Microsoft's Hyper-V R2 vs. VMware's vSphere: A cost comparison

Caveats

Without actual, real-world workloads and operating systems, I decided to take a simplistic approach to this comparison by keeping things relatively streamlined. For example, you'll notice that: in both the VMware and Microsoft cases, the total workload is 150 virtual machines; every virtual machine is running Windows Server 2008 Standard; and every host is identically configured with dual processors.

My goal was to develop a reasonable, consistent baseline and then just work the numbers to see how things would fall out. Further, all of the pricing you see is list; no volume discounts are applied because that information varies too much between vertical and between licensing programs.

These calculations do not include hardware costs; this is a software-only affair. This comparison does not attempt to include maintenance costs, either, as these vary by support level. The Microsoft pricing does include some software maintenance, but only because it's included in the list price. Note that only the Data Center (DC) edition of Windows is compared against the various editions of vSphere. To use any other Windows version in an enterprise virtualization platform would simply not make sense and would drive pricing through the roof due to Microsoft's general DC-only virtualization policies.

In addition, when it comes to server virtualization, my organization (Westminster College) is a VMware vSphere/ESX shop, but I am also keeping my eye on Hyper-V. I stayed as unbiased as possible in this cost comparison.

Cost comparison

Table A shows you this comparison, along with two costing options. Below the table, I provide more detail.

Table A

Click the image to enlarge.

License model. The method by which the product is licensed. This is either per host or per processor.

List price. This is the published list price for each component based on the license model. For example, for vSphere, the list price is per processor, as indicated in the row above.

VMs/host. How many virtual machines will run on each physical host? Originally, I gave an advantage to vSphere due to the product's memory overcommitment capabilities, among other things. I feel that VMware's features give it a significant capacity edge over Hyper-V. However, I decided to keep the comparison as streamlined and consistent as possible. In order to do so, I needed to keep the capacity information consistent. You will note that pricing Option 2 shows what could happen when you take into account vSphere's increased VM density.

Total VMs. How many total virtual machines will be hosted by the infrastructure?

Req'd hosts. Based on the inputs from the VMs/host and Total VMs rows, how many hosts are needed to support this environment?

Host processors. How many processors are installed in each physical host? Since some products are licensed on a per-processor/per-socket basis, this is important.

VM OS. What operating system will run inside each virtual machine in the environment? For the sake of comparison, I indicate that every VM will run Windows Server Standard. In the real world, this is highly unlikely, but it does provide a good baseline software cost comparison.

Management. What management tool or tools will be used to manage the virtual infrastructure? For vSphere, vCenter is your choice. For Microsoft, there are various options, but at the density levels in the table, using Microsoft's Server Management Suite Data Center, which is pretty expensive and licensed per processor. There are other management options for Hyper-V, so don't take what you see here as the final word. Consider the issue of management software carefully and buy only what you need. Note that this suite includes only CALs for individual management tools, such as Operations Manager; you still need to separately license the Operations Manager server. The same holds true if you decide to use Configuration Manager and/or Data Protection Manager. Those CALs are also included in the suite, but the server license is a separate deal.

Management license model. As is the case with the hypervisor, the management software is licensed either per host or per processor.

Management list price. What is the list price for the management software based on the license model?

Windows Server. How much does Windows Server Standard cost?

Hypervisor Costs. What is the total cost of the hypervisor software based on the inputs?

Windows Server Costs. At first glance, how much do the individual Windows Server Standard virtual instances cost? There is a $0 amount in the Hyper-V column because Windows Data Center includes unlimited virtual instances of Windows Server, any edition. If you were to run this infrastructure on Hyper-V on Windows Server Enterprise, you'd pay a whole lot for those virtual instances since only four are included with an Enterprise license.

Management Costs. How much does the management software cost? From everything I've read, the Microsoft management product is licensed per physical host, thus making the management costs go through the roof.

Total. What is the total cost of the solution?

Option 1
This is an extremely important and cost saving option… and it's legal. Several years ago, Microsoft made the following statement regarding the unlimited virtualized instances allowance in the Windows Server Data Center license:

"Licensing does not depend on which virtualization technology is used. With all processors in a server licensed for Windows Server 2003 R2, Datacenter Edition, you can run one instance of the software in a physical operating system environment and an unlimited number of instances in virtual operating system environments. With VMWare GSX Server or SWsoft Virtuozzo, this means you can run one physical instance plus unlimited virtual instances. With VMWare ESX Server, it means you can run unlimited virtual instances because there is no need for a physical instance."

This means that you can run any hypervisor you want and, as long as you also buy a Windows Server DC license to apply to that physical host, you can run as many Windows Server instances as you like on that server. This basically means that you're buying software you'll never use — Windows Server DC — but if you do that math, you can see that having the ability to run as many copies of Windows as you like on a virtual host can quickly add up to a lot of savings. For a dual processor server, a DC license would cost about $6,000. It would take only two virtual enterprise instances or six virtual standard instances to hit the breakeven point. Since this example assumes 10 VMs per host, there are a lot of savings.

Option 2
This option shows the possible effect of vSphere's increased VM density.

Final notes

Again, the values I placed in the table are only for comparison. I'd expect to see higher densities on VMware hosts, which quickly brings down the cost. As you eliminate VMware hosts due to density increases, you get just about $7,000 back per server ($3,495 x 2 processors), and you also save on the associated Windows DC license ($6,000 - $2,999 x 2 processors). For example, suppose you increase the density to 15 VMs per server under vSphere Enterprise Plus. In this case, your total cost would drop from $199,815 to $134,875, which isn't too far off the Hyper-V cost. If you need fewer features,  you can license vSphere Standard or Advanced and actually save money on the VMware solution.

