Windows Server 2008 Virtualization Feature Resolution

When the product version of Windows Server 2008 (WS08) was released - the official release plan was on February 27, 2008 - the test software code will be included. Microsoft announced that the Windows Server 2008 release will include a beta version of Virtualization Server (WSV), the latest server operating system from Microsoft.

Why does Microsoft take such an amazing move to include test code in the release of another complete product? According to Arun Jayendran, programming manager for the virtualization server, this is because users are too interested in the new WSV.

There is no doubt that a large number of users are interested in virtualization technology. At present, Microsoft is still lagging behind in this field. As the main server operating system supplier, Microsoft must strengthen virtualization technology. But opening test code to the market can be an adventurous strategy. The virtualization server will be an unfinished product: now it's a patchwork approach that uses the latest virtualization approach, hypervisor technology, and it will lack features like hot migration.

Why do you want to virtualize?

The beauty of virtualization is that virtual machines run exactly like a physical server. End users simply don't feel the difference (in some cases, they feel that the machine performance has improved). In addition, you can run multiple virtual machines on the same physical server -- sometimes up to 15 or 20 virtual machines on the same machine -- saving hardware, data center space, and power.

Virtualization has brought tremendous changes to the IT world. Several players have existed in the past few years and have already created huge profits, including VMware, the market leader in this field, and a Linux-based one. Virtualization software XenSource. Of course, there is Microsoft. According to Microsoft, less than 5% of servers in the world are currently virtualized. If this statement is true, the market for virtualization will be enormous.

This growth is at least partly driven by a new virtualization approach in the form of systems manager technology. In most cases, virtualization products (such as Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2 and VMware's VMware Server) need to be installed on an existing operating system. The hypervisor is not installed in the operating system, but it is a virtualization tool embedded in the operating system that reduces user costs and provides a better virtualization model.

The hypervisor becomes the protagonist

The results show that the hypervisor becomes very versatile. On September 10, VMware announced that it has entered into deals with server hardware manufacturers IBM, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and NEC to embed VMware ESX Server 3i and VMware's hypervisor directly into server hardware. This makes virtualization scheduling easier: just plug the server into the infrastructure, consolidate it into the virtualization management space, and install the virtual machine into the server.

At the same time, on August 15th, Citrix Systems, which is known for its thin client solution, announced that it will acquire XenSource and then add XenSource's guest operating system virtualization capabilities to its existing In the virtualization product line.

Under this influence, Microsoft announced that it will be involved in the hypervisor market only sooner or later: Virtualization Server (WSV). Windows Server 2008 is scheduled to enter the market later this year; however, Microsoft deferred until February to allow the virtualization server team enough time to include their test code in the product. (The official release of the virtualization server is scheduled to be released 180 days after the WS08 is released to the manufacturer.)

There is no doubt that WSV will cause a sensation when it enters the market. Unlike Virtual Server 2005, WSV does not run on top of the operating system, but runs with the operating system, reducing the hardware consumption of virtualization technology. In addition to support for 32-bit virtual machines (VMs), WSV will also support 64-bit virtual machines, which is currently not possible with virtual servers.

WSV will be managed through a new Microsoft Management Console, eliminating the need to schedule IIS on every server running the hypervisor - again reducing consumption and forming a more secure hardware platform. WSV will take advantage of the virtualization capabilities in Intel and AMD processors. A virtual machine running on WSV can have up to four processor cores and 32 GB of random access memory (RAM). Both physical hosts and virtual machines will have failover groups that provide continuation services on two levels.

At the beginning of the problem, Microsoft still has some problems to solve.

Some important features may be missing, such as hot migration of virtual machines (migrating one virtual machine from one physical host to another without interruption) and adding resources to the virtual machine during operation, and Overall resource redistribution based on current needs - Microsoft announced that these features will be added later.

In addition, according to Microsoft, the modified system management program is less than 1KB. But in order to run, it will install the WS08 character base server kernel version - a typical installation larger than 1GB. Compared to the recently released 32MB of VMware ESX 3i, you will feel that WSV is really a "big spec" hypervisor. And the hypervisor must run on 64-bit hardware, and WSV does not support 32-bit hosts.

On the other hand, WSV will change the way people think about virtualization. At present, the hypervisor is very expensive, and there is no single virtual machine host, because no one is willing to pay a high price to purchase a hypervisor and let it run a single workload, which is inefficient.

For the above reasons, enterprises need to make full use of the installation of the hypervisor to run 15 to 20 virtual machines on each host. Once the hypervisor is installed in the operating system, the enterprise can change this mode by determining the amount of work running on each network host. If the workload requests all host resources, the host becomes a so-called "single virtual machine host" -- a dedicated host running a single workload. Even with a single workload, the host virtualizes the workload because virtualization frees up all the work from physical hardware and allows you to migrate virtual machines from one host to another as needed.

Becoming part of the technology trend

The development of the hypervisor quickly divided the IT service area into two aspects: hardware resource combination and virtual service provision. Hardware is currently seen as just a combination of resources for preparing sufficient processing power for the services provided. The services provided - services that interact with end users - are virtualized so that you can take advantage of the benefits of virtualization to secure access to these services.

By using all hardware resources as a host system that provides virtualization services, you can dynamically control the interaction between these services and users. The services provided are just policy-based workloads that can be dynamically controlled as needed.

For example, you are running an email service. At night, you run two virtual machines to keep the service available. In order to have redundancy and failover capabilities, the two virtual services run on two host servers, each running a separate service. If one host fails, the two services will be migrated to the same host and continue to provide services. If the demand for email services peaks, you can dynamically launch a third virtual server, assuming that users start working around 8 am.

When the workload increases, you can also start one virtual server after another. When the workload is reduced, you can cut down on running virtual machines. Allocate hardware resources in the same way, let the machine be on standby according to your needs. When you enable the need for physical resources to support virtual services, power and cooling are dynamically managed, so the data center is also dynamic. The service level agreement determines the startup machine policy that you create as needed. As an IT manager, you can rest and observe the workload. When the management strategy interacts with the requirements, these workloads suddenly increase or disappear.

When everyone realizes that in order to provide the best combination of resources, you must have at least two physical servers with shared memory, and hardware manufacturers will also make new products - using shared memory is sure to The only way to maintain a continuous service of a virtual machine. We will see that the introduction of "multiple servers on one machine" is used to address the needs of SMBs, or even the needs of remote sites in large enterprises.

Introducing the beta version in the release code

The version of WSV that will be available in early 2008 with all of the above benefits is the test code - the test code is included in the release product, indicating Microsoft The great pressure on virtualization.

When you run a distribution with test code on a production system, it can cause serious problems. According to Microsoft, these test code will run unless you execute the latest version included in both. However, these latest versions use the Microsoft System Updater Format (.MSU) and can be easily executed through scripts to enable test products that are originally intended for different purposes on the system. This can cause serious safety problems and can damage the system.

Of course, an attacker needs to circumvent the user account control system, which ensures that it will only be executed through your authorization management tasks, but if appropriate, the management tasks will be easily executed. Why not stop all of these risks by making WSV a downloadable software, but include it in the release code? In this way, the person who wants to test the software can make his own judgment as to whether to run it on the production system.

So, although Microsoft has made some progress in promoting the system management program market, it still depends on whether the Windows virtualization server can overcome the current disadvantages only through free methods, and whether the Windows virtualization server can rely on it. The only product with a range of features that is expensive, gives Microsoft a place in the virtualization market.