My Microsoft Hyper-V and Virtual Machine Manager Event Key Notes

Today I spent 4 hours listening to Microsoft technicians talk about Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), and System Center. Here are some of the keynotes I took about Hyper-V:

1. Licensing for Microsoft Server 2008 includes (1P + 1V) – This means you can have 1 physical Microsoft Server 2008 running Hyper-V and 1 virtual Microsoft Server 2008 running on the same hardware.
2. Licensing for Microsoft Server 2008 Enterprise includes (1P + 4V) – This means you can have 1 physical Microsoft 2008 running Hyper-V and 4 virtual Microsoft Server 2008 running on the same hardware.
3. Licensing for Microsoft Server 2008 Data Center includes (1P + unlimited V) – This means you can have 1 physical Microsoft 2008 running Hyper-V and unlimited virtual Microsoft Server 2008 running on the same hardware. The virtual server limit will be when memory and CPU resources run out.
4. You do not need to upgrade Microsoft 2003 Cals to 2008 Cals anymore to run the 2003 server on Hyper-V.
5. Hyper-V does not allow memory to be overcommitted (over-subscribed in VMware talk).
6. VHD file is like a VMDK and AVHD is the snapshot.
7. Hyper-V snapshot location is configurable.
8. RTM is similar to vMotion but crashed when it was demoed.
9. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 will have “Live state migration” which will work more like vMotion and hopefully won’t crash.
10. Letting Windows manage the virtual server’s SWAP file is the best practice in Hyper-V.
11. A free version of Microsoft Hyper-V Server is available for download. It does not include a Windows GUI interface and does not allow clustering. (Download)