Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Cookbook - Second Edition

To verify the prerequisites of your processor, you must download Intel Processor Identification Utility. You can download it from the following link:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=1881&DwnldID=7838&lang=eng&i

Based on the server processor, you can also download the AMD Virtualization Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V System Compatibility Check Utility from the following link:

http://download.amd.com/techdownloads/AMD-VwithRVI_Hyper-V_CompatibilityUtility.zip

To identify the processor brand, open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag) and check the processor information.

You also need to download the MachineSLATStatusCheck tool available at https://slatstatuscheck.codeplex.com/ to verify if your processor supports Second-Level Address Translation (SLAT) that is required to install Hyper-V in Windows Server 2016. SLAT was always required since the first version of Hyper-V became available on Windows 8 client OS.

In the following steps, you will learn how to check whether your computer meets the requirements to install Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10:

The mentioned tools simply verify the processor properties to show that it has the necessary features to install Hyper-V. One of these features is the Hardware-assisted virtualization. This functionality allows Hyper-V to run under privileged access through a special layer in the processor. In some cases, this feature must be enabled through the Basic Input-Output System (BIOS).

These tools also check whether the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is present. Intel calls this feature Intel XD bit (Execute Disable Bit) and for AMD it is AMD NX bit (No Execute Bit). This feature must be enabled through the BIOS.

There is a particular prerequisite called Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) that is shown by the MachineSLATStatusCheck tool. Starting with Windows Server 2016, SLAT has now become necessary for Windows Server installations; as mentioned earlier, SLAT was required for client OS starting with Windows 8 onwards. Hyper-V uses this to perform more VM-memory-management functions and reduce the overhead of translating guest physical addresses to real physical addresses. By doing this, Hypervisor CPU time is significantly reduced and more memory is saved for each VM.

The processor, with SLAT capability, has a Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) that supports virtual to physical memory address translation. A TLB is a cache on the processor that contains recently used mappings from the page table. When a virtual to physical address translation is required, the TLB checks its cache to determine whether or not it contains the mapping information. If TLB contains a match, the physical memory address is provided and the data is accessed. If TLB doesn't contain a record, a page error occurs and the Windows checks the page table for the mapping information. If Windows finds a mapping, it is written to the TLB, the address translation takes place and then the data is accessed. However, the Hypervisors overhead gets substantially decreased due to this buffer.

There are different methods to install Hyper-V. The most common one is through the graphical interface. To get ready to enable Hyper-V you must be logged on with administrative privileges.

The following steps will demonstrate how to enable the Hyper-V Role for Windows Server and what has changed in the Windows architecture after its installation:

The process that you have performed to install Hyper-V is quite simple, but it changes the processor architecture by creating a new privileged layer called ring-1 that runs under the normal layers. The setup process, completed in the previous task, installs the Microsoft Hypervisor on this layer to make sure that Hyper-V has more privileges than Windows itself. Basically, the host operating system runs above the Hypervisor together and at the same level as the virtual machines. The host turns into a special virtual machine containing the virtualization stack, responsible for managing all the virtual machines from it. The following diagram illustrates Hyper-V high-level architecture being installed in ring-1 and all the partitions running above it.

After the first reboot, the Windows boot (winload.exe) loads the driver (hvboot.sys) responsible for verifying the processor that is running and if it supports virtualization. Then the Hypervisor image file is loaded. The host OS and the virtual machines are called partitions because they run at the same privileged access above the Hypervisor. The host OS is known as root or parent partition and the virtual machines are known as child partitions.

For automation and fast installation, you can enable Hyper-V using command lines. You can do that using the command line ocsetup, Servermanagercmd, or Windows PowerShell.

Install-WindowsFeature Hyper-V -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools -Restart 

Before you start, make sure that you have the correct media file or DVD with the Windows Server 2016 installation image.

