Ben Armstrong wrote a post a little while ago that demonstrates how easy it is to install Ubuntu Server 10.10 on Hyper-V. Ubuntu is one of the Linux distros that has kept the kernel up to date (don’t ask me details because I’m not a Linux person). As you may know, Microsoft submitted the code for the Hyper-V integration components (or VM additions if you will, to optimise the management and performance of virtual machines on a Hyper-V host server) for inclusion with the Linux kernel. This was accepted and included. This means that Linux VMs would be able to run just like Windows on Hyper-V. Earlier this year, Microsoft updated the integration components for Linux to add SMP (multi-processor) and integration services (management) support.
Ben has demonstrated how easy it was to get Ubuntu Server 10.10 up an running with the updated integration components. The only thing he needed to do at the command prompt was to enable the IC for the virtual network adapter. And that was pretty easy! Compare that with what you have to do to get SLES or RHEL updated and you’ll start wondering why you wouldn’t switch to the free platform.