What Is

Hyper-V?
THE AUTHORITATIVE
GUIDE

www.5nine.com
 CONTENT

O3 INTRODUCTION
O4 CHAPTER 1:
What Is Hyper-V?

08 CHAPTER 2:
Hyper-V Basics

14 CHAPTER 3:
Hyper-V Management

20 CHAPTER 4:
Conclusion

2 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

INTRODUCTION
What Is Hyper-V?
Definition & Uses For It
Whether you’re just beginning to look into virtualization platform options for your company, or
you’re a new Hyper-V user trying to get up to speed, it can be a challenge to find all the information
you need in one place. That’s why we created this guide—to give you an all-in-one resource you
can bookmark and refer back to as often as you need to, so you can get up and running on
Hyper-V more smoothly.

If you have any questions while you read, get in touch—we’re happy to provide the answers.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 3

 CHAPTER 1

What Is
Hyper-V?

4 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

What is virtualization?
To start off, here’s a basic
Hyper-V definition:
Hyper-V is a Microsoft
technology that allows users
to create virtual computer
environments, and run and
manage multiple operating
systems on a single physical
server.
But to completely understand
what Hyper-V is, you need to
first understand virtualization.
Historically, IT departments used multiple physical
servers, each with one primary function—for instance,
a mail server dedicated solely to handling outgoing
and incoming emails. Buying a physical server meant
you also had to choose the appropriate CPU and RAM
to go along with it. Often, organizations purchased
too much or too little of these resources, which meant
the server was oversubscribed (underused) much of
the time or it was undersubscribed, and therefore less
reliable than it should be. It was also costly for such
organizations, especially for growing companies, to
continually purchase new servers, as they require a
lot of energy to run and maintain. Scaling up to meet
additional business requirements is an expensive
proposition; housing hundreds of servers expanded
a company’s footprint to such a degree that, for many
organizations, it presented a challenge that was hard
to surmount.
That was the case up until 18 to 20 years ago, when
the first virtualization technologies were introduced.
Virtualization technology allowed a single physical
server to be “sliced and diced” into individual virtual
machines (VMs), which meant that only one server
was available for multiple functions. So if you have
a 16 CPU physical server with 128 gigs of RAM, you
could parse out those computing resources and
assign them to various workloads.
Virtualization technology made it possible to scale
without the huge footprint required by multiple
physical servers. Workloads could be balanced more
intelligently, because virtualization made it easy to
reallocate resources between virtual machines.
It’s worth mentioning that the term virtualization is often
confused with cloud computing, but they’re actually
two different concepts. Both have to do with shared
computing resources, which may be where some of
the confusion occurs. That said, virtualization refers
to the manipulation of a server so it can be shared by
multiple operating systems. Cloud computing, on the
other hand, is the sharing of computing resources
delivered as a service via the Internet. Essentially,
virtualization makes cloud computing possible.
Enterprises often use both tactics to gain benefits
in terms of cost, resource usage, and scaling. Take
a look at this article for more information about
the differences between virtualization and cloud
computing, and how to determine which one is right
for your business.
Today, virtualization is a fairly standard mode of
operation; in fact, more than 75% of organizations
currently utilize server virtualization. And that brings
us back to the technology that enables virtualization:
the hypervisor, and, more specifically, Hyper-V.
What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 5
 What is Hyper-V used for?
Virtualization technologies, or platforms, are more commonly referred to as hypervisors.
There are several different hypervisors on the market—Hyper-V is Microsoft’s version; some
others that are well-known are VMWare’s ESXi and VSphere, XenServer (Citrix), KVM Open
Source Hypervisor and RHEV (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization).
The lion’s share of the virtualization market is currently divided between VSphere and Hyper-V.

So what is Hyper-V used for? Like all hypervisors, Hyper-V gives you a way to create and manage
virtual machines to help you:

 Develop and test applications, operating systems and upgrades. The ease of creating VMs in
Hyper-V, and the fact that the VMs can remain separate from the rest of your system, makes
them the perfect environment for testing. You can also create a virtual lab to experiment with
different operating systems, and see how your application performs on each, without using
more than one computer. When you’re done experimenting, you can simply delete the VM.

 Easily scale your IT infrastructure to accommodate larger workloads. Virtual machines are
easier to manage than physical hardware, and they don’t come with the hefty acquisition
cost. You can also maximize your server use by allocating its resources more intelligently
than you can with physical hardware alone.

