Hello, this is Bryon Surace again.  I’m a senior program manager on the Windows virtualization team at Microsoft.   Recently, the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 beta 2 became available for public download.  Part of this release is the Beta 2 version of Visual Studio Team System 2010 Lab Management; an integrated solution to give you all t.. more »

I'm re-blogging here. Over at , Jim wrote the following: This week Microsoft is launching a comprehensive solution to help customers implement cost effective, end-to-end site recovery programs. Built on proven capabilities in management suite, Microsoft is helping IT Professionals leverage Windows Server to deliver cost effective site recovery. .. more »

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Virtualization Best Practices for SQL Server (Level 300) Virtualizing business critical applications will deliver significant customer benefits including cost savings, enhanced business continuity and an agile and efficient management solution.  This session will focus on virtualizing SQL Server using Microsoft s.. more »

The folks at IDC updated their server virtualization tracker report today, highlighting the toll the recession has had on the market ... even server virtualization. It turned out to be fortunate timing as rival Gartner had just published their numbers the week prior, the same week VMware and MSFT published quarterly earnings. I want to share some pe.. more »

It's been a while since I've ... but that one really caused a stir in the Virt circles in the Bay Area. Hopefully it doesn't mean I can't hit up those people for I've stumbled across some interesting items that I wanted to share with you. Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2009 R2 is now available. The big thing is support for Windows 7. Read the b.. more »

Hyper-V uses a role based authorisation model for access checks. This series of articles takes a look at the model; defines the available primitives; and walks through a couple of examples. (I actually wrote most of this many months ago only finally found the time to post it up!).[IMG] This post describes a change to the authorisation model in .. more »

Hi, I'm Mike Neil, general manager of Windows Server and Server Virtualization. Back in our work with Red Hat to enable cooperative technical support for virtualized environments. I'm excited to announce we've completed certification in each others' programs! Customers now can deploy Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux and a range .. more »

This is a Hypervisor 101 case that keeps showing itself every so often the forums, mailing lists, etc: A message to the effect of “The Hypervisor is not running” when a user tries to launch a VM. Felipe Ayora, one of our awesome UA people, has created this video that steps through how to investigate such a failure and fix it .. more »

Microsoft has a comprehensive portfolio of technologies when it comes to Virtualization ranging from Presentation Virtualization with Remote Desktop Services to Server Virtualization using Hyper-V with many more in between as below.         Server Hardware Virtualization. Also known as a hypervisor, Server Hardware Virtualization runs a very lightwe.. more »

Hyper-V uses a role based authorisation model for access checks. This series of articles takes a look at the model; defines the available primitives; and walks through a couple of examples. (I actually wrote most of this series many months ago – only finally found the time to post it up!). Quick links: Part1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4   In parts two .. more »

Ordinarily it'd be great news that we RTM'd System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 ahead of schedule, so close to the RTM of WS08 R2 Hyper-V and one week before VMworld conference. You can't beat the timing of it all. And the ~10,000 beta testers of SCVMM08 R2 are a big part of why we were able to deliver a high-quality release in the time we.. more »

Hyper-V uses a role based authorisation model for access checks. This series of articles takes a look at the model; defines the available primitives; and walks through a couple of examples. (I actually wrote most of this series many months ago – only finally found the time to post it up!). In part two, I started creating the scenario of se.. more »

I am pleased that it is being acknowledged by VMware (evidenced by their keynote announcements yesterday on the vCenter additions) that for a strong virtualization platform a complete end-to-end solution is required. We agree completely!! We at Microsoft provide solutions for configuration/change management, operational/health monitoring, virtual .. more »

I now have the final list of sessions that I will be attending at VMworld. As I noted last time I had a lot of waitlists which it now appears I have not made the cut for most of the sessions. That means I will be at our booth (#2422) almost all of today (Aug 31, 2009) and at the times when I am not attending a session. There is a great opportunity .. more »

I have been inundated by people here at VMworld 2009 with tons of questions on Hyper-V and who want to see demos of Hyper-V. This blog post attempts to put together a list material for folks. Given the large amount of material this list is only a snapshot but one which will provide you enough to get started. First off there is a huge amount of .. more »

Virtualization Nation, In my last blog, I discussed the importance of a Security Development Lifecycle and how we're making resources available to our customers and partners. Today, I want to discuss a more resources Microsoft provides our partners to develop and refine their products running on Windows and point out opportunities for integration .. more »

Virtualization Nation, In part 1 of this series, I started an in depth analysis tackling VMware’s claims head on that because their disk footprint is smaller and ESX/ESXi are single purpose hypervisors, they are therefore more secure. The Thin Hypervisor Debate In A Nutshell Rather than attempt to restate VMware's argument, let's just use th.. more »

Hello, I’m Zane Adam, general manager of Virtualization and Systems Management.  As more and more customers are looking at virtualization to help reduce cost and decrease complexity in their infrastructure, we are seeing lots of questions around virtualizing MS server applications such as Exchange, SQL and SharePoint.  What benefits should I expect .. more »

We are really excited to announce that Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is available for download here. It’s been a long an exciting journey bringing this product to our customers. The chart below tells it all, we have listened to our customers and have designed the product to meet their needs. This is a robust virtualization platform with live mi.. more »

In my last two blog posts (Part 1 & Part 2), I started an in depth analysis tackling VMware's claims head on that because their disk footprint is smaller and ESX/ESXi are single purpose hypervisors, they are therefore more secure. If that's the case, then it stands to reason that ESX/ESXi: should have fewer patches (they have less code to patch) .. more »