Live Migration Brings High Availability to Windows

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High availability has been a core component of Microsoft's growth as an enterprise player. Virtualization and the addition of Live Migration in Windows Server 2008 R2 are now key to this strategy. ServerWatch explains how Live Migration can ensure your Windows Server 2008 R2 install stays up and running.

Since the inception of Windows NT, Microsoft has been pursuing the goal of extending its reach from personal computing to enterprise markets. One of the important elements of this strategy was a strive toward high availability, leading to the development of server clustering technology. In recent years, Windows' capabilities have been extended to incorporate a virtualization platform, gaining extra momentum following the release of Windows Server 2008 and its Hyper-V component.

That momentum, however, was somewhat hampered by unfavorable comparisons with products from competing vendors.

The most commonly noted shortcoming was the inability to failover virtual guests without incurring downtime as is achievable with VMware's VMotion. This gap was subsequently eliminated with the introduction of Live Migration and Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Live Migration

Live Migration is a new feature incorporated into clustered implementation of Windows Server 2008 R2-based Hyper-V, which makes it possible to move guest operating systems between cluster nodes without noticeable downtime, which parallels the functionality of VMware's VMotion. Effectively, virtual machines (VMs) remain accessible to external clients and applications throughout the entire migration process, although their hosts change. This constitutes a significant improvement over Quick Migration available in Windows Server 2008 based clustered Hyper-V implementations where a similar process resulted in a temporary downtime.

Read the rest of "Windows Server 2008 R2 High Availability Technologies -- Live Migration " at ServerWatch