 Save or migrate data from a legacy system. Many companies continue to maintain servers
that support outdated hardware or software solutions because they want to preserve data.
Migrating your business applications, and their contents, to a virtual machine frees up
resources.

 Improve business continuity. The virtual machines you create can reduce server downtime,
because running workloads can be easily backed up and moved to another server without
interruption. They can also be configured to automatically restart VMs affected by server
failures.

Once you’ve created your virtual machines, you’ll also need to manage them. Hyper-V’s suite
of management solutions makes it possible to:

 Create and delete virtual machines.

 Monitor uptime, bandwidth utilization, CPU and RAM consumption.

6 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

 Perform backups.

 Allocate resources.

Having the right management software is key to your success with virtualization.
For more on Hyper-V’s management capabilities, see Chapter 3.

Where Hyper-V’s own management tools fall short, 5nine Manager Datacenter fills in.
Download this free whitepaper to see how you can save time and eliminate redundancies.

Benefits of Hyper-V
One of the primary reasons organizations turn to Hyper-V is because it’s cost-effective—in fact,
the basic Hyper-V tools are free with an enterprise agreement (EA, a volume licensing package
offered by Microsoft for organizations with 500 or more computers). You will have to pay for
more advanced Hyper-V functions and licensing, but even so, Hyper-V still has an edge over its
competitors when it comes to price.

Hyper-V is even more attractive when you consider its similarities with its biggest competitor,
VMWare. Because Hyper-V is a solid, cost-effective option, many businesses have been
increasingly adopting it, which, in turn, has contributed to an increase in Hyper-V’s overall market
share in recent years.

Other benefits of Hyper-V:

 The capability to create a virtual switch comes at no extra cost. A virtual switch allows all
your VMs to communicate with each other, making it an integral part of virtual networking.
Virtual switches are “intelligent”, meaning they inspect data packets before routing
communication. The capability to configure traffic in this way improves security within your
virtual environment.

 Hyper-V supports multiple operating systems. Since Microsoft supports multiple operating
Hyper-V systems, including Linux, you are not limited exclusively to its native OS. But, be
sure to reference best practices and support documentation for proper integration of other
systems to avoid any issues.

 It simplifies live migrations. This Hyper-V feature allows you to move running VMs from
one Hyper-V host to another without downtime. Live migrations are simple and promote
continuous operation of your network.

 It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft products. If your department has been
using Microsoft products already, adopting Microsoft technology for your hypervisor makes
sense, especially since it allows hosting an unlimited number of Windows Server 2016 virtual
machines.

Typically you would want to choose just one hypervisor for simplicity’s sake—why manage multiple
systems? But there are, sometimes, valid reasons why you would have multiple hypervisors in
a virtual environment. This decision could be dependent on your workload; for example, if you
use Microsoft Exchange Server for mail, Microsoft highly recommends running it—and all its other
products—on Hyper-V.

It’s pretty clear why most organizations are taking advantage of virtualization technology, and
why they’re choosing Hyper-V: It’s cost-effective, supports multiple operating systems, and has
all the basic functionality you need. Now that we’ve covered the fundamentals surrounding
“What is Hyper-V?”, let’s go a bit deeper. Chapter 2 covers some specific Hyper-V terminology,
an explanation of the available versions of Hyper-V, and how to get started creating your VMs.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 7

 CHAPTER 2

Hyper-V
Basics

8 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

 In this chapter, we’ll take a closer look at Hyper-V terminology, operational
requirements and available versions. Let’s get started by taking a closer
look at the terminology associated with Hyper-V, the minimum requirements
needed to run it, and the versions that are available to choose from.

Hyper-V Terminology
Before taking a deeper dive into Hyper-V, let’s become familiar with the basic virtualization terms,
including Microsoft-specific definitions applicable to virtual machines:

 Host machine—the physical computer that provides the resources, including processing power,
memory and disc usage for your virtual machines.

 Hyper-V virtual hard disk (VHDX)—Microsoft’s virtual hard disk format. It is the next generation
VHD (see virtual hard disk below). VHDX files have a 64 TB capacity. The advantages of VHDX
aren’t limited to improved capacity; however, VHDX files were designed to work with today’s
modern hardware and have a 4 KB logical sector size that improves performance compared with
VHD files.

 Guest virtual machine—a virtual operating system and application software that runs on a host
machine, using the resources of a host machine.

 Virtual network—technology that connects the VMs and host machines together, and enables
control over these computers and servers via the internet.

