hyper-v

Test Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V with VMware Workstation

Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 (TP3) is released with some cool new features. An easy way to test Windows Server 2016 TP3 is to use VMware Workstation. Windows Server 2016 can be installed with the Hyper-V role and have some VMs nested with minimal configuration.

For this test i used the following hard-and software:

Hardware: Dell Latitude E6540 with an Intel i5-4310M CPU and 16 GB memory.

Software: As desktop OS Windows 8.1 Enterprise, VMware Workstation 12 PRO and Microsoft Windows Server 2016 TP3.

To install Windows Server 2016 and enable the Hyper-V role and nest VMs use the following steps:

  • Open VMware Workstation
  • Create a new custom Virtual Machine
  • Choose the highest VM hardware compatibility -> Workstation 12.0
  • In the guest Operating System Installation -> browse to the Windows Server 2016 ISO
  • As Guest Operating System choose -> Microsoft Windows and as version -> Hyper-V (unsupported)

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  • Give the VM one or more CPU’s and 4 GB of memory if you want to install some VMs in Hyper-V
  • Controller -> LSI Logic SAS
  • Virtual disk type -> SCSI
  • Create a new virtual disk of 40 GB of more. (For the best performance use -> Allocate all disk space now)

You’re ready to install Windows Server 2016 you have two options: Windows Server with or without GUI.

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  • After the installation add the Hyper-V role and reboot the server.

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  • When choosing for the core version install the hyper-v with the following PowerShell command:
powershell
Install–WindowsFeature Hyper-V
  • Open Hyper-V Manager and create one or more VMs

Hyper-V Manager

When having limited hardware resources and want to test Hyper-V in Windows Server 2016, VMware Workstation is a great choice. Without minimal effort it is possible to install Windows Server 2016, add the Hyper-V role and nest some VMs.

Tips for installing System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 Update Rollup (UR5)

Here are some tips for installing System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager Update Rollup (UR5):

      • UR5 is available from Microsoft Update or by manual download. If you are not installing UR5 through Microsoft Update (e.g. you’re downloading the update and then installing it), you must install using elevated privileges. If you do not do this the update may fail silently.
      • During the UR5 installion the System Center Virtual Machine Manager & Agent will be stopped
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      • After the SCVMM UR5 server component, reboot the VMM server before installing the UR5 console
      • Before Update Rollup 5, you had to manually update the System Center Virtual Machine Manager DHCP Server (x64) component. As of Update Rollup 5, this is no longer required. When updating the agent on the server the DHCP server components is updated too.
      • Agents DHCP
      • The new SCVMM UR5 agent build version is: 3.2.7895.0
      • The Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager DHCP Server (x64) build version is still 3.2.7768.0
      • Make sure to update the agent on all the infrastructure servers such as the Update Server and library server. In VMM click on Fabric- Server for a complete overview
      • Updateagent
      • Refresh the cluster after updating the agents
      • When starting the VMM console the following error appears:
      • pipeline error
      • This error is permission related. To solve this error add the “Authenticated Users” group to the AddInPipeline directory and assign read and execute rights. The installation of VMM can be found under: <Driveletter>:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\Virtual Machine Manager\bin\AddInPipeline.
      • Update 24-02-2015: Microsoft released a hotfix for UR5 that addresses replica and smb shares issues. The link to the KB can be found here, link.

For all the details on SCVMM 2012 R2 UR5, see the following:

  • KB3023195 – Description of the security update for Update Rollup 5 for System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, link

SCVMM 2012 R2 agent update error

After updating  System Center Virtual Machine Manager to Update Rollup 4 (UR4), one of the post installation tasks is updating the VMM agents on the Hyper-V hosts. Updating the VMM agent can be performed from the VMM console or using PowerShell. On one of the Hyper-V hosts I got the following error when trying to update the VMM agent from the console:

Error (10429) An older version of the Virtual Machine Manager server is installed on <server>. The VMM agent on the VMM management server cannot be upgraded independently

Error

I didn’t found a reason why the VMM console was unable to update the agent on the Hyper-V host. The other hosts in the cluster are upgraded without a problem.

After some troubleshooting, the following steps resolved the VMM Agent update error:

  • Manually uninstall the VMM agent from the Hyper-V host
  • Copy the VMM agent from the VMM server to the Hyper-V host. The agent is default located on the following location on the VMM server: “Systemdrive\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\Virtual Machine Manager\agents\amd64\3.2.7768.0\vmmAgent.msi”
  • Install the VMM Agent. When trying to install the VMM agent the following error occurred:

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager Agent (x64) Setup Wizard ended prematurely

Ended prematurely

  • Open a Command Prompt (Run as Administrator)
  • Browse to the location where the VMM agent is stored
  • Execute the following command: msiexec /I vmmAgent.msi
  • In the SCVMM Console Reassociate the Hyper-V host and perform a cluster refesh

After these steps the updated VMM agent is installed on the Hyper-V server.