Download Linux Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2

With the landmark alliance inked with Novell in 2006, Microsoft stepped up its game of supporting customers with heterogeneous environments in which Windows and Linux were running side by side. The Microsoft and Novell Windows and Linux interoperability and support broad collaboration agreement covered Windows Server and SUSE Linux, but since them the Redmond company has also worked to support Red Hat customers. The Linux Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2 are designed to provide a collection of drivers designed to enable synthetic device support in Linux OS virtual machines running under the software giant’s hypervisor role in Windows Server 2008 R2.

“We are excited to announce the availability of Linux integration components for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4) which provides synthetic network and storage drivers enabling RHEL to work with the optimized devices provided by Hyper-V. We’ve already submitted these drivers to the upstream Linux kernel in July 2009, and are looking forward to these being integrated with a future version of RHEL,” revealed Mike Sterling, Hyper-V program manager, Microsoft.

According to Sterling, Hyper-V customers that rely on virtual machines with open source platforms from both Novell and Red Hat will be able to enjoy the same level of performance for Red Hat Enterprise Linux guests, as for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The Integration Components need to be installed on the virtualized copy of Linux running in Hyper-V.

The Linux Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2 come with support for the following Hyper-V versions as host platforms: Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter (64-bit versions only); Hyper-V Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V RTM (Build 7600) Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RTM (Build 7600). At the same time, the components support the following guest operating systems: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 x86 and x64 (1 vCPU); SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x86 and x64 (1 vCPU); and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 x86 and x64 (1 vCPU).

“Microsoft will provide full support for these drivers. Red Hat provides best effort support for these components. Customers interested in understanding how these are supported by Red Hat prior to their inclusion natively into to their distribution can read the details at the Red Hat Knowledge Base article,” Sterling added.

The Linux Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2 are available for download here.