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Windows Server 2008 RC0 Virtualization using a Dual Quad Core Server
updated 10/26/07
Purpose:
This article takes a look at the Microsoft's new server platform and it's virtualization capabilities. Windows Server 2008 RC0 is now available and sports some very cool new features. The killer feature is the new virtualization code named Viridian.
Technical Information
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition RC0 was installed in a Dell SC1430 Dual Quad Core server
Specs on server
| Component | Specs |  |
| Processor | Two Intel Xeon Quad Core E510 processors ( 2x4 MB cache, 1.6 GHz) | |
| Memory | 2 GB 667MHz (2x1 GB) dual ranked Fully Buffered ECC DIMMs | |
| Bus Speed | 1066 Front Side Bus | |
| Drive 1 | WD 80 gig SATA II | |
| Drive 2 | Seagate 500 gig SATA II | |
| Video | ATI X1300 PCI video inserted into PCI-X5 slot. | |
| Expansion | 1 PCI Slot | |
| 2 PCI-X | ||
| 2 PCI-Express (8x connector wires as 4x) | ||
| Ethernet | Broadcom Gigabit ethernet |
The video card was added because the current on-board video (ATI ES1000) is incredibly slow. After much Googling I found that the ATI X1300 works with the SC1430, but needed to be installed in the PCI-X slot to be recognized as external video. A PCI card can go into a PCI-X slot, but a PCI-X card cannot go into a PCI slot.
Installation of Windows Server 2008
1. The server was brand new when I did the install. I had to start with the Dell setup CD and go through the paces until I got to the point where is asked me to insert the Windows Server 2003 CD. I put in the Server 2008 and of course it didn't accept it. I rebooted the server with the Windows Server 2008 DVD in the DVD drive and the install began. It was much faster to install than Vista Ultimate edition.
2.. When the OS finishes loading, it shows the server management screen. This comes up every time you log into the computer. It can be set to not come up. I had to load the ATI X1300 Vista x64 display drivers.
I checked to verify that the devices found. It saw the 8 cores, the two drives and the ethernet adapter.
3. After confirmation of the system configuration it was time to configure the virtualization. In the RC0 this is not installed. A patch is included that is run that will install the necessary items:
Steps for enabling Virtualization:
Verify that your processor is an x64-based and that it supports hardware-assisted virtualization and hardware data execution protection. You will also have to enable the hardware virtualization in the BIOS. It was turned off by default on the SC1430.
Clicking on the Windows Server Virtualization will bring up the wizard.
The wizard will step you through the creation:
Name and Location of files:
Memory:
Networking:
Virtual Hard-Drive:
Make sure you specify not to auto start the VM once the setup is complete or you may have issues. After completion, go to settings and verify the VM and network adapter settings.
Microsoft states that you should use Windows 2008 guest OS or Windows 2003 R2. I used Windows XP Pro x32 on one VM and Windows Vista x64 Enterprise on another..
Install went well. XP stated that the Virtual computer had two processors.
The XP VM needs a bit more RAM, but works well. I need to up the memory in the server to get better performance. I have another 4 GB of RAM on order which will make the system run more efficiently. The SC1430 is a great server for vritualization, overall.
The installation with Vista x64 went smoothly and showed 4 processors in the device manager.
Perfomance
Vista x64 VM was actually more responsive and provided a better user experience than XP VM which most likely is due to some techologies integrated into Windows Server 2008 and Vista that make them more harmonious. I didn't run both VMs at the same time due to only 2 GB ram in the host machine.
Conclusion:
Having used VMware workstation, I can say that setting up the VM is just as easy with Windows Server 2008 Viridian. Microsoft has a great contender. Since this is a release candidate version, performance cannot be compared to VMware until the final version is released. So far I am very happy with what I see.
Updates:
10/26/08
- Ubuntu Linux 7.10 couldn't be installed on a Virtual Machine via ISO or attached to a physical disk. The disk will boot to the installer, but appears to not get past the initial setup message.
-The Linux VM couldn't be deleted using Server Manager.
- The Server now has 6 GB of RAM. The Vista x64 and XP VM's are running very well. The XP VM (2 processors and 1 GB RAM) is running TVersity video transcoding and DNLE service and the Vista VM (4 processors and 3 GB RAM) is running the Visual Studio.Net 2008 beta, Silverlight 1.1 Beta and 3D modeling software.
-Editing a VM to add more processors, memory, and hard drive space is extremely simple. One can easily connect a physical optical drive with a few clicks. The documents say that if one switches disks in the VM when the VM is running, the VM may lock up for a period of time. I didn't have this issues and was able to switch between physical and ISO.
11/4/2007
The speed of the virtual drive is much slower than anticipated. Copying a file from a shared drive on the SC1430 to the Vista VM took much longer than it would have from a physical drive. This performance should hopefully improve once Server 2008 is released. It is easy to attach a physical hard-drive to the VM as a second drive. I will be testing this later.
Rendering a complex 3D Studio Max project with 8 cores worked very well. With the Mental Ray renderer it took 20 minutes compared to a P4, 3 GHz which woul have taken roughly 2 hours. The Mental Ray render uses 'buckets' to render areas of the image. Adding another processor adds another bucket. With four cores it used 4 buckets and went to 8 buckets when I assigned 8 cores to the VM.
Windows Server 2008 SP1 release
Terracode copyright 2007