Install Linux Integration Services and Hyper-V Daemons on Debian

How to install Linux Integration Services and Hyper-V daemons on Debian Linux, verify that virtual device drivers are loaded, and Hyper-V services are running. 

Hyper-V Integration Services for Linux VMs 

You'll need to install Hyper-V integration services on your Debian Linux virtual machines, so the VM has support for Hyper-V devices and services. Drivers are needed for virtual devices, and Hyper-V services are needed for communication between the Hyper-V host and the guest VM. 

Linux Integration Services hv_utils

On Debian 10 and Debian 11, Linux Integration Services (LIS) are included as part of the distribution. hv_utils is the Linux Integration Services driver that enables support for Hyper-V devices, and it's automatically loaded. There is no need to load Hyper-V modules manually by editing /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

 Hyper-V Daemons

Hyper-V daemons provide services for Linux VMs running on Hyper-V hosts. These services are used for integration between the Hyper-V host and the Linux VM. hyperv-daemons is a suite of daemons for Linux guests running on Hyper-V, including: hv_fcopy_daemon, hv_kvp_daemon and hv_vss_daemon

• hv_fcopy_daemon provides the file copy service, allowing the host to copy files into the guest
• hv_kvp_daemon provides the key-value pair (KVP) service, allowing the host to get and set the IP networking configuration of the guest
• hv_vss_daemon provides the volume shadow copy service (VSS), allowing the host to freeze the guest filesystems while taking a snapshot

Reference:

Debian hyperv-daemons
Support daemons for Linux running on Hyper-V
https://packages.debian.org/uk/bullseye/amd64/hyperv-daemons

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This example shows that hyper-v daemons are not installed on the Linux guest VM note we can't see the IP address on the networking tab.

Hyper-V Manager
Select VM - Networking tab - IP address is not shown

Check Linux Integration Services and Hyper-V Daemons are running

We can use lsmod to check if the Hyper-V kernel modules hv_utils are running

# check hv_utils kernel module is loaded
lsmod | grep hv_utils 

Example: hv_utils loaded

We can also use ps to check if the hyper-v daemon processes are running

# check hyperv daemons are running
ps -ef | grep hv 

Example: hyper-v daemons are not running, note hv_vss and hv_kvp are not listed

In the next step, we will install hyperv-daemons and reboot the VM

# install hyperv-daemons
apt-get install hyperv-daemons

# reboot 
systemctl reboot
 

After installing hyperv-daemons and restarting, we can now see the VMs IP address on the networking tab

# check running daemons after installing hyperv-daemons package
ps -ef | grep hv 

Check integration services from the Hyper-V host using PowerShell 

Get-VMIntegrationService -VMName debian-test

Example: Integration services running, Hyper-V daemons installed

Example: Integration services not running, Hyper-V daemons not installed.

References:

Supported Debian virtual machines on Hyper-V
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/supported-debian-virtual-machines-on-hyper-v

Manage Hyper-V Integration Services
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/manage/manage-hyper-v-integration-services

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