 Virtual hard disk (VHD)—a file format which represents a virtual hard disk drive. Rather than VMs
having access to physical hard disks, Hyper-V creates large files called containers, which are
presented to virtual machines as regular disks.

 Virtual switch—a software application that allows VMs to communicate with one another. Virtual
switches are “intelligent”, meaning they inspect data packets before routing communication.

 Virtual machine monitor—a feature that monitors your virtual resources and executes
specified tasks on the virtual machines for which it is responsible. Often this term is used
interchangeably with the term hypervisor.

 Checkpoint—a checkpoint preserves the state of a virtual hard disk, and all of its contents including
application files, at a specific point in time. The VM can be reverted back to that checkpoint state
if, for example, something goes wrong with an upgrade or newly installed software. However,
a checkpoint is not considered a backup because there is no duplication of data (which is the
definition of a backup). You can read more about Hyper-V checkpoints and snapshots here.

 VM template—a master copy of a virtual machine with a generic stance that can be used to
create a new VM with the same characteristics. Cloning VMs is a common task, but having a
library of templates makes the process of creating new VMs faster and easier.

 Live migration—as mentioned in Chapter 1, live migration is a Hyper-V feature that allows you to
move running VMs from one Hyper-V host to another without interrupting service. It’s useful for
applying patches (which Microsoft releases once a month); it’s also handy in cases where a VM’s
resources are in high demand (like when an application is being heavily used), and you want to
ensure continuous availability by moving the VM to a host with more available resources.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 9

 Hyper-V Hardware Requirements
Hyper-V has some specific hardware requirements. Most modern hardware (built in the last 10
years) will meet these requirements, but it’s best to check that your system has what it needs to
run Hyper-V:

 A 64-bit processor with second-level address translation (SLAT). SLAT is a technology

Hyper-V uses whenever it is asked to retrieve data or instructions; it essentially translates
a virtual address to a corresponding physical address, which saves memory and reduces
CPU time. Here’s some information on how to check whether your Intel or AMD processor
supports SLAT.

 VM Monitor Mode Extensions. The same article above will also help you determine if your
PC supports this.

 At least 4 GB of RAM; more is better.

 Virtualization support turned on in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) or UEFI (Unified
Extensible Firmware Interface). Here’s another article that can help you figure out if your
CPU supports virtualization.

Your system will need to meet some additional requirements if you plan to use some of the more
advanced features of Hyper-V; take a look here for more information.

Advanced Hyper-V features require a more advanced management software.

Try 5nine Manager Datacenter for free with this trial download.

Although these are the minimum hardware requirements for running Hyper-V, you may discover
that they need to be fine-tuned to meet your specific application needs. Lo ad-testing before
production will simulate the end-user environment and give you the necessary metrics to
determine whether you need more CPU or additional RAM, for the machine to sufficiently handle
the load. We always recommend adding a 20% buffer to the existing application in the event your
application requires additional resources.

Hyper-V Versions
To use Hyper-V on a regular desktop or laptop, you’ll need a Professional or Enterprise edition of
Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.

There are three different Hyper-V versions available for Windows Server 2016. You can download
a free version, which doesn’t include Windows Server guest licenses. There are also two editions
of a full Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V server that include installation of the operating system and
the Hyper-V role within them.

Windows Server 2016 has two options you can choose from: Standard and Datacenter. Standard
allows you to have up to two Windows server VMs running simultaneously, and Datacenter allows
you an unlimited number of VMs. The Datacenter edition also supports a number of advanced
features that are not supported in Standard, like shielded VMs. You can find a complete comparison
of the Standard and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2016 here.

10 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

Getting Started With Hyper-V
Creating a New VM
One of the most basic tasks you’ll do in Hyper-V is create virtual machines. Hyper-V’s wizard-
based approach makes the step-by-step process for creating a new VM quite simple.

To do this (and lots of other tasks, such as creating checkpoints and virtual hard disks), you’ll use
Hyper-V Manager. It’s a free app included with Windows Server that has some of the tools you’ll
need to administer your virtual environment. That said, the capabilities of Hyper-V Manager are
limited; it does the most basic VM “CRUD” functions—it can help you create, read (or retrieve),
update and delete virtual machines. You’ll need other tools for more advanced management
functionality.

Effective VM management is the key to virtualization success. Learn more about a cost-effective solution
that lets you perform every management task—for all your VMs—from a single, centralized console.

