Hyper-V HA Hotfix available

  • Article

Increased functionality and virtual machine control in the Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Management console for the Hyper-V role (KB 951308) is now available. The KB describes the changes in the hotfx that update the Failover Cluster Management console (the Cluadmin.msc file) and server components of the failover cluster, including:

  • Changes to the virtual machine view
    After you install this update, the actions for virtual computers are "online," "offline," "start," "stop," "shutdown," and "turnoff."
  • Changes to virtual machine actions
    After you install this update, the only action in the Failover Cluster Management console for the Hyper-V role is Move Virtual Machines. This action causes each virtual machine that is in the running state to move by using the "save state" shutdown option. If the virtual machine is not in the running state, it does not have to be shut down, and its state will not change during the move.
  • Allow for more than one virtual machine in a "Services or Applications" group
    After you install this update, the Failover Cluster Management console allows for more than one virtual machine. The High Availability Role Wizard for virtual machines identifies virtual machines that have files on the same disk and enables those virtual machines to be configured for High Availability. Therefore, the virtual machines will be in the same Services and Applications group. If the Services and Applications group moves to another node, all the virtual machines in that group are also moved.
  • Add support for mount points or volumes without a drive letter
    After you install this update, the High Availability Wizard can detect when files for a virtual machine are on a volume that is using a mount point or a GUID instead of a drive letter. Additionally, the High Availability Wizard moves the appropriate disks into the same Service or Application group as the virtual machine resource.
  • Changes to the virtual machine refresh action
    After you install this update, a refresh of a virtual machine in a group refreshes all the virtual machines in that group.
  • Behavior changes if any node of the failover cluster has a disconnected virtual machine
    Fixes the conditions that gave you the error: "An error was encountered while loading the list of available virtual machine. Value cannot be null. Parameter name: managementObject."
  • Behavior change when you add a pass-through disk to a virtual machine
    After you install this update, the Failover Cluster Management console correctly shows that the configuration change is not successful.
  • Behavior change when the parent differencing disk is not on shared storage
    Differencing disks have parent and child relationships. When a differencing disk is configured, a parent disk is specified, and that parent VHD is required to be available for the child differencing disk to function. The parent and child VHDs must be on disks that are in the same Services or Applications group as the virtual machine resource.
    Before you install this update, if the parent disk is not located correctly, the virtual machine may not start because not all the VHDs are located on the same failover cluster node. This update detects the location of the parent VHD and provides a warning if the parent VHD is not on a disk that is configured for shared storage.
  • Volume path copy
    This update lets the path of a storage volume to be copied from the properties of the disk resource in the Failover Cluster Manager console. When you configure a virtual machine, the paths of the volumes must be specified for the disks that will be used. After you apply this update, the path can be copied from the properties of the disk in the Failover Cluster Manager console. This is useful when the path is very long, such as when a volume uses a GUID instead of a drive letter.

FYI

824684 (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/824684/LN/) Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

950050 (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/950050/) Description of the update for the release version of the Hyper-V technology for Windows Server 2008