Testing out Microsoft's Hyper-V R2 for uptime comparison to VMware's Hypervisor

Ehlo All,

I believe that virtualizing Exchange and other servers has more advantages than disadvantages. So, while VMware is the leader in the space (w/ESX and ESXi) and this is what I deploy clients using, I realize the Microsoft virtualization solutions (w/Hyper-V) will gain a significant market share in the coming years. So, I decided it was time to start to test it out. Specifically, I wanted to see how often it needed a reboot due to Windows updates and the stability of the OS.

Since a hypervisor reboot requires pausing all VMs, it's a real distruption. I realize you could move all the VMs, but that means you need 2 hypervisor servers. Sometimes clients do not have this. So, I wanted to see the stability/uptime of just the hypervisor. I know my ESX(i) can go easily months if not years without a reboot since it's a hardened OS and there are very few security updates. Curious to see how Hyper-V would fare compared to this. Keep in mind, if you loaded the full Windows 2008 Server and then added the Hyper-V Role, it would need to be rebooted a LOT due to all the extra software loaded inthe OS. So, I feel this is more of an apples (Hyper-V R2 standalone hypervisor version) to apples (ESX/ESXi) comparison.

Since it's a free product (similar to ESXi) and anyone can download it. I downloaded the free Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 on 11/4/09. It was released on 8/28/09.

Download Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=48359dd2-1c3d-4506-ae0a-232d0314ccf6&displaylang=en

Installed it in a VM on my ESXi 3.5 host and then ran the Hyper-V R2 updates. It found 4. 2 were important, and the other 2 were worthless (application compatibility for games, etc). I installed these 2 below. Both updates required reboots.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-059.mspx
KB975467 - Important - DoS via magic packet

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-056.mspx
KB974571 - Important - Spoofing attack

I modified the resource allocation on my ESXi deployment, since this VM doesn't need to be a normal/high priority for ram and cpu. We shall see what happens.

-Ben

How To Article on Virtualization for Exchange 2003 & Office Communications Server Support for the BlackBerry

This is a how to article on the process to virtualize Exchange 2003 with Hyper-V writing by an Exchange MVP, Brien Posey. Good walk-through of the process. And, since this is Hyper-V vm'ed, this is supported by Microsoft Support.

http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid43_gci1334779,00.html?track=NL-359&ad=667516&asrc=EM_NLT_4749386&uid=1446997

And BlackBerry now supports Office Communication Server 2007.
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server/exchange/ocs2007.jsp

Enjoy,
-Ben

New Formula: Exchange + Virtualization = Microsoft Support

Yes, the new formula is correct. And I did not expect to see this so soon. Microsoft has announced that you can run Exchange 2003/2007 in a Virtual Server 2005 R2/Hyper-V virtualized environment and get Microsoft Professional Support Services. Here is the official Microsoft release about this. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx There are a details for each configuration (e.g. all 2007 roles supported except Unified Messaging), but this is a step in the right direction.

Also, Windows ITPro's article on this mentions that Microsoft has created a Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) and that VMware is in the process of attempting to achieve certification. This is not a show stopper in my eyes since VMware supports clients Windows & Exchange hosts currently.

-Ben