Server Virtualization Validation Test

Article
09/14/2012

Note This content applies to the Windows Logo Kit (WLK). For the latest information using the new Windows Hardware Certification Kit (HCK), see Windows HCK User's Guide on the Windows Hardware Dev Center.

Overview

The procedures presented in this section outline the process for testing your virtualization product for proper functionality with the Microsoft Windows operating system. These procedures use the Microsoft Windows Logo Kit (WLK) and Driver Test Manager (DTM). To ensure full functionality, you must run all of the tests that the DTM identifies as required for the virtualization product.

Using the Test Procedure Help Topics

The test procedures are divided into the following types of topics:

Overview: The overview topics describe the hardware, software, and tester knowledge requirements.

Preparing: The preparing topics describe how to configure the virtualization product for testing.

Running: The running topics describe how to run to run the tests for your virtualization product.

Virtual Machine Functionality Tests

The Functionality Tests are individual tests of the capabilities of the product's virtual machine implementation.

SVVP System Functionality Tests Overview

The SVVP System Functionality Tests include tests to validate the functionality of the following aspects and components of the virtual machine:

Virtual PCI I/O
Virtual SMBIOS
Virtual Timers
Virtual ACPI and PNP functions
The correct operation of the storage capabilities of the virtual machine
The appropriate signing by Microsoft of all the drivers included

Hypervisor-based virtualization products correctly expose to the instance of the running operating system, the fact that the operating system is running in a virtual environment.

Details

LoadGen is a test tool that generates load on a given system under test. The system can be a standalone server or a virtual machine. LoadGen is started on the master client and can use multiple subordinate client computers to generate network load on the system under test.

You can start LoadGen with multiple command line parameters to enable you to control how it behaves. Configuration information is provided in the XML file that is passed through the -config command line parameter. The name of the system under test and subordinate clients (if any) are passed through -sut and -sc respectively. User credentials that start test process under are passed by -user and -pwd or -usellu (for LLU's in a DTM environment). Other command line options are available through LoadGen.exe /?.

After LoadGen starts, it reads the configuration input from the command line parameters and configuration file. This input includes the system requirements, tests to start on the systems, performance counters to monitor, parameter information, and so on. During setup, LoadGen does the following:

Copy files to all computers or virtual machines and starts a service (named spsrv) that LoadGen uses throughout the test run to launch tests, monitor test processes, gather information, and so on.
Check that the systems or virtual machines meet the requirements that are specified in the configuration file.
Check that the systems or virtual machines meet the requirements that are specified in the configuration file.
Create the parameter tree and parameter table. These items are internal data structures that are used to assign which specific system or virtual machine resources (CPU, memory, disk, network, and so on) that LoadGen targets during the test run and which test processes generate the load on each resource.

When the test starts, it runs through a set of phases. A phase consists of one or more tests that run for a given amount of time. Some test scenarios have only one test phase. At the beginning of each phase, LoadGen starts new tests. And at the end of each phase, LoadGen stops those tests that do not run during the next phase.

Tests that run in a given phase can be one of the following:

Tests that stress the resources on the system under test.
Processes that test system features.

LoadGen starts and monitors all test processes and reacts accordingly when an instance stops. If a test process is a critical one, the entire test run is ended by LoadGen. Otherwise, the test continues to run against the system under test.

When a test fails or when the last phase of the test run ends, Loadgen does the following:

Stops all test processes that are running on all systems or virtual machines.
Collects test logs to a local folder on the master client. This folder is later copied to the DTM log share.
Stops the services that it started on the systems or virtual machines.
Deletes the files that are distributed at the beginning of the test run.

To start the Server Virtualization Validation Stress test kit, you must have the following computers that have the operating system installed, that are domain-joined, and that are connected through Ethernet:

The virtual machine system under test (SUT) is the virtualization product that you are trying to validate.
The master client (MC) is the system or virtual machine that starts, monitors, and finishes the test kit.
The subordinate clients (SCs) are the systems or virtual machines that generate the test load for network traffic.

The Server Virtualization Validation Stress test kit start the following tests on the testing systems:

Virtual Machine functionality tests. These tests start at beginning of the test run and should not stop or fail before the test kit finishes. The test kit reports a failure if any of those tests failed.
System resource stress tests: The test kit monitors stress level on VM SUT from MC and these tests are started or stopped according to the VM system stress level.
Client-Server IO. This test starts on the SCs and sends a large amount of data to VM SUT. Then, the data is stored on the disks of the VM SUT.
Network Stress. This test starts on the SCs and sends network traffic to the VM SUT.
CPU resource consumption. This test runs on the VM SUT and consumes a certain percentage of the CPU resource.
Memory resource consumption. This test runs on the VM SUT and consumes a certain percentage of system memory resource, including physical memory, page file, and non-paged pool.

