What's in the Toolbox?
This post explains the items in the Toolbox (a set of links to the left of this pane).
Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT). This is a set of command-line tools and executables that you can use to help automate the migration of physical servers to virtual machines. VSMT is a free download from Microsoft. The documentation is hard to find (I wrote it, but didn't get to say where it's installed). You can find it in Program Files\Microsoft VSMT. Here's the link to the download page: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/vsmt.mspx
Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating LOB Applications. This document from Microsoft provides detailed guidance for consolidating and migrating Windows NT® 4.0-based applications in heterogeneous or mixed workload environments. I mention it here because it covers using VSMT (above) to help consolidate multiple servers running Windows NT 4.0 onto virtual machines running in Virtual Server. One of my best friends, Linda Wells, helped write this solution accelerator, and I think it’s really great! Here's the link to the download page: https://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/techguide/msa/solacc/lobsa/default.mspx
Solution Accelerator: Patch Management Using Systems Management Server 2003. This solution accelerator provides sample automation scripts and reporting that will assist you in the four-step patch management process of Assessing, Identifying, Evaluating and Planning, and Deploying software updates with Systems Management Server 2003 (SMS). It's based on Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and built on SMS. Sample scripts assess Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual PC 2004 installations. They assess host and guest operating system type, Virtual Server 2005 guest state (saved, stopped, running), Undoable mode (enabled/disabled), and combination reporting, which joins host and guest sessions into a single view that allows you to prepare for end-to-end patching of systems running in virtual machines. Here's a link to the abstract: https://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/mo/swdist/pmsms/2003/pmsms031.mspx
Running Domain Controllers in Virtual Server 2005. This document is intended for IT administrators, engineers, and architects who are evaluating using Virtual Server to host domain controllers that are running Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server in virtual machines.
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=64DB845D-F7A3-4209-8ED2-E261A117FC6B&displaylang=en
Platespin Power P2V. This is a new product offered by PlateSpin to migrate physical computers to virtual machines (P2V) and virtual machines to virtual machines (V2V). I haven’t tried the product, but the Web site says it has automated functionality that “allows users to "drag-and-drop" servers quickly and easily, without manual labor.” Here's a link to the product page: https://www.platespin.com/Products/PowerP2V_Virtual_Server.aspx
Using Virtual Server 2005 to Create and Configure a Two-Node Cluster. How to build a two-node VM-VM cluster on a single host by our very own clustering guru, Robert Larson. Here’s the link:
https://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/virtualserver/deploy/cvs2005.mspx
There is no Word version available on the web for download yet, but one has been requested. There will also be a link to this article from the main Virtual Server TechNet page and we have requested a link directly from the Virtual Server product page. These links aren’t live as of this writing.