If you want to play around with the numbers in this cost comparison, the table is available as a downloadable Excel spreadsheet.

VMware Esxcfg command in detail

Esxcfg-firewall

Description: Configures the service console firewall ports
Syntax: esxcfg-firewall <options>

Options:

-q	Lists current settings
-q <service>	Lists settings for the specified service
-q incoming|outgoing	Lists settings for non-required incoming/outgoing ports
-s	Lists known services
-l	Loads current settings
-r	Resets all options to defaults
-e <service>	Allows specified service through the firewall (enables)
-d <service>	Blocks specified service (disables)
-o <port, tcp|udp,in|out,name>	Opens a port
-c <port, tcp|udp,in|out>	Closes a port previously opened by –o
-h	Displays command help
-allowincoming	Allow all incoming ports
-allowoutgoing	Allow all outgoing ports
-blockincoming	Block all non-required incoming ports (default value)
-blockoutgoing	Block all non-required outgoing ports (default value)

Default Services:

AAMClient	Added by the vpxa RPM: Traffic between ESX Server hosts for VMware High Availability (HA) and EMC Autostart Manager – inbound and outbound TCP and UDP Ports 2050 – 5000 and 8042 – 8045
activeDirectorKerberos	Active Directory Kerberos - outbound TCPs Port 88 and 464
CIMHttpServer	First-party optional service: CIM HTTP Server - inbound TCP Port 5988
CIMHttpsServer	First-party optional service: CIM HTTPS Server - inbound TCP Port 5989
CIMSLP	First-party optional service: CIM SLP - inbound and outbound TCP and UDP Ports 427
commvaultDynamic	Backup agent: Commvault dynamic – inbound and outbound TCP Ports 8600 – 8619
commvaultStatic	Backup agent: Commvault static – inbound and outbound TCP Ports 8400 – 8403
ftpClient	FTP client - outbound TCP Port 21
ftpServer	FTP server - inbound TCP Port 21
kerberos	Kerberos - outbound TCPs Port 88 and 749
LicenseClient	FlexLM license server client - outbound TCP Ports 27000 and 27010
nfsClient	NFS client - outbound TCP and UDP Ports 111 and 2049 (0 – 65535)
nisClient	NIS client - outbound TCP and UDP Ports 111 (0 – 65535)
ntpClient	NTP client - outbound UDP Port 123
smbClient	SMB client - outbound TCP Ports 137 – 139 and 445
snmpd	SNMP services - inbound TCP Port 161 and outbound TCP Port 162
sshClient	SSH client - outbound TCP Port 22
sshServer	SSH server - inbound TCP Port 22
swISCSIClient	First-party optional service: Software iSCSI client - outbound TCP Port 3260
telnetClient	NTP client - outbound TCP Port 23
TSM	Backup agent: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager – inbound and outbound TCP Ports 1500
veritasBackupExec	Backup agent: Veritas BackupExec – inbound TCP Ports 10000 – 10200
veritasNetBackup	Backup agent: Veritas NetBackup – inbound TCP Ports 13720, 13732, 13734, and 13783
vncServer	VNC server - Allow VNC sessions 0-64: inbound TCP Ports 5900 – 5964
vpxHeartbeats	vpx heartbeats - outbound UDP Port 902

Note: You can configure your own services in the file /etc/vmware/firewall/services.xml

esxcfg-firewall examples:
Enable ssh client connections from the Service Console:
# esxcfg-firewall -e sshClient
Disable the Samba client connections:
# esxcfg-firewall -d smbClient
Allow syslog outgoing traffic:
# esxcfg-firewall -o 514,udp,out,syslog
Turn off the firewall:
# esxcfg-firewall -allowIncoming
# esxcfg-firewall -allowOutgoing
Re-enable the firewall:
# esxcfg-firewall -blockIncoming
# esxcfg-firewall –blockOutgoing


Esxcfg-nics

Description: Prints a list of physical network adapters along with information on the driver, PCI device, and link state of each NIC. You can also use this command to control a physical network adapter's speed and duplexing.
Syntax: esxcfg-nics <options> [nic]

Options:

-s <speed>	Set the speed of this NIC to one of 10/100/1000/10000. Requires a NIC parameter.
-d <duplex>	Set the duplex of this NIC to one of 'full' or 'half'. Requires a NIC parameter.
-a	Set speed and duplex automatically. Requires a NIC parameter.
-l	Print the list of NICs and their settings.
-r	Restore the NICs configured speed/duplex settings. (Internal use only)
-h	Displays command help

esxcfg-nics examples:
Set the speed and duplex of a NIC (vmnic2) to 100/Full:
esxcfg-nics -s 100 -d full vmnic2
Set the speed and duplex of a NIC (vmnic2) to auto-negotiate:
esxcfg-nics -a vmnic2


Esxcfg-vswitch

Description: Creates and updates virtual machine (vswitch) network settings
Syntax: esxcfg-vswitch <options> [vswitch[:ports]]

Options:

-a	Add a new virtual switch.
-d	Delete the virtual switch.
-l	List all the virtual switches.
-L <pnic>	Set pnic as an uplink for the vswitch.
-U <pnic>	Remove pnic from the uplinks for the vswitch.
-p <portgroup>	Specify a portgroup for operation. Use ALL for operation to work on all portgroups
-v <vlan id>	Set VLAN ID for portgroup specified by -p. 0 would disable the VLAN.
-c	Check to see if a virtual switch exists. Program outputs a 1 if it exists, 0 otherwise.
-A <name>	Add a new portgroup to the virtual switch.
-D <name>	Delete the portgroup from the virtual switch.
-C <name>	Check to see if a portgroup exists. Program outputs a 1 if it exists, 0 otherwise.
-r	Restore all virtual switches from the configuration file (Internal use only)
-h	Displays command help

esxcfg-vswitch examples:
Add a pnic (vmnic2) to a vswitch (vswitch1):
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic2 vswitch1
Remove a pnic (vmnic3) from a vswitch (vswitch0):
esxcfg-vswitch -U vmnic3 vswitch0
Create a portgroup (VM Network3) on a vswitch (vswitch1):
esxcfg-vswitch -A "VM Network 3" vSwitch1
Assign a VLAN ID (3) to a portgroup (VM Network 3) on a vswitch (vswitch1):
esxcfg-vswitch -v 3 -p "VM Network 3" vSwitch1


