How To Create A Hyper V Server
- Home
- Virtualization
- Virtualization
I'm new to Hyper V and virtual servers in general.
I have a new Win 2012 R2 server with the Hyper V role on it.
2 - 500GB drives, Raid 1 with the OS already installed -- C drive
4 - 2TB drives - Raid 10 -- D drive
I am going to create 2 virtual servers, one domain controller and one file server, for a small business.
When I create a new virtual machine it wants to store it, as default, in the
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\ folder.
I accepted that default.
I have the virtual drives stored on the D drive.
I believe this is the best way to do it, but since it is my first one, I figured I would double check with the spice folks. I want to make sure that the VMs are taking advantage of the performance of the Raid 10 virtual disk.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
You never want to install Server 2012 R2 on the physical hardware. Just because you can, does not mean you should.
Assuming the hardware is all purchased don't worry about dumping the 500GB drives for a larger RAID 10, but it is what I would have done in the first place.
I have found installing Hyper-V on a USB drive to be horribly slow to use when you need to actually access the raw Hypervisor. Say for Windows updates.
-
Nuke the setup.
- Install Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 (this is NOT Server 2012 R2 + Hyper-V) on your RAID1
- Setup the RAID 10 as your D via DISKPART. This is basically where you are now, just with the proper Hypervisor in place.
- Check your NICS. If they are not Intel, then disable VMQ. Open powershell and run this.
Get-NetAdapterVmq | Disable-NetAdapterVmq
- Get the name of your NICS in Windows with this powershell
- Then Team the NICS.
New-NetLbfoTeam -Name "Team Name Here" -TeamMembers "Ethernet 1" , "Ethernet 2"
- Update the server and reboot.
- Join the Hyper-V server to the domain (if one exists), reboot.
- Manage the rest from Hyper-V manager enabled on a workstation on the domain.
If there is no existing domain in place, your job is harder and you will need to set things up completely in powershell. This is not horrible and there are many guides on doing this, but it is not the expected method.
As for the file locations, I always set my servers up pointing to D:\Hyper-V and D:\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks
30 Replies
cactused wrote:
When I create a new virtual machine it wants to store it, as default, in the
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\ folder.
I accepted that default.
I have the virtual drives stored on the D drive.
.
Your logic makes sense but I'm a bit confused, if you accept the default then your VM is on the C: drive and not the D: Drive or have you just put the VM configuration files on C: and the VHDX's onto D:\ ?
Another option for you - dump the 500GB disks, get two more 2TB drivers and have RAID10 across the whole server.
I feel it is best to keep the configuration and VHDX files together.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
You never want to install Server 2012 R2 on the physical hardware. Just because you can, does not mean you should.
Assuming the hardware is all purchased don't worry about dumping the 500GB drives for a larger RAID 10, but it is what I would have done in the first place.
I have found installing Hyper-V on a USB drive to be horribly slow to use when you need to actually access the raw Hypervisor. Say for Windows updates.
-
Nuke the setup.
- Install Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 (this is NOT Server 2012 R2 + Hyper-V) on your RAID1
- Setup the RAID 10 as your D via DISKPART. This is basically where you are now, just with the proper Hypervisor in place.
- Check your NICS. If they are not Intel, then disable VMQ. Open powershell and run this.
Get-NetAdapterVmq | Disable-NetAdapterVmq
- Get the name of your NICS in Windows with this powershell
- Then Team the NICS.
New-NetLbfoTeam -Name "Team Name Here" -TeamMembers "Ethernet 1" , "Ethernet 2"
- Update the server and reboot.
- Join the Hyper-V server to the domain (if one exists), reboot.
- Manage the rest from Hyper-V manager enabled on a workstation on the domain.
If there is no existing domain in place, your job is harder and you will need to set things up completely in powershell. This is not horrible and there are many guides on doing this, but it is not the expected method.
As for the file locations, I always set my servers up pointing to D:\Hyper-V and D:\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks
I disagree thst installing Windows Server with Hyper-V is bad. It's fine, especially if installed without the full GUI. It can be too much to ask to start off without the GUI. Yes, full Windows should be patched more often, but so what.
I'm with Jared, the Windows install then HyperV role is not a good process. End of the world? Hardly. Best practice though, definitely not. It's confusing, limiting and creates risk and overhead without real benefit. Install HyperV directly for best results.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
kevinmhsieh wrote:
I disagree thst installing Windows Server with Hyper-V is bad. It's fine, especially if installed without the full GUI. It can be too much to ask to start off without the GUI. Yes, full Windows should be patched more often, but so what.
Technically, that is just fine, but it is limiting by license. What if you grow to a second server? You will never be able to migrate those guest VM's because they are tied to the license of the host.
By using Hyper-V server you can move those 2 Server 2012 R2 instances to another host as often as every 90 days.
Why limit yourself out of the gate? A solid Hypervisor host will be around for a long time.
Sounds like keeping the config and the VHDX together on the same drive is going to get me the best performance.
As to the other points about dumping the 500GB drives and doing just the HyperV without Windows 2012 R2, I will do that on the next server which I'll be working on next month. For now, the setup I am starting with is fixed.
Very interesting. How does this affect licensing? If I were to have a box running Hyper-V Server, with 15 VMs running 2012 R2 Standard, would I have to purchase 15 2012 R2 Standard licenses?
If I had one host, running 2012 R2 Datacenter with Hyper-V enabled, they would all be covered under license already right...? Why would Hyper-V Server be better for me...
Jimmy9008 wrote:
Very interesting. How does this affect licensing? If I were to have a box running Hyper-V Server, with 15 VMs running 2012 R2 Standard, would I have to purchase 15 2012 R2 Standard licenses?
If I had one host, running 2012 R2 Datacenter with Hyper-V enabled, they would all be covered under license already right...? Why would Hyper-V Server be better for me...
You'd need 8 windows server 2012 R2 Licences as one licence is valid for two VM's.
One datacenter licence would cover all the VM's on that host, yes. However, it's one datacenter licence for TWO processors so if the server has four processors, you'd need two datacenter licences.
Jared Busch wrote:
What if you grow to a second server? You will never be able to migrate those guest VM's because they are tied to the license of the host.
Not if they are proper licences. Only OEM ties to the hardware.
Jimmy9008 wrote:
Very interesting. How does this affect licensing? If I were to have a box running Hyper-V Server, with 15 VMs running 2012 R2 Standard, would I have to purchase 15 2012 R2 Standard licenses?
If I had one host, running 2012 R2 Datacenter with Hyper-V enabled, they would all be covered under license already right...? Why would Hyper-V Server be better for me...
I think you get 2 VMs per Standard license.
My experience is that you cannot mix different types of Hyper-V within a cluster. That is, Windows Full GUI with Hyper-V doesn't work with Windows Core with Hyper-V. Likewise, Hyper-V Server only works with Hyper-V Server IN A CLUSTER. Shared nothing migration across platforms works fine. Things could be different with the 2016 versions, and there will also be the new nano server thrown into the mix as well. If you are not planning to cluster, none of this is an issue.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
Gary D Williams wrote:
Jared Busch wrote:
What if you grow to a second server? