Hyper-V versus VMWare vSphere

This could be a long post with a lot of arguments, but I'll keep it short and just summarize based on some experience from the field.

I guess I have seen and worked with something between 15 to 30 different AX installations utilizing VMWare vSphere 5x ranging from Private Clouds to Public Clouds (typically a shared service provider). The common experience is that virtual machines (vms) with more than one (1) vCPU, seems to have performance issues. The normal approach will be to take the number of vCPUs down to one (1) and monitor the effect which in 9 out of 10 situations are improved performance. But it often ends up in a discussion with the admins arguing that there are no signs of wait time (like CO-STOP and not at least READY-time) and nothing is done (the worst case I have seen was a SQL Server 2008 R2 vm utilizing 8 vCPUs without any good explanation of why it needed 8 vCPUs - the customer still runs with 8 vCPUs...). These situations are hard and they require a lot of stamnia to succeed.

I have also been lucky enough to work with Hyper-V running on Windows Server 2012 R2 (5 solutions on 2 different platforms) and the experience is that Hyper-V guests with multiple vCPUs (sockets and/or cores) outperforms vSphere. The latest experience is with a customer outsourcing everything to a third party hosting partner normally utilizing VMWare vSphere. The first experience was that we got a very good effect by configuring all vms with 1 vCPU (all vms had 4 vCPUs when we started), but still not good enough. In this situation we also had the exact same solution installed on Hyper-V (very similar hardware and SAN) and even with less vCPU allocated in total, the solution utilizing Hyper-V was used as the benchmark by the customer. The VMWare plattform was a test plattform and it was most likely overcommitted on v/pCPU (not ununsual on test plattforms). Even moving the storage for most vms to SSD in a High End SAN, did'nt solve the performance issue. The customer then entered an agreement with the hosting partner to build a new Hyper-V platform on Windows Server 2012 R2. The immediate impression when working with the new platform, is that it performs very well and even better than the other (comparable) Hyper-V platform most likely due to better pCPU specification (clock frequency and CPU model is important). The AX solution is beeing built and the customer has not tested it, but the servers are snappy when working interactively which is always a good indicator (logon takes just a few secounds compared to the same solution running on VMWare). And we utilize vmxnet3 with RSS enabled on VMWare vms...

It seems to be a major architectural difference between VMWare vSphere 5.x and Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 R2 where I think vSphere uses the UNIX approach when scheduling vCPU to pCPU (all vCPUs has to move in at the same speed - if one vCPU lacks behind, the others are sloved down) while Hyper-V seems to use a more individual CPU scheduling (each vCPU is scheduled on it's own - they move as individuals instead of as a group).

A lot of factors is in play, but I expect to see more and more platforms utilizing Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 R2 (core) in the future. My advise is to compare the hypervisors on identical hardware and storage before making the final decision. As a not confirmed side note, I have heard that Microsoft is planning a major upgrade of their Azure Data Centers where the keyword is Windows Server 2012 R2 (still utilizing Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012). This is not verified information and highly unofficial, but if it's true, we can expect a major increase in performance for servers running in Azure.

AX 2012 R2 CU6 - Setup Failed ((Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070422)

A new issue encountered yesterday when installing AOS, Client, Debugger and Management Utilities on a brand new (virtual) Windows Server 2012 Standard guest (Hyper-V):

Symptom:

The Installer kicks off as usual, but reports failure for Client, Debugger and Management Utilities (very unusual) and success for AOS (nothing was actually installed).

The Setup log contains the following relevant information:

2014-02-11 18:08:41Z Component installation task stopped due to an error.

2014-02-11 18:08:41Z *********************************************************************************
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z *********************************************************************************

2014-02-11 18:08:41Z The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070422)

2014-02-11 18:08:41Z *********************************************************************************
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z *********************************************************************************

2014-02-11 18:08:41Z System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070422): The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070422)
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z   at WUApiLib.UpdateServiceManagerClass.QueryServiceRegistration(String ServiceID)
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z   at Microsoft.Dynamics.Setup.MuApiWrapper.IsMachineAlredyOptedIntoMU()
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z   at Microsoft.Dynamics.Setup.Support.SetupQueue.MsiInstallationClass.SearchDownloadInstallMicrosoftUpdates(String executionName)
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z   at Microsoft.Dynamics.Setup.Support.SetupQueue.AOSInstaller.PerformWork()
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z   at Microsoft.Dynamics.Setup.Support.SetupQueue.InstallationClass.DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
2014-02-11 18:08:41Z   at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument)

2014-02-11 18:08:41Z *********************************************************************************
2014-02-11 18:08:42Z S260FinishedInfo


2014-02-11 18:08:59Z === Setup was completed successfully.

