Tag Archives: Hyper-V

Windows Server 2012 R2 Cluster Reset Recent Events With PowerShell

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I blogged before about the fact that since Windows Server 2012  we have the ability to reset the recent events shown so that the state of the cluster is squeaky clean with not warnings or errors. You can read up on this here. Windows Server 2012 Cluster Reset Recent Events Feature.

You can also do this in PowerShell like in the example below:

#Connect to cluster & get current RecentEventsResetTime value
$MyCluster = Get-CLuster -name "W2K12R2RTM"
$MyCluster.RecentEventsResetTime

#Reset recent events
$MyCluster.RecentEventsResetTime = get-date
$MyCluster.RecentEventsResetTime

As you may notice, the RecentEventsResetTime is displayed in UTC when read form the cluster after connecting to it. Right after you set it it displays the time respectful of the time zone you’re in right until you connect to the cluster again. We demonstrate this in the 2 screenshots below (I’m at GMT+1).

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This comes in handy when writing test, comparison & demo scripts. Often you do things with the network that causes network connectivity to be lost when the NIC gets reset (disabled/enabled) and such. Also when something fails as part of the demo or tests scripts it’s nice to start the rerun or the next part of the demo/test with a clean cluster GUI when you’re showcasing stuff. Unfortunately an already GUI doesn’t refresh these setting if the reset is not done in the GUI. So you need to open a new one. For scripting you don’t have this issue. EDIT: In Windows 2012 R2 you can use the $MyCluster.Update() to reflect the new value of RecentEventsResetTime in UTC without having to reconnect to the cluster. In Windows Server 2012 this Update method isn’t available but it seems to happen automatic.

Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 for Hyper-V Available For Download

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Yesterday, December 19th 2013, Microsoft made the Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 for Hyper-V available for download.

The Linux Integration Services (LIS) package downloaded from Microsoft  is meant to deliver support older Linux distros. In the most recent Linux distros the KVP component is to be included, as are the other Hyper-V related drivers. In these distros these drivers and components are to be part of the upstream Linux kernel, and as such are included in Linux distros releases. So you should not need this download if you run these newer distros that has the LIS built-in. The list of supported distros is slowly growing.

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If you are running (or need to run) older versions of Linux in your VMs and leverage the 100% fully featured Hyper-v Server 2012 R2 that is also 100% free of charge this is your way to leverage all those features. The aim is that you’re never a left behind when running Hyper-V (within the limits of supportability, DOS 6.0, NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 is not an acceptable OS today).

In Microsoft speak:

Hyper-V supports both emulated (“legacy”) and Hyper-V-specific (“synthetic”) devices for Linux virtual machines. When a Linux virtual machine is running with emulated devices, no additional software is required to be installed. However, emulated devices do not provide high performance and cannot leverage the rich virtual machine management infrastructure that the Hyper-V technology offers.

To make full use of all benefits that Hyper-V provides, it is best to use Hyper-V-
specific devices for Linux. The collection of drivers that are required to run Hyper-V-specific devices is known as Linux Integration Services (LIS).
 
For certain older Linux distributions, Microsoft provides an ISO file containing installable LIS drivers for Linux virtual machines. For newer Linux distributions, LIS is built into the Linux operating system, and no separate download or installation is required. This guide discusses the installation and functionality of LIS drivers on older Linux distributions.

For some extra info an tips see Enabling Linux Support on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V

Failed Live Migrations with Event ID 21502 Planned virtual machine creation failed for virtual machine ‘VM Name’: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0x80072746) Caused By Wrong Jumbo Frame Settings

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OK so Live Migration fails and you get the following error in the System even log with event id 21502:

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Planned virtual machine creation failed for virtual machine ‘DidierTest01’: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0x80072746). (Virtual Machine ID 41EF2DB-0C0A-12FE-25CB-C3330D937F27).

Failed to receive data for a Virtual Machine migration: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0x80072746).

There are some threads on the TechNet forums on this like here http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/805466e8-f874-4851-953f-59cdbd4f3d9f/windows-2012-hyperv-live-migration-failed-with-an-existing-connection-was-forcibly-closed-by-the and some blog post pointing to TCP/IP Chimney settings causing this but those causes stem back to the Windows Server 2003 / 2008 era.