Esxcfg-vswif

Description: Creates and updates service console network settings. This command is used if you cannot manage the ESX Server host through the VI Client because of network configuration issues.
Syntax: esxcfg-vswif <options> [vswif]

Options:

-a	Add vswif, requires IP parameters. Automatically enables interface.
-d	Delete vswif.
-l	List configured vswifs.
-e	Enable this vswif interface.
-s	Disable this vswif interface.
-p	Set the portgroup name of the vswif.
-i <x.x.x.x> or DHCP	The IP address for this vswif or specify DHCP to use DHCP for this address.
-n <x.x.x.x>	The IP netmask for this vswif.
-b <x.x.x.x>	The IP broadcast address for this vswif. (not required if netmask and ip are set)
-c	Check to see if a virtual NIC exists. Program outputs a 1 if the given vswif exists, 0 otherwise.
-D	Disable all vswif interfaces. (WARNING: This may result in a loss of network connectivity to the Service Console)
-E	Enable all vswif interfaces and bring them up.
-r	Restore all vswifs from the configuration file. (Internal use only)
-h	Displays command help.

Note: You can set the Service Console default gateway by editing the /etc/sysconfig/network file or through the VI Client under Configuration, DNS & Routing.

esxcfg-vswif examples:
Change your Service Console (vswif0) IP and Subnet Mask:
esxcfg-vswif -i 172.20.20.5 -n 255.255.255.0 vswif0
Add a Service Console (vswif0):
esxcfg-vswif -a vswif0 -p "Service Console" -i 172.20.20.40 -n 255.255.255.0


Esxcfg-route

Description: Sets or retrieves the default VMkernel gateway route
Syntax: esxcfg-route <options> [<network> [<netmask>] <gateway>]
<network> can be specified in 2 ways: as a single argument in <network>/<mask> format or as a <network> <netmask> pair.
<gateway> is either an IP address or 'default'

Options:

-a	Add route to the VMkernel, requires network address (or 'default') and gateway IP address.
-d	Delete route from the VMkernel, requires network address (or 'default').
-l	List configured routes for the Service Console.
-r	Restore route setting to configured values on system start. (Internal use only)
-h	Displays command help

esxcfg-route examples:
Set the VMkernel default gateway route:
esxcfg-route 172.20.20.1
Add a route to the VMkernel:
esxcfg-route -a default 255.255.255.0 172.20.20.1


Esxcfg-vmknic

Description: Creates and updates VMkernel TCP/IP settings for VMotion, NAS, and iSCSI
Syntax: esxcfg-vmknic <options> [[portgroup]]

Options:

-a	Add a VMkernel NIC to the system, requires IP parameters and portgroup name.
-d	Delete VMkernel NIC on given portgroup.
-e	Enable the given NIC if disabled.
-D	Disable the given NIC if enabled.
-l	List VMkernel NICs.
-i <x.x.x.x>	The IP address for this VMkernel NIC. Setting an IP address requires that the -n option be given in same command.
-n <x.x.x.x>	The IP netmask for this VMkernel NIC. Setting the IP netmask requires that the -i option be given in the same command.
-r	Restore VMkernel TCP/IP interfaces from configuration file. (Internal use only)
-h	Displays command help

esxcfg-vmknic examples:

Add a VMkernel NIC and set the IP and subnet mask:
esxcfg-vmknic -a "VM Kernel" -i 172.20.20.19 -n 255.255.255.0

What is Changed Block Tracking in vSphere?

CBT is a new feature in vSphere that can keep track of the blocks of a virtual disk that have changed since a certain point in time. This is extremely useful for backup and replication applications that can use this information to greatly improve incremental backup and replication times. Without CBT these applications have to figure out changed blocks on their own so being able to get this information for free using the vStorage advanced programming interfaces is extremely valuable to them.

CBT is not really part of the vStorage APIs but is a new feature of the VMkernel that is built into the storage stack. The CBT feature can be accessed by third-party applications as part of the vStorage APIs for Data Protection. Applications can use the API to query the VMkernel to return the blocks of data that have changed on a virtual disk since the last backup operation. You can use CBT on any type of virtual disk, thick or thin and on any datastore type except for physical mode Raw Device Mappings. This includes both NFS and iSCSI datastores.

Besides requiring vSphere, a prerequisite for using CBT is that a virtual machine must be using version 7 virtual hardware. While this is the default in vSphere (you can still choose the old version 4 hardware that was used in VMware Infrastructure 3, if you upgraded a host from ESX 3 to ESX 4 you must also upgrade the virtual hardware of the VMs to version 7 to use this feature.

The CBT feature is disabled by default; the reason for this is there is a very small bit of overhead that occurs when using it. However this overhead is a small price to pay for the great efficiencies that happen by enabling it. This feature is not global and can be enabled on only select VMs that you want to take advantage of this functionality. It can be enabled either through the vSphere client or by using the SDK. To enable it in the vSphere client you need to add a configuration parameter to each VM using the below steps:

1. Power off the VM. This is necessary to add a configuration parameter, edit the settings of the VM. Select the Options tab, then under Advanced, General click the Configuration Parameters button.

