Hyper V shut down WinServer 2019

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I am used to work with linux servers and time to time blow out dust off Win7 machines. But things changing and I have had to install one Win 2019 server. Well, it looked like good idea to install HyperV and one more virtualized WinS2019 OS. Without everyday experience, I started with such a small task like prevent data loss during power outage. Well… UPS, clean shutdown setting, which should call to shutdown guest OS inside HyperV.

Ooops. OS wasnt shutted down clean. I have doublechecked integration functions are allowed for that VM, I have checked integration service running inside guest OS, simply not working. After few minutes found this:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/e8c45a15-0b9a-4b2c-ae2a-c546eadbcf41/hyperv-2019-guest-vmamp39s-shutdown-unexpectedly?forum=winserverhyperv

Well, my very first experience with MS server product: virtualization is quite good common reason, why any company-grade customer should want to buy server product. And clean shutdown – from my point of view – is….. well, BASIC feature, I expect to work OK, this is simply fundamental principle of virtualization and without that I even cannot imagine this can be used for production. 2 months without even MS rep. admit its a bug and 4 months of…. silence. No solution, no workaround, nothing.

I was loosing trust in MS more and more, during 2-3 years reading askwoodys blog about those mostly end user problems with Windows, but I am quite shocked this is the same in server products. Really, its that way rotten in the state of MS?

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I don’t choose shut down the operating system, I choose save the virtual machine state.

But let me see if I can get some love on that post and get something resolved.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

1 user thanked author for this post.

NetDef

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In my limited experience so far with Hyper-V on Server 2016 and 2019, saving state as the default action when the host does a clean shut-down is a far safer option – minus the checkpoint option.

But nothing will help if the host loses power before it shuts down:  make sure your UPS has enough juice to last through the entire shutdown process.  Also be somewhat bold with adjustments on the UPS timer – the default percentage triggers from the battery are often not near enough time left on battery.  I think defaults are something like 10% and if you get that low before the shutdown triggers it’s already too late unless you have a massive battery.  I often set the trigger level to 50% – just be certain to also set the other triggers prior to shutdown to a higher level than the shutdown percent.

 

EDIT:

I should note that depending on the role the Virtual Machine has, a shutdown might be preferred for safety versus a pause or saved state.  IIS and application servers do just fine with pausing while the host shuts down.  Domain Controllers (Active Directory) and Exchange servers have a small risk of corrupting their databases.  Oddly enough, SQL servers in my experience do not suffer the same problem.

Virtualized Servers that have constant high I/O might be better off doing a full shutdown before the host drops.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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On a side note, I just finished reading that social.technet forum on MS:  Daniel seems to totally NOT get the problem.  At all.  And I highly doubt he/she has forwarded the bug in Server 2019 to the dev team.  They seem much more interested in checking off their little box that they “helped” someone find their mis-configuration – which is not what this problem is.

That’s a perfect example of why I gave up on the MS forums for actual help. Infuriating.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

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Susan Bradley wrote:

I don’t choose shut down the operating system, I choose save the virtual machine state. But let me see if I can get some love on that post and get something resolved.

…. well, when rebooting myself, or course, but based on some UPS command (power outage and battery percentage falling) is quite different story.

NetDef wrote:

In my limited experience so far with Hyper-V on Server 2016 and 2019, saving state as the default action when the host does a clean shut-down is a far safer option

…. yes, this works OK. But in my scenario, ‘m not sure this is clean. VM will act like SQL server (postgreSQL) for apprx 15 clients, so I have to bielive, author of that app love SQL with transactions, or I can expect some DB inconsistencies time to time.

Anyway, it doesnt matter if its called presentation signal, integration service, whatever. Is there a chance, inner VM can catch that signal, VM are being stored now to triger some db shutdown? Or its like that, vm have no clue?

NetDef wrote:

That’s a perfect example of why I gave up on the MS forums for actual help. Infuriating.

…. and why I gave up thinking MS can be reformed.

I have quite a different approach / idea, how to solve this. 2 UPS (with signaling cables) in series connection. First USB signal can trigger shutdown of VM and when first UPS die, second UPS trigger “outer” server to shut down later. Funny (imagining what about tens of vms), but effective solution in MS-reality(-show). The only thing, that I am too newbie is, if there is some way to explicitly “reserve” or delegate that USB hw (signaling cable) for inner VM. Lasttime I worked about virtualization, that free of charge VMware player had this feature since 2.5 working on XP 😉 so praying, such “advanced capability” reached MS developers…

But seriously…. just wondering, how Win server 2019 datacenters can be deployed without such……. (and as I started, I finish)…. fundamental principle.

Windows is a system, user.
That system is our enemy.
But, when you are inside…. what do you see?
…. data, we are trying to save.
…. most of these data are not ready to be unplugged.
No. Its another training program designed to teach you one thing.
If you are not one of us, you are one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tby1aQVcjk

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