VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool

The March issue of the TechNet magazine had a Utility Spotlight on an excellent tool by Matthijs ten Seldam called the VMC2HV Import Tool: TechNet Magazine: Utility Spotlight VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool.

This is a screenshot from the above article:

VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool

The tool enables us to take a Virtual Server based virtual machine along with the requisite VMC file settings and import them into Hyper-V so that there is very disruption to the virtual machine.

Matthijs also has a blog post on the tool: VMC to Hyper-V Import Tool Available.

The tool can be downloaded via the TechNet article, or Matthijs’s blog post.

From Matthijs’s blog:

So what does the tool offer? In a list of features:

· Import of VMC files of both VS2005 and VPC2007

· Creation of VM on local Hyper-V host

· Creation of VM on remote Hyper-V host

· Validation of virtual disk and ISO files in local scenario

· Editing of virtual drive image paths (vhd, vfd, iso)

· Swapping of the first SCSI disk with the first IDE disk

· Specification of static MAC addresses

· Specification of either legacy (emulated) or enhanced network adapter

· Specification of # of virtual processors and resource control

· Specification of management settings

· Specification of COM ports

· Specification of device boot order

· Specification of alternate Virtual Machine path

· Built-in help in CHM file

· Support for both x86 and x64 Vista and Server 2008

For those of us still in the process of migrating VMs from Virtual Server to Hyper-V without the use of System Center Virtual Machine Manager, this tool is quite handy.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Virtual Server 2K5 R2 SP1 - Error: Microsoft Virtual Server Storage Bus - The parameter is incorrect.

In this particular case, we were working with three virtual servers. Two are x86 based Xeon setups and one is x64 Xeon Quad Core based.

The x86 based Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2s took the Service Pack 1 with no issues. Both machines were happy with the update.

The x64 based system with a host OS of Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 SP2, which is also hosts the Admin Site via HTTPS/Host Header, choked:

Security Alert - Driver Installation
The driver software you are installing for:
Microsoft Virtual Server Storage Bus

has not been properly signed with Authenticode(TM) technology.
Therefore, Windows cannot tell if the software has been modified since it was published. The publisher's identity cannot be verified because of a problem:
The parameter is incorrect.
Do you still want to install this software?

This is where it gets really fun.

No matter which option, Yes or No, we choose we get:

Rolling back action

We tried everything we could come up with to get the Service Pack to take. Nothing worked.

Now, since we did the admin system last, we were stuck as none of the production VMs were online as a result of those systems receiving the Virtual Server SP1 too. Not even the Virtual Machine Remote Control Client Plus could connect to any of the virtual servers to get those machines started. We were completely stuck.

Things would not be so bad if we could find anything relevant on the Internet in relation to this error. But, we hit the brick wall ... and hard. There is seemingly nothing out there about this specific problem applying Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 to an x64 Enterprise based Virtual Server install ... nothing!

Since this was a business critical situation, there were production machines down, we needed to call the Partner Support Hotline to take advantage of our Partner Perk of free business critical support.

After obtaining our SRX0711... number, we were put on with Vaseem A. who listened intently to the situation. We had to connect to an MS support site to allow him access to the server desktop. Once connected, and he had control, we got to sit back and watch. ;)

It is not too difficult to get first impressions by the initial steps a remotely connected person goes through. Especially for those of us who have a good chunk of server management under our belts. Vaseem demonstrated an excellent level of knowledge and understanding of the products he was working with: Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard SP2 as the host and Virtual Server 2005 R2 as the virtual server.

Even then, it took some time to figure out what the source of the problem was.

A big clue as to what was causing the problem was found in C:\Windows\SetupAPI.log:

#W366 ... The parameter is incorrect.
...
#W360 ... The certificate is not valid for the requested usage
...
#E122, E157 ... Driver is not intended for this platform

Vaseem ended up uninstalling Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise x64 off of the machine, cleaning out the Program Files directory, he exported the MSVS registry settings then renamed them "settingkeyold". The server was then rebooted. Vaseem then ran the VS 2K5 R2 SP1 install routine again. The error did not return!

When the server was rebooted, the host header and ports for the management site were properly set and the SSL certificate was set to the site, we had the Admin site came up. It took some time to get to this point, so before we allowed Vaseem to continue, we fired up the VMs on the other two servers so at least the critical production systems were back online. Since this is a Constrained Delegation setup, we were able to confirm that the setup was still functional when we were able to connect to the other x86 based Virtual Servers.

After all of this, the Virtual Server service refused to start on the server we were working on! :(

An examination of the directory that Virtual Server installs to showed that the files were all correct, we checked the permissions on the VM folders (in a non-standard location) and they looked correct, and verified the service settings in services.msc. All looked 100%.

What ended up being the cause of the VS service falling flat on its face was the registry settings. The Virtual Serverold key was still there as Vareem had left it ... but the Virtual Server SP1 install routine failed to create a new Virtual Server key.

So, uninstall VS 2K5 R2 SP1, clean out the directories, export the registry keys and this time delete all of them, reboot and reinstall.

After the server had rebooted, we made the necessary site port, SSL, host header, and IP settings changes to the VS site in IIS Admin, and we verified connectivity to the site. It worked, and showed all three servers available!

Wow! What a lot of work to get things up and running.

