Tag Archives: Integration Components

Hyper-V integration components 6.3.9600.18692

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After the July 2017 round of patching we got a new version of the Hyper-V integration components on Windows Server 2012 R2. Yes, something that you no longer need to deal with manually since Windows Server 2016. But hey, my guess is that many of you are still taking care of Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V deployments. I’m still taking care of a couple of Windows Server 2012 R2 Clusters, so don’t be shy now.

The newest version (at the time of writing) is 6.3.9600.18692 and 1st appeared in the June 27, 2017—KB4022720 (Preview of Monthly Rollup) update. It has since  been release in the July 11, 2017—KB4025336 (Monthly Rollup) update. You can follow up on the versions of the IC via this link Hyper-V Integration Services: List of Build Numbers

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That means that you’ll need to upgrade the integration components for the VMs running on your Hyper-V (cluster) nodes after patching those.

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And yes despite some issues we have seen with QA on updates in the past we still keep our environment very well up to date as when doing balanced risk management the benefits of a modern, well patched environment are very much there. Both for fixing bugs and mitigating security risks. Remember WannaCry ?

So my automation script has run against my Windows Server 2012 R2  Clusters. have you taken care of yours? I did adapt it to deal with the ever growing number of Windows Server 2016 VMs we see running, yes even on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V hosts.

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July 2016 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2

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Microsoft recently released another update rollup (aka cumulative update). The

July 2016 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

This rollup includes improvements and fixes but more importantly it also contains ‘improvements’ from June 2016 update rollup KB3161606 and May 2016 update rollup KB3156418. When it comes to the June rollup KB3161606 it’s fixes the bugs that cause concerns with Hyper-V Integration Components (IC) to even serious down time to Scale Out File Server (SOFS) users. My fellow MVP Aidan Finn discuses this in this blog post. Let’s say it caused a wrinkle in the community.

In short with KB3161606 the Integration Components needed an upgrade (to 6.3.9600.18339) but due to a mix up with the manifest files this failed. You could leave them in pace but It’s messy. To make matters worse this cumulative update also messed up SOFS deployments which could only be dealt with by removing it.

Bring in update rollup 3172614. This will install on hosts and guest whether they have  already installed or not and it fixes these issues. I have now deployed it on our infrastructure and the IC’s updated successfully to 6.3.9600.18398. The issues with SOFS are also resolved with this update. We have not seen any issues so far.

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In short, CU should be gone from Windows Update and WSUS. It it was already installed you don’t need to remove it. CU will install on those servers (hosts and guests) and this time is does things right.

I hope this leads to better QA in Redmond as it really is causing a lot of people grief at the moment. It also feed conspiracy nuts theories that MSFT is sabotaging on-premises to promote Azure usage even more. Let’s not feed the trolls shall we?

KB3063283 Updates the Hyper-V Integration Components for Windows Server 2012 R2 to 6.3.9600.17831

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While investigating a backup issue with some VMs I noticed an entry in the VEEAM Backup & Replication logs that the Hyper-V integration components were out of date.

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This was the case on all the guests on that particular cluster actually. A quick look at the IC version on the host showed them to be at 6.3.9600.17831.

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Comparing that to the ones in the guest made clear very quickly that those were at 6.3.9600.16384. So lower.

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A web search for Hyper-V Integration components led us to KB3063283 “Update to improve the backup of Hyper-V Integration components in Hyper-V Server 2012 R2”on their Hyper-V hosts. They keep a tight ship but due to regulations they are normally 3 to 4 months behind in patches and updates. So in their case they only recently installed that update. KB3063283 Updates the Hyper-V Integration Components for Windows Server 2012 R2 to 6.3.9600.17831

So a little word of warning while you are keeping your Hyper-V environment up to date (you should), don’t forget to update the integration components of your virtual machines. A good backup product like Veeam Back & Replication will log this during backups. It might not make the backups fail per se but they have been updated for a good reason. This upgrade  was even specifically for backup related issues so it’s wise to upgrade the virtual machines to this version a.s.a.p..