2. Next, click the Add Row button. You first need to add a general parameter for the VM to enable the feature and then add additional ones for each virtual disk that you wish to enable it on. For the general parameter enter "ctkEnabled" for the name and "true" for the value.

3. For each virtual disk you need to add "scsi#:#.ctkEnabled" for the name where the # signs should be replaced by the controller/disk number for each disk. Usually this is 0:0 for the first disk, then 0:1 for the second disk, etc. Also use "true" for the value for this parameter.

4. Click OK when you are done to save it.

An alternate method to enable CBT is using the SDK. Many backup applications that support CBT will automatically do this for you. For details on using the SDK method see this VMware tech note which describes how to use VirtualMachineConfigSpec and ReconfigVM_Task methods to accomplish this programmatically. Typically you will not want to enable this unless you have a specific application that can utilize this feature such as VMware Data Recovery or Veeam Backup & Replication.

Once enabled a VM must go through what is called a stun/unstun cycle for it to take effect. This cycle happens during certain VM operations including power on/off, suspend/resume, create/delete snapshot. During this cycle a VM's disk are reopened which allows a change tracking filter to be inserted into the storage stack for that VM. You might wonder where CBT stores the information about changed blocks for a virtual disk, it does this in a special "-ctk.vmdk" file that is created in each VM's home directory for each virtual disk that it is enabled on.

This size of this file is fixed and does not grow beyond its initial size unless you increase the size of a virtual disk. The size of this file will vary based on the size of a virtual disk which is approximately .5MB for every 10  GB of virtual disk size. Inside this file the state of each block is stored for tracking purposes using sequence numbers that can tell applications if a block has changed or not. One of these files will exist for each virtual disk that CBT is enabled on.

CBT is a great feature that really improves the efficiency and speed of virtual machines' backup, restore and replication operations in vSphere. Several backup applications have already taken advantage of this new feature and are reporting greatly improved incremental backup times and being able to achieve near continuous data protection because of it.

Special thanks to John Troyer and Jon Bock from VMware and Anton Gostev from Veeam for taking the time to help me better understand the vStorage APIs and CBT.

Posted by: Eric Siebert

Eric Siebert, vSphere on http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/

Common Fault issues in VMware Infrastructure

1007819 Dealing with an unresponsive virtual machine

1007802 Confirming a virtual machine is unresponsive

1007805 Locating a virtual machine log files on an ESX host

1000674 Can't stop or kill virtual machine

1004344 Identifying causes of not being able to power cycle ESX Server virtual machines

1007808 Ensuring a virtual machine is not inaccessible due to a VMware VirtualCenter issue

1007813 Troubleshooting a virtual machine that has become unresponsive because of an ESX host

1007814 Troubleshooting a virtual machine that is unresponsive because of configuration issues

1007818 Dealing with unresponsive guest OS issues

1007808 Ensuring a virtual machine is not inaccessible due to a VMware VirtualCenter issue

1003895 Stopping, starting, or restarting the VirtualCenter Server service

1002687 Virtual machine stops responding in a Power On state in VirtualCenter

7114568 Cannot Power on Virtual Machines, "Not enough licenses installed to perform operation" Error Message

1004592 Vmware VirtualCenter console displays handshake error.

1007813 Troubleshooting a virtual machine that has become unresponsive because of an ESX host

1003751 Verifying that ESX virtual machine storage is accessible

1004144 ESX Server virtual machines stop responding due to shared storage connectivity issues

1003755 Verifying sufficient free disk space for an ESX virtual machine

1003564 Investigating disk space on an ESX host

1003659 Identifying shared storage issues with ESX 3.x

1006791 Server stops responding and shows errors on a purple screen

10051 Virtual machine does not power on because of missing or locked files

1003690 Ensuring your hardware is functioning correctly

1004005 [Internal] Third Party System Management agents in the Service Console

1007814 Troubleshooting a virtual machine that is unresponsive because of configuration issues

1005734 Troubleshooting a virtual machine that stops responding or fails when the CD-ROM entry is ATAPI

1001637 Virtual machine does not power on and there is high CPU reservation

1002025 Virtual machine stops responding during backup

1002836 Why snapshot removal can stop a virtual machine virtual machine for long time

1003164 Guest stops responding after connecting a USB CD-ROM

1007818 Dealing with unresponsive guest OS issues

1004007 Investigating operating system disk space

1007577 Do not use guest OS performance tools to monitor virtual machine performance

1007866 Using Windows Event Viewer to identify the cause of an unresponsive or failed virtual machine

1004764 Unable to shutdown Windows using Shutdown Guest option

Brought to you by VMwarewolf.com VMware and Virtualization Technical Discussions from a VMware Technical Support Engineer

Resolving VMware ESX problems without pulling the plug

Differences between virtual machines and physical servers highlight the unique challenges of resolving virtual machine issues. On a physical server you can always pull the power plug as a last resort before restarting a server. But this strategy may not work on virtual machines, which only have virtual power switches. There are, however, a few toolkits available that either help prevent problems, or make your troubleshooting process easier. I'll discuss several of these in this tip, and give you step-by-step instructions on how to fix various common problems. VMware Tools The first set of tools you want to familiarize yourself with is VMware Tools. VMware Tools is a set of enhanced drivers and applications that installs on your virtual machine's (VMs) operating system. As a best practice, you should make a habit of always installing VMware Tools to ensure the optimal performance and stability of your VM. Also, double check to make sure that you're running the latest version of VMware Tools after you install any upgrades to ESX (incidentally, some ESX patches will also require updates to VMware Tools). There is a column in the Virtual Machine view in the VMware Infrastructure Client (VI Client) that will show the VMware Tools status of every VM and whether it is OK, out of date or not installed. Virtual machine file types As part of the troubleshooting process, you'll need to understand all the various file types involved with fixing a possible problem. Let's review the files associated with a virtual machine: .nvram file – This file contains the CMOS/BIOS for the VM. .vmdk files – These are the disk files that are created for each virtual hard drive in your VM. There are three different types of files that use the vmdk extension, they are: *–flat.vmdk file - This is the actual raw disk file that is created for each virtual hard drive. *.vmdk file – This is the disk descriptor file which describes the size and geometry of the virtual disk file. *–delta.vmdk file - This is the differential file created when you take a snapshot of a VM (also known as REDO log) .vmx file – This file is the primary configuration file for a virtual machine. When you create a new virtual machine and configure the hardware settings for it that information is stored in this file. .vswp file – This is the VM swap file (earlier ESX versions had a per host swap file) and is created to allow for memory overcommitment on a ESX server. .vmss file – This file is created when a VM is put into Suspend (pause) mode and is used to save the suspend state. .log file – This is the file that keeps a log of the virtual machine activity and is useful in troubleshooting virtual machine problems. .vmxf file – This is a supplemental configuration file in text format for virtual machines that are in a team. .vmsd file – This file is used to store metadata and information about snapshots. .vmsn file - This is the snapshot state file, which stores the exact running state of a virtual machine at the time you take that snapshot. Log files Once you understand VM file types, you'll want to become very familiar with log files. Log files are the best method for troubleshooting problems with virtual machines. It's the first place you should check when problems occur. The most important file is the Vmware.log file. This is the main log file for the VM on the ESX server, and is located in the working directory for the VM. Vmware.log is always the current working log for the VM and older log files are incremented numerically, i.e. vmware-1.log You should also check /var/log/vmkernel and /var/log/vmware/hostd.log on the ESX host for any errors that may be related to the problem you are experiencing with your VM. Sometimes, restarting the hostd service (service mgmt-vmware restart) on the ESX host will resolve quirky problems with virtual machines. For more common problems, there are more specific techniques that will likely resolve your problem; I'll go over these next. Problem: Can't shut down a virtual machine Let's say you can not shutdown a VM using the VM power controls. You can try using command line methods to try and manually kill your stuck VM. There are several methods for doing this below. Employ these methods only as a last resort, short of restarting your ESX host. The first option you should always try is the command line equivalent to using the VI Client which is the vmware-cmd command. Login to the service console Type "vmware-cmd –l" to get a list of all VMs and their paths You can check the VM state by typing "vmware-cmd //.vmx getstate" To forcibly stop type vmware-cmd //.vmx stop hard" Check VM state again, it should now be off Type "vmware-cmd //.vmx start" to power on VM The second option is to try and manually kill the VM's process by finding its process identifier (pid) and issuing the kill command to terminate it. Login to the service console Type "vmware-cmd –l" to get a list of all VM's and there paths You can check the VM state by typing "vmware-cmd //.vmx getstate" Type "ps -ef | grep " The second column is your pid of the vmkload_app of the virtual machine, you can also type "ps –eaf" to see all running processes Type "kill -9 " Check VM state again, it should now be off Type "vmware-cmd //.vmx start" to power on VM The last option is to use the vm-support to command to try and force the VM to shutdown. Login to the service console Get the vmid of the VM you want to kill by typing "vm-support –x" or "cat /proc/vmware/vm/*/names" Kill the VM and generate core dumps and logs by typing "vm-support –X " You will be prompted if you want to include a screenshot of the VM, send an NMI to the VM and send an abort command to the VM. You must answer yes to the abort question to kill the VM. The entire process will take about 5-10 minutes to run. It will create a tar archive in the directory. Problem: Can't power on a virtual machine Another common problem may be that you can not power on a VM. This can happen if the host server does not have enough resources for the VM to use. For example, if the VM has a memory reservation set and the ESX host does not have enough physical memory to meet the reservation, then it cannot power on the VM. If this happens you can either remove the memory reservation from the VM and migrate it to another host with more free physical memory, or you can free up physical memory on the existing host. Also, when a VM is powered on it needs to create a vswp file in the working directory of the VM on the ESX host that is equal to the amount of RAM assigned to the VM (minus any memory reservations). If there is not sufficient disk space on your ESX host, then you will also not be able to power on the VM. A workaround it to set a memory reservation equal to the amount of RAM assigned to the VM so the vswp file will be 0 bytes in size. It's important, however, to always take care to leave additional disk space on your VMFS volumes for things like logs, swap files and snapshots. Problem: Virtual machine encountering boot errors due to OS corruption If a VM is having problems while booting due to operating system corruption or faulty configuration, a good way to deal with this is to add its virtual disk to another working VM so you can access the drive and make any needed repairs. To repair the VM, you should make sure the problem VM is powered off. Next add an additional drive to a working VM and browse to the problem VM's disk file. Boot the working VM; you can now access the drive of the problem VM to make any changes or corrections. When you are done remove the drive from the working VM, add it back to the problem VM and try booting it again. Problem: General virtual machine OS issues For troubleshooting problems with the VM's operating system, I create a toolkit of ISO files that contain helpful troubleshooting applications that I can quickly mount on a VM's CD-ROM and use (or boot from) to make repairs to a VM. A few of the ISO files I use include: Sysinternals utilities - Great utilities for troubleshooting Windows server problems. Gparted – A Linux-based disk partition editor. Knoppix - A Linux-based live CD with many tools and applications. Ultimate Boot CD - A live CD with many system repairs and testing tools. UBCD4Win - A Windows-based live CD with many system repairs and testing tools. Conclusions These are just a few of the problems and techniques that you will use when troubleshooting virtual machine problems. The information in this article should help you the next time you experience a problem with a troublesome VM.