The server virtualization validation stress test tries to generate network load for each NIC on the VM server under test. The desired throughput is 40% of the NIC's capacity. If, with the current client set, the network load cannot reach the targeted level, Loadgen requires additional clients to be added in to testing environment. (To add an additional client, click the "client" pane of Loadgen UI, type the name of the client system to add into the box, and click Add. Server stress test has a time-out window of 60 minutes. After it made the request, if no additional client is added after 60 minutes, the test fails and exits.

Hardware requirements

The following virtual hardware is required for running the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system.

Component	Requirement
Processor	Minimum: 1.4 GHz Recommended: 2 GHz or faster Note An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems
Memory	Minimum: 512 MB RAM Recommended: 2 GB RAM or greater Optimal: 2 GB RAM (Full installation) or 1 GB RAM (Server Core installation) or more Maximum (64-bit systems): 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)
Disk space	Minimum: 10 GB Recommended: 40 GB or greater Note Virtual machines with more than 16 GB of RAM allocated will require more disk space for paging and dump files
Drive	DVD-ROM drive

The following hardware is required for Windows Server 2008 R2 System testing.

Infrastructure Requirement and Setup for the Server Virtualization Validation tress Test

The Server Virtualization Validation Stress test required all test machines to be in a network with a domain controller. The machines themselves will need to be joined to that domain and have a domain user account created. The reliability of the network is critical to the stress test, if your network is not reliable or setup improperly the test will either fail or won't start. Make sure the test environment is on a stable and reliable network. Use dynamic IP addressing for all machines.

For the Win2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation Stress Test, it's a requirement that both IPV4 and IPV6 be turned on.

Server Virtualization Validation System under Test (SUT) Requirements

Maximum number of processors that the VM SUT supports.
The maximum memory capacity that the VM SUT supports.
At least one Gigabit network adapter/virtual adapter/driver, or additional network adapters, being used for testing.
One hard disk drive or virtual disk to be used for installing the operating system. and should have at least 40 GB of space (or the Windows Server 2008 R2 minimum requirement) that is configured as Boot, Page File, Crash Dump.
One Gigabit Ethernet network hub.

Client System Requirements

The system failure of even a single client may cause the entire test to fail. To minimize the likelihood of client system failures, use the following criteria to help you choose computers and other hardware for this test:

Make sure that your computers or virtual machines have resources that exceed the minimum CPU and RAM requirements.
Make sure that all NICs and device drivers have already been logo-qualified or signed. The bandwidth of the NICs in the client computers must be equal to the bandwidth of the NIC in the SUT.
Plug all client computers into UPS power protection units
Connect all client computers with high quality cabling, routers, and switches.
Use highly redundant storage and memory components: For example, RAID 1 or RAID 5 memory, MPIO Duplexing for storage, RAID hard disks, Teaming for NICs etc.

Software requirements

The following software is required to run the Windows Server 2008 R2 System tests:

One of the following operating systems for the VM SUT:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition to enable all the processors and exercise all possible features in the system being tested.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition to enable all the processors and exercise all possible features in the system being tested.
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based systems, in order to enable all the processors and exercise all possible features in the system being tested.
Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition, for x64 platform, for the master client and the client systems
Any drivers that are not shipped with the Microsoft Windows operating system
The current release of the Driver Test Manager (DTM)

Tester knowledge requirements

To run the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation System tests, testers must know how to accomplish the following tasks:

Create, format, and remove partitions on a hard disk drive
Set power management options
Install and configure a network
Install the operating system from the product DVD
Download a service pack for an operating system
Install the Active Directory Domain Services Role
Create a domain. To learn how to create a domain read Basic Domain Controller Setup for Server System Logo Testing located under Logo Tests: Device and Driver Technologies -> Windows Server 2008 R2 System Testing.
Install and operate the Driver Test Manager and Studio Services
Set up the systems or virtual machines to be used in testing at the BIOS/FW/EFI level

Preparing for Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation Testing

Before running the tests, you must configure the system and install the operating system. This section summarizes the related procedures.

For a complete list of required hardware, software, and tester knowledge, see the Windows Server 2008 R2 System Testing Overview.

Many of the tests in the Windows Logo Kit (WLK) require a test system or virtual machine to restart (often more than once) to complete a test run. The test description and the running instructions specify whether a test requires a system restart.

Test systems configurations

We are making the assumption that you have already setup the network domain controller and installed the DTM controller and DTM Studio on a machine (Please see the DTM setup documentation). Also the DTM controller and Studio are on the network.

The Server Virtualization Validation test requires the following system configuration tasks to prepare the test VM system for testing.

The machines setup for the Server Virtualization Validation Stress test consisted of:

One VM "Server Under Test" (SUT). This is the virtual machine product you are validating
One x64 (This kit does not support ia64 for clients) client machine that will act as the "Remote Test Host" (MC). Please note the restriction for the MC below:

Note The master client must be listed on the Windows Catalog or a VM running on such a system.

The master client must NOT be set up as follows:
- As the domain controller for the test systems
- As the DTM Studio host
- As the DTM Controller for the systems that are used for testing
Note You should not do this to the SC or VM SUT either. It can impact the test in a negative way.
Eight x64 (This kit does not support ia64 for clients) client machines or virtual machines that will act as the "Subordinate Clients" (SCs)
Do not use "MC" or "SC" or "SUT" or any derivatives in the virtual machine system names. As this can cause test to fail.

Important Because some systems might be set to shipping configuration, they might not have all their devices enabled or their drivers loaded. Before testing begins, ensure that all devices in the virtual machine system are enabled and all drivers related to those devices are loaded per the testing requirements.

Storage and OS Installation

These machines or virtual machines are connected to the network via gigabit HUB or switch with high speed CAT6 or faster cables.
Install Datacenter or Enterprise Server SKU Operating System (OS) into the VM SUT
Install any Server SKU OS on the MC and SC's
All machines or virtual machines have NTFS format on all disks or virtual disks.
Each machine or virtual machine has approximately 40GB of free disk space on drive C:\ after the OS has been installed.

Systems Settings for SUT, MC and SCs, physical or virtual

Join each machine to the same Domain using the domain user account you created and use dynamic IP addressing.
Logon to each machine using the created domain user account.
Use the following procedure to configure the power options on the VM SUT master client and the SC Clients:
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Power Options.
2. Click the Power Schemes tab.
3. From the Turn off monitor list, select Never.
4. From the Turn off hard disks list, select Never.
5. If there is a System standby list, select Never.
6. If there is a System hibernates list, select Never.
7. If there is a Hibernation tab, clear the Enable hibernation check box.
Turn off User Account Control (UAC) and firewall on all the machines and reboot the machines
Each machine (MC, SC, SUT) will need at least one gigabit Network Interface Card (NIC) to connect to the network. If machine have more than one NIC, make sure those are also connected to the HUB.
Note

IPv4 and IPv6 must both be enabled on the system being tested, the master client, and all clients connected to the system.

A network interface adapter that is not connected to a network generates an error, causing the test to fail. Note that network adapters used for iSCSI connectivity to storage do not need to be connected to client systems.

DTM Studio Setup:

Logon to each machine using the created domain user account
Install the DTM client on each machine so they will become visible in DTM Studio under the "Default Pool" in the Job Monitor pane. Here's how:
1. Click Start then Run on each machine, type the path to the client installation files located on the DTM controller. Example: \\YourDtmController\DTMInstall\Client\setup.exe
2. Click Enter to run setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the DTM client.
3. After the DTM Client installation completed successfully, the machine name should appear under the Default Pool branch in the Job Monitor pane in DTM Studio.
4. Do this for each SC, MC, and SUT
In the Job Monitor pane create a new machine pool and give it a name. Any name you like. The Machine Pool name should be no more than 12 characters without spaces.
Move all the machines (SUT, MC, SC's) from the "Default Pool" to this new machine pool you just created. Drag-n-drop them into the new pool.
Create a new submission through Device Console. To do this, in the DTM Studio menu click Explorers, and then Device Console.
1. In the Submission drop-down, select <New Submission>.
2. Choose the processor-specific version of the OS you are running on the SUT, and click Next.
3. Select the Category System Submission, and click Next.
4. Select the Sub-Category Server Virtualization Validation, and click Next.
5. Give a name to the Submission, then select the Machine Pool that contains the configured MC, SCs, and the SUT you want to submit, and click Next.
6. Select the VM SUT, and click Next.
Return to the Job Monitor, either by clicking the Job Monitor tab at the bottom of DTM Studio menu, or click Explorers, then Job Monitor.
Select the Machine Pool used to create this Submission, and click Refresh to verify that the Prepare for Submission jobs have completed.

The environment is now ready to run tests.

Note When you are not testing in Submission mode, you have to manually set the appropriate HCT\Role dimension for each client computer. Select the value of MC for the master client and the value of Node for the subordinate clients. For more information about how to set a dimension, see the Defining and Viewing Dimensions topic.

Running the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation Tests for the Maximum VM test case

To run the Serve Virtualization Validation Stress tests for submission follow the steps below. This portion of the SVVP test tests a single virtual machine. This test machine will be the largest virtual machine whose logo test results you want to submit to Microsoft. This virtual machine must have been validated and will be listed by Microsoft. This SVVP test is referred to as the 'Maximum VM' test or 'Max VM' test.

During the Max VM test, the computer that hosts the maximum virtual machine must expose the following:

The maximum amount of RAM that can be supported by the virtual machine. There must be enough physical RAM on the host machine to back this amount.

The maximum number of processors that can be supported by the virtual machine. There must be enough physical CPU cores on the host machine to back this number.

Return to the Device Console, either by clicking the Device Console tab at the bottom of DTM Studio, or clicking Explorers, then Device Console.
If the submission you just created is not shown in the Submission pull-down, select your Submission now.
Select the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies checkbox. This job will set certain configuration on the computers in your machine pool.
Right click the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies job, and select Edit Parameters
In the pop up box, type in the Domain Name, Domain User Name and Domain User Password used by the test environment for the parameters DomainName_LLU, UserName_LLU and Password_LLU respectively. Then close the pop up box.
Click the Add Selected button, and then verify that the correct MC, VM SUT, and one of the SCs are in the validation list. Close the validation list, and click Schedule Jobs.
Return to the Job Monitor to verify that the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies job has completed successfully. This job needs to pass before the next job will run properly.
Follow the job scheduling procedure to run the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Start Test for Server job. This is the Server Stress test. This test runs for approximately 24 hours.
Depending on the "horse power" of your SC clients compare to your VM SUT, the test may ask for more clients. Make sure you check the MC screen from time to time in the first few hours for a pop-up asking for more clients. Once the first few hours have past, the stress load should stabilize. See troubleshooting section 'Loadgen is asking for more clients' for details.
Return to the Job Monitor to verify that the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Start Test for Server job has completed successfully. You'll need to press the refresh button on the tool bar in order to see the updated info. If you need to rerun this job, there is no need to rerun the previous Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies Job.
Follow the job scheduling procedure to run the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run Last - Reset Machine Policies job when the Start Test job is finished. The Run Last job resets the machine policies that were set on the computers in your machine pool. Whether this Job passes or fails is not relevant to the submission; it is simply a clean-up Job.
After you successfully complete all the jobs, create a submission package for the virtual SUT.

Running the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation Tests for the Multiple VM test case

For each virtual SUT created, there must be one set of clients consisting of subordinate clients and one master client. These clients can either be physical or virtual.

In order to test four virtual SUT machines, and depending on the processing power of the clients, eight subordinate clients may or may not be enough. LoadGen might ask for more subordinate clients during the test if the stress level LoadGen tries to achieve cannot be reached with the eight clients

This portion of the SVVP test uses the same set of tests to simultaneously stress four instances of the virtual machine that are all running on the same system. This SVVP test is referred to as the 'Multiple VMs' test. During the Multiple VMs test, the computer hosting the four virtual machines must expose each of the virtual machines to the following:

At least two virtual processors, backed by physical cores

One quarter as much virtual machine memory, backed by physical memory, as was used for the Max VM configuration and tests

You can also use a computer that exceeds these requirements to perform the SVVP test.

