Microsoft Virtualization Secrets

Using Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008 R2

This section introduces the key Hyper-V features available with Windows Server 2008 R2. Please keep in mind that this is a high-level overview of the features that are of most interest to the majority of people; it is not exhaustive. Therefore, even though a feature is not covered here, that does not mean it isn’t available with Hyper-V or System Center.

Although Hyper-V was first available shortly after Windows Server 2008 was released, it is with Windows Server 2008 R2 that Hyper-V has really found its footing and it is now considered a serious hypervisor for enterprises. For organizations looking at Hyper-V, there is no reason to deploy the Windows Server 2008 version of Hyper-V. Instead, you can start with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Hyper-V for the best set of features available, and Windows Server 2012 may have shipped by the time you are reading this—it is covered in the next section. The features that are part of Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V have been carried over into Windows Server 2012, many with some improvements.

Capabilities and Features

I’ve already explained that Hyper-V enables the creation of virtual machines that can run 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems. The following sections go into more detail about the capabilities of Hyper-V virtual machines, including the amount of hardware Hyper-V can utilize and its features.

Processor Resources

The future is multi-core processors, and Intel already offers a 32-core ...