With the experience working some years with Virtual PC, Virtual Server and Hyper-V I've accumulated some programs that help me a lot in managing virtual environments and decided, in this article, share them with you. Are some simple software, but help in the automation, monitoring, planning and administration of virtualized environments.

There is no order of the best, all are recognized as indispensable.

Folder2Iso

As the name implies, this program convert a folder into an ISO file. For security in Hyper-V you cannot move files between the physical and virtual machine (existing function in Virtual PC). This software helps this need, allowing to add ISO file to CD with the VMs.

Download: http://www.brothersoft.com/folder2iso-download-44840.html

MAP 5.5

MAP makes the same service that usually did System Engineers in environments to migrate to the latest versions of servers and clients such as Windows 2008

R2, Windows 7, Exchange 2010, etc. From a client (without the needs of a server) its analyze the entire network to seek systems that can be migrated, what hardware configuration is needed, servers that can be virtualized, ROI report, Green IT and several other very useful information to show you the ropes of planning

and design phase of a migration project.

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=67240b76-3148-4e49-943d-4d9ea7f77730&displaylang=en

CoreConfig 2.0

One of the best practices of using Hyper-V is to use the host system with the Server Core installation. It offers an environment with the command line without graphical interface, providing more security and performance, once they are installed only the resources needed to run Windows Server Core. The only complaint is precisely the lack of graphical environment. This WAS a problem, because with 2.0 CoreConfig is possible to run powershell scripts with a graphical environment, offering features and options that are usually difficult to do using command lines.

Download: http://coreconfig.codeplex.com/

Hyper-V Stencils and Hack


 

With this tool you can analyze your hack servers and have some performance information, usage, and a map for all of these results using Microsoft Visio.

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=3250331A-0116-4064-92D1-50B9B0727B75&displaylang=en


Virtual Machine Migration Test



If you want to migrate a VM between different hosts is necessary to check the compatibility before to make sure that everything will go well. The VMMT does just this service to ensure that the migration will go smoothly.

Download: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/VMMTestWizard


Disk2VHD

 

With the benefits of virtualization is very common enterprises migrate their physical servers to virtual machines. This work can now be done with just two clicks using Disk2vhd, a tool that converts your physical machine into virtual ones in a simple and agile.

Download: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415


Linux Integration Components 2.1

 


For maximum integration between VMs and Hyper-V you need to install the Integration Components (ICs). The new version 2.1 of the IC for Linux provides support for Susi, RedHat, CentOS, and many others non-official OSses.

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=eee39325-898b-4522-9b4c-f4b5b9b64551 


Hyper-V Best Practice Analyzer



After installation and configuration of a virtualized environment is interesting to apply the best practices and monitor the servers to see if there is any misconfiguration or some feature that is not being used well. With Hyper-V BPA is possible to have several tips to help you use Microsoft's best practices and identify these problems.

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=89d80c15-0082-4fef-a4fc-fefa463bed08&displaylang=en

Virtual Machine Servicing Tool



It is common to use templates of virtual machines to automate the creation time of them. But sometimes the offline update these VMs become a challenge. VMST can tell you how to update applications and patches to the VM offline without having to create a new image.

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=8408ecf5-7afe-47ec-a697-eb433027df73&displaylang=en



StarwindsConverter



There are several tools for conversion of virtual systems from third parties, such as VMWare to Hyper-V. Most of them have some limitations. One of the most complete and easiest to use is the StarWinds V2V converter. With it you can convert a virtual disk in VMware to Hyper-V in minutes, and vice versa.

Download: http://www.starwindsoftware.com/download-starwind-converter


Hyper-V Monitor

From Windows Vista and Windows 7 you can use gadgets, small programs that are displayed on the desktop. An interesting gadget is the Hyper-V Monitor. You can monitor memory, disk, processor, and some commands such as shutdown, reset, turn off, etc., all from your desktop.

Download: http://mindre.net/Article/hyperv_monitor_gadget_for_windows_sidebar


Securable – Virtualization Assistance



To run theHyper-V takes a few prerequisites such as x64 systems, compatible processor, etc. To see if your server has all of them Securable can assure you with just 2 clicks.

Download: http://www.grc.com/securable.htm

Visio Virtual Stencil


It is very important documentation of the virtual environment. A widely used tool for this is Microsoft Visio. In the download below you can use a Visio template with
lots of icons, pictures and examples of virtualized servers and components to provide an easy way to create a map and documentation of the Hyper-V and its VMs.

Download: http://www.jonathancusson.com/tag/virtualization-stencil/


Powershell Library for Hyper-V


One of my favorite - PowerShell Modules for Hyper-V offers several commandlets to manage your VMs. Some examples such as Export-VM, VM-Create, Create-Snapshot, Get-VHD and several others which together create powerful scripts to help manage the Hyper-V.

Download: http://pshyperv.codeplex.com/


Hyper-V Server 2008 R2



If you are considering to virtualize your servers, but do not want to spend too much, there is a free version of Hyper-V called Hyper-V Server. His latest release,

R2, offers a cluster and the famous live migration, which moves VMs between nodes of clusters with VMs in production, support for 1 TB of memory on the host

and 64 GB of memory per VM. All for free!

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=48359dd2-1c3d-4506-ae0a-232d0314ccf6&displaylang=en


Free HyperV Configuration Tool 1.0 Download

Free HyperV Configuration Tool serves as a smart desktop tool that continuously monitors Hyper V, a Microsoft virtual server, across your network and more importantly, it empowers you to manage / configure those VM's in real-time and ensures your mission-critical applications run smoothly.

Requirements:

· Up to 10MB of DISK space
· .NET Framework 2.0 and above

Download: http://http//www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Network-Monitoring/Free-HyperV-Configuration-Tool.shtml 

If you use one of those tools or have some other software that is not listed, leave your comment and help spread.

Leandro Carvalho
MCSA+S+M | MCSE+S | MCTS | MCITP | MCBMSS | MCT | MVP Virtual Machine
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