We fired up the final 4 VMs on the x64 box and said, "Whoo hoo!" :D

There are times where we have heard negative things about the over seas crew that Microsoft utilizes for some of their support duties. To date, we have been very fortunate that every time we have had the need to utilize the business critical support, they have come through in Spades.

Thank you Vaseem for helping us out of a bind! :D

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Virtual Server - VM Memory & CPU requirements

We have been working with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP 1 for our virtualization needs.

The two key physical limitations to the number of virtual machines, in our experience, are the amount of memory installed and the speed and number of cores on the CPUs.

Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 x64 serves most of our virtualization needs. With the /PAE switch in boot.ini, we get to address as much RAM as we need.

For Intel based uniprocessor servers we are limited to 8 GB of RAM. For dual processor servers we are limited to 32 GB of RAM.

We tend to configure one (1) virtual machine for each core on a processor. For a Quad Core uniprocessor server we would run a maximum of 4 virtual machines. For a V8 server, dual Quad Core CPUs, we would run a maximum of 8 virtual machines.

This setup is, of course, based on the limitations of VS 2K5 of one core to one virtual machine.

VMWare Server would give us the option of dual SMP - two cores - for a virtual machine if the situation warranted. We would reduce the number of VMs running on the host OS accordingly.

A good portion of our client based virtualization needs are for remote desktop serving. The ability to run virtual XP Pro or Vista Business desktops provides flexibility for Group Policy based desktop security, user and application limitations via Group Policy, Line of Business apps that may not be able to be installed on a Terminal Server, Remote Web Workplace access via "Connect to my computer at work", and more.

An XP Pro VM can run quite comfortably on 512 MB of RAM while on a dual 3.06 GHz Intel Xeon based server. Virtualization is one place where Hyper-Threading actually works.

Windows Vista Business will require a minimum of 1 GB of RAM when running virtually. Anything less than that and Vista takes a pretty heavy performance hit.

We tend to set at least 2 GB of RAM to a virtualized SBS installation. That is the minimum we would install on a physical SBS installation, so we stick with it for VMs.

Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 serving DNS to the Internet can run on 256 MB of RAM. Install Exchange and the memory requirements jump up to at least 1 GB with 2 GB being better. ISA virtualized will run okay on 512 MB but better on 1 GB.

A rule of thumb is to leave a minimum of 384 MB of RAM for the host OS. Make sure that only the host OS basics are installed. For Windows Server 2003 Standard R2, remove or disable all nonessential services to lean out the OS.

So far, virtualization has done great things for our clients and for us. It can greatly reduce the costs of running a few extra dedicated remote desktops when all of the client's staff is laptop based. It can provide a single box solution for a number of light duty server roles that are easy to backup and restore as needed and in short order.

For those of us in IT, it eliminates the hardware/$$$ limitation on our testing labs. One V8 server will serve most small shop's server/client VM environmental needs. No more need to have four, five, or more boxes with a KVM or two just for those lab situations where we need to test whether our client boxes will blow up with the next run of updates and patches!

It also gives us a tremendous time saver: Undo Disks! With undo disks enabled, if that run of patches or updates does blow up the virtualized client SBS or other server box, we can undo the patches by discarding the changes and then start again. Hopefully we will be able to figure out which patch is causing the problems with what installed component and go from there.

All in all, virtualization can provide an excellent way for us to create some pretty neat solutions for our clients with a very attractive price point.

This is needed to enable Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 x64 to access installed RAM above 4 GB: Microsoft KB 283037: Large memory support is available in Windows Server 2003 and in Windows 2000

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Virtual Server - Upgrading to SP1 - Restore Error Fix and some suggestions.

When upgrading to Service Pack 1 on Virtual Server 2005 R2 it is important that any virtual machines running on the server are shut down as opposed to saving their state before applying the Service Pack.

If their state was saved before the update, you will get the following error:

"VirtualMachine" could not be restored because of a host processor type mismatch.

If you see this error, stop the Virtual Server service and rename all of your virtual machine's .vsv files to .vsv.bak or the like.

Do this for all of them, restart the Virtual Server service, and then proceed to start the VMs from the Virtual Server Web Console or via VMRCplus (the Virtual Machine Remote Control Client Plus is a pretty kewl little VM management utility).

The warning given in the VMRCplus console that the Virtual Machine additions (VMA) edition is out of date:


One small caveat just discovered with the VMRCplus utility: When trying to mount an ISO that is on the local Virtual Server x: drive, the VMRCplus utility brings a dialogue box up that is tied to the machine/workstation the utility is being run on. No list of available ISOs for that particular Virtual Server is there like can be seen in the Virtual Server Management Web Console.

When Service Packing the Virtual Server installations, it is also a perfect opportunity to also install any waiting OS updates on the host OS.

Once the upgrade has finished, and all of the VMs are up and running, the next step is to install the updated Virtual Machine additions on all of the VMs.

So far, on our VMs running W2K Server and Server 2K3 the previous VMA versions are seemingly gone so the VMA update is required. Upon logging on to the VM the Virtual Server will only allow the VMA installation. After the install and a reboot the VM will be good to go.

Virtual Server SP1 VMA version: 13.885
Virtual Server Vista VMA inital beta version: 13.709

Answer for the error curtesy of ASPDeveloper.net: Virtual Server 2005.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.