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Posts Tagged ‘virtual machines’

Virtual Machines. Security Extensions : Built-in Anti-Virus Support

May 17, 2014 1 comment

Microsoft announced during TechEd NA 2014 the release of 3 new security extensions that enable  Built-in Anti-Virus Support via the VM Agent for Azure Virtual Machines:

  •  Microsoft Antimalware
  • Symantec Endpoint Protection
  • TrendMicro’s Deep Security Agent

The VM Agent is a lightweight and unobtrusive process that you can optionally enable to run inside your Windows and Linux VMs. The VM Agent can then be used to install and manage extensions, which are software modules that extend the functionality of a VM and help make common management scenarios easier.

These extensions enable you to add richer security protection to the Virtual Machines hosted in Azure using industry security products.

To enable it, in the Azure Management Portal, in the Virtual Machine Configuration, check Install VM Agent and then select the desired Anti Virus protection:

image_thumb_5DCD3C3A

You can also use the command line (PowerShell) to enable it.

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Categories: Cloud, Microsoft, Virtualization Tags: , , , ,

Hyper-V Windows Server 2012 R2: New Generation Of Virtual Machines and Enhanced VM Interaction

July 1, 2013 4 comments

New in Hyper-V Windows Server 2012 R2:

A new generation of Virtual Machine (Generation 2), which will provides the following new features 

  • Legacy free :  IDE drives and legacy network adapter support has been removed
  • UEFI based
    • Many emulated devices removed
    • Boots from virtual SCSI or synthetic network adapters (virtual hard drive,virtual DVD drive).
    • UEFI Secure Boot (enabled by default). Secure Boot is a feature that helps prevent unauthorized firmware, operating systems, or UEFI drivers (also known as Option ROMs) from running at boot time. Generation 2 virtual machines can take advantage of Secure Boot
    • PXE boot using a standard network adapter. In previous versions of Hyper-V if you wanted to perform a remote installation of the guest operating system via PXE boot, you were required to install a legacy network adapter for PXE boot in addition to the standard network adapter that you would use after the operating system was installed
    • UEFI firmware support

Note : The new format is only supported with the following guest OS

  • Supported guest operating systems:
  • 64-bit versions of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
  • 64-bit versions of Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

Important : Once a virtual machine has been created, you cannot change its generation. You can host VM’s of different generations type, side by side.  For operating systems that are not supported by generation 2 virtual machines, they will need to be installed in a generation 1 virtual machine.

Virtual machine operating system boot time can be up to 20% faster with generation 2 virtual machines.
Installing the guest operating system can be up to 50% faster with generation 2 virtual machines
Enhanced VM Interaction
  • Full remote desktop capabilities
    • Shared clipboard
    • Audio redirection
    • Enhanced login
  • Enabled even when the network is down
  • Integrated into Hyper-V Management experience
Categories: Microsoft, Virtualization, Windows 2012 Tags: , , ,