Installing Hyper-V Integration Services for Linux Distributions that Do Not Ship with LIS Drivers and Services
You may find you need to install Hyper-V Integration Services in a Linux Distribution in the following cases:
- Linux distributions that do not ship with LIS already integrated
- When there is a new version of LIS available at the Microsoft site. The current Hyper-V Linux Integration Services version is 4.0
Since Linux can only understand RPM files for installation, the LIS ISO comes with the required RPM files to help in installing or updating the existing LIS components.
Important: Hyper-V LIS 4.0 is available in two formats: a Tar file (lis4-0-11.tar.gz) that can be transferred to the target Linux virtual machine or an ISO file (lis4-0-11.iso) that can be attached to the Linux virtual machine. We’ll explain how to install LIS 4.0 by attaching the ISO file. (Note: The previous Hyper-V Integration Services release, LIS 3.5, included only an ISO file).
The LIS installation process starts by attaching the LIS ISO to a virtual machine using Hyper-V Manager and then executing a set of commands to finish the installation as explained in the steps below:
- Attach the LinuxICv35.ISO file to a Linux virtual machine.
- As a root user, execute the command below to mount the ISO file:
mount /dev/cdrom /media
- Next, run the script provided with the LIS ISO to install LIS:
./install.sh
- Finally, you need to reboot the Linux virtual machine so that the Hyper-V LIS components are initialized and registered successfully. To reboot, type “reboot” in the terminal and then press enter.
Once rebooted, use the “lsmod” or “Modinfo” command to check the status of LIS drivers and services as explained in the “Verifying Hyper-V LIS 4.0 Services and Drivers” section in this article.
Upgrading Hyper-V Linux Integration Services
Microsoft has provided upgrade scripts needed to update the Hyper-V LIS drivers for Linux distributions. Please follow the steps above to mount the ISO file and then execute the “Upgrade.sh” script after switching to the directory relevant to your Linux distribution.
Once the script has finished installing LIS drivers and services, reboot the virtual machine so that the Hyper-V LIS drivers and services are registered with the Linux kernel.
Verifying Hyper-V Linux Integration Services 4.0 Services and Drivers
After upgrading/installing LIS 4.0 on a Linux virtual machine, you can run the following command to verify the registration of the LIS drivers and services:
lsmod
OR lsmod | grep hv
The above command should list the Hyper-V LIS drivers and services. You’ll need to look for hid_hyperv, hv_netvsc, hv_utils, hv_storvsc and hv_vmbus for the successful activation of LIS. The output of the command should look similar to this screenshot:
Nirmal Sharma is a MCSEx3, MCITP and Microsoft MVP in Directory Services. He specializes in directory services, Microsoft Azure, Failover clusters, Hyper-V, System Center and Exchange Servers, and has been involved with Microsoft technologies since 1994. In his spare time, he likes to help others and share some of his knowledge by writing tips and articles on various sites and contributing to Health Packs for ADHealthProf.ITDynamicPacks.Net solutions. Nirmal can be reached at nirmal_sharma@mvps.org.