eLearning – Configuring Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008

I recently completed a short Microsoft eLearning collection 6319 Configuring Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008. This collection consisted of five 2-hour courses. This was the shortest collection that I’ve completed to date. The other ones in the series to date included:

• 6369 Collection Implement SQL 2008
• C6427 Collection IIS7 and
• 6420 Collection Fundamentals Network Infrastructure

Content Overview

The Hyper-V series presented an overview of the technology identifying the differences between the Host-Based (Virtual PC & Microsoft Virtual Server 2005) and the Hyper-V “hypervisor” virtualization solutions. As we know, Hyper-V is similar to VMware’s solution in that both of these enterprise products run directly on a thin software layer, called the “hypervisor” that sits between the hardware and the virtual machine. In Hyper-V, the virtual machines and the host operating system are installed in “partitions”. All partitions sit directly on the hypervisor.

The Host partition operating system is either Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 or Windows 2008 Server Core Enterprise x64. The Hyper-V services in the Host OS provide the control over the guest virtual machines. The Hyper-V Management console manages the virtual machines. A Hyper-V Management console on a Windows Server 2008 machine manages the Server core virtual machines remotely as there is no GUI running on Server Core.

The courses include a discussion of the reasons for virtualization as well as best candidates for virtualization. Included, is a demonstration showing the installation of the Hyper-V role as well as the deployment of virtual machines using the Hyper-V Management console. Other topics such as the optimization of the virtual environment to include appropriate hardware, performance tuning, parent & host based clustering, backup / restore operations and virtual machine migration among hosts are also covered.

Finely, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, (SCVMM) is introduced as a means to automate the self-service deployment of virtual machines through libraries and their associated templates. Also, with regard to SCVMM, the capability to move virtual machines among hosts and the physical to virtual (P2V) migration are covered.

Course Delivery

Presentations in this collection consist mostly of reading material. Quizzes were presented in the form of a 3×3 matrix “Match Game” where your goal was to arrange the statements in each cell so that they were all true statements. This exercise is fairly common in other courses. If you haven’t played the “Match Game”, you’ll had to experience it to fully appreciate it.

A “Scenario” based quiz was also used in some of the courses. A scenario is presented in the form of statements illustrating a topic with a goal. This is similar to the “scenario” questions on MCSE Exams. At each topic question a series of answers is presented. Choose the correct answer and you advance to the next topic in the scenario; miss it and you get an explanation and another chance. It’s an interesting approach to introducing new material.

The labs are presented as simulations of previously presented Camtasia demonstrations. Launch the lab section and you follow instruction to click on the appropriate button or area to advance through the process. This is rather a disappointment as it doesn’t allow you to wander around to discover features. For example, the SCVMM console is only a picture and not a real program. All labs I’ve previously taken ran actual software in a virtualized environment. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way to present a “hands on” experience, so it’s good enough.

Opinion

Overall, the collection presents the essence of the topic with not much of an opportunity to interact. You could just as easily download an Acrobat version of the presentation and read it at your convenience.