Three-dimensional graphics,
USB redirection, reduced network bandwidth when working with graphics-rich
applications, and more flexible memory usage are all included in the first
service pack for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.
The muscular Windows Server
2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is of special interest to IT desktop managers with strategic,
high-performance desktop-virtualization projects on the drawing board, as well
as system managers looking to improve existing virtual-server density in the
data center.
RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory,
both new features in the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, take advantage of the
changing data center and desktop terrain that places a primacy on 64-bit
architecture. RemoteFX goes even further by using workstation-grade high-end
graphics hardware to expand the envelop for desktop workloads that can be
virtualized and run from the data center.
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
was released in late February, and is available as a no-charge download from
Microsoft.
I tested SP1 on a
professional-grade workstation because a sufficiently powerful graphics card is
not yet part of our standard test bed. I used a Hewlett-Packard Z800 equipped
with two Intel Xeon X5680 3.33GHz quad-core processors and 18GB of RAM. I also
installed a top-of-the-line Nvidia Quadro 5000 graphics card to support the
rich graphics capabilities RemoteFX provides. Users also need to be running the
latest and greatest version of Windows 7 on the desktop. I used an older HP
dc7700p desktop system, which had an Intel Core 2 CPU and 2GB of RAM and ran
Windows 7 SP1. SP1 is needed for those who wish to take full advantage of
RemoteFX.
RemoteFX
RemoteFX is a set of features in RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol, formerly
Terminal Services) that I used in my tests of the beta to look at rich graphics
applications and USB redirection. With the Nvidia Quadro 5000 hardware, I was
able to configure Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 to provide a 3D virtual adapter to
my users who accessed a Remote Desktop Connection. Flash videos and other
graphics-intensive photo-editing tools worked almost the same when compared
side-by-side with a physical system running the same workloads.
Achieving this effect requires
dramatic changes in the server hardware. Because the graphics processing for the
virtual desktop takes place on the server—not the client hardware—IT managers
will need to beef up servers with professional-class graphics hardware. Even
the newest systems coming into eWEEK Labs for performance tests would have a
hard time squeezing in the needed graphics card.
With lots of RAM, CPU cores,
hopped-up graphics cards and the power supplies needed to juice these super-systems,
the thermal and power gains that server consolidation can achieve must now be
thought of as the cushion that will be used to implement workloads that
RemoteFX capabilities make possible.
Besides the hardware
requirements, there is also a fair amount of server and virtual-machine setup
needed to support the visually impressive results offered by RemoteFX. First,
all participating systems, including client devices, need to be running SP1,
whether on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. Only Windows 7 Enterprise and
Ultimate SKUs are licensed to take advantage of the RemoteFX capabilities. I
created Windows 7 virtual-machine pools capable of supporting the Aero interface.
These virtual-desktop systems needed to have the RemoteFX display driver added
to them on the Hyper-V management server.
New Directions
I employed RemoteFX USB redirection to use a USB flash drive and a USB headset
on my test system. For IT managers who are evaluating
virtual-desktop-infrastructure technologies, this is an important change and
should be explored as an important advance in the Windows Hyper-V environment.
As with rich graphics, the
client system and the virtual machine host must be running SP1 to support USB
redirection. First, I had to make a change to Group Policy in my test domain to
enable RDP redirection of supported USB devices. On the desktop, I then forced
the Group Policy update and then restarted the system with a Logitech telephone
headset and a USB flash drive connected. During the Remote Desktop Connection
process, I was presented with a configuration screen that allowed me to specify
which USB devices should be available in the remote session. The devices worked
as expected in my virtual desktop.
Dynamic Memory
To increase virtual-machine density and stay on par with industry advances,
Microsoft added Dynamic Memory to SP1. The Dynamic Memory feature enabled me to
pool the memory resources on my HP Z800 physical host and then create rules for
that memory to be dynamically added and removed from my virtual machines.
I first created a group of
Windows Server 2003 R2 virtual systems. I then installed integration services
on each of these VMs to enable the Dynamic Memory feature. For each system, I
specified how much RAM each VM should be given at start-up—along with a maximum
amount that could be used, given no other system constraints. I also specified
a priority value for memory allocation when contention developed involving
other VMs running on this physical server.
When Dynamic Memory is
enabled on a VM, new performance monitors are also available. IT managers will
quickly become accustomed to checking these performance monitors, as Dynamic
Configuration is still as much art as it is science. I made changes that
affected the amount of memory assigned to my various VMs in accordance with the
memory demand that was reported to me from the console and the memory status,
which showed the amount of memory buffer available to my systems. IT managers
should expect that it will take at least a week or more of careful monitoring
to get initial levels correctly set.
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