The following steps will walk you through the installation process of Windows Server 2016 and Nano Server:

The installation for Nano Server is a little bit different; we have actually three different installation options, in a virtual machine, on a physical machine or in Microsoft Azure.

At the time of writing this book, the following list of roles and features (packages) have been added by Microsoft:

Before we deploy Nano Server, we need to create a Nano Server image, we have two options to do so, we can use the new PowerShell module that ships with Windows Server 2016 media or we can use Nano Server Image Builder, which can now be downloaded from the Microsoft download center.

In the following section we will cover both options.

#region Generate Nano Server image with Hyper-V Server role installed
#region Variables

$ComputerName = 'NanoServer01'
$StagingPath = 'C:\Temp' # Staging path for new image
$ServerISO = 'C:\Temp\WindowsServer2016.ISO' # Path to Windows Server 2016 ISO file
# Mount the ISO Image
Mount-DiskImage $ServerISO
# Get the Drive Letter of the disk ISO image
$DVDDriveLetter = (Get-DiskImage $ServerISO | Get-Volume).DriveLetter 
$MediaPath = ($DVDDriveLetter + ':\')
$DomainName = $env:USERDNSDOMAIN.ToLower()
$Path = Join-Path -Path $StagingPath -ChildPath NanoServer
$Password = Read-Host -Prompt Password -AsSecureString

#endregion Variables

#region Copy source files
if (-not (Test-Path $StagingPath)) {
mkdir $StagingPath
}

$NanoServerSourcePath = Join-Path -Path $MediaPath -ChildPath NanoServer -Resolve
Copy-Item -Path $NanoServerSourcePath -Destination $StagingPath -Recurse -Force

#endregion

#region Generate Nano Hyper-V image
Import-Module -Name (Join-Path -Path $Path -ChildPath NanoServerImageGenerator\NanoServerImageGenerator.psm1) -Verbose

$NanoServerImageParameters = @{

ComputerName = $ComputerName
DeploymentType = 'host'
Edition = 'Datacenter'
MediaPath = $MediaPath
BasePath = (Join-Path -Path $Path -ChildPath $ComputerName)
TargetPath = Join-Path -Path $Path -ChildPath ($ComputerName + '.vhd')
DomainName = $DomainName
AdministratorPassword = $Password
Ipv4Address = '172.16.20.120' 
Ipv4SubnetMask = '255.255.255.0' 
Ipv4Gateway = '172.16.20.1' 
Ipv4Dns = '172.16.20.9'
InterfaceNameOrIndex = 'Ethernet' 
Compute = $true
Package = 'Microsoft-NanoServer-Compute-Package'
EnableRemoteManagementPort = $true
OEMDrivers = $true
Clustering = $true
EnableEMS = $true
}

New-NanoServerImage @NanoServerImageParameters

#endregion

# Dismount Windows Server 2016 ISO Image
Dismount-DiskImage $ServerISO

#endregion 

Create a Nano Server image using Nano Server Image Builder

The Nano Server Image Builder is a GUI-based wizard that helps you create a custom Nano Server image and bootable USB media. The Nano Server Image Builder is based on the inputs you provide, it generates images for deployment and also creates reusable PowerShell scripts that allow you to automate the image creation process.

To create a Nano Server Image using Nano Server Image Builder, there are three resources that you must have ready. These resources include:

• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK): https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/windows-assessment-deployment-kit

• Nano Server Image Builder: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54065

• Windows Server 2016 ISO file: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016

You need to install Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) on the machine that you will use to create Nano Server image, using Nano Server Image Builder.