 

VMware is at a crucial point in its 11-year history

The virtualization leader now faces its most serious challenge yet -- from Microsoft's much-improved Hyper-V R2 hypervisor.

Some on Wall Street say the company's stock is overvalued. And a leading IT analyst thinks VMware could be headed for a Novell-like downfall.

It's enough to make the IT world -- even VMware Inc.'s proponents -- wonder whether the company is losing its allure as the go-to virtualization vendor.

"The sky's not falling, but it's drizzling," said Brad Maltz, the chief technology officer of International Computerware Inc., a VMware partner in Marlborough, Mass. "The Microsoft message is getting stronger. It's not something [VMware] can't handle, but it's something they have to keep their eye on."

 

VMware draws Novell comparison
This competition from Microsoft, which just released Hyper-V R2 to manufacturing last month, is the point of origin for all other questions about Microsoft. .

When financial analysts told Reuters that VMware's stock price was poised to go down, it was because the company had "yet to factor in the competitive threat" from Microsoft (and potentially Oracle as well).

And when Gartner Research Inc. Vice President David Cappuccio wrote that VMware could lose its leadership role in the virtualization market, he compared the company to Novell Inc. -- the former software giant that Microsoft took down handilyin the 1990s.

And that brings us to VMware's standing today. Long seen as the dominant player in virtualization, VMware leads in features, management tools and market share, but Hyper-V R2 offers expanded management tools and other new capabilities that could change all that.

"Clients we're talking to aren't running away [from VMware] right now, but a lot of them are taking a wait-and-see attitude with Microsoft's Hyper-V R2," Cappuccio said in an interview.

That's got to make VMware take a very close look at history, he said. Back in 1995, Microsoft was a non-player in the Novell-dominated LAN software market. Even when Microsoft came out with a free Windows 95 networking application, Novell didn't worry, because it wasn't enterprise-ready.

But what Novell didn't count on was that technology geeks inside corporate IT departments "fooled around with [Windows 95], and over a few years it became pervasive," Cappuccio said. "The danger for VMware is that is exactly what will happen for enterprise virtualization."

 

Is Microsoft Hyper-V R2 'good enough'?
If Hyper-V R2 proves to be a good enough virtualization alternative for what corporate IT departments need, that's when VMware will need to start worrying, Cappuccio said.

Dave Sobel, CEO of Evolve Technologies, a Microsoft partner and managed services provider in Fairfax, Va., agreed.

"Microsoft is clearly gunning for the virtualization space, and they have a pretty good track record of making a dent in a space that they want to be in," he said.

Another real problem for VMware is that Hyper-V R2's management tools now manage VMware's ESX hypervisor, while VMware's tools won't manage Hyper-V R2. That's big for users who want to use both hypervisors, because only Hyper-V R2 will be able to manage the entire environment, Cappuccio said.

"I would hope [VMware is] paying attention," he added. "My fear is that 'good enough' always wins out in the long run, and if it's good enough and pervasive, VMware may lose out."

What has to worry VMware even more is that improvements in hardware mean that companies can add new servers with additional processors and cores and still use them under their existing licensing agreements. That's great for users, but it hurts VMware's sales of new licenses, said Chris Wolf, an analyst with the Midvale, Utah-based Burton Group.

 

VMware vs. Microsoft in the future
One factor in VMware's favor is its long head start in the market, Wolf said. For VMware's existing customers, the new features in Hyper-V R2 -- including hot-add and remove storage capabilities andLive Migration -- won't be enough to lure them to Microsoft, he said.

"Our clients who have done large-scale deployments don't see Hyper-V R2 as having enough features for them to move," he added. "However, some are saying they'll look at one more release cycle [for Hyper-V] and then do another assessment."

VMware most stands to lose with companies that are not yet using any virtualization and are shopping for the right vendor, Wolf said. Those customers will likely look at VMware, Microsoft and Citrix Systems Inc.'s XenServer to decide on the right choices.

"Microsoft and Citrix both, I think, are going to get a reasonable part of the market," Wolf said.

Hyper-V R2 will likely add new users in the small and medium-sized business sector, because of the new features and an ingrained familiarity with Microsoft products and support, Wolf said.

Still, "virtualization is going to remain a multibillion-dollar business, and VMware is going to remain the market leader for the next few years," he added. "VMware and its position, especially in the data center, remain unchallenged. It's going to take some time for competitors to chip away."

 

Sobel said VMware isn't necessarily on the ropes now, but there are new opportunities for Microsoft.

"Microsoft's hypervisor is now equivalent in all the key areas," he said. "The Live Migration stuff takes away the VMware advantage. That has always been held up as the feature that VMware had that made them the leader." And Hyper-V's constant improvements will continue to put pressure on VMware, said Rick Vanover, a corporate system administrator and independent virtualization expert.

 

"VMware is the leader," he said. "[VMware has] to look over its shoulder and nobody else has that burden."

Article link: http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid94_gci1364388,00.html

10 things you should do to successfully manage your workplan

Project managers are sometimes diligent about creating an initial workplan (schedule), but then they don't manage it during the project. Although the initial workplan will help you launch your project, issues will come up that require the workplan to be modified and updated. On most projects, you can follow this simple 10-step process to manage the workplan. If you do this weekly, you'll probably find it takes less than one hour per week-maybe only 30 minutes or so.

1: Update and review the workplan with progress to-date

This is probably a weekly process. For larger projects, the frequency might be every two weeks. A simple routine is to have the team members send you status updates on Friday with progress on the activities assigned to them during the week. The project manager then updates the workplan on Monday morning to reflect the current status.

