Hyper-V Server Now Available!

The free Hyper-V Server is now available here: https://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/how-to-get.mspx

If you have not been paying attention as to what Hyper-V Server is - let me steal some content from the official web page:

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 provides a simplified, reliable, and optimized virtualization solution, enabling improved server utilization and reduced costs. Since Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product, which contains only the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components, it provides a small footprint and minimal overhead. It easily plugs into customers’ existing IT environments, leveraging their existing patching, provisioning, management, support tools, processes, and skills.

And here is the official comparison table:

The following table outlines which Hyper-V–enabled product would suit your needs:

Virtualization Needs	Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008	Windows Server 2008 Standard	Windows Server 2008 Enterprise	Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
Server Consolidation
Test and Development
Mixed OS Virtualization (Linux and Windows)
Local Graphical User Interface
High Availability—Clustering
Quick Migration
Large Memory Support (Host OS) > 32 GB RAM
Support for > 4 Processors (Host OS)
Ability to Add Additional Server Roles
Virtualization Rights per Server License	Each VM Guest requires a server license	1 Physical + 1 VM	1 Physical + 4 VMs	1 Physical + Unlimited VMs

So go grab a copy and check it out!

Cheers,
Ben

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 01, 2008
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• Anonymous
  October 02, 2008
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• Anonymous
  October 02, 2008
  Other than licensing and supported roles, what else is different between Hyper-V server and Server 2008 Core?

• Anonymous
  October 04, 2008
  I assume it's little more than a marketing push [to x64] but any reason why there is no x86 version for Hyper-V? I had hoped that since it was being detached from Windows 2008 that x86 may be supported.

• Anonymous
  October 05, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2008
  Mark, sadly, no (useful) response, and I haven't been able to track down a definitive answer through other avenues, either. Seems this technical blog is meant to be one-way only.

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2008
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• Anonymous
  October 07, 2008
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• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  @Mark - I'm coming in at the tail end of this and I don't profess to be an expert but what I don't think you're taking into consideration is that the HOST in this case does not have "a full .NET/GUI/etc." running. Your console accesses the HOST which has no way to show you the full GUI. This same scenario exists with ESX from VMware, there is no way to show one of the VM's GUI's from the HOST console. Please excuse me if I misunderstand something, just trying to help.

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  Brett: thanks... yeah I got that the HOST doesn't have a GUI... what I'm asking is, can I have the HOST start a VM (either via the console or automatically on start-up) that DOES have a GUI so that I can manage the HOST and other VMs from there?

• Anonymous
  October 21, 2008
  I believe the question Mark is asking is if he can access child partition via RDP or the same <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6F69D661-5B91-4E5E-A6C0-210E629E1C42&displaylang=en">Hyper-V MMC</a> or <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/03/25/hyper-v-management-tools-available-for-vista-sp1.aspx">remote management from Vista</a> you can use to manage a primary partition.

1. Can you just directly access your VM once Hyper-V server is configured and has its VMs running? (I believe, you can. What's the best practice?)
2. Can you configure your primary parition from your child partition the way you would do it if the primary partition had a GUI and .NET framework. (I believe you can't) Thank you.

• Anonymous
  October 24, 2008
  If I have a Hyper-V server with no VM's on it can I create one using the Hyper-V manager from a different machine and then export/import to replicate the VM's? Thanx! WBF3

• Anonymous
  October 24, 2008
  What version of Hyper-V could I run on Vista to run a Virtual XP machine to support legacy apps? We know that this works with Virtual PC 2007 however there is no USB support in VPC and there is in Hyper-V. One of the issues we are seeing is with Office 2007 and legacy Access DB.  I know, I know, however these are critical apps that must be run.

• Anonymous
  October 26, 2008
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• Anonymous
  October 28, 2008
  The comment has been removed