (for non-production use only)

64-bit Operating Systems (64-bit support only for Virtual Server 2005 R2)

• Windows Server 2003 x64 Standard Edition or later
• Windows Server 2003 x64 Enterprise Edition or later
• Windows Server 2003 x64 Datacenter Edition or later
• Windows XP Professional (for non-production use only)

The following operating systems are supported guests of Virtual Server:

Guest Support

• Windows Server 2008 Standard Beta 3 (non-Production only)
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Beta 3 (non-Production only)
• Windows Server 2003 Standard SP2
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise SP2
• Windows Server 2003 Web SP2
• Windows Server 2003 Standard SP1
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise SP1
• Windows Server 2003 Web SP1
• Windows SBS 2003 Standard R2
• Windows SBS 2003 Premium R2
• Windows 2000 Server SP4
• Windows 2000 Advanced SP4
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows XP Professional SP2

Non-Windows Guest Support

• OS/2 4.5
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (update 7)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 (update 8)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 (update 4)
• SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0
• SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.0
• Solaris 10
• Red Hat Linux 9.0
• SuSE Linux 9.3
• SuSE Linux 10.0
• SuSE Linux 10.1
• SuSE Linux 10.2

The number of virtual machines running per host depends on several things, including physical memory, processor, and workload running in the guest. With Virtual Server 2005 R2, you define the amount of memory available to a virtual machine, and that memory allocation can be altered to reflect the needs of the virtual machine. With SP1,we support up to 512 VMs on x64 hosts; the 64 VM limit remains on 32-bit hosts.

For more information, see the Virtual Server 2005 R2 Technical Overview White Paper.

No. Mac OS X does not run on the x86 or x64 architecture, unlike Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual Server 2005 R2.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit (x64) host operating systems. It supports both AMD64 and Intel IA-32e/EM64T (x64) processors. Note that Virtual Server 2005 R2 does not support Itanium (IA-64) processors. Earlier versions of Virtual Server run on x64-based hardware provided it is running a 32-bit version of a supported host operating system.

Note that Virtual Server 2005 R2 requires that guest operating systems be 32-bit.

A complete list of emulated hardware included in Virtual Server 2005 R2 is located in the Virtual Server Administrator’s Guide:

Virtual Server 2005 R2 virtualizes a uniprocessor configuration in the VM environment.

With the original Virtual Server 2005 release, it was recommended that hyper-threading be disabled on the host computer. With Virtual Server 2005 R2 that is no longer necessary. Virtual Server 2005 R2 can run with hyper-threading enabled or disabled.

No. Virtual Server 2005 R2 does not support Direct3D. Virtual Server emulates an S3Trio64 video card for 2d video.

Yes. The Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) is currently available to download. With System Center Virtual Machine Manager (currently in Beta), customers will also be able to perform P2V and V2V conversions with ease.

Virtual machines do not receive additional protection running in a virtualized environment. Each virtual machine is its own entity and needs to be patched individually.

Four.

PXE boot support has been added to the virtual machine network adapter in Virtual Server 2005 R2. This means that when the appropriate network infrastructure is in place, you can perform a network installation of a guest operating system without needing a PXE boot floppy disk.

As many as the hardware allows, which depends on the amount of available RAM, disk, and system resources—or up to 64 virtual machines. With SP1,we support up to 512 VMs on x64 hosts; the 64 VM limit remains on 32-bit hosts.

Virtual Server currently does not support USB hardware such as smart card readers and scanners. However, standard USB input hardware, such as keyboard and pointing devices, are supported.

No, Virtual Server supports only Ethernet topologies.

Yes.

Virtual Server supports 4 virtual SCSI buses with virtual hard disk as large as 2 terabytes (TB) allowing for a total of over 56 TBs of storage per virtual machine.

Yes.

Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) can be stored on a SAN. A host operating system views a SAN volume as a local volume, so no special configuration is needed when using Virtual Server 2005 with a SAN. For details, search for "SAN" in the Virtual Server Administrator's Guide.

Each virtual machine can use up to 3.6 GB of memory.

With SP1, Virtual Server 2005 can use up to 256 GB of memory. Large memory support requires Physical Addressing Extensions (PAE) to be enabled on the host operating system.

See the Virtual Server 2005 Administrator's Guide and Virtual Server 2005 Programmer's Guide, which are installed with Virtual Server in the Microsoft Virtual Server Program Group on the Start menu.

Microsoft will be creating new tools such as the Virtual Server Administration Web Site (a component of Virtual Server 2005) as well as adding functionality to existing tools, such as Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 to provide comprehensive physical server to virtual machine management. Highlights include:

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

• Centralized administration of virtual machine infrastructure
• Rapid provisioning of new virtual machines
• Quick physical-to-virtual and virtual-to-virtual conversion

MOM 2005 Virtual Server Management Pack

• One-to-many management of hosts and guests
• Health monitoring and configuration changes
• Closed-loop automation through scripting and the Virtual Server COM API

SMS 2003 SP2

• Virtual Server 2005 called out in hardware inventory information
• A new node called Virtual Machine in the SMS admin console
• Discovery of virtual host/guest relationships

Automated Deployment Services

• Virtual Server Migration Toolkit
• Command-line tools to help automate P2V and V2V

Yes, virtual machines with either product are compatible, but when using Virtual Server and Virtual PC together, there are several points to consider:

• Sound cards: Virtual Server does not include an emulated sound card in its virtual machines, while Virtual PC does. If you will be using a virtual machine on both Virtual Server and Virtual PC, you should disable the emulated sound card in Virtual PC. This will prevent the sound card's Plug and Play capability from causing errors on the virtual machine that you created with Virtual Server.
• SCSI support: Virtual Server provides SCSI support while Virtual PC does not. If you create a virtual machine with virtual SCSI disks on Virtual Server, the SCSI disks will be ignored if you move the virtual machine to Virtual PC. This can lead to negative consequences in many situations, for example if the virtual machine page file is on the SCSI disk or if you are trying to use a SCSI disk as the startup disk. If you plan to regularly move virtual hard disks between machines created with Virtual PC and Virtual Server, we recommend that you attach the virtual hard disks only to a virtual IDE bus in Virtual Server.
• Saved States: Saved-state (.vsv) files between Virtual PC and Virtual Server are incompatible. When moving a virtual machine between products, be sure to completely shutdown the guest operating system.
• CD-ROM drives: Although Virtual Server allows for virtual machines with multiple CD-ROM drives, Virtual PC supports virtual machines with only one CD-ROM drive. If you are moving virtual machines between the two products, you should configure only a single CD-ROM drive on the virtual machine and attach it to secondary channel 0, which is the default setting.

Microsoft offers the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Image Format Specification under a royaly-free license to make it easier for partners to develop VHD-based solutions and continue to enhance the capabilities and extensibility of the VHD format. Full access to the detail specification is available by signing the Virtual Hard Disk Image Format Specification License Agreement. For further information on the specification or to request a copy of the licensing agreement, please contact vhdlic@microsoft.com.

Yes. Please read Virtual Server 2005 Performance Tips for more information.

Yes. The newsgroups are:

• Virtual PC: microsoft.public.virtualpc
• Virtual Server: microsoft.public.virtualserver.

Yes, numerous webcasts are available.

Yes. Please read Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating LOB Applications for guidance on consolidating and migrating LOB applications to Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based solutions, including onto Virtual Server 2005-based virtual machines. It provides technical information and recommendations, processes, build notes, job aids, test scripts, and capacity planning guidance.