When ADK is installed, launch Nano Server Image Builder and select the prefer method of creating the image, as shown in the following screenshot:

Make sure you have downloaded Windows Server 2016 ISO and extracted it to a folder on your machine, click on Create a new Nano Server image, select a location for the media source, and then click on Next:

Accept the License Agreement, click on Next and then choose your deployment type:

• Virtual machine images: This can be .vhd or .vhdx

• Physical machine images: This can be .vhd, .vhdx, or .wim

In this case, I will select a physical machine image:

Click on Next twice and then select the Nano Server Edition (Standard or Datacenter) and the optional packages that you want to add as a part of the image, as shown in the next screenshot:

Since we are creating an image for the physical machine, the Server Core drivers is selected by default; we have added the Hyper-V role, Failover Clustering Service, and File Server role. Click on Next, you can add additional drivers provided by the OEM vendor if needed. In the Destination machine information, you need to provide the Computer name, local Administrator password, and the preferred Time zone, as shown in the following screenshot:

Click on Next, enter a domain name that can be used as the existing Active Directory account or you can provision a computer account metadata blob file. Click on Next, in the Set network, you can enable for PowerShell remote management from all subnets, enable VLAN ID, and configure network settings (DHCP or Static), as shown in the following screenshot:

Click on Next, you can now proceed and create a basic Nano Server image or continue to configure advanced settings, such as (add update packages, embed files and commands to run when setup completes, enable Emergency Management Services (EMS), and enable support for development scenarios and debugging methods). In this example, we will proceed by creating a basic Nano Server image. Click on Create, when ready, and the image creation will start, as shown in the next screenshot. The image creation process will take between eight to thirteen minutes, depending on your machine speed. As mentioned earlier, you can also copy the PowerShell command and use it to automate the image creation:

The process to install a free Hyper-V Server and Windows Server (Core or Full Server) is the same. However, for Nano Server you need to customize and create the image according to the use case. The setup will install all the necessary components only to run Hyper-V without any other services (or applications, in case of Hyper-V Server). The first step in the installation procedure is to load the boot.wim setup image file and after the preceding process, setup applies the install.wim image file containing the OS image.

In case of Hyper-V Server and Windows Server (Core or Full Server), once the installation is completed, you will be prompted to change the administrator password and the system will be ready to be used.

The Server Configuration tool is added by default on a Server Core installation or Hyper-V Server. Just type sconfig in the command line and the menu will be loaded.

In order to manage the server core installation using sconfig, carry out the following steps:

Server Configuration basically runs scripts in the background for every option that has been selected through a numeric menu, making your life much easier. For every number you select, sconfig can run another script to show a submenu or just run the final script to apply the changes you have selected.

The Hyper-V management and PowerShell improvements recipe in Chapter 4, Saving Time and Cost with Hyper-V Automation.

Obtain the IP address or the name of the Nano Server computer.

In order to manage Nano server installation using Hyper-V Manager, carry out the following steps:

Hyper-V Manager will launch with full support as you expect when managing full Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V, free Hyper-V Server, Server Core and Nano Server with Hyper-V role.

If you want to manage your Nano Server right now, you can use PowerShell Remoting or if your Nano Server is running in a Virtual Machine you can also use PowerShell Direct which is covered in Chapter 4, Saving Time and Cost with Hyper-V Automation.

In order to manage Nano server installation using PowerShell remoting, carry out the following steps:

In this script, we created a PowerShell session and a CIM session to Nano Server, then we copied VM Templates from the management machine to Nano Server, when the copy is done, we created two Generation 2 VMs and finally started them up.

After a couple of seconds, we launched Hyper-V Manager console and observed the new two VMs running on Nano Server host, as shown in the following screenshot:

As mentioned earlier, if you have installed Nano Server in a Virtual Machine running on a Hyper-V host, you can use PowerShell Direct to directly connect from your local Hyper-V host to your Nano Server VM using the following command:

Enter-PSSession -VMName "VMName" -Credential servername\Administrator  

Moreover, if you have Nano Server as a Hyper-V host, as shown in the preceding example, you could use PowerShell remoting to connect to Nano Server from your management machine and then leverage PowerShell Direct to manage your virtual machines, welcome to Nested PowerShell Remoting (PSRemoting + PSDirect).

