Hyper-V Linux VM Requirements

  • 7012075
  • 03-Apr-2013
  • 08-Apr-2013

Environment

PlateSpin Migrate 9.2+
PlateSpin Protect 10.3+
PlateSpin Forge 3.3+

Situation

If using PlateSpin Migrate 9.2+, when migrating Linux to Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, the following is required.

If using PlateSpin Protect 10.3+ or PlateSpin Forge 3.3+, when performing Failback of Linux to Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 (not-R2), the following is required

Resolution

When booting VMs on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 with the Linux Take Control Ramdisk, IDE disks are required; SCSI disks are not supported.

If trying to create disks larger than supported by Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 then you can use LVM to combine multiple virtual disks.

If IDE disks larger then 127 GB are needed, the following process allows for IDE disks of up to 2 TB:
 
1. Create the VM on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 with correct disk sizes and all IDE disks.
2. Boot the target VM with the Linux Ramdisk.
3. Before providing registration information to the Ramdisk, use 'Alt' + 'F7' to switch to a different terminal.
4. Run the following commands:
 
modprobe hv_vmbus
modprobe hv_storvsc
modprobe hv_blkvsc
 
5. Use 'Alt' + 'F1' to switch back to the main boot up script and register the VM with PlateSpin.
6. After finishing discovery, there should be duplicates of each IDE disk seen.  The ones with more then 127 GB of space will show up as 127 GB and as the larger size.  Choose the larger ones to correctly address the larger IDE disks.

Additional Information

See the following Microsoft Technet article for a list of what Microsoft Supports on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794868(WS.10).aspx