As a new user to the Microsoft Vitalization tool called Hyper-V, I've been trying to figure out how to use it for testing (both Software Development and Packaged Application), but unlike my Virtual PC and Virtual Server implementations, it turns out that it's not as simple as clicking a button.  It's not complicated, just not as intuitive as the other products because of slightly different semantic and processes.

The good news is that I just read an article, published on Developer.com which outlines the process as well as an automated script that will allow you to choose which snapshot you would like to restore.

Here's a snippet from the article:

When virtualization in the PC world was new, software developers were one of the first group of users to adopt virtual machine technology. Thus, it is no surprise that virtualization is used heavily in software testing. However, testing can be a time-consuming task if done completely manually.

With Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization technology, you are able to step up the ladder in virtualization features, and at the same time make your testing more automatic. For example, if you are using Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS) and its Team Build feature, you could automate both the application building and testing in a single MSBuild script, and make all this happen with a click of a button.

Because Hyper-V easily supports multiple virtual machines and dozens of checkpoints (snapshots), you can automate testing of your applications. Automating user interface testing is, of course, more difficult, but even with these applications, being able to automatically configure the virtual testing environment can save a lot of time.

Let these scripts be your starting point in automating your software testing with Microsoft's Hyper-V. Thanks go to Janne Pohjala from Microsoft Finland for helping me find the hardware to test Hyper-V on. With that, happy testing!

To access the full article: Click here 

(Note: The link takes you to the Developer.com web site, and they may move this article at some point in the future.)

~Robert Shelton

↑ Grab this Headline Animator