To start the process, click “Create VM” within Hyper-V manager.

The wizard will then prompt you to:

 Decide whether you want to use an existing VM template or create a new VM.

 Name the new VM.

 Choose a storage location.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 11

  Choose the type of storage—either SSD (a flash drive, which offers quick retrieval) or HDD
(a traditional hard disk drive, with a slower access time). This storage choice is application-
specific because some applications, like those that store archival data, don’t benefit from
fast storage.

 Configure the size requirements. You’ll need to adjust the CPU and RAM for your new virtual
machine. Again, these resource allocations should be based on the requirements for the OS
and any additional applications you plan to run, with approximately 20% buffer for elasticity.
You should also consider the size of a typical workload, and whether you’ll be running an
antivirus program, which will use additional resources depending on the antivirus program
of your choice.

12 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

That’s it—you’re done.

When you’re building your new VM, it’s important to understand your workload and the density
you need your VM to support so you don’t overbuy. In the past, it was common to simply buy a
lot of storage for Hyper-V, and estimate future computing needs. The problem with that approach
was that organizations began to build too many VMs on the same storage technology because
they had plenty of purchased room. But having too many VMs accessing the same storage
technology slows down the entire system, so this approach isn’t advisable.

Today, the trend is to linearly scale out. The only way to do that with Hyper-V is using technologies
like Microsoft’s Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), hyper-converged.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 13

 CHAPTER 3

Hyper-V
Management

14 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

Virtual machines are easy enough to create; the real issue lies in managing
them. A large number of VMs (and their accompanying host servers)
can be overwhelming to manage. To keep them all running smoothly in
conjunction with one another, you need a management platform that will
give you clear visibility into all aspects of your server environment. So
when
it comes to both management tools and policies, it’s wise to have a solid
plan in place before you go too far down the virtualization path.

The elements that need to be managed in relation to virtual machine environments are as
follows:

 Storage Management involves finding, managing and allocating space between your
applications in an effort to maximize resource availability.

 Patching requires regular updates to your virtual environment with patches in order to keep
your VMs secure from attackers, viruses and bugs.

 VM Backups are crucial yet challenging for system reliability, as they have to deal with
managing multiple apps packed into a single physical host. Whether you’re backing up to
the Microsoft Azure cloud (or some other cloud platform), or doing an on-premise
backup, you need a program that simplifies the task as much as possible.

 Availability and performance. Monitoring for uptime is important, but that’s not the only
aspect of managing your virtual machines. Pay attention to the important statistics around
bandwidth, CPU and RAM consumption, as well as performance application.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 15

 Hyper-V Management Tools
While Microsoft’s Hyper-V is a very popular and capable hypervisor, its primary management
suite isn’t as intuitive as it may appear at a first glance. Included are five management tools used
for performing various Hyper-V management tasks.

 Hyper-V Manager is a free Windows Server application. It performs the most basic
VM CRUD functions—create, read (or retrieve), update and delete virtual machines. But it
comes with significant limitations. You can’t move VMs between hosts using Hyper-V
Manager, and you can only view one host at a time. These limitations allow you to carry out
only the most basic functions, with a few metrics available for measuring performance
success. To get more advanced management functionality, you’ll need to download and
install additional tools.

16 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

  Failover Cluster Manager is also included free with Windows Server, and is used for building
and managing Hyper-V failover clusters. Failover clustering is when you configure a group
of servers to work together to maintain high availability of mission-critical applications.
Maintaining high availability means the servers within the cluster are constantly being
monitored; if one of the servers fails, another one takes over without interruption. But to
manage machines that are not part of a cluster, you’ll have to use Hyper-V Manager.

 SCVMM (System Center Virtual Machine Manager) is not included with Windows Server
and must be purchased separately. It can be used to manage Hyper-V hosts and Hyper-V
failover clusters in larger virtual environments than Hyper-V Manager, allowing you
to perform multiple management tasks in a single feature. SCVMM console has a more
user-friendly interface with built-in custom templates and an analytics dashboard. It also
includes a “library” feature—a catalog of resources you can use to easily create and
configure new virtual machines. SCVMM is a step up from free Hyper-V Manager and the
Failover Cluster Manager discussed above, but it still lacks some advanced functionality
included in the basic Hyper-V Manager.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 17

  SCOM (System Center Operations Manager), when used along with SCVMM, helps you
to monitor your virtual environment. There are two ways you can monitor with SCOM: 1) Put
operations manager agents on your virtual machines, which will allow you to collect and report
on a variety of data for a constant “heartbeat”. The statistics you get can be used to track the
performance and health of your applications. 2) You can employ agentless monitoring, which
entails gathering the same data by using a proxy agent installed on another computer and
leveraging standard protocols like SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol).
Whatever solution you choose, you need a program hat can help you monitor your VMs in
real-time so you can address bottlenecks when they arise. Remember—monitoring isn’t just
about uptime and downtime; it’s also about latency, transactional health, and even
component health within the application.