2: Capture and update actual hours (optional)

If you're capturing actual effort hours and costs, update the workplan with this information.

3: Reschedule the project

Run your scheduling tool to see if the project will be completed within the original effort, cost, and duration estimates.

4: Review your schedule situation

See if you're trending past your due date. If you are, you will need to determine how you can get back on schedule.

5: Review your budget situation

Review how your project is performing against your budget. Because of the way financial reporting is done, you may need to manage the budget on a monthly basis.

6: Look for other signs that the project may be in trouble

These trouble signs could include team morale problems, quality problems, a pattern of late work, etc. Look for ways to remedy these problems once you discover them.

7: Adjust the workplan and add more details to future work

When the workplan was created, many of the activities that are further into the future may have been vague and placed into the workplan at a high level. On a monthly basis, this work needs to be defined in greater detail. You should always maintain a rolling three months of detailed activities on your workplan.

8: Evaluate the critical path of the project and then keep your eye on it

It's possible for the critical path to change during the project.

9: Update your project forecast

After you've updated your workplan to reflect the work remaining to complete the project, you should also estimate the cost of the remaining work. This is usually referred to as "forecasting."

10: Communicate any schedule and budget risk

If you're at risk of missing your budget or deadline, communicate this risk to the sponsor and management stakeholders. You don't have to state that you will miss your estimates for sure. However, you should start to communicate the risk while you implement actions to try to get the project back on track.

Note: This list is based on the article "Proactively manage your workplan using this ten step process." It's also available as a PDF download.

Migration paths from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 are summarized below.

Migration paths from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 RC0 evaluation software are summarized below. Final migration paths for the RTM versions of Windows Server 2008 will be determined in the coming months.

If you are running*:		You can upgrade to:
Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2)		Full installation of Windows Server 2008 Standard (with or without Hyper-V) Full installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (with or without Hyper-V)
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2)		Full installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (with or without Hyper-V)
Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2)		Full installation of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (with or without Hyper-V)

*Note:  With the exception of Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems, this table applies equally to 32-bit and x64-based versions. However, cross-platform upgrades (32-bit to 64-bit or the reverse) are not supported.

Link to Debugging Tools for Windows

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging/default.mspx

Tackling Your Toughest Windows Server Outages

1. Which driver crashed my server?
2. Troubleshooting print spooler crashes
3. Finding Windows memory leaks

Planning your server room

Click here to download "Planning your server room" file.

Choosing your server and storage

Click here to download the pdf

Business Plan template

"Click here to download business plan template"

ESX command line tools

An impressive Server Virtualization video from Dell

http://content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/virtualization/VMWare-Infrastructure-3-on-Dell-PowerEdge-Servers.aspx?dgc=EM&cid=45076&lid=1195674&acd=1739396715

Good article on "Recovery from a complete domain-level Active Directory crash"

What could possibly be worse than having a server on your network crash? How about having every server on your network become inaccessible because of a massive, domain-wide Active Directory failure? As horrifying as a total domain failure may sound, the solution could be just as scary. You may be able to salvage the domain, but, if you can’t, you may have to strip the domain bare, delete the domain, re-create the domain, and finally, add the servers back into the domain. In this Daily Drill Down, I’ll show you how to recover from a domain-level Active Directory failure and hopefully avoid this worst-case scenario.

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Back up now before it’s too late
Recovering from a domain-level Active Directory failure is a major undertaking. Therefore, make absolutely certain that you have a good backup of your entire Active Directory before you try any of these techniques.
You should also make sure that you’ve tried every other possible diagnostic and repair technique before attempting to work through any of the techniques that I’m about to discuss. These techniques may solve your problem, but they stand an equal chance of destroying Active Directory totally. But if you’re sure you’re ready, let’s roll the dice.
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Trying to save the domain
As you may recall, there are various operations master roles associated with some of the critical Active Directory functions. Some of these roles are forest-based and others are domain-based. A domain can’t function if the domain-level operation master roles are not being performed. Therefore, there’s a chance that rather than having a corrupt Active Directory database, you may simply have a domain controller that’s failing to perform its designated roles.

The first step to recovering from such a problem is to note which servers are performing which roles. You need to make note of the forest-level roles as well as the domain-level roles. The reason for this is that if the forest-level roles are being handled by a domain controller within the failing domain, then you certainly don’t want to do anything to disrupt the servers that are performing the server-level roles. If the forest-level roles are handled by a domain controller within the failing domain and the rest of your domains seem to be functioning correctly, it’s a good indication that you may simply have a domain-level role failure rather than an entire domain failure.

When the entire domain fails, the other domains usually won’t be able to communicate with the failed domain and would therefore also cease to function. You can locate detailed instructions for locating the various server roles in the Daily Drill Down “Understanding Windows 2000 domain controller operations master roles.”

Once you’ve determined which server holds the domain-level operation master roles, try transferring those roles to another domain controller. If no other domain controllers exist within the domain, try temporarily installing a copy of Windows 2000 Server onto a spare PC and making the spare server a domain controller. Then, attempt to transfer the roles to it.

To transfer a role, open Active Directory Users And Computers. Next, right-click on the domain name and select the Connect To Domain Controller command from the resulting context menu. Now, select the domain controller that you want to transfer the role to from the list of domain controllers and click OK. Finally, right-click on the domain name and select the Operations Master command from the context menu.

When you do, you’ll see the Operations Master properties sheet. As you go through each tab on the properties sheet, you’ll see the name of the server that presently holds the designated role and the name of the server that you selected to transfer the role to. To transfer the role, click the Change button. After you’ve transferred each role, click OK to close the properties sheet.

