Windows Server 2008 SP1 - Hyper-V Beta review

03/01/08

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I previously looked at Windows Server 2008 RC0 and RC1. Microsoft recently released Windows Server 2008 that also incorporates service pack 1. Server 2008 and Vista share some of the same architecture, so it was not too surprising that Server 2008 SP1 and Vista SP1 both coincided.

Server 2008 was installed as a server reinstall on top of RC1.  The install was done as a clean install and went very smoothly. After install, the visual enhancements were enabled which includes the Aero interface and turning on the Audio service.  The Creative audio card driver was installed.  One thing nice about Windows Server 2008 is that it can use, in most cases, Vista x64 drivers.  One issue was found when attempting to install the ATI X1300 Vista x64 drivers.  The OS reported that there no installable components and refused to install the driver.  This was strange since the driver installed perfectly well in RC0 and RC1. 

Installing the new nVidia 9600GT in the server and using the x64 Vista drivers went without issues.  Please refer to the nVidia 9600 GT install article located here.

Before reinstallation of the OS, I did an export of the two Vista x64 virtual machines that I had configured on the server.  After enabling Hyper-V, I was able to import both VMs into Hyper-V. Upon starting the virtual machines, both made it to the login prompt, but unfortunately one of the two VM’s got black screen and the other a blue screen.  I was unable to turn off either VM from the console.  After rebooting the server both VM’s booted properly to the desktop. The virtual network adapter needed to be reconfigured.  Due to the changes in the virtual network adapter name settings, the new virtual adapter needed to be reassigned to each VM.

Both virtual machines appeared fairly stable, but for some reason did not feel as responsive as in RC1, but then again it could be my imagination.

The VMs were configured as below:

VM1

VM2

I attempted to play the resource intensive game Crysis (demo) on the host OS.  There was some lag when both VMs were running.  I incorrectly assumed that the server was dynamically allocating resources as needed, but it appears that when the memory is assigned to a VM, it cannot be used by the host OS.  After turning off VM1, the game was very responsive and smooth.  Turning off both VM’s added to the improved game play.

Remoting into VM1 from a Windows Vista PC on the same intranet (Gigabit) provided a very good user experience and nearly had the feel of working on a stand-alone machine.  Vista and Server 2008 are made to work together for optimal performance.  Videos played on the VM were smoother than remoting into another Vista machine, but still not a pleasant viewing experience.  It would be great if the remote desktop client screen refresh was fast enough to accommodate video.

Conclusion:
Windows 2008 will give VMware™ some competition.  Virtualization being a key technology in many data centers, allows companies to leverage compatible Windows severs to replace multiple hardware servers.  This can save companies 10s of thousands of dollars a year in hardware and support costs.
A small company could use Windows Server 2008 to virtualize Vista PCs for several employees and allow access to the VM using small, low cost PCs.   The SysAdmin can create new Virtual Machines  using a template VM and thus reducing the time to create a new virtual PC for a new employee.  The Virtual HD can be setup for regular backups which will allow quick recovery of the virtual PC in case the user has issues with their virtual computer due to virus, spyware or other issue.  The low cost desktop will allow the company to save on hardware costs since the processing is done on the server side.  The Dell SC1430 dual quad core machine cost $729 on sale and with memory upgrade to 6 GB memory was still under $1000.  The server can support up to 8 GB memory.  This would allow 4, 1.5 GB virtual PCs running Vista or XP.  If one was running Linux, one could decrease memory to 1 GB or less and thus increase the possible VMs.  Overdoing the number of VMs will decrease the performance for the end-users and may destabilize the system.

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