Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager

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In a Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) environment, the VMM management server processes commands and controls communications with Hyper-V hosts. To manage VMM, add the management server as a target. Turbonomic communicates with that target and the associated Hyper-V hosts. You do not need to add individual Hyper-V hosts as targets.

Note:

Turbonomic supports Azure Local managed with VMM.

Prerequisites

  • VMM for Microsoft System Center 2012 R2, System Center 2016, System Center 2019, or System Center 2022

  • VMM Dynamic Optimization disabled (recommended) or set to Low aggressiveness, with a frequency of at least 60 minutes.

  • Configure remote management on the VMM management Hyper-V server. See Enabling Windows Remote Management.

  • Grant access on every host in the cluster that Turbonomic will manage to the following WMI namespaces and subspaces:

    • root/virtualization

    • root/virtualization/v2

    • root/microsoft/windows/storage

    • root/microsoft/windows/smb

    • root/wmi

    • root/cimv2

    • root/mscluster

  • Apply necessary hot fixes on the VMM host.

    For example, if you are running VMM Server on a Windows Server version earlier than Windows Server 2012 R2, you must apply the hot-fix referenced in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article #2842230 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2842230).

  • Apply time synchronization.

    The VM that hosts Turbonomic must be synchronized with each target VMM management server. For instructions on synchronizing the clock on the Turbonomic server, see Synchronizing Time.

  • Enable PowerShell execution on the VMM management server.

  • Configure port access.

    WinRM uses ports 5985 and 5986 for standard and secure communications, respectively. The firewall on your VMM server must open these ports.

  • Delete preexisting Hyper-V targets, as needed.

    If any of the hosts that make up the VMM target were added separately as Hyper-V targets (and you do not plan to exclude these hosts), these targets must be deleted. Failure to do so creates duplicate entities in the market, which negatively impacts Turbonomic performance.

Adding VMM targets

Turbonomic uses the address and credentials you provide to discover the VMM target. From the VMM target, Turbonomic gets the list of managed Hyper-V instances. It then uses that list to discover each Hyper-V instance. The Hyper-V credentials you provide must be valid for all of these machines.

Turbonomic will also import your Availability Sets, representing them as placement policies for the affected infrastructure.

  1. Click Settings > Target configuration.

  2. On the Target configuration page, click Add Target.

  3. On the Select target page, click VMM.

  4. In the side panel, review the connection requirements and then click Connect Target.

  5. On the Connection overview page, configure the following settings:

    • Hostname or IP address

      Specify the IP address or hostname of the VMM management server.

    • Username

      Specify the username of a user account Turbonomic uses to connect to the VMM management server.

    • Password

      Specify the password for account used.

    • Fully qualified domain name

      Specify the full domain name for the user account. This domain name identifies the user account for Active Directory.

    • Port number

      Specify the port to use for the WSMan connection. By default, the HTTP port is 5985 and the HTTPS port is 5986.

    • Connect using HTTPS

      If you select this option, Turbonomic uses a secure HTTPS connection. Before selecting this option, be sure to enable WSMan.

      For information about configuring the required HTTPS certificate, see the Microsoft documentation.

      Note:

      Setting a secure connection for VMM does not also set secure connections for the underlying Hyper-V hosts. Any communications between Turbonomic and VMM will be secure. To configure secure connections to the underlying Hyper-V hosts, you must specify secure connections on each one.

    • Use Kerberos message-level encryption over HTTP

      If this option is selected, Turbonomic uses Kerberos message-level encryption to discover the environment. This value is ignored if Connect using HTTPS is enabled.

    • Hyper-V username and password

      Specify the login credentials for the Hyper-V servers that are managed by the VMM target. If you leave the Hyper-V credentials blank, Turbonomic uses the same credentials that VMM uses. If you provide Hyper-V credentials, it uses that service account to log into every Hyper-V that is managed by the VMM.

      Note:

      The service account Turbonomic uses to log into a Hyper-V host must satisfy certain requirements. For more information, see Creating a Service User Account in Hyper-V.

