IT Core Blog

Guillermo Musumeci has written a good tool for removing HP Proliant Support Pack, this tool is a nice tool to use before p2v migrations )you must remove all driver software before you start p2v).

Download: Here

The video demonstrates Long Distance Live Migration with Microsoft Hyper-V achieved with the HP StorageWorks EVA or XP Disk Array. A similar demo was given to the bloggers that attended the HP StorageWorks Tech Day in Houston.

If you’re one of those guys that are thinking about SQL 2008 R2 virtualization, a number of useful docs are available to help you with the process.

High Performance SQL Server Workloads on Hyper-V White Paper
This white paper describes the advantages of deploying Microsoft® SQL Server® database application workloads to a virtualization environment using Microsoft Windows® Server® 2008 R2 Hyper-V™. It demonstrates that Hyper-V provides the performance and scalability needed to run complex SQL Server workloads in certain scenarios. It also shows how Hyper-V can improve performance when used in conjunction with advanced processor technologies. This paper assumes that the reader has a working knowledge of virtualization, Windows Server Hyper-V, SQL Server, Microsoft System Center concepts and features.

Additional Resources:

SQL Server 2008 Virtualization

• SQL Server 2008 Virtualization
• SQL Server 2008 Virtualization and Server Consolidation
• SQLCAT White Papers – Running SQL Server 2008 in a Hyper-V Environment – Best Practices and Performance Recommendations
• SQL Server Virtualization Best Practices Webcast

SQL Server Analysis Services Virtualization

• SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
• SQLCAT White Papers – Scale-Out Querying with Analysis Services
• SQLCAT Technical Notes – Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Consolidation Best Practices
• SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Performance Guide

Have Fun

This white paper describes the advantages of deploying Microsoft® SQL Server® database application workloads to a virtualization environment using Microsoft Windows® Server® 2008 R2 Hyper-V™. It demonstrates that Hyper-V provides the performance and scalability needed to run complex SQL Server workloads in certain scenarios. It also shows how Hyper-V can improve performance when used in conjunction with advanced processor technologies. This paper assumes that the reader has a working knowledge of virtualization, Windows Server Hyper-V, SQL Server, Microsoft System Center concepts and features.

Like other Dummies books it is a easy reference tool that you can refer back to whenever you need to learn more about what HP Virtual Connect

So what does HP Virtual Connect do? Well it simplifies the setup of server connections to both LANs and SANs, thus allowing IT Professionals to quickly add or replace servers and move workloads without needing to involve network and storage teams.

Download it free

This white paper describes an HP Insight Dynamics infrastructure orchestration (IO) template for provisioning the infrastructure resources needed to support test and development environments using Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V (Hyper-V R2) in a cluster configuration for live migration and Cluster Shared Volume (CSV). This template, “Hyper-V R2 Cluster.xml,” is specifically designed to provision the server, storage, and network infrastructure resources necessary to support a small test and development environments for VMs. The document also details some specific areas of the template that you will need to modify in order to successfully import and deploy the template.

Read more here
Download it here

HP had released a white paper on how to do Hyper-V Live Migration/clustering across multiple sites using the HP StorageWorks Cluster Extension.

“This paper briefly touches upon the Hyper-V and Cluster Extension (CLX) key features, functionality, best practices, and various use cases. It also objectively describes the various scenarios in which Hyper-V and CLX complement each other to achieve the highest level of disaster tolerance.

This paper concludes with the step-by-step details for creating a CLX solution in Hyper-V environment from scratch. There are many references also provided for referring to relevant technical details”.

From time to time, I get the following error when trying to load the HP System Management Homepage:

“A timeout occurred when while loading data for the HP System Management Homepage which may result in missing or incomplete information. See the HP System Management Homepage log for additional information“

How to solve this?
This is normally caused by bad SNMP settings, Community Strings and/or Version Control Agent on the problem host, make sure it is pointing to a valid version control repository manager.

Here are some samples….

The HP Sizer for Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 R2 is an automated, downloadable tool that provides quick and helpful sizing guidance for “best-fit” HP server and storage configurations running in a Hyper-V R2 environment. The tool is intended to assist with the planning of a Hyper-V R2 virtual server deployment project. It enables the user to quickly compare different solution configurations and produces a customizable server and storage solution complete with a detail Bill of Materials (BOM) that includes part numbers and prices.

The HP Sizer for Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 R2 allows users to create new solutions, open already existing solutions, or use other types of performance data collecting tools, such as the Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool (MAP), to build rich Hyper-V R2 configurations based on HP server and storage technology. The tool allows rapid comparison of Hyper-V R2 characterizations using various HP server and storage choices.

Download it here