These days it is hard to find useful information, especially if you want to find a lot materials in one place. That’s why I spent some time searching through the web to find interesting and useful information regarding virtualization. So I hope you will find useful my list of free virtualization related books.

To summarize, in my list there are 8 free books (with download links included):

1. Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions, Second Edition
2. Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2
3. Virtualization for Dummies – HP special edition
4. The Definitive Guide to Virtual Platform Management
5. The Essentials Series: Virtualization and Disaster Recovery
6. The Shortcut Guide to Virtualization and Service Automation
7. The Shortcut Guide to Selecting the Right Virtualization Solution
8. Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V: Insider’s Guide to Microsoft’s Hypervisor (this book was free for few weeks and now you can read it on Google)

Ok, so let’s see brief introduction to all books:

Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions, Second Edition

This is the book for IT professionals who want to learn more about the latest Microsoft virtualization technologies, including Hyper-V and Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and Microsoft’s private and public cloud computing platforms including Windows Azure.

Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

This book is targeted primarily at Windows server administrators who are responsible for hands-on deployment and day-to-day management of Windows-based servers for large organizations. Windows server administrators manage file and print servers, network infrastructure servers, Web servers, and IT application servers. Book contains Chapter about Hyper-V, RDS and VDI.

Virtualization for Dummies – HP special edition

The purpose of this book is to provide you with an introduction to the subject so that you can understand its promise and perils — and create an action plan to decide whether virtualization is right for you, as well as how to move forward with implementing it should you decide it is right for you. This book will help you sort out the hope from the hype and give you tools to feel confident in making your virtualization decisions.

Note** – following 4 books are available to download from same site nexus.realtimepublishers.com on which you can find a lot of free books. You just need to register with them and that’s it (Everything is free)

The Definitive Guide to Virtual Platform Management

The Definitive Guide to Virtual Platform Management is designed to help IT staff better manage the complexity of virtualization. This guide begins with a discussion of the business value of virtualization and how organizations can benefit from this technology. Next, details related to virtualization approaches and challenges related to managing heterogeneous environments will be discussed. Based on these issues, the focus will turn to ways in which IT organizations can address all of these issues. Details include monitoring and optimizing virtualization performance, developing policies and processes, and automating data center operations. Finally, a list of important features is developed that IT organizations should look for in a virtualization management solution.

The Essentials Series: Virtualization and Disaster Recovery

The Essentials Series: Virtualization and Disaster Recovery discusses the benefit of virtualization in providing for business continuity though data replication and protection, allowing a more cost-effective solution for high availability and disaster recovery.

The Shortcut Guide to Virtualization and Service Automation

The intent of this guide is to assist the smart enterprise with understanding virtualization’s fit into the rest of the IT environment. A major part of that fit is in aligning the promise of virtualization technology with the automation benefits associated with virtualization management. What you’ll find in reading this guide is that notwithstanding what technologies and technological improvements virtualization brings to the table, there are a set of management enhancements that also arrive. Those enhancements are a function of the levels of automation that naturally bundles with the move to virtualization.

The Shortcut Guide to Selecting the Right Virtualization Solution

The intent of this guide is to assist the smart enterprise with understanding virtualization’s fit into the rest of the IT environment. A major part of that fit is in aligning the promise of virtualization technology with the automation benefits associated with virtualization management. What you’ll find in reading this guide is that notwithstanding what technologies and technological improvements virtualization brings to the table, there are a set of management enhancements that also arrive. Those enhancements are a function of the levels of automation that naturally bundles with the move to virtualization.

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V: Insider’s Guide to Microsoft’s Hypervisor

Hyper-V is one of the top virtualization products, and this practical guide focuses on the essentials of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Written by the Microsoft team behind the Hyper-V product, this book shows you how to perform key virtualization scenarios, such as server consolidation, software and development, and a dynamic data center and demonstrates how Hyper-V can be used to reduce cost and eliminate the complexity of a server infrastructure by consolidating workloads to a small number of machines. In addition, the material addresses using DPM, and SCOM with VMM in order to maintain and manage Hyper-V environments.

I hope you’ll find some interesting stuff in those books, and of course, feel free to comment if you know maybe more free virtualization books.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), is a component of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which enables deployment and management of Microsoft Virtual PC Windows desktops. Main capability of MED-V is seamless application integration, so you can ran Windows 7 incompatible applications as they were installed locally on your host machine. Actually, applications are installed in XP virtual machine placed on your Windows host machine, and then application shortcuts are published to your Windows host Start menu. When user clicks on published shortcut, application launch normally (seamlessly integrated). MED-V is similar to XP Mode, meaning that with both products you can achieve seamlessly integrated applications, but MED-V is suitable for big organizations and XP mode is more suitable for smaller organizations. Also with MED-V you have centralized management of virtual images and policies. So now, after basic information about MED-V,  would you like to try it without installing anything? No problem Microsoft Virtual Labs are here to help you.

How can I try Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)  just by using Web Browser?

By using Microsoft Virtual Labs you can connect to live running server (similar to Remote Desktop Connection), and then complete some of the product scenarios. So to try MED-V :

1. Click here.
2. If you have all prerequisites (IE 6 or later, cookies enabled, Virtual Machine Remote ActiveX Control), click on Start Your Lab button, and your LAB will open in IE window.
3. NTLM Authentication will appear. Click Yes.
4. Begin Scenario, using Exercise 1.

With this LAB you will experience MED-V in standard scenario of application compatibility. This test lab is available as part of Windows 7 Test Drive where you can also try BranchCache, DirectAccess, BitLocker and other interesting features and scenarios.

Nowadays XP mode is getting very popular because it is really useful feature of Windows 7, especially in enterprise business environment. Simply said with XP mode you can run fully licensed version of Windows XP along with Windows 7. Of course this Windows XP is virtualized and it has different features and possibilities than standard virtual XP with earlier versions of Virtual PC. Now with Windows Virtual PC beta, you have a great feature with seamlessly integrated applications installed in virtual Windows XP. So, with Windows Virtual PC beta (XP mode), shortcuts of application installed in virtual Windows XP, appear in your host Windows 7, as if applications were installed locally. Of course you can see whole virtual Windows XP with start menu and desktop or you can only see applications. All that said, it is clear that XP mode is similar to Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), but MED-V of course has more features like centralized management, various policies etc…

OK, so how can you publish application shortcuts of applications installed in virtual Windows XP, to your Windows 7 host. Well it is really very simple. All you have to do is install application as you normally would, in your Windows XP. For example, download one simple application, save it to Windows 7 desktop and then copy it to Windows XP desktop. Shared folders now work great with Windows Virtual PC beta, so you can navigate to any Windows 7 folder and copy application to Windows XP workspace. After that, just install application normally and you are done – application shortcuts are published by default to Windows 7 start menu in folder Windows Virtual PC >Virtual Windows Xp applications. So the procedure for newly installed applications is really simple, but what with Internet Explorer 6 that is already part of Windows Xp?

All you have to do in this case, is even easier. Just create shortcut for Internet Explorer, in virtual Windows XP in following folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu. Same procedure works for XP command prompt, Outlook Express, My Documents etc… So after that, Internet Explorer 6 shortcut is published in Windows 7 start menu, and Internet Explorer is seamlessly integrated in Windows 7 as you can see in following picture.

Download Windows Virtual PC beta, and virtual image of Windows XP for free here and try it for yourself, it is rather simple.

I know that name of this article sounds a little bit confusing. So what is all about? Well, maybe sometimes you will ran into situation where you will try to install Microsoft Virtual PC inside already virtual OS on Hyper-v. The answer if this can work is simple – YES, but… Hm…that scenario will work for you, but the question here is how it will work, or what will be performance for second virtual machine installed iniside first virtual machine. The performance will be very poor, as a matter a fact CPU of your first virtual machine will be almost constantly on 100% workload. Explanation behind that is really simple; first virtual machine already have virtual CPU not so strong as your physical computer,  so then you lend some power of that ‘low’ performance CPU to second virtual machine, and the first CPU becomes tired and confused.

Described double virtualization scenario is probably something you won’t try at home, but I did for several reasons. From the beginning I strongly doubted if this ridiculous thing I am trying to do will work, but I gave it a try anyway. I had presentation about  Microsoft  Application Virtualization (App-V), and Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (Med-V), and wanted to do great demo of two products.  Anyway, I have portable computer on which I installed Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-v role.  Then I installed four virtual machines for App-V, and everything worked fine (I have a lot of RAM). Only thing to do more was somehow install Med-V on the same computer. Because of Med-V requirements for Windows Vista or Windows XP, I decided to install one more Windows Vista virtual machine, and inside Vista Med-V client. Everything also worked fine until I started Med-V workspace which initiated loading of another virtual machine inside already virtual Windows Vista. Application published with Med-V on my Windows Vista (host in that case for Med-V), worked, but very slowly.

As I said, double virtualization is not solution for anyone and for any scenario.  In my case workaround for demoing both products was another portable computer on which I installed Windows Vista, joined on my domain created with one of the virtual machines on Server 2008 portable computer. After that I installed Med-V client on Windows Vista, and connected two computers with crossover cable. On presentation I opened Hyper-V console for four virtual machines on one computer, and one remote desktop console for Med-V Vista computer. Everything worked great.