Every Windows administrator knows task manager. It is one of these tools we use on a daily basis and is used for many different troubleshooting purposes. The task manager tool is embedded in every Microsoft Windows Operating system. The first taskman.exe, which actually showed a list of running applications, was introduced with Windows 3.x. Windows task manager with its view of processes, applications and resource usage was introduced in Windows NT 4.0. Over the years and in different versions of the Windows operating system the Windows task manager has changed little until Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 where it got a serious overhaul.
Windows task manager doesn’t work the way we want when we are working in a Hyper-V virtualized world. We all want a nicely laid out view of the Hyper-V host and the individual VMs running on the host complete with their individual resource consumptions. Unfortunately, when you open Windows task manager on the Hyper-V host (parent partition) you don’t get the data back that you want. One of your virtual machines could be taking up all of your compute resources but you can’t see it in Windows task manager. You only see the data from the Hyper-V host, not the child VMs.
The solution: Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V
In Veeam’s latest Management Pack release (Veeam Management Pack for System Center) we released an entirely new in-line task that can bring up the Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V. The Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V will display task manager data for both the Hyper-V host and for each of the child VMs attached to that host! The question is how can you get Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V if you aren’t running Veeam Management Pack for System Center? Today we are very proud to release the free, standalone, portable version of the Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V!
That’s correct, we are giving away this utility for free, and you can use it according to your own needs!
What is it?
The Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V visualizes real-time performance data from your Hyper-V host and each child VM running on that host. You will be able to view what resources the parent partition is using AND at the same time see what compute performance your virtual machines are using. This will make your life much easier if you need to see what resources are consumed on the Hyper-V host.
Figure 1: Veeam Hyper-V Task Manager
Installation
The package comes as a single MSI (installer package) and can be deployed through your favorite deployment tools and even group policy. You can deploy it to your administrator’s workstations, Hyper-V hosts or remote management stations and use the parameters for unattended or passive installation.
Portable
Besides deploying it on a local hard drive you can also deploy it on remote media such as a USB drive. After installation, you can take the USB device to any computer and use it from there.
Figure 2: Hyper-V Task Manager installed files
Connection
After launching the Veeam.TaskManager.HyperV.exe you can connect to any server by using the Connect to Server button.
Figure 3: Connect to Server…
The UI will ask you to what server you want to connect.
Figure 4: Type in server name
After connection, the tool will update in real time the resources of your Hyper-V host. To be able to do so, the account under which the console runs must be added to the Performance Log Users group on all monitored Hyper-V hosts.
Frequency
By default, the tool will update every three seconds and show data over a period of 60 seconds. If you go to the menu you can change the frequency to Normal or Low.
Figure 5: Update Speed
Normal frequency will update every nine seconds over a period of 180 seconds and Low frequency will update every 15 seconds over a period of 300 seconds.
Figure 6: Example of CPU with Low updates
Conclusion
If you don’t have a monitoring framework that can provide you with real-time compute resources on your Hyper-V hosts, or if you need a portable, easy-to-use tool that can provide you with this information quickly, then Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V is the perfect solution for you.
Download now!
If you want to use Veeam Task Manager for Hyper-V just register and download it.