 PowerShell is a feature that gives users access to various services in an operating

system. Windows PowerShell is often used to automate both routine and complex tasks
that need to be applied across a large number of VMs—for example, shutting down all
the VMs on a certain host. You can accomplish most of the tasks with Hyper-V Manager
using PowerShell. The appeal of PowerShell is in having greater flexibility for managing
your Hyper-V hosts as well as utilizing fewer computing resources to perform a task.

If you are frustrated by the limitations of the most common Hyper-V Management tools, you
are not alone! Most IT admins find themselves juggling multiple applications for performing
essential machine management, backup, security and monitoring functions. This means you’ll
need to move between tools and consoles frequently and fast. This can be particularly vexing for
first-time users because navigation across these tools isn’t always intuitive, and usually takes a
considerable learning curve.

To learn more about the various aspects of managing Hyper-V, take a look at some of these
online resources:


7 Tips For Hyper-V Monitoring That You’ll Wish You Read Sooner


Hyper-V Management: 9 Tips Every Hyper-V Admin Should Remember


17 Tips For Hyper-V Disaster Recovery That Could Save Your Bacon


Getting Started With Hyper-V Groups


10 Tips For Hyper-V Security You’ll Wish You Learned Sooner


Hyper-V Management Mistakes You’ll Never Make Again: Part 1


Hyper-V Management Mistakes You’ll Never Make Again: Part 2


Hyper-V Resources (Free Tools For Hyper-V Management)

18 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

Due to the limitations of Microsoft’s native management tools, Hyper-V users often look to
third-party solutions for help. 5nine Manager Datacenter was developed in collaboration with
Microsoft, and is one of the world’s leading Hyper-V administrative tools. Take a look here for
some commonly asked questions about 5nine Manager Datacenter; or download a free trial.

Manage, monitor, and recover all your hosts and VMs from a single source—book a free demo to
see 5nine Manager Datacenter in action.

Hyper-V Performance Tuning

Today’s IT admins look to get the maximum value out of their server hardware without jeopardizing
VM performance. And of course, everyone’s always looking to increase Hyper-V speed.

To help you get the most from your server hardware in a Hyper-V environment, evaluate how well
your VM resources match the needs of your specific application. The biggest part of performance
tuning is application-specific, so it’s important to gather and analyze the appropriate metrics and
adjust them as needed. SCOM can be used to monitor virtualization hosts and generate alerts
to prevent excessive CPU, storage, or memory utilization on a Hyper-V host. To do this, you’ll
need to install Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO)-enabled management packs on
the Operations Manager server as well as an Operations Manager agent for each virtualization
host and VM. The Operations Manager then collects data about the virtual environment for about
a week or two, and later generates PRO tips to help you optimize performance. You may get a
recommendation to migrate a virtual machine off of a host, or update certain configurations.

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 19

 CHAPTER 5

Conclusion

20 What Is Microsoft Azure – A Complete Guide

Take Control Of Your Virtual
Environment
If after reading this article you’re still unsure about the answer to the question: “Do I need
Hyper-V?”, then contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss your current virtualization strategy and
whether the tools you’re using now will help you achieve your goals.

If you’re already looking for a more efficient Hyper-V management toolset, 5nine Manager
Datacenter is for you. It centralizes host and VM visibility across resources, providing a simple
way to manage large virtual environments. It also allows you to:

 Perform frequently-used lifecycle operations faster and easier. You can clone virtual
machines up to 20 minutes faster and configure settings across multiple hosts five times
faster than with native tools.

 Eliminate bottlenecks and application slowdown while increasing cluster performance by

as much as 40% with dynamic optimization for clusters.

 Create full and incremental backups, restore VMs and manage backup retention policies
from a single, centralized console…. and much more.

To see 5nine Manager Datacenter in action, request a demo today!

What Is Hyper-V?: The Authoritative Guide 21