Buy Professional Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 from Amazon

I have kept very quite about this, but recently I finished writing a book about all about Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.  Note - this is not a Microsoft book, but one that I wrote in my spare time (what little of it that I have :-)) and is published by Wrox.

I had a great time writing this book, and I hope that you all find it to be useful and informative.

My aim in writing this book was to provide an in-depth resource on Virtual Server, so the book covers the basics of Virtual Server as well as the configuration; management and programming aspects of using Virtual Server.

Two of the things that I particularly enjoy about this book are that:

• It gave me an excuse to finally sit down and get 'hands on' with a number of more complex virtual machine configurations, like setting up patch deployment servers inside of virtual machines.
• There are a number of chapters in this book that provide information which, much to my surprise, is simply not available elsewhere.

To give you an idea of where this book goes - here is a summary of the chapters and their contents:

1. Why Virtualize?
   This chapter provides information on the various reasons why you might want to look at server virtualization, as well as making recommendations about configurations that might not be suitable for server virtualization.
2. Getting Started with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
   Here the details of how to install Virtual Server and get everything up and running are provided, as well as using the advanced installation options.
3. Virtual Server Basic Concepts
   The basic concepts of virtual machines, virtual hard disks, virtual networking and emulated hardware are covered in this chapter.
4. Installing Guest Operating Systems
   This chapter provides detailed instructions for installing Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 inside of virtual machines, including installing Virtual Machine Additions.
5. Creating a Virtual Machine Library
   Having a good virtual machine library strategy is critical to efficiently using Virtual Server.  Here I outline different strategies and discuss how to create template virtual machines for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Linux.
6. Understanding Virtual Machine Performance
   I love this chapter, it provides details of processor, memory, networking and storage performance; as well as how to optimize each for best performance.
7. Monitoring and Managing Virtual Machines
   This chapter outlines the basic tools and methods for management of virtual machines.
8. Keeping Virtual Machines Up to Date
   This chapter discusses different strategies for keeping virtual machines up to date with the latest patches.  It also details how to configure a Windows Server Update Server and a YUM server inside of virtual machines.
9. Keeping Virtual Machines Secure
   Here I talk about all of the necessary steps to take to ensure that virtual machines are secure, and remain secure.
10. Securing Virtual Server
    Next I move on to talking about what is required to secure the physical installation of Virtual Server itself.
11. Backing Up Virtual Machines
    This chapter discusses a number of different approaches that can be used in order to back up virtual machines, as well as highlighting the pros and cons of each approach.
12. Physical to Virtual Migration of Servers
    This chapter is all about how to use Microsoft's Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT).
13. Manual Physical to Virtual Migrations
    This is another of my favorite chapters, as it provides all the information necessary for you to perform a manual physical to virtual migration - including information on driver and configuration changes that need to be made.
14. Clustering Virtual Machines
    This chapter discusses how to cluster virtual machines using emulated SCSI or iSCSI, and the reasons why you would want to use either configuration.
15. Clustering Virtual Server
    Here I provide detailed information about clustering Virtual Server using the HAVM.VBS script and Windows Server clustering.
16. Using the Virtual Server COM Interface
    This is the first chapter on developing against the Virtual Server COM interface, and it discusses the basics needed to connect to the COM interface under various development environments.
17. Scripting Virtual Server
    Another favorite chapter of mine, Scripting Virtual Server provides sample VBScripts that demonstrate how to use pretty much every method and property of the Virtual Server COM interface.  As well as providing some interesting general use sample scripts.
18. Using PowerShell to Control Virtual Server
    Next I drill into scripting Virtual Server with PowerShell.  On top of covering the basics, I demonstrate how to use PowerShell pipelining and function capabilities effectively with Virtual Server.
19. Developing Managed Applications for Virtual Server
    This chapter steps you through the process of creating a simple managed application that allows you to control the state of virtual machines, view statistical information about virtual machines, and interact with them through an embedded VMRC control.  Code samples are provided in both VB.NET and C#.
20. Developing ASP.NET Applications with Virtual Server
    Here I show you how to build your own 'self service' website, where users can create and destroy virtual machines using preconfigured virtual machine templates, all without needing to have administrative access to the actual Virtual Server installation (or any virtual machine knowledge at all).
21. Application Debugging with Virtual Server
    Finally I discuss how to use Virtual Server to help with the development and debugging of other applications.

So there you have it.  All in all this book is just shy of 600 pages long.  And for the curious, just under one quarter of this book was written using speech recognition software due to rheumatoid arthritis on my behalf.  Finally - if you are impatient - you can download the sample scripts / source examples that are used in this book directly from the publishers website (and no - you do not need to buy the book in order to do this - however the samples make a lot more sense if you have the book).

Cheers,
Ben