Hyper-V Management and Diagnostic from a Single Environment

Introduction

vtUtilities (http://vtutilities.com) provide a local GUI to manage Hyper-V. Hyper-V is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, as well as on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012, which are Microsoft standalone free hypervisor products. vtUtilities deliver functionality level similar to Microsoft Hyper-V Manager, while it can run on environments where Hyper-V Manager is not supported such as core installations of Windows Server and standalone free Hyper-V Server. vtUtilities can be also used for remote management of different versions of Hyper-V (i.e. Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012) from a single application. In this scenario functionality and GUI will be adjusted to reflect the features supported by managed Hyper-V version. That being said, vtUtilities provide GUI for all new features introduced in Hyper-V 3 such as replication, guest migration, VHDX, virtual Fibre Channel adapters for managing Hyper-V on Windows 8. In addition to the Hyper-V management functionality, vtUtilities also implement GUI allowing connecting to the virtual machine console. This is an important factor when managing or troubleshooting virtualization environments on GUI-less hosts when local management utilizing command line interface (PowerShell) or remote management is difficult or even not feasible. vtUtilities do not extend a potential attack surface on managed Hyper-V hosts and do not install or require any additional components.

Virtual Network Management

vtUtilities implement comprehensive virtual network management GUI including the management of virtual connections and bindings. vtUtilities can be used to troubleshoot and fix network connections and related problems that cannot be resolved via remote management. vtUtilities Virtual Network Manager also allows management of virtual network ports used by the virtual network interfaces and virtual machines. Support of WiFi and new virtual switch management functionality, including configuration of switch extensions, SR-IOV as well as GUI for network resource pool management is available for Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012. User interface to manage advanced Hyper-V Virtual Switch feature is available for hosts running Hyper-V 3.0.

Support for Multiple Parent Virtual NICs

   Virtual Network Manager GUI supports multiple virtual switch ports bound to the management operating system virtual NICs. This functionality is available only for hosts running Hyper-V 3.0 and can be accessed via the Virtual Network Manager 'Ports' button on each Virtual Network Properties view.

Parent Virtual NICs can be created for any virtual network (switch) using the 'Add' button on its Port dialog box. This operation can effectively change the type of the virtual network, i.e. parent Virtual NIC added to the Private network will change it to Internal etc.

Virtual switch ports, corresponding to parent Virtual NICs ports, can be deleted using the Port's dialog box 'Delete' button. This operation can also change the type of the underlying virtual network, i.e. Internal virtual network can become Private, or External virtual network can stop sharing its physical adapter with the management operating system.

When 'Access host through VLAN' is checked in Virtual Network Properties all parent Virtual NIC ports will use the same VLAN ID defined in the Virtual Network Properties view.

Support for Hyper-V Virtual Switch New Security Features

  Port Access Control Lists (ACLs) can be defined for Virtual Switch ports bound to virtual machines and the management operating system virtual NICs. This functionality is available only for hosts running Hyper-V 3.0 and can be accessed via the Virtual Network Manager 'Ports' dialog for each Virtual Network Properties view (use ACL button to edit port's Access Control List).        

ACL entries specifying which packets are allowed or denied on the way into or out of the VM or the management operating system can be added, edited or deleted for each applicable port. Multiple ACL rules can be configured per virtual switch port. IPv4, IPv6 addresses or ranges as well as MAC addresses can be used to designate endpoint addresses on local or remote interfaces along with actions 'Allow', 'Deny' or 'Meter'. Meter action can be used only with IP addresses.

File System View

vtUtilities further simplify the administration tasks on Windows Server core installations and free Hyper-V Server by providing a Graphical User Interface for file system views and operations.

Real Time Monitoring of Hyper-V Host and Guests

  vtUtilities provide an intuitive and simple to use monitoring functionality that is helpful for determining whether all parts of the virtualization infrastructure are running properly. Even so, vtUtilities have a small memory footprint and do not consume any resources on managed Hyper-V servers when they are not running.

Diagnostic and Troubleshooting

 vtUtilities enable easy access to Hyper-V event logs and virtual machine jobs history. Clicking on 'Hyper-V Events' button next to host drop-down box or using 'Tools|Hyper-V Event Log' menu will open a dialogue that allows further filtering and ordering of Hyper-V events as shown on screen below. This functionality is available for local and remote Hyper-V hosts and is especially convenient for diagnostic on Core installation of Windows Server or standalone Hyper-V Server.



vtUtilities even further simplify diagnostic of Hyper-V environment by providing access to the virtual machine job execution history with a possibility to cancel asynchronous jobs on Hyper-V Server 2012 hosts as shown below: