The Rational Guide to Scripting Microsoft Virtual Server 2005

image Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is Microsoft’s server-side virtualization product. Virtual Server has been designed to allow users a great deal of power and flexibility in hosting virtual machines in mission-critical Enterprise deployments without having to invest in additional hardware.

In this clear and concise book, Microsoft MVP Anil Desai shows how to use scripting to automate complex virtual environments. The book contains numerous scripting examples in VBScript, Visual Basic .NET and C#, and covers the automation of virtual machine creation and management. It shows software developers and network administrators how to programmatically set up virtual environments to rapidly build development and testing scenarios. The book also shows how to script entire data center virtualization environments to avoid scaling out with expensive hardware.

Advanced topics include automating Virtual Server with .NET, client-side automation with VMRC, event handling, and command-line scripts. The book also contains reference material on the Virtual Server COM API and the VMRC COM API.

This book expands on the topics covered in The Rational Guide To Managing Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 by the same author.

Technical accuracy is assured by Mike Sterling, Program Manager on the Windows Virtualization team at Microsoft.

Table of Contents

Part I: Scripting and Automation Basics

  • Chapter 1: The Benefits of Virtualization
  • Chapter 2: Virtual Server Architecture & Requirements
  • Chapter 3: Automating Virtual Server with VBScript
  • Chapter 4: Automating Virtual Server with .NET
  • Chapter 5: Monitoring Virtual Server using WMI

Part II: Automating Virtual Machine Management

  • Chapter 6: Managing Virtual Machines
  • Chapter 7: Managing Virtual Hard Disks
  • Chapter 8: Managing Virtual Networks

Part III: Advanced Automation

  • Chapter 9: Using Scripts, Events, and Tasks
  • Chapter 10: Automating VMRC

Bonus Online Material

  • Source code for all examples provided in the book.

Download a Free Preview Chapter

Download a free preview chapter: "Chapter #7: Managing Virtual Hard Disks".  It provides details about the object model for managing VHDs, along with code samples.

Reviews

"This book is a must read for technologists who are serious about virtualization."

– James Ni, Group Product Manager
Windows Virtualization, Microsoft Corporation

"This book is a treasure.  Readers will find their gateway for virtual infrastructures automation."

– Alessandro Perilli,
CISSP, MVP, IT Security and Virtualization Technology Analyst