1. IN place Cluster upgrade
Finally, we can have in-place cluster upgrade feature, you can now add a node running Windows Server 2016 to a Hyper-V Cluster with nodes running Windows Server 2012 R2. The cluster continues to function at a Windows Server 2012 R2 feature level until you upgrade all of the nodes in the cluster and you upgrade the cluster functional level with the following Windows PowerShell cmdlet, Update-ClusterFunctionalLevel.
After you update the cluster functional level, you can't downgrade it back to Windows Server 2012 R2. Seems it’s going to work as Active Directory functional level.
When the Hyper-V Cluster has a mix of both Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 nodes, you can still move virtual machines between all of the nodes in the Hyper-V Cluster.
After you upgrade the cluster functional level to Windows Server 2016, the following applies:
· To enable new virtual machine features, you need to manually upgrade the virtual machine configuration level of the virtual machines using the Update-VmConfigurationVersion cmdlet.
· You can enable new Hyper-V features.
· You can't add a node to the Hyper-V Cluster that runs Windows Server 2012 R2.
2. Nested virtualization
Yes, you can have this feature now. It will let you use a virtual machine as a Hyper-V host and create virtual machines within that virtualized host. This can be especially useful for development and test environments. To use nested virtualization, you'll need:
· At least 4 GB RAM available for the virtualized Hyper-V host.
· To run at least Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 build 10565 on both the physical Hyper-V host and the virtualized host. Running the same build in both the physical and virtualized environments generally improves performance.
· A processor with Intel VT-x (nested virtualization is available only for Intel processors at this time).
3. Hot add and remove for network adapters and memory
Yes, finally this also available in VM G2 version, now you can add or remove a network adapter while the virtual machine is running, without incurring downtime. And its support Windows or Linux operating systems.
You can also adjust the amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine while it's running, even if you haven’t enabled Dynamic Memory. This works for both generation 1 and generation 2 virtual machines.
4. Networking features
New networking features include:
· Remote direct memory access (RDMA) and switch embedded teaming (SET). You can set up RDMA on network adapters bound to a Hyper-V virtual switch, regardless of whether SET is also used. SET provides a virtual switch with some of same capabilities as NIC teaming. For details, see Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and Switch Embedded Teaming (SET).
· Virtual machine multi queues (VMMQ). Improves on VMQ throughput by allocating multiple hardware queues per virtual machine. The default queue becomes a set of queues for a virtual machine, and traffic is spread between the queues.
· Quality of service (QoS) for software-defined networks. Manages the default class of traffic through the virtual switch within the default class bandwidth.
5. Linux Secure Boot
Linux operating systems running on generation 2 virtual machines can now boot with the Secure Boot option enabled. Ubuntu 14.04 and later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and later, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 and later, and CentOS 7.0.
6. Production checkpoints
Production checkpoints allow you to easily create “point in time” images of a virtual machine, which can be restored later on in a way that is completely supported for all production workloads.
7. Guest Integration services through Windows Update
Yes, you can have Guest Integration service updates through Windows Update.
8. Shielded Guest virtual machines
Shielded virtual machines use several features to make it harder for datacenter administrators and malware to inspect, tamper with, or steal data and the state of these virtual machines. Data and state is encrypted.
9. Windows PowerShell Direct
This will be easy and reliable way to run Windows PowerShell commands inside a virtual machine from the host operating system. There is no network, firewall requirements, or special configuration. It works regardless of your remote management configuration. To use it, you must run Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview on the host and the virtual machine guest operating systems.
10. Windows Containers
Windows Containers allow many isolated applications to run on one computer system.