Return to the Device Console, either by clicking the Device Console tab at the bottom of DTM Studio, or clicking Explorers, then Device Console.
If the submission you just created is not shown in the Submission pull-down, select your Submission now.
Select the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies checkbox. This job will set certain configuration on the computers in your machine pool.
Right click the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies job, and select Edit Parameters
In the pop up box, type in the Domain Name, Domain User Name and Domain User Password used by the test environment for the parameters DomainName_LLU, UserName_LLU and Password_LLU respectively. Then close the pop up box.
Click the Add Selected button, and then verify that the correct MC, VM SUT, and one of the SCs are in the validation list. Close the validation list, and click Schedule Jobs.
Return to the Job Monitor to verify that the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies job has completed successfully. This job needs to pass before the next job will run properly.
Follow the job scheduling procedure to run the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Start Test for Server job. This is the Server Stress test. This test runs for approximately 24 hours.
Depending on the "horse power" of your SC clients compare to your VM SUT, the test may ask for more clients. Make sure you check the MC screen from time to time in the first few hours for a pop-up asking for more clients. Once the first few hours have past, the stress load should stabilize. See troubleshooting section 'Loadgen is asking for more clients' for details.
Return to the Job Monitor to verify that the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Start Test for Server job has completed successfully. You'll need to press the refresh button on the tool bar in order to see the updated info. If you need to rerun this job, there is no need to rerun the previous Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies Job.
Follow the job scheduling procedure to run the Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Run Last - Reset Machine Policies job when the Start Test job is finished. The Run Last job resets the machine policies that were set on the computers in your machine pool. Whether this Job passes or fails is not relevant to the submission; it is simply a clean-up Job.
After you successfully complete all the jobs, create a submission package for each virtual SUT.

Validation Requirements

To qualify for SVVP validation you must meet the following test procedures:

The Max VM test must successfully complete all testing
All SUT VMs for the Multiple VMs test must run Job 2 in approximately the same time
All Job 2 runs for the Multiple VMs scenario must pass within the same time frame for all SUT VMs

Submission Packages

SVVP Submissions must include the following:

A results package [CPK] for the 'Max VM' test
A results package [CPK] for each of the four virtual SUT machines tested for the 'Multiple VM' test and the results must be for the same hardware architecture for each virtual SUT machine.

Note These are the possible architectures: Opteron, Xeon and Itanium, and that Opteron and Xeon are tested separately. The results must also have been created using the version of Windows Server 2008 appropriate for the architecture.

Important

If you perform multiple test runs we highly recommend that you reboot all the virtual machines or machines between runs. This will ensure a clean run and eliminate any running process that may have not gotten cleanup properly from the previous run.
The Server Virtualization Validation Stress test will reboot the virtual machine server under test during the test to verify that the virtual machine system can recover from a crash or power failure. The reboot can result in an unexpected reboot event in the system log. This will cause a System Event Tracker (SET) pop-up message to appear when you log on locally. The SET popup appears because the system tests cause a STOP error.
The Windows Server 2008 R2 test kit user interface can be monitored on the console session of the master client.

Important Returning the test results saves all of the test log files that are created during a test run to a single cabinet (.cpk) file. Do not return the test results until you successfully complete all of the required tests for a test submission. Even your failed runs will be saved in the cabinet file. You can delete the failed run logs if you wish to reduce the size of the cabinet file.

Manual Test Steps:

Running Loadgen in Non-Submission Testing Mode

You can run Loadgen in non-submission testing mode by scheduling the relevant job in the Job Explorer window instead of in the Device Console. This is useful in the case where you want to run the stress test for non-submission testing.

To run Loadgen in non-submission testing mode:

Open DTM Studio and switch to the Job Explorer window.
Browse to \WDK Tests\Server\Windows Server Systems Kit\Windows Server Test.
Right-click the Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies job, and then click Schedule.
Click the Machines tab.
From the Select Machine Pool drop-down list box, click the target machine pool for running the test.
Click Schedule Jobs on any Machines from this Machine Pool.
Click the Job Monitor tab at the bottom left of the DTM Studio window and view the job status.
When the job has completed successfully, click the Job Explorer tab at the bottom left of the DTM Studio window, and then browse to \WDK Tests\Server\Windows Server Systems Kit\Windows Server Test.
You will need to edit the test to get into non-submission mode. Right-click the Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Start Test for Server job, click Edit, click Parameters tab, under the value column, look for "-nonhct:1" change this to "-nonhct" and save the job.

Important You will need to change this back before doing a submission test run in Device Console else DTM will detect the change and fail the submission run

.
Right-click the Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Start Test for Server job, and then click Schedule. Repeat steps 4-7
Once you are done. Make sure you run the last job to clean up the machine policies by scheduling Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Run Last - Reset Machine Policies job. This is just a cleanup job, whether it passed or failed is not relevant to the test. But you should run it to reset the machines.

Note You can make changes to the test parameters by using the Loadgen user interface on the master client. You can perform following tasks:

Start or stop tests in the Test pane
Add or remove clients in the Client pane
Adjust stress level for each performance counter in the Performance Counters pane

Note You can only adjust stress levels when you run Loadgen in non-submission mode. Additionally, the server stress test must be in Phase 2, with the phase status showing "Running Test." However, if the controls and options in the user interface are grayed out, the test is not in a state where you are allowed to make adjustment to the parameters. This grayed-out state exists before Phase 2 (the stress phase) starts, and again after Phase 2 is completed. The buttons remain grayed out until you select a test in the UI.

Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation Testing

The Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization Validation test includes a significant amount of logging, which makes it easier to troubleshoot failures and problems.

The Test Failed, Why?

If the failure occurs within minutes of launch, it usually means something was not configured properly. Go back and verify the settings.

If the test actually ran, there should be a log file called Server.xml in the DTM controller.

Open Job Monitor
Browse to the machine pool where the test was scheduled
In the Job Execution Status pane, select Win7 Loadgen Server Stress - Start Test for Virtual Server
In the Task Execution Status pane, right click RunJob -Launch Win7 Server Logo Kit and select Child Job Result
Go back to Job Execution Status pane, select Launch Win7 Server Logo Kit
In the Task Execution Status pane, right click Start LogGen task and select View Task Log
The log is parsed from the original Loadgen log and only has errors and passes
To get to the original Loadgen text log, repeat steps 1-5, then click Job Logs on top toolbar or right click Launch Server Logo Kit and select Browse Job Logs
This will open the log share on DTM controller and loadgen log file vm.log will be in the share. If vm.log file does not exist, it means the test never ran. Although the Job was scheduled the stress test did not run.
Drag and drop the vm.log file into notepad.
Scroll to the bottom of the file in Notepad
Search from the bottom up for the string "Error -"
The text in between these markers will tell you what failed. If it does not...
Search up again with the same string. You might need to do this a few times but generally the first or second search would tell you.

The information in vmlog.xml only provided a high level indicator of what failed. It does not provide specifics.

If you're still stuck, create a CPK file and send it to product support when you open a case here:

Help and Support

Vmlog.xml is saying my account is not an Admin when it is

The possible causes for this error are:

The UAC is on. To fix this turn off UAC and reboot that machine.

Loadgen is asking for more clients

The loadgen harness has a feature that will ask for more SC clients if the existing clients cannot generate enough stress against the SUT. This is to accommodate large servers and the possibility of some SC clients going bad in the middle of a run. In general we recommend you start with eight SC clients. This is sufficient for 95% of the cases. The stress level should stabilize in the first three to four hours of the test. In other words, if more clients are needed, you'll see the pop-up in the MC within that time frame. You will have sixty minutes to add a new client or the test will abort and fail.

Note There is a limitation in the Device Console where you cannot add more machines to the machine pool once a submission has started. So if you are starting with less than eight clients make sure you have additional clients in the machine pool before starting the submission run.

In the event loadgen is asking for more clients pass the four hour mark, it means something has gone wrong. Either one or more of the existing clients dropped out for whatever reason or some network connectivity issues has occurred.

Run Time:

Log File:

System Restart Required:

Test Category:

Supported operating systems for Logo or Signature testing:

Windows Server 2008 R2

Requirements

Software Requirements

The test tool requires the following software:

Windows Server 2008 R2
Software components included with the device that is being tested
Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition for X64
The virtual machine on the system under test: Windows Server 2008 R2 (any edition). For purposes of SVVP testing, the operating system on the virtual machine must be either Windows Server 2008 R2, x64 DC, or ia64.
The master and subordinate clients: You must install Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard or Enterprise Edition on the client computers.
All physical and virtual machines must have the firewall and user account control (UAC) turned off. Otherwise the SVVP test will result in test failure.

Hardware Requirements

The test tool requires the following hardware:

Device to be tested
Computer that meets the minimum software requirements
Windows keyboard
Two-button pointing device
Color display monitor capable of at least 1024 by 768 resolution, 32-bits per pixel, 60 Hz
Hard drive with a minimum of 20 GB available on partition C:
Any computer that meets the Windows Server 2008 R2 hardware requirements. See the hardware requirements table in the Windows Server 2008 R2 System Testing Overview topic.
At least 8 physical processor cores so that, for the Multiple VMs test, each one of the four virtual machines can be exposed to two virtual processors that can be mapped to two physical processors.
At least the maximum memory for which a single virtual machine will be tested. This will also meet the requirements for the Multiple VMs test, which requires one quarter of the maximum single-virtual-machine memory for each of the four virtual machines. This system should also have any additional memory required for the hypervisor or Host operating system and the Virtual Machine Monitor required to host four virtual machines.

