Today, Microsoft announced the availability of the Hyper-V Linux Integration Services for Linux Version 2.1.
When installed in a supported Linux virtual machine running on Hyper-V, the Linux Integration Components provide the following new features:
- Driver support for synthetic devices: The Linux integration components include support for both the synthetic network controller and synthetic storage controller that have been developed specifically for Hyper-V. These components take advantage of the new high-speed bus, VMBus, which was developed for Hyper-V.
- Fastpath Boot Support: Boot devices now take advantage of the storage VSC to provide enhanced performance.
- Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the host.
- Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager, using the “Shut Down” command.
- Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.
- Heartbeat: Allows the host to detect whether the guest is running and responsive.
- Pluggable Time Source: A pluggable clock source module is included to provide a more accurate time source to the guest.
This version of the integration services for Hyper-V supports Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 / 5.3 / 5.4 / 5.5.
Customers can obtain the Linux IC’s via the Microsoft Download Center at this link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=eee39325-898b-4522-9b4c-f4b5b9b64551