Microsoft Unveils Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

• By Kurt Mackie
• 09/03/09

Microsoft released the latest version of its free standalone server virtualization solution Friday.

The new release, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, can take advantage of greater computing resources compared with the first version. With R2, Microsoft increased the number of physical and logical processors supported. As well, the product now supports physical memory of up to one terabyte (see Table).

R2 works with various Windows client and server operating systems and can be downloaded here.

This release features Microsoft's built-in "live migration" capability. Live migration is designed to move virtual machines (VMs) with no perceived loss of uptime by end users. It also can facilitate hardware updates (such as a BIOS changes or memory upgrades) during planned downtimes. The VMs can be moved out before the hardware upgrade and then moved back when the work is completed.

Microsoft includes a "processor compatibility" feature in Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 that allows VMs to be moved across different processor generations provided that the processors come from the same hardware vendor. So users can move VMs across Intel chipsets or across AMD chipsets, for instance, but not across a mixture of the two.

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 can run up to 384 VMs with up to 512 virtual processors per server, according to Microsoft's team blog. Management can be accomplished using Microsoft's free Remote Server Administration Tool for Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 R2 or System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2.

Microsoft also made it easier for its original equipment manufacturer partners to ship the hypervisor. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 includes a new feature that lets users boot it from a flash drive.