If the domain has serious-enough problems, you may not be able to transfer the roles. If this is the case, you’ll have to seize the roles. The stipulation for doing so is that in order to seize a role, you must take the server that presently holds the roles offline. Once offline, you must never reattach the server to the network or you’ll risk destroying the entire Active Directory. Of course, you can always format the server and bring it back online with a new copy of Windows.

To seize a role, open the command prompt window and enter the following commands:

NTDSUTIL
ROLES
CONNECTIONS
CONNECT TO SERVER servername (where “servername” is the server that you’re going to move the role to)
QUIT


Now, enter one of the following commands to seize the role (the exact command depends on which role you want to seize):

SEIZE INFRASTRUCTURE MASTER
SEIZE RID MASTER
SEIZE PDC


Removing an orphaned domain
Normally, when you use the DCPROMO command to demote a domain controller, the DCPROMO utility will ask you if the domain controller that you’re demoting is the last domain controller in the domain. If it is, then after the demotion is complete, the DCPROMO utility will automatically remove all of the metadata related to the domain from Active Directory.

To sum up, DCPROMO should erase the domain from Active Directory automatically after the last domain controller has been demoted. Unfortunately, things aren’t always this easy. It’s possible for Active Directory corruption or a catastrophic hardware failure to shut down domain controllers without you ever having the chance to demote them. If Active Directory thinks that domain controllers still exist within the domain, then you won’t be able to delete the domain through the usual method. When Active Directory can no longer recognize or interact with a particular domain because of corruption within Active Directory, the domain is said to be “orphaned.”

To remove an orphaned domain, start NTDSUTIL by opening a command prompt, typing NTDSUTIL, and pressing [Enter]. When the NTDSUTIL prompt appears, type METADATA CLEANUP and press [Enter].

Next, connect to the server you’ll be cleaning up by typing CONNECTIONS and pressing [Enter]. Doing so will display the Server Connections prompt. Next, type CONNECT TO SERVER servername where “servername” is the name of the server you’re connecting to. After entering this command, you should see two messages. One of these messages states that NTDSUTIL is binding itself to the specified server using the supplied credentials. The next message confirms the connection.

If you don’t receive these messages, try reentering your credentials using the SET CREDS command and then try the CONNECT TO SERVER command once again. If the command still doesn’t work, check your ability to communicate with the target server.

After you connect to the target server, type QUIT and press [Enter]. This will return you to the METADATA CLEANUP prompt. Next, type SELECT OPERATION TARGET and press [Enter]. This will take you to the SELECT OPERATION TARGET prompt. Next, enter the LIST DOMAINS command. When you do, the NTDSUTIL command will inform you of how many domains it is aware of in the forest and will display each domain and a corresponding number.

Locate the domain that the failing domain controller belongs to and make note of the number that corresponds to it. Now, type SELECT DOMAIN number and press [Enter]. In this command, you should replace the word “number” with the number that corresponds to the domain with which you want to work.

Once you’ve selected the domain, you will see a confirmation message that tells you what domain you are attached to and also informs you that you aren’t presently connected to any specific site or server. This is fine because you are working with a domain-level issue rather than a site-level or a server-level problem. When you get this confirmation message, double- and triple-check to make sure that you’ve selected the correct domain. Otherwise, you could destroy the wrong domain.

When you’re sure that you’re working with the correct domain, enter the QUIT command to return to the METADATA CLEANUP prompt. Finally, type the command REMOVE SELECTED DOMAIN, take a deep breath, and press [Enter]. You should see a confirmation message stating that the domain was deleted.

If you receive an error message, it could be because the domain was already deleted through the natural process or by another administrator. It’s also possible that you could get an error message if Active Directory still contains computer accounts or domain controller accounts. Simply having computer or domain controller accounts present won’t always make the process fail, but I have seen it happen. If you receive such an error, then use the technique that I present in the next section to fix the problem.

You must now complete the process by entering the QUIT command twice, followed by the EXIT command. Remember that you’ve only deleted the reference to the domain from a single domain controller. You must wait for the next replication cycle to complete before the domain will be wiped off of other domain controllers. Once the replication cycle is complete, you’ll be free to begin rebuilding the domain.

Removing orphaned domains that have computer or domain controller accounts present
If my previous technique fails, it could be because computer or domain controller accounts still exist within Active Directory. Normally, you’d use a domain controller within the domain to remove the computer accounts and then do a DCPROMO to demote all of the domain controllers. However, if all of your domain controllers are failing, this may not be an option.

If this is the case, take all of the domain controllers in the failing domain offline. Next, use a domain controller in a different domain to open Active Directory Users And Computers. Remove all of the computer accounts from the failing domain. Remember that since the domain controllers are gone, the computers will never be able to attach to the old domain again once they are removed from Active Directory. You’ll have to reconstruct the domain and then manually reattach the computers to the new version of the domain.

Once you’ve removed all of the computer accounts, you can use the technique in the Daily Drill Down “Picking up the pieces after a failed domain controller demotion” to remove all of the domain controller accounts from the domain. Once you’ve completed this step, you should have no trouble removing the orphaned domain by using the technique that I discussed earlier.

Conclusion
You may be familiar with the saying “We had to destroy the village in order to save it,” the point of which applies to failed domains as well as doomed villages. Recovering from a complete domain failure can be a study in futile rescue efforts. You may be able to save the failed domain, but, if you can’t, you may have to completely destroy and then rebuild the domain that’s damaged. However, by going ahead and destroying the malfunctioning domain, you are cutting out the corruption in Active Directory. Once you’ve removed the corruption, Active Directory will be healthy once again. You’re then free to rebuild the domain.

From: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1060500.html