Processor

The test tool runs on the following processor architectures:

x64
Itanium

Running Server Virtualization Validation Test

PCI Tests

The PCI/PCI Express Compliance Test, or PCIHCT, is a test tool that verifies that PCI and PCI-compatible interfaces are implemented in compliance with published specifications by PCI-SIG and Microsoft.

PCIHCT focuses on the software interface of a device (also known as the configuration space). The configuration space contains registers that the software can access. This access makes it possible to expose the device type, device class, capabilities, state, status, and other information to the operating system. The operating system can also configure and control the device through the configuration space registers.

PCIHCT checks the implementations of the configuration space for errors such as:

Invalid values specified in the registers
Ability to write to Read-only registers
Writable registers cannot be written to
Registers that are supposed to clear, but fail to do so, when the value of 1 is written to them
Registers that are supposed to retain their content after a reset but fail to do so
Writing certain values to the registers, causes the device (and in some cases the system) to hang and stop responding.
Not all features or capabilities are implemented as required by the specifications.

The PCI Compliance test (PCITest2.exe) determines whether or not a single PCI device or all relevant PCI devices in a system comply with industry standards for PCI devices. The test also checks several specific Microsoft requirements for PCI devices that might exceed requirements in standard PCI related specifications.

This test scans the system to find all currently installed and functional PCI devices. It then narrows the list of devices to test by automatically excluding devices with a base class that does not need testing (for example, base classes 0h, Bh, or Eh). The test also excludes devices with a base class/subclass combination that does not need testing (for example, base class 5h with all subclasses except 1h, base class 6h with all subclasses except for 4h and 7h, and base class 8h with all subclasses except for 4h and 5h). The test then verifies that the PCI Configuration space region of each device behaves as defined in the PCI specification. For devices with a PCI-Express capability, the test also performs minimal driver-related tests that check for changes in the values of particular registers in the configuration space when the driver is invoked, when it is running, and when it is stopped. For PCI-Express systems, the test also checks the ACPI table to perform a BIOS-related test for memory configuration space access.

HAL Test

The HAL Test verifies the functionality of the high precision event timer (HPET) and other functions. This test verifies that:

The system that you are testing is using an HPET device.
The HPET frequency is between 10 MHz and 500 MHz.
The timer does not glitch or run backward.

This is done by measuring elapsed times using KeQueryPerformanceCounter, and comparing the results with those obtained from another available time source.

SMBIOS TEST

The SMBIOS HCT test validates the system's SMBIOS data. For information about the Windows Server 2008 R2 Logo requirements, about the information that is checked and about other items, see the SMBIOS Support in Windows page on the WHDC Web site.

SLEEP TEST

The System - Sleep Stress with IO job ensures that the system and its device drivers can be cycled through all the sleep states supported by the system. Additionally, this job ensures that the devices are still functional after these state changes through SimpleIO stress testing.

ENABLE/DISABLE TEST

The System - Disable Enable with IO job disables and then enables every "disableable" device. A "disableable" device is a device that has the Disable option available in Windows Device Manager, and is not part of the "LegacyDriver" class. Additionally, this job tries to ensure that the devices are still functional after the changes in state through SimpleIO stress testing. The System - Disable Enable with IO job also runs the underlying scenario test but it can only target "disableable" devices.

The test tries to do raw writes, bypassing any file system that is mounted on the hard disk if it can. The test attempts raw writes if one of the following occurs:

The test can find a raw, unpartitioned disk.
The test can find a raw, unformatted volume.
The test can find a volume that it can dismount.

If none of the preceding situations is available, the test performs I/O through the file system. This action is more CPU intensive. In the third and most common test mode (the test finds a volume that it can dismount), the test allocates a test file to use and writes only to the extents of that file. This situation ensures that the test never corrupts the file system of the device that it is testing.

The amount of space that the test uses is determined by the free space that is available on the test device(s). To ensure best device performance, you should delete any unnecessary files from the test device and should cleanly format or defragment the device before running the test.

IsVM TEST

To support utility or application software that may need to determine if it is executing in a virtualized environment, the IsVM test determines if virtualization products correctly expose the CPUID information to the virtual instance of Windows or applications. Software in the virtual instance of Windows can determine if it is running within a virtualized environment by executing the CPUID instruction with an input (EAX register) value of 1. When the CPUID instruction is executed by the software and it checks bit 31 of register ECX, the "hypervisor-present" bit should be set by the virtualization product.

CHKLOGO TEST

The Signed Driver Check (CheckLogo) is a test tool that verifies that drivers that are installed in a system submitted for validation, have the correct logo level signature attributes. This validation ensures that drivers meet the criteria in WLP for the Windows Server 2008 logo program, as well as insuring the drivers are in compliance with the Para-Virtualization driver requirement.