2014-02-11 18:08:59Z === Setup logging ended: 2/11/2014 6:08:59 PM ErrorLevel/ExitCode: '0' === 

Root cause:

The Windows Update Service (Service Control Manager) was Disabled

Solution:

Alter the Windows Update Service from Disabled to Manual (triggered) or Automatic (I used the first alternative)

Additional information:

I did'nt select Use Windows Updates, but it seems like the installer ignores this and tries to start the Windows Update Service. If the Windows Update Service is Disabled, setup fails.

AX Technical Conference 2014, brief summary

My ambition was to write a blog post for each day, but I decided to write a brief summary to highlight the key takeaways from the conference. I also think it’s important to respect the disclaimer given at the start of each session (not go into the details revealed).

AX 2012 R3 is mainly a functional release adding new functionality (Warehouse Management and Transportation) and improvements/extensions within existing industries like Retail. In addition, Life Cycle Services (LCS) was emphasized as the central HUB throughout the lifecycle of an AX solution bundling many of the individual services and tool sets (add-ons) in an Azure hosted environment. At least this is what Microsoft want customers and partners to adopt and utilize to manage a solution as a project including Project Management, Diagnostics and Configuration in addition to Issue Management and Servicing (when submitting an Issue, a repro solution will automatically be deployed in Azure reflecting the parameter settings from the running solution and Contoso data). The Deployment Tool for Azure was also presented making it possible to deploy an AX solution to Azure IaaS (Demo, Development, Test and Production) utilizing templates. The installer for AX 2012 R2 CU7 already revealed an integration to LCS when selecting the Advanced Update option utilizing the metadata to filter hotfixes related to a specific process. Mobile applications was also given much attention.

The key message was that R3 will be the foundation for the future and an unofficial indicator of the increase in functionality, was +20% compared to R2 measured in code size (Model Store Database). Another measure was that R3 included more new functionality than the complete AX 2009 application.
All in all a load of information to digest and try to adopt in customer deliveries. Microsoft talked a lot of Azure and the reason for describing R3 as the foundation for the future, was supported by some pieces of information around the next major AX release (AX7) code name “Rainier” (a monumental mountain south-east of Seattle WA). From what I understand, this will be a major architectural release cloud enabling AX (no surprise given the focus on Azure). Regarding Azure, I think Microsoft is paying much attention to the US market already covered by four Azure Data Centers (what about the rest of the world like Europe?) and not at least little information regarding the cost of utilizing Azure (some kind of subscription required).

All in all good value, but I personally think the name of the conference is misleading (AX Technical Conference) since it’s not very technical (one level 400 session, rest level 200 and 300) compared to the old Technical Briefings (Damgaard/Navision). A lot of sessions was designed for the Business roles (US Payroll, eProcurement, Demand Forecasting etc.) which I find hard to relate to the technical roles (Developers and Technical resources). The AX Conference would perhaps be a better name given the broad content presented. Maybe I’m the only one, but my expectation was deeper technical coverage. Some logistic challenges with full sessions was also a reality and I would recommend Microsoft either to decrease the number of attendants or book a venue with overcapacity. It’s a little disappointing to miss a session (I actually missed two sessions due to full rooms) when travelling from Norway, but I guess it’s difficult to predict the interest for each session when designing the room plan.

But I'm rest asured that the future will bring AX closer to the vision of Empowering People and that the community must work hard to adopt the constant changes (Dynamics).

My verdict is 5 out of 10 stars with the Q & A (Ask The Experts) as the most valuable sessions and a very good keynote on day two.

If the time allows, I will go a little deeper around my personal predictions around AX and Azure, and maybe also some follow up on specific sessions from #AXTech2014.

Update

Since R3 is a functional release, it probably makes sense that AXTech2014 focused most on the functional aspects of R3. But even this makes it hard to call it a Technical Conference in my oppinion - maybe next year will fullfill my expectations (AX7)...