Weekly News Digest | Windows Server 2016 Scalability and more

Windows Server 2016 compute maximums

The new post in Windows Server blog is published on 08/25 and confirms the following scale changes in Windows Server 2016:

So, Windows Server 2016 delivers the new-leading scalability to virtualize any and every workload without any exception.

What about vSphere 6.0? vSphere 6.0 maximums are far short of the WS. But I’m almost sure for 99% VMware will update their maximums as soon as possible (next major release). May be we will see updated vSphere 6.0 scalability before WS 2016 RTM.  HA scale digits are the same for both  WS/vSphere so far (FT/resource pools are excluded)

The difference between vSphere 6.0 and Windows Server 2016 compute values are below:

*12 TB is supported on specific OEM certified platform

New VMware migration offer for Windows Server 2016

If you are really interested in Windows Server 2016 or plan migration from VMware, Microsoft has a special offer to you.

From September 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017, customers who switch workloads from VMware to Hyper-V can get free Windows Server Datacenter licenses when buying Windows Server Datacenter + Software Assurance. That ultimately means customers only pay for Software Assurance, which provides multiple benefits.

To be eligible for the VMware migration offer, customers must follow these steps:

• Step 1: Engage your account executive or sales rep to begin the process.
• Step 2: Identify virtualized workloads to migrate and specify the Windows Server Datacenter cores required.
• Step 3: Provide your account executive proof of eligibility. (Offer applicable to customers migrating from VMware to Microsoft).
• Step 4: Engage your partner to start the migration process.
• Step 5: Receive free Windows Server Datacenter licenses with Software Assurance and pay only the cost of Software Assurance to kick start your migration.

Check out the new VMware Shift website for more detailed information as well as technical comparisons and more reasons to choose Microsoft over VMware.

Update Rollup 11 for Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2

…(w/SP1) is released (08/24)

Some of fixed issues:

• When you try to run a large scale deployment of a service instance, VMM Placement may store many VMs unevenly on a single host.
• Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Administrator Console crashes on all Windows 10-based client computers that have the Anniversary Update installed.
• VMM removes cluster disks from a virtual machine (VM) resource group if they are accessed as mount points.
• The CPU Average and Memory values that are shown in the VMM Console are not calculated based on the average of the last 10 minutes. Instead, VMM just considers the latest value.
• When you try to create Generation 2 VMs from VM templates, the process is unsuccessful, and you receive the following error message:Error (13206)
  Virtual Machine Manager cannot locate the boot or system volume on virtual machine <VM name>. The resulting virtual machine might not start or operate properly.Note The symptom for this issue resembles that of an issue fixed in Update Rollup 10. However, the scenarios and causes differ as follows:
  • Issue fixed in Update Rollup 10: VMM is not waiting for the volumes to be mounted, and it does not find the bootable volume.
  • Issue fixed in Update Rollup 11: Mount of volumes is completed without any issues. However, the volumes returned after mount are not bootable.

Official article KB 3184831 (VMM):

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3184831

OR use the main KB for entire System Center 2012 R2 UR 11 :

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3184867

VMware VM Backup using System Center Data Protection Manager

System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) is the key element of System Center product. It protects a variety workloads and virtual machines running on Hyper-V.

08/26 Microsoft announced support for backing up VMware VMs.

Props:

• Agentless Backup – DPM uses VMware’s VADP API to protect VMware VMs remotely without installing agents on vCenter or ESXi servers. This frees admins from the hassle of managing agents for VMware VM backup.
• Integrated Hybrid Backup helps customers in backing up to disk for operational recovery and to cloud using Azure Backup for offsite copy or longterm retention
• First class integration with VMware allows customers to backup VMs stored in different storage targets like NFS and cluster storage seamlessly without any extra manual steps. vCenter’s capability to organize VMs in folders helps customers in managing large environments with ease.  DPM can discover and protect at folder level.  This enables protection of VMs that are present currently and also any new VMs that gets added into this folder in future.

To get started with VMware VM backup you should install UR11 for DPM. And then go through the 4 steps described in these videos