In the Hyper-V event log Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin you also see a series of entries related to the failed live migration point to the same issue: image

  
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          10/8/2013 10:06:15 AM
Event ID:      20413
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      SRV1.BLOG.COM
Description:
The Virtual Machine Management service initiated the live migration of virtual machine  ‘DidierTest01’ to destination host ‘SRV2’ (VMID 41EF2DB-0C0A-12FE-25CB-C3330D937F27).
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          10/8/2013 10:06:26 AM
Event ID:      22038
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      SRV1.BLOG.COM
Description:
Failed to send data for a Virtual Machine migration: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0x80072746).
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          10/8/2013 10:06:26 AM
Event ID:      21018
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      SRV1.BLOG.COM
Description:
Planned virtual machine creation failed for virtual machine ‘DidierTest01’: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0x80072746). (Virtual Machine ID 41EF2DB-0C0A-12FE-25CB-C3330D937F27).
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          10/8/2013 10:06:26 AM
Event ID:      22040
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      SRV1.BLOG.COM
Description:
Failed to receive data for a Virtual Machine migration: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. (0x80072746).
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          10/8/2013 10:06:26 AM
Event ID:      21024
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      srv1.blog.com
Description:
Virtual machine migration operation for ‘DidierTest01’ failed at migration source ‘SRV1’. (Virtual machine ID 41EF2DB-0C0A-12FE-25CB-C3330D937F27)

There is something wrong with the network and if all checks out on your cluster & hosts it’s time to look beyond that. Well as it turns out it was the Jumbo Frame setting on the CSV and LM NICs.

Those servers had been connected to a couple of DELL Force10  S4810 switches. These can handle an MTU size up to 12000. And that’s how they are configured. The Mellanox NICs allow for MTU Sizes up to 9614 in their Jumbo Frame property.  Now super sized jumbo frames are all cool until you attach the network cables to another switch like a PowerConnect 8132 that has a max MTU size of 9216. That moment your network won’t do what it’s supposed to and you see errors like those above. If you test via an SMB share things seem OK & standard pings don’t show the issue. But some ping tests with different mtu sizes & the –f (do no fragment) switch will unmask the issue soon. Setting the Jumbo Frame size on the CSV & LM NICs to 9014 resolved the issue.

Now if on the server side everything matches up but not on the switches you’ll also get an event id 21502 but with a different error message:

Event ID: 21502 The Virtual Machine Management Service failed to establish a connection for a Virtual machine migration with host XXXX. A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or the established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond (0X8007274C)

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This is the same message you’ll get for a known cause of shared nothing live migration failing as described in this blog post by Microsoft Shared Nothing Migration fails (0x8007274C).

So there you go. Keep an eye on those Jumbo Frame setting especially in a mixed switch environment. They all have their own capabilities, rules & peculiarities. Make sure to test end to end and you’ll be just fine.

Live Migration Can Benefit From Jumbo Frames

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Does live migration benefit from Jumbo frames? This question always comes back so I’d just blog it hear again even if I have mentioned it as part of other blog posts. Yes it does! How do I know. Because I’ve tested and used it with Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 & 2012 R2. Why? because I have a couple of mantra’s:

  • Assumption are the mother of all fuckups
  • Assume makes an ASS out of U and ME
  • Trust but verify

What can I say. I have been doing 10Gbps since for Live Migration with Hyper-V. And let me tell you my experiences with an otherwise completely optimized server (mainly BIOS performance settings): It will help you with up to 20% more bandwidth use.

And thanks to Windows Server 2012 R2 supporting SMB for live migration we can very nicely visualize this with 2*10Gbps NICS, not teamed, used by live migration leveraging SMB Multichannel. On one of the 10Gbps we enable Jumbo Frames on the other one we do not. We than live migrate a large memory VM back and forth. Now you tell me which one is which.

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Now enable Jumbo frames on both 10Gbps NICs and again we live migrate the large memory VM back and forth. More bandwidth used, faster live migration.

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I can’t make it any more clear. No jumbo frames will not kill your performance unless you have it messed up end to end. Don’t worry if you have a cheaper switch where you can only enable it switch wide instead op port per port. The switch is a pass through. So unless you set messed up sizes on sender/receiving host that the switch in between can’t handle, it will work even without jumbo frames and without heaven falling down on your head Smile. Configure it correctly, test it, and you’ll see.