Windows Server 2008 takes virtualization to new heights

Perhaps starting from Windows 95, the birth of every new version of Windows will attract worldwide attention and discussion. Microsoft is making progress and consumers are demanding more from Microsoft. On March 13, 2008, Microsoft China Ltd. held a conference on the theme of "Heroes was born" at the Beijing Workers' Stadium. At the same time, it launched Microsoft's 2008 new-generation enterprise-level application platform and development technology: Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. Many companies are concerned about the application prospects of Windows Server 2008 virtualization technology, and companies of all sizes have recognized that virtualization has begun to be a factor in changing the current landscape. Server consolidation, energy efficiency, enhanced functionality, and simpler management and deployment have tangible benefits for moving to virtualized servers and virtual primary services.

Microsoft has seen the promise of virtualization and is beginning to seize the market with Hyper-V (previously known by its code name Viridian, or by previous brand name (Windows Server Virtualization) Its beta has already been released, earlier than expected in February 2008. According to the company, Hyper-V is the next generation hypervisor-based virtualization platform, and it will Integration into the operating system allows you to dynamically add physical and virtual resources.

You may have already understood the concept of virtualization as a whole, but you may not be familiar with the specific details. Below we You'll see how Hyper-V works, its main benefits, and when you can expect to deploy these new features in a production environment.

How does it work?

To understand Hyper-V, first consider its three main components: the hypervisor, the virtualization stack, and the new virtualized I/O model. The Windows hypervisor basically uses To create different partitions, each virtualized instance of code runs on those partitions. The virtualization stack and I/O components provide interactive functionality with Windows itself and interaction with different partitions being created.

All three components are sequential. Using a server equipped with an Intel VT- or AMD-V-enabled technology processor, Hyper-V can interact with the hypervisor, and the hypervisor is a very small Software, which is directly on the processor. This software is linked to threads on the processor running the operating system, and the thread can effectively manage multiple virtual machines and multiple virtual operating systems, all running on On a single physical processor.

Because there are no third-party software products or drivers for installation, you can get almost full compatibility guarantee. With effective process management, you can virtualize in you. The host of the service "hot swaps" various resources. From the processor to the memory, to the network card, to the attached storage medium, you can add these devices to your machine. On the device, without having to stop any services and interrupt the user's session. You can also have a 64-bit client session, which is a great benefit for companies that use 64-bit software in the future. You can virtualize your System migration, saving on deployment costs, and when you complete the migration, you can evaluate how many physical hosts you need.

High availability

Some ideas behind virtualization are not just reducing A copy of the machine and cost savings also include ensuring that the number of services available is greater than the number of servers that do not use virtualization. In this context, Hyper-V includes support for multiple customer clusters.

In addition, you can cluster multiple physical machines running Hyper-V components, so virtualized instances can be restored from another host, when the main host is effective. Time. Finally, you can move a virtual customer from one physical host to another without the need for shutdown time, service reduction, and reorganization, which typically limits the effectiveness of production services.

You can also take advantage of the new disk quota feature on Windows Server 2008, which allows you to have clusters in multiple locations—for example, on the East and West coasts of the United States, or on different continents of the world. between. You can do this without having a single shared disk between them, and this is necessary for clustering on Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

In addition, you can implement Hyper-V on the server core installation of Windows Server 2008 and take advantage of the stability and extra burden of this deployment. Of course, this will also bring tangible benefits to high availability objects.

Future Prospects

So, when do you get the benefits of Hyper-V and enjoy these features? The good news is that you can start exploring the product today, although the current Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 is not the final version. Microsoft plans to stop the final build of Hyper-V within 180 days of Windows Server 2008 production, and it will provide multiple versions of Windows Server 2008, you can choose to have Hyper-V or not with Hyper-V.

If you are concerned about the time and money you spend in your virtualization architecture, you will be pleased to learn that users of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 can be relatively free when Hyper-V is officially available. Migrate to Hyper-V without worrying about losing the investment in Virtual Server so far. However, you need to understand the new hardware in some examples, because Hyper-V will require 64-bit hardware and will not be released in an x86 version (32-bit).

Hyper-V will be an important next step in the history of Microsoft virtualization. With the right hardware, you can enjoy the benefits of a lot of unprecedented virtualization.