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Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta 1 Publicly Available

Friday, 14 December 2007 by Michel Roth

Microsoft yesterday released a new version of Windows Server RC1. This time they released a version that includes Beta 1 of Microsoft's hypervisor Hyper-V. This release was originally planned later but miraculously Microsoft's earlier release happened to coincide with VMware's release of Vi 3.5 .... go figure.

Seems like Microsoft is indeed playing hardball. Here's what's new in Beta 1 of Hyper-V as per the Windows Server Division blog:

Quick Migration and cluster high availability - for migration of VMs for planned and unplanned downtime. BTW, dont forget that Windows Server 2008 now includes support for up to 16 nodes! (up from 8 in WS 2k3)

Hyper-V is now included by default in Windows Server manager, which means enabling virtualization is as easy as installing any other role.
Support for running Hyper-V with Server Core in the parent partition
Volume Shadow Services support
VHD Tools support (compaction, expansion and inspection)
Hyper-V MMC only installation. The Hyper-V MMC can be installed on Windows Server 2008 without installing the complete Hyper-V role enabling remote management of Hyper-V servers
Support for up to 4 virtual SCSI controllers per VM, with 255 VHDs per controller; see demo
Support for multiple network adapters per VM; see demo
Support for up to 64 GB of memory per VM
Numerous performance, scalability and stability enhancements since the CTP release.

Note that Hyper-V beta is an English-US only release. Download the bits here. Note that, just like earlier versions, Hyper-V is only available on x64 systems.

Sander Berkouwer pointed a really comprehensive "Hyper-V How-to-install" on his blog. There's a lot more to read on this Windows Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V Beta 1 as well.

Microsoft has also released a 17 page Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Product Overview document that provides an overview of Hyper-V and explores Microsoft's Virtualization Strategy, how it addresses key business needs including server consolidation, business continuity, testing and development, moving toward a dynamic data center and branch office.