To do this use the following command:

#regionVariables
$NanoSRV = 'NANOSRV-HV01' #Nano Server name or IP address
$DomainCred = Get-Credential "Demo\SuperBook"
$LocalCred = Get-Credential "~\Administrator"
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $NanoSRV -Credential $DomainCred
#endregion

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $NanoSRV -Credential $DomainCred -ScriptBlock {
                param ($LocalCred)
                Get-VM
                Invoke-Command -VMName (Get-VM).Name -Credential $LocalCred -ScriptBlock {
                                hostname;Tzutil /g}
} -ArgumentList $LocalCred

In this script, I established a PowerShell session into Nano Server host, and then I used PowerShell Direct to query all VMs and get their hostnames and time zones.

Here is the output:

To create a new connection for the first time, you will need to create a new gateway by configuring an existing server to connect to Azure as the gateway to your environment, as shown in the following diagram. The gateway allows connections to be routed to other servers and you can then use web-based versions of familiar tools, such as PowerShell, Task Manager, Event Viewer, Firewall, File Explorer, Network Settings, Windows Update, Registry Editor, and so on, to manage servers in that network:

The server management gateway can be a Windows Server 2012 R2 Server running the Windows Management Framework 5.0—WMF 5.0 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50395) or Windows Server 2016 with no additional preparation. You also need a Microsoft Azure subscription and an account.

The gateway will handle the connection to Azure and the Server Management Gateway that is deployed on-premises needs connection to the Internet. The managed Nano servers do not need a direct connection to the Internet; the gateway will connect to the managed Nano servers. With that, the gateway needs a connection to Nano server(s) that will be managed from Azure.

One of my favorite remote management features in SMT is the web-based PowerShell console, as shown in the following screenshot:

In order to manage Nano server installation using SMT carry out the following steps:

As shown in the following screenshot, you should be able to manage your Nano machine if the Microsoft Azure portal can reach it through the gateway:

Now you can start remote managing your Nano server. As mentioned earlier, the new management tool is really handy if you want to manage Server Core or Nano Server.

The main management story in Nano Server is core PowerShell:

PowerShell relies on the .NET Framework, as you noticed Nano Server is a small and tiny OS and only has the Core Common Language Runtime (CLR). The Core CLR is a tiny subset of the .NET Framework, the PowerShell team went ahead and refactored PowerShell to run on Core CLR, which was a huge effort. The good news is that PowerShell users probably will not miss the most important features. It has full language compatibility and supports PowerShell remoting, so you can use the most popular remote command, such as (Invoke-Command, New-PSSession, Enter-PSSession, and so on).

Each Nano Server image contains, by default, Core CLR that takes up 45 MB of space, PowerShell itself takes about 8 MB of space, and there is 2 MB available for two built-in modules. Remoting is turned on by default, so a Nano server installation will always be ready to be remoted into and be managed remotely.

Managing virtual machines with PowerShell Direct recipe in Chapter 4, Saving Time and Cost with Hyper-V Automation.

The only thing you need is a basic Windows Server installation with the Hyper-V role enabled.

The following steps will show how to configure the Windows and Hyper-V post installation settings:

Changing these configurations might help in some cases, when we need a different setting or when you don't want to change them manually every time you have to use them. The first steps showed the most common settings for every Windows server, no matter if it's a Hyper-V Server or not. You won't be able to access your network or access your Active Directory if you don't specify information, such as the computer name, IP address, and the other components listed in the first step.

The settings shown in Steps 6 through Step 16 are designed only for Hyper-V Servers and are optional; however, most of them are not enabled by default, for example Live Migration, Replication Configuration, and Enhanced Session Mode Policy. In this case, if you don't enable them, some tasks such as the Hyper-V Replica, Enhanced Session Mode or the Move option will not work.

By completing all these steps, you will make sure your server was deployed with the correct and necessary configuration for Hyper-V and the operating system.