Hyper-V Team at Microsoft Rocks

The Hyper-V team at Microsoft and the Belgian Hyper-V contact at Microsoft are a very communicative and responsive group of people. Every time I have brought a need, a question or a problem to their attention they take it up and deliver a solution, an answer or a fix respectively. An example of this can be found in this blog post https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2010/01/29/microsoft-really-listens-enhances-nvspbind/ on functionality they added to nvspbind on our request.

More recently we ran into an issue with the Windows 2008 SP2 SKUs “Without Hyper-V” which I blogged about in KB2230887 Hotfix for Dynamic Memory with Windows 2008 Standard & Web edition does not apply to without Hyper-V editions?. I also brought this to the attention of John Howard. The reply was swift and positive. The Dynamic Memory owner Serdar was on the case and working with the Windows Sustained Engineering group to provide a re-release of the hotfix so it would support those “Without Hyper-V” SKUs. This has been fixed now as announced on the TechNet forum thread here, just scroll to the latest post. The only negative point here is that they forgot to mention it on the blog post and that you now need to call them to get the hotfix, why this is, I do not know.

UPDATE: As of 24 hours the hotfix is downloadable again http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2230887 (v2).

Over the years I’ve been impressed with what they delivered with Hyper-V out of the box. They’ve had some issues but they recognized them early and fixed ‘m fast. It has been a pleasure working with this technology for the last three years and I am now enjoying the benefits of Dynamic Memory with Windows Server 2008 SP1. All I can say that if you have a genuine interest in the technology and communicate clearly and politely with Microsoft personnel they are very engaged to help you. I’m pretty pleased Smile.

New KB Article 2494016 Related to Windows Server 2008 SP1 Hyper-V: Stop error 0x0000007a When Using CVS in Redirected Access

Well not a day after my blog post Extra Info on Clustering & Hyper-V with Dynamic Memory When You Start With Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1on important hotfixes for Hyper-V clustering with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Microsoft releases a new hot fix for issue below. I’ll add it to the post to keep up to date.

Stop error 0x0000007a occurs on a virtual machine that is running on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster with a cluster shared volume, and the state of the CSV is switched to redirected access

The KB article with instructions on how to get the hot fix is here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2494016/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

The scenario is detailed as follows:

Consider the following scenario:

  • You enable the cluster shared volume (CSV) feature on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster.
  • You create a virtual machine on the CSV on a cluster node.
  • You start the virtual machine on the cluster node.
  • You move the CSV owner to another cluster node, and you change the state of CSV to redirected access.
  • The connection that is used for redirected access is switched to another connection when one of the following scenarios occurs:
    • The cable for local area network (LAN) is disconnected.
    • The related network adapter is disabled.
    • The connection is switched by using Failover Cluster Manager.

In this scenario, you receive a Stop error message that resembles the following in the virtual machine:

STOP 0x0000007a ( parameter1 , parameter2 , parameter3 , parameter4 )
KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

Note

  • The parameters in this Stop error message vary, depending on the configuration of the computer.
  • Not all "0x0000007a" Stop error messages are caused by this issue.
  • You may also receive other Stop error messages when this issue occurs. For example, you may receive a "0x0000004F" Stop error message.

Extra Info on Clustering & Hyper-V with Dynamic Memory When You Start With Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1:

Here’s a quick “heads up” if your starting to use or thinking about using Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 for your Hyper-V clusters. The most common issues I’ve seen in the wild are:

  1. https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2011/04/01/kb2230887-hotfix-for-dynamic-memory-with-windows-2008-standard-web-edition-does-not-apply-to-without-hyper-v-editions/ This one is being worked on and the hotfix will be re-released to support the “Without Hyper-V” SKU of Windows Server 2008 SP2.  It’s a simple oversight but one that can be important when your Hyper-V clusters are filled with that SKU.
  2. We also got bitten by this one Déjà vu Bug: The network connection of a running Hyper-V virtual machine may be lost under heavy outgoing network traffic on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, but the hotfix was already available luckily.
  3. And than one to head and to read the TechNet forum about Cluster Validation Bug In Windows 2008 R2 SP1 – Disk has a Persistent Reservation on it. They are also working on a fix. I’ve written a blog post on this and I suggest you read it and also take note of the discussion in the TechNet forum.

    UPDATE: The hotfix for issue 3 has become available today, April 26th 2011 as announced on the TechNet forum here:

    A hotfix is now available that addresses the Win2008 R2 service pack 1 issue with Validate on a 3+ node cluster. This is KB 2531907. The KB article and download link will be published shortly, in the mean time you can obtain this hotfix immediately free of charge by calling Microsoft support and referencing KB 2531907.   Update 27/05/2011 Here is the link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2531907/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

An other one that I haven’t seen in the wild is:

Windows Server 2008 R2 installation may hang if more than 64 logical processors are active. There is is a workaround and a hotfix for this one.

Issue: When you try to install Windows Server 2008 R2 on a computer that has more than 64 logical processors, Windows Setup may stop responding in one of the following operations:

  • Initialization of Windows Setup
  • One of the two restarts that are required to complete Setup

Cause: This issue occurs because of an error in the Network Driver Interface Specification.This issue occurs because of an error in the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) driver.
When a computer has more than 64 logical processors, the NDIS driver does not correctly handle some operations. Therefore, the computer encounters stop responding issues and other system failures.

I don’t have any nodes under my care who have more than 64 logical processors so that’s why I guess Smile But with ever more cores available you it’s bound to happen in the near future.

Update 2: To keep me busy this KB article was released within 24 hours of me posting this blog on a BSOD with CSV and redirected access for witch a hot fix is available

Stop error 0x0000007a occurs on a virtual machine that is running on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster with a cluster shared volume, and the state of the CSV is switched to redirected access

The KB article with instructions on how to get the hot fix is here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2494016/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

The scenario is detailed as follows:

Consider the following scenario:

  • You enable the cluster shared volume (CSV) feature on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster.
  • You create a virtual machine on the CSV on a cluster node.
  • You start the virtual machine on the cluster node.
  • You move the CSV owner to another cluster node, and you change the state of CSV to redirected access.
  • The connection that is used for redirected access is switched to another connection when one of the following scenarios occurs:
    • The cable for local area network (LAN) is disconnected.
    • The related network adapter is disabled.
    • The connection is switched by using Failover Cluster Manager.

In this scenario, you receive a Stop error message that resembles the following in the virtual machine:

STOP 0x0000007a ( parameter1 , parameter2 , parameter3 , parameter4 )
KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

Note

  • The parameters in this Stop error message vary, depending on the configuration of the computer.
  • Not all "0x0000007a" Stop error messages are caused by this issue.
  • You may also receive other Stop error messages when this issue occurs. For example, you may receive a "0x0000004F" Stop error message.