These tests are also scheduled by the DTM for the SVVP test, and the results are also recorded. These are the same system-level tests run by physical systems for the Windows Server 2008 Logo. A failure of any of these tests might constitute a failure for the overall SVVP test.

COMMON SCENARIO STRESS WITH IO TEST

The System - Common Scenario Stress with IO job ensures that the system and all of its devices accept and correctly handle numerous Plug and Play (PnP) and power management state change scenarios. This currently includes disable/enable and suspend/hibernate/wake scenarios. In addition, it ensures that the devices are still functional after these state changes through SimpleIO stress testing.

The underlying scenario can only run disable/enable scenarios on disableable devices. A disableable device is a device that has the Disable menu option available in Windows Device Manager and is not class "LegacyDriver."

These tests are also scheduled by the DTM for the SVVP tests, and the results are recorded. These are the same system-level tests run by physical systems for the Windows Server Logo. A failure of any of these tests may create a failure for the overall SVVP test.

For more information and troubleshooting help, see "System - Common Scenario Stress with IO."

SVVP System Functionality Tests Setup

Starting the SVVP System Functionality tests will require the following systems.

System Under Test - this is the server being validated

No master client or subordinate clients are involved in the SVVP System Functionality tests, but the setup for the SVVP System Stress test (LoadGen) meets all requirements, and does not need to be modified for these tests.

The SVVP Functionality Test kit contains the tests that are explained in the DTM Jobs in the SVVP kit section earlier in this topic.

Virtual Machine Stress Test

The Stress Test consists of several server scenario workloads operating from the user level address space applied to the system to exercise the virtual system "hardware", the virtualization product-specific devices and drivers, network and storage adapters and any other drivers that might be part of the virtual machine system configuration, such as multipath storage drivers, storage or file system filter drivers, or intermediate layer network drivers.

The workloads applied are:

Client-Server Storage I/O
Winsock Network Traffic

These workloads will automatically scale to the number of virtual network and storage adapters found in the virtual machine system that have connected clients or storage devices, respectively. For example, if the test discovers one virtual network adapter and one storage adapter (along with the necessary connected clients or storage devices, respectively), the test will create workload processes for that number of virtual adapters in order to provide the stress workload. If the system has multiple virtual network and storage adapters, test processes are created for each of those virtual adapters, drivers, and connected resources (clients or storage devices) in order to provide the same relative stress workload. Additionally, the virtual network and storage adapters and their respective resources need not be the same type. For example, GigaBit Ethernet and 10GigaBit Ethernet virtual adapters could be tested at the same time, as long as network clients were connected to both virtual devices. Similarly, Fibre Channel and iSCSI virtual storage adapters can be tested at the same time, as long as the appropriate storage media is attached. Any virtual HBA units that are attached to the server under test (SUT) must be connected to the appropriate type of storage media.

Additionally, the virtual machine system test is designed to achieve the same relative amount of stress on the virtual machine system, regardless of the number or type of exposed logical processors, amount of allocated virtual machine memory, or the number of virtual network and storage adapters in the system. The test detects the number of exposed logical processors/cores in the virtual machine system, as well as the amount of allocated memory in the virtual machine system. The test then creates as many processor-specific and memory-specific stress processes as are needed to achieve a predetermined level of processor and memory utilization and will terminate those processes if the utilization level exceeds the predetermined level of stress. Thus, the level of utilization for those resources is always commensurate with the capabilities of the system. A virtual machine system that only supports a few processors/cores and an appropriate amount of memory for the system will have the same relative levels of stress as a larger virtual machine system with more processors/cores and a greater amount of memory.

There are 3 DTM jobs within Server Virtualization Validation Stress Test kit:

Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Run First - Set Machine Policies (run time < 30 minutes)
Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Start Test for Virtual Server (run time = 24 hours)
Win7 LoadGen Server Stress - Run Last - Reset Machine Policies (run time < 20 minutes)

As the names indicate, you must schedule the "Run First - Set Machine Policies" job before the "Start Test for Server" job. And you must schedule the "Run Last - Reset Machine Policies" job afterwards, when the "Start Test for Server" job has finished.

You need to schedule the Run First and Run Last jobs only once for each submission, but you must schedule and run the "Start Test" job multiple times until it passes. You also need to schedule the "Run Last - Reset Machine Policies" job if you are going to schedule other different jobs on the same machine pool.

Build date: 9/14/2012