Hyper-V Server 2012 (free edition) and UCS

[stevederian]

I am trying to find out if the free standalone edition of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 is compatible and supported to run on Cisco UCS B- series servers, specifically B200M3? if anyone can share their experience with Hyper-V and UCS that would be greatly appreciated.  

Thank you

[tcerling]

That version was a pre-release version.  You should be using the released version which you download from here - Download Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

[chemelli74]

Hi Timothy,

are you sure ?

The link you suggested is the same I posted. Plus the iso name says "RTM".

Can you post your iso full file name please ?

Thx

Simone

[tcerling]

Sorry, I was just looking at the name of the file - I overlooked your link.  The name is the way Microsoft was naming files during the early releases, so I jumped to an incorrect conclusion.  I didn't realize they kept the same naming convention for the media from their download site.  The copy I used during my installations was from MSDN - en_microsoft_hyper-v_server_2012_r2_x64_dvd_2708236.iso dated from September, 2013.

When I get a chance, I will try the version from the download site instead of the MSDN version.

[chemelli74]

Timothy,

do you mind doing a sha1/md5 check on your ISO ?

mine are:

SHA1: "99829e03eb090251612673bf57c4d064049d067a"

MD5: "9c9e0d82cb6301a4b88fd2f4c35caf80"

If they differ, can you compare the content ? I would say something is different between MSDN media and the free download.

Thank you.

Simone

[tcerling]

Yes, they are different, and that does not surprise.  MSDN media is 'tagged' as MSDN media, so files found there will almost always be 'different'.  Also, they may get updated with patches at different times - this is something new that Microsoft has implemented.  Whereas in the past you would download media and have to apply all patches that had been released since the release of the product, they are now creating 'update rollups' and applying those to download media.  I know they are doing this in MSDN distributions.  I do not know if they are doing the same on the Microsoft download site.

As I say, when I get a chance, I will retry with the download versus MSDN media.

[chemelli74]

Timothy,

thank you very much.

I was aware of the MSDN media updates, but I was hoping they did the same for the freely downloadable iso.

If this will be proved to the the culprit, then Cisco should update OS notes for compatibility.

Interesting is that I have a SPLA contract with Microsoft, but cannot have that iso (as it's a free download, so the link takes to the public site).

Have a nice day.

Simone

[tcerling]

Simone,

I took some time to go back and try again with the public download copy instead of MSDN media.  I had no issues.  Works fine.

You can ignore the message about not enough space.  That's a holdover from when Microsoft required there to be enough space on the disk for a full memory dump.  They have changed that requirement, so this warning message can be safely ignored.

The difference between what I am doing and what you are doing is that you are not using the latest drivers.  I am using 2.2.1, and you stated you are using 2.1.3b.  As I noted in an earlier post, you should be using the latest drivers.  Rule of thumb for dealing with storage or networking issues is to always ensure you have the latest version of the driver, unless you know for a fact that an earlier version is required.  In this case, I forget when we introduced support for 2012 R2 - I'd have to go back to the release notes to find out.  From our different experiences, it appears that it was between 2.1 and 2.2.

[chemelli74]

Hi Timothy,

thank you very much for time spent testing. I appreciate it!

I'll retest with updated drivers. Even if looking at UCS Manager Interoperability Utility, notes say:

Adapter Driver   = 2.3.0.20 (FNIC) / 2.3.0.10 (ENIC)

Adapter Firmware = 2.1(3)

and fnic2k12.inf from ucs-bxxx-drivers.2.1.3b.iso says:

Signature   = "$WINDOWS NT$"

CatalogFile = fnic2k12.cat

DriverVer   = 10/17/2013,2.3.0.20

so I should be in the correct support matrixx ;-)

Simone

[chemelli74]

Hi Timothy,

finally got the iso from MSDN: same issue (bte, the md5/sha12 is the same as the public available).

Then I checked with updated drivers, even if they are not in support matrix: same issue.

What I finally did is the suggestion that came from the SR: removed the zoning to make the blade see only 1 path. And it worked like a charm !!!

Was not enough to change the boot policy like you suggested from the beginning, dunno why.

And dunno why, if using multiple paths, works with full Windows Server and not with Hyper-V Server.

Anyway, it's all good now.

Thank you for your support and time.

Simone

[tcerling]

"What I finally did is the suggestion that came from the SR: removed the zoning to make the blade see only 1 path. And it worked like a charm !!!"

Yes, that is a basic requirement.  That is documented in every CVD that is published for building Windows images.  From the way I was reading the description of your environment, I was under the assumption that you were presenting multiple disks to the server.  I did not read it as you having all paths defined to a single LUN.

Glad you found the issue.

tim