Microsoft Support still gets frequent inquiries about whether System Center 2012 R2 VMM can support guests running Windows Server 2016. Installing  Hotfix 1 for Update Rollup 11 of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) enables you to create Windows Server 2016-based guest virtual machines (VM) in VMM.

TLS 1.2 is the secure way of communication suggested by Microsoft with best-in class encryption. SSL and early TLS are not considered strong cryptography and cannot be used as a security control. Microsoft has added official support for TLS1.2 security protocols in System Center 2016. This protocol is now supported in the following products:

• System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)
• System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM)
• System Center Orchestrator (SCO)
• Service Management Automation (SMA)
• Service Provider Foundation (SPF)
• System Center Service Manager (SCSM)

The 3 step process of enabling TLS1.2 involves:

1. Installing the updates for Windows Server Security, .NET 4.6, SQL Server & System Center 2016 UR4. Please note that for  Service Management Automation(SMA) and Service Provider Foundation(SPF) you need to upgrade to their most recent UR as UR4 does not have any updates to these components. For Service Management Automation (SMA) upgrade to Update Rollup 1 and for Service Provider Foundation (SPF) to Update Rollup 2, For SMA also update the SMA 2016 MP from here. System Center Virtual Machine Manager(SCVMM) should be upgraded at least to Update Rollup 3.
2. Changing the configuration settings to enable TLS1.2 in the Windows Environment and System Center across all components.
3. Making additional System Center component specific settings.

You can find more details in the System Center 2016 TLS1.2 Configuration article.

In February we announced that System Center, version 1801 was now available.  It’s the first release in our new Semi-Annual Channel and delivers new features and enhancements based on customer feedback. It builds on the capabilities of System Center 2016 and has support for the latest version of Windows Server, version 1709 as well as Windows Server 2016. It includes enhanced Linux monitoring support, more efficient VMware backup, and improved user experience and performance. For more details, read the full announcement..

System Center 1807 announcement is available here.

What’s new in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 1807 is available here.

How to Upgrade to System Center Virtual Machine Manager 1807 is available here.

The content in this blog describes the new features and scenarios enabled in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 1807

Users can change VHD placement location

VMM 1807 release enables users to select any CSV for placement of a new disc. In the earlier versions of VMM, a new disc on a VM would be placed by default on the same CSV as the earlier VHDs associated with the VM. Users were not given the flexibility to choose a different CSV / folder. In case of issues related to CSV storage getting full or over commitment, users had to migrate VHD after deploying it.

With VMM 1807, users can choose any location for placement of new disc, giving users more flexibility to deploy new discs based on storage availability of CSVs.

LLDP information of networking devices displayed

The new 1807 version of VMM supports Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) and users will now be able to see their Network device properties and capabilities information of their hosts from VMM. DataCenterBridging and DataCenterBridging-LLDP-Tools features have been enabled on hosts to fetch LLDP properties.  Host OS must be 2016 or newer.

Users can leverage this functionality to remotely monitor physical network device properties and information. LLDP information displayed in VMM Console is below:

Convert SET switch to Logical Switch

With SCVMM 1807 releases it is now possible to convert a SET switch to logical switch from the console. In earlier versions of SCVMM, users had to run a specific power shell script to achieve this conversion but is now possible through VMM console. To know more

VMware host management

SCVMM now supports management of VMware ESXi 6.5 version servers in VMM fabric. This provides admins flexibility to manage multiple hypervisors using SCVMM.

Patch and Update supported for S2D clusters

SCVMM 1807 supports update of a S2D host or cluster. Individual S2D hosts or clusters can be updated against baselines configured in WSUS server. For S2D clusters, users can check compliance and remediate hosts within the cluster.

– Srividya Varanasi, Sr. Program Manager

When Windows update ‘KB4467684‘, ‘KB4478877‘, ‘KB4471321‘ or ‘KB4483229’ is installed on a VMM managed Windows Server 2016 host, VMM is not able to enumerate or manage the Logical Switch deployed on the host. Customers will notice the following symptoms when they open the ‘Virtual Switches’ property of the Host.

• VMM throws the error ‘An uplink port profile set was not specified on the host network adapter <NetworkAdapterName> and was not supplied with Logical switch <LogicalSwitchName>’
• The Uplink Port Profile drop down menu will appear empty on the Host Virtual Switch – Logical Switch configuration page.

Cause:

The above-mentioned updates are unregistering the following WMI classes used by VMMAgent to enumerate and manage Logical Switch deployed to the Host.

Running the following PowerShell on the affected host fetches zero objects.

Get-CimClass -Namespace root/virtualization/v2 -classname *vmm*

Note: Running the same PowerShell on a host which does not have these updates installed, fetches VMM related classes.

Solution:

Use mofcomp to add the VMM related classes and class instances to the WMI repository. On the affected host, run the following commands

Mofcomp “%systemdrive%\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2016\Virtual Machine Manager\setup\scvmmswitchportsettings.mof”

Mofcomp “%systemdrive%\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2016\Virtual Machine Manager\DHCPServerExtension\VMMDHCPSvr.mof”

Note:

• After you add the classes to WMI repository, you should refresh the host on VMM. Make sure ‘System Center 2016 Update Rollup 6’ is installed on the VMM server as this update brings in improvements to VMM Host refresh time.
• If you are running System Center Virtual Machine Manager Semi-Annual Channel release (SAC), then the path for mof files would be

%systemdrive%\Program Files\Microsoft System Center\Virtual Machine Manager\setup\scvmmswitchportsettings.mof
%systemdrive%\Program Files\Microsoft System Center\Virtual Machine Manager\DHCPServerExtension\VMMDHCPSvr.mof

• If your environment has many hosts, you can script the process to enumerate the hosts from VMM using ‘Get-SCVMHost’ PowerShell Commandlet and use remote PowerShell to register VMM WMI classes as suggested above.