Is Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization Supported?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Issue

  • Does Red Hat Enterprise Linux include para-virtualized drivers built-in for use as a guest on a Microsoft Hyper-V host?

Resolution

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Beginning with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9, the Microsoft Linux Integration Services (LIS) drivers are now built-in to a base installation of the RHEL 5 guest on a Microsoft Hyper-V host.

The following para-virtualized use cases have been tested by both Red Hat and Microsoft for joint support:

  • All fresh installations of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9
  • Upgrades from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 guests with Microsoft provided LIS version 3.4 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 guests with built-in para-virtualized drivers

The following use cases are not supported by both Red Hat and Microsoft:

  • Upgrades from fully virtualized (no LIS drivers) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 guests to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 guests with built-in para-virtualized drivers

NOTE: Customers can continue to install and utilize the LIS drivers provided and supported by Microsoft.

Known Issue, as documented in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 Tech Notes:

"When running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 with an older kernel in a Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization guest, mkinitrd does not include the Microsoft Hyper-V drivers when asked to generate the initial RAM disk for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 kernel or later. This causes a kernel panic when the guest is rebooted with such a kernel as there is no driver available for the storage hosting the guest's root file system. To work around this problem, run the mkinitrd utility with either the --preload option that loads the module before any SCSI modules are loaded, or with the --with option that loads the module after SCSI modules are loaded."

  • Note that you will need to use the --preload syntax for each module specific to Micrsoft Hyper-V, for instance:
# bash -x mkinitrd --preload=hv_storvsc --preload=hv_vmbus -v -f initrd-`uname -r`.img `uname -r`

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 adds support for all Microsoft Hyper-V para-virtualized drivers as well as adds installer support. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux guest installer recognizes the underlying Hyper-V hypervisor and installs the relevant para-virtualized drivers. This streamlines installation and vastly improves usability when running as a guest on Microsoft Hyper-V.

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