    • Exclude hosts

      Specify the hosts in the VMM target that you would like to exclude from Turbonomic.

      Enter multiple hosts in a comma-separated list. This field accepts both hostnames and fully qualified domain names. It also recognizes the * and ? wild-card characters. Turbonomic does not discover or manage any hosts you enter in this field. These hosts do not participate in the market, and Turbonomic does not generate actions that involve these hosts.

Microsoft VMM and Hyper-V VLANs

Windows Server Hyper-V provides support for VLANs on host and VM partitions. If your Hyper-V environment makes use of this VLAN support, then your VM moves must be sensitive to which hosts provide networking access to your defined VM networks. If a VM is a member of a given VM network, then any move of that VM must be to a host that has access to the same network.

For Hyper-V targets in a VMM environment, the Cloud Control Module is aware of the VM networks, and ensures that a move is to a host that provides connectivity over the given VM network. For example, if Host 1 and 2 provides connectivity to VM Network A, and Host 3 and 4 provide connectivity to VM Network B, Turbonomic will never recommend a VM with access to Network A, residing on Host 1, to move to Host 3. That would render the VM unable to communicate on Network A.

Configuring Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 file shares discovery

With VMM, Turbonomic can discover Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 shares as data stores, assuming these shares have been properly added to your VMM service center. When you add shares to your VMM environment, be sure to:

  • Use the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the file server.

    As you the associated file server to your VMM environment (via the Add Storage Devices Wizard), be sure to specify the FQDN of the file server on the Specify Discovery Scope page of the wizard. Do not use the file server’s IP address.

  • Ensure that file server names are unique.

    Do not specify file servers with the same name, even if they belong to different domains. Turbonomic requires the file server names to be unique.

For information about setting up SMB 3.0 shares, see the Microsoft documentation.

Monitored resources

Turbonomic monitors the following resources:

  • Virtual machine

    • Virtual memory (vMem)

      Virtual memory (vMem) is the measurement of memory that is in use.

    • Virtual CPU (vCPU)

      Virtual CPU is the measurement of CPU that is in use.

    • Virtual storage

      Virtual storage is the measurement of virtual storage capacity that is in use.

    • Storage access (IOPS)

      Storage access, also known as IOPS, is the per-second measurement of read and write access operations on a storage entity.

    • Latency

      Latency is the measurement of storage latency.

  • Host

    • Memory (Mem)

      Memory is the measurement of memory that is reserved or in use.

    • CPU

      CPU is the measurement of CPU that is reserved or in use.

    • IO

      IO is the utilization of a host's IO adapters.

    • Net

      Net is the utilization of data through the host's network adapters.

    • Swap

      Swap is the measurement of a host's swap space that is in use.

    • Balloon

      Balloon is the measurement of memory that is shared by VMs running on a host.

    • CPU ready

      CPU ready is the measurement of a host's ready queue capacity that is in use.

  • Datacenter

    Note:

    For datacenter entities, Turbonomic does not monitor resources directly from the datacenter, but from the hosts in the datacenter. See host monitored resources for details.

  • Provider virtual datacenter

    • Memory (Mem)

      Memory is the measurement of memory that is reserved or in use.

    • CPU

      CPU is the measurement of CPU that is reserved or in use.

    • Storage

      Storage is the utilization of the storage attached to the entity.

  • Consumer virtual datacenter

    • Memory (Mem)

      Memory is the measurement of memory that is reserved or in use.

    • CPU

      CPU is the measurement of CPU that is reserved or in use.

    • Storage

      Storage is the utilization of the storage attached to the entity.

Actions

Turbonomic supports the following actions:

  • Virtual machines

    • Provision additional resources (VMem, VCPU)

    • Move Virtual Machine

    • Move Virtual Machine Storage

    • Reconfigure Storage

    • Reconfigure Virtual Machine

    • Suspend VM

    • Provision VM

  • Host

    • Start

    • Provision

    • Suspend

  • Consumer Virtual Data Centers

    • Resize Consumer vDC

    • Provision Consumer vDC