It is very clear that the VMware community loves the ability to run virtual instances of VMware ESX 4 — this has been the most popular VCritical article ever.  Take a look at these keywords that account for hundreds of searches over the past month:

esx-on-esx
esx on esx
esx inside esx
esx in esx
install esx on esx 4
how to virtualize esx

Amazingly, VCritical is currently the number one result when searching Google for “ESX 4″.  I cringe at what the Bing results might look like, though.

Related posts:

1. IGT Part 6: Cluster invari-what ID?
2. IGT Part 5: Hyper-V snapshots are not gone until the VM is powered off
3. VMotion from physical ESX 4 to virtual ESX 4
4. IGT Part 2: SAN Misers

There are still lots of folks trying to figure out why their VMware vCenter virtual machines are all polluted with a new custom attribute called clusterinvariantvmmid.  I know this because of the steady flow of incoming Google traffic with this keyword.  It’s kind of odd–Google for that term and you will get about four results, the top two being TechNet Forums and VCritical.  I would have thought that by now Microsoft would have formally documented this aspect of the vCenter/SCVMM integration, but evidently they have not.

Not to worry.  If you have landed here after searching Google for custerinvariantvmmid, the VCritical article on how to clean up after SCVMM leaves is still as applicable as ever–and it’s all automated with PowerShell.  Some say ironic.  I say use the best tool for the job.

Related posts:

1. IGT Part 7: Virtual VMware ESX 4 in high demand
2. IGT Part 5: Hyper-V snapshots are not gone until the VM is powered off
3. IGT Part 3: One-VM-per-LUN doubters
4. IGT Part 4: Failover frustration

Evidently, some Hyper-V administrators are puzzled by that platform’s snapshot behavior.  I am starting to see visitors come to VCritical when searching for:

hyper-v “merge in progress”
hyper-v “paused-critical”

This is exactly the issue that I wrote about recently.  With VMware ESX, administrators can create and delete snapshots on running VMs — without incurring downtime.  Deleted Hyper-V snapshots are only merged when the VM is powered off.  That could mean twice the number of reboots during VM guest OS maintenence.

Related posts:

1. Half the VM reboots on Patch Tuesday
2. Hyper-V snapshots: not for production
3. Snapshots that shoot back
4. Exclusive: Hyper-V 2013 Product Roadmap

Want to know what happens if your virtualization platform uses native OS clustering technologies to provide highly-available virtual machines?  You become an unwitting cluster administrator.  I’m referring to MSCS-style clustering, now known as Failover Clustering.  You know, one VM per LUN stuff.

Take a look at this Google query:

how+to+shutdown+vm+when+ha+hyper-v

If you have ever administered a clustered service, like MS SQL Server, you learned quickly not to manage it with the native service control tools — either by reading the documentation or the hard way.  The same goes for virtual machines that are cluster resources:  Shut them down the wrong way and they will be dutifully restarted by the cluster service.  This is because the cluster sees such a shutdown as a failure.

For folks visiting VCritical in search of such a solution, here is your tip: do not shut down your guest OS via the Start menu.  Oh, and don’t use Hyper-V Manager, either.  Try the other single panes of glass.

Related posts:

1. What would things be like without VMFS?
2. Choose any two: Hyper-V, HA, Linux
3. Microsoft Private Cloud: No CSV Allowed!
4. IGT Part 1: Mojave Only Need Apply

Picture this: you finally have your shiny new Hyper-V cluster configured, after asking your SAN administrator to create a LUN for you.  You create a virtual machine on that LUN and test the quick migration failover from one node to another.  It works.  So far, so good.  You try to create a second VM.  System Center Virtual Machine Manager won’t let you.  What?  There is plenty of space on that LUN.  What’s going on?

Which leads us to the next installment of IGT:

hyper-v multiple vm’s in one lun

A few visitors have landed on VCritical in search of such a solution, so here is a hint: you need the other single pane of glass to perform the task, but you just might not like the consequences.

With VMware ESX, you can put many VMs on one LUN and migrate them independently among multiple hosts.  I hear Hyper-V R2 will be able to do this, too.  In 2010.

Related posts:

1. Incoming Google Traffic: Introduction
2. IGT Part 5: Hyper-V snapshots are not gone until the VM is powered off
3. IGT Part 4: Failover frustration
4. What would things be like without VMFS?

This next group of keywords are due to an unfortunate design problem with Microsoft SCVMM and Hyper-V:  ISO images are copied from the image library to individual VM directories on SAN storage before connecting.

“share image file instead of copying it”

mount iso scvmm

scvmm does not support shared dvd iso images

virtualization platform on host does not support shared dvd iso images

From the look of it, many Hyper-V/SCVMM admins out there are a little disappointed with this ISO file proliferation.  Disk space is cheap, right?  Well, it’s not that cheap.  Especially not on a SAN.

At several gigabytes for each ISO, this method is not for those with meager storage budgets.  And if merely copying was not bad enough, keep in mind that you always have to leave room for an image file in case you need it later.  With one VM per LUN, that amounts to quite a bit of wasted storage because deleting the duplicate ISOs when not in use does not necessarily free up any usable storage.

I covered this topic in a more lighthearted way back in October and Gabes Virtual World has a current article that discusses Hyper-V storage requirements.  The latter emphasizes how one VM per LUN greatly inflates storage requirements when considering space for snapshots.  Two problems, same cause.  By the way, VirtualCenter and ESX allow admins to simply mount multiple virtual machines to a single shared ISO file.  It happens instantly and does not consume nearly as much space.

Related posts:

1. Storage vendors unanimously applaud SCVMM innovation
2. The Truth About VM SAN Transfers
3. Using SCVMM to attach ISO images to VMware ESX VMs
4. IGT Part 3: One-VM-per-LUN doubters

When I saw this one, I immediately recognized what the frustrated web searcher was seeking:

“hyper-v” manage from windows xp

Looks like a new Hyper-V user that is not all in with Microsoft.  Time for an upgrade.  You see, besides being available on the Hyper-V system itself (well, not Core), the Hyper-V Manager can also be downloaded separately and installed on your laptop.  As long as your laptop is running Microsoft Mojave Vista, but not if it is running Windows XP.

I experienced this frustration myself when I first tried to set up Hyper-V.  The standard Windows client OS in my workplace is still Windows XP.

If you are sticking with XP, you will be happy to know that the VI Client runs great on that platform.  No upgrades needed.  Check out the Why Choose VMware site for lots of other great reasons to go with the virtualization leader.

Related posts:

1. IGT Part 5: Hyper-V snapshots are not gone until the VM is powered off
2. IGT Part 4: Failover frustration
3. IGT Part 6: Cluster invari-what ID?
4. IGT Part 3: One-VM-per-LUN doubters

It turns out that these search strings can be pretty amusing, so I’m starting a multi-part series where I share some of the themes of incoming traffic, along with a little commentary.

Watch for posts starting with “IGT” (for Incoming Google Traffic) if you are interested.

Related posts:

1. IGT Part 5: Hyper-V snapshots are not gone until the VM is powered off
2. IGT Part 4: Failover frustration
3. IGT Part 3: One-VM-per-LUN doubters
4. IGT Part 7: Virtual VMware ESX 4 in high demand