Hyper-V: Top Free Programs
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.
Free Powershell Script
**Free Powershell 3.0 script to get a detailed report of your VHost and VM's running Hyper-v 3.0 **
- The Reports date and time of running
- The Vhost's Name and Uptime
- The Vhost's amount of RAM and Virtaul CPUs
- The Vhosts IP addresses, MACs and NIC Description
- The Vhost disk space available on drive C: (you can add as many drives as you need in the script)
- The Vhosts Virtual switches and their names
- The Total # of VM's on the VHost and their: Name, RAM(GB), vCPU Count, State, Status, Uptime, AutomaticStartAction, IntegrationServicesVersion
- The VM's BIOS setting (startorder and num-lock state)
- The VM's Virtual Switch it is attached to and IP address/MAC
- The VM's DVD information and if anything is mounted
- The VM's Hard drive file location, type, format and size
- The VM's Snapshots and location
Download PS Script
5nine Easy V2V Converter
Free, fast and easy-to-use VMware / Hyper-V Virtual Machines Conversion.
5nine V2V Easy Converter performs fast and non-intrusive conversion and fixup of selected VMware Virtual Machines to Windows Hyper-V VMs with highest conversion success ratio.
5nine V2V Easy Converter can be used as a standalone tool on different versions of Windows Server, including Free Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 R2/SP1, Server 2008 Core, Windows 8/Server 2012, Full and Core installations and does not require any additional software licenses.
Current version of 5nine V2V Converter support conversion of Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Server 2003 (x86 and x64), and most of Advanced Server 2000, Ubuntu and CentOS configurations.
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 Starwinds
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/download-starwind-converter
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter
Tech Note: As of this date (Nov. 24, 2013) This product does not work with 2012 R2
Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts including Hyper-V on Windows Server® 2012. As part of the machine conversion MVMC converts the virtual disks attached to the source virtual machine. It also migrates configuration such as memory, virtual processor and so on from the source virtual machine to the converted virtual machine deployed on Hyper-V. It adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.
There is a stand alone converter as well as a VMware vSphere Client Plug-In version.
More info
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh967435.aspx
Hyper-v web interface
A simple web interface to Hyper-v 3.0.
Currently program allows only basic virtual machine management:
- Start
- Pause
- Save
- Shutdown
- Turn off power
It is console application. It can work directly from the command line on a Hyper-V Server and supports installation as service.
Application contains a webserver which hosts a small web application that handles virtual machines on local Hyper-V server.
System requirements for host system: Hyper-V 3.0, Hyper-V Server 2012, Windows 2012 Server with Hyper-V role, Windows 8 with Hyper-V role.
More info on web interface
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 Folder2ISO
http://www.brothersoft.com/folder2iso-download-44840.html
Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit 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 MAPP
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 CoreConfig
http://coreconfig.codeplex.com/
Microsoft 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 Stencils
Microsoft 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 VMMTest:
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/VMMTestWizard
Disk2VHD
µWith 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 Disk2VHD
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415
Linux Integration Components
For maximum integration between VMs and Hyper-V you need to install the Integration Components (ICs). IC for Linux provides support for Susi, RedHat, CentOS, and many others non-official OSses.
Download LIC
http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=41554
Microsoft 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 BPA
Microsoft 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 Tool
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 Monitor
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 Securable
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 Virtual Stencil
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 Library
Microsoft Hyper-V Server
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. It has all features available in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and runs in a server core version without graphical interface . All for free!
Download Hyper-V eval
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/evalcenter/dn205299.aspx
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 Config tool
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Network-Monitoring/Free-HyperV-Configuration-Tool.shtml
MRemoteNG
mRemoteNG is a fork of mRemote, an open source, tabbed, multi-protocol, remote connections manager. mRemoteNG adds bug fixes and new features to mRemote.
It allows you to view all of your remote connections in a simple yet powerful tabbed interface.
mRemoteNG supports the following protocols:
- RDP (Remote Desktop/Terminal Server)
- VNC (Virtual Network Computing)
- ICA (Citrix Independent Computing Architecture)
- SSH (Secure Shell)
- Telnet (TELecommunication NETwork)
- HTTP/HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
- rlogin
- Raw Socket Connections
Unitrends Enterprise Backup
Unitrends is now available in virtual appliance form.
Get it: http://www.unitrends.com/unitrends-enterprise-backup/download
Three free editions are available:
- FREE: Up to 4 VM’s protected for FREE forever.
- TRIAL: Fully functional 30-day version – no size or feature limits; Can revert down to FREE after 30 days
- NFR: Renewable license for MSFT and VMware certified professionals. Includes license for protecting 2 sockets and 2 application-enabled servers.
Free Edition Highlights:
- Instant recovery of virtual machines.
- File-level recovery of files and folders.
- Rotational archiving to disk, tape, NAS and SAN.
- Automated backup scheduling with flexible strategies.
Download Unitrends
http://www.unitrends.com/unitrends-enterprise-backup/download
Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V monitoring
Veeam Task Manager provides detailed Hyper-V performance monitoring metrics for CPU and memory at the individual VM level so you can identify which VMs are using the host resources.
- Remotely connect to other machines and servers, by simply specifying their address;
- Monitor multiple stations at the same time, without having to install the application on every system and check each one of them separately;
- It can be made portable so it can be run on any USB device in case of emergency troubleshooting.
Download Veeam TM
http://hyperv.veeam.com/free-task-manager-hyper-v-performance-monitoring/