Quick walthrough for installing the Hyper-V Linux Integration Services v2.1 in CentOS 5.x. Installing the integration tools gives enables several features. In my case I wanted support for synthetic NICs. The features you gain are listed below followed by installation instructions.

  • Driver support for synthetic devices: The Linux integration components include support for both the synthetic network controller and synthetic storage controller that have been developed specifically for Hyper-V. These components take advantage of the new high-speed bus, VMBus, which was developed for Hyper-V.
  • Fastpath Boot Support: Boot devices now take advantage of the storage VSC to provide enhanced performance.
  • Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the host.
  • Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager, using the “Shut Down” command.
  • Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.
  • Heartbeat: Allows the host to detect whether the guest is running and responsive.
  • Pluggable Time Source: A pluggable clock source module is included to provide a more accurate time source to the guest.

Installing Hyper-V Linux Integration Services v2.1:

  • Download Linux Integration Services v2.1 for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2
  • Install CentOS

  • Install the development tools: <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">yum groupinstall “Development Tools”</pre>

  • Mount the integration services ISO: <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">mkdir /mnt/cdrom mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom</pre>

  • Copy the contents of the cdrom to the machine and unmount the cdrom: <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">mkdir /opt/linuxicv21 cp –R /mnt/cdrom/* /opt/linuxicv21 umount /mnt/cdrom

</pre>

  • Install the integration tools: <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">cd /opt/linuxic21/ make make install

</pre>

  • If you’re running x64 you’ll need to install adjtimex. Insert the CentOS install dvd then: <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">rpm –ivh /mnt/cdrom/Centos/adjtimex-1.20-2.1.x86_64.rpm

</pre>

  • Reboot the VM: <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">reboot

</pre>

  • Check that the integration services are running:</p> <pre class="brush: bash; title: ; notranslate" title="">/sbin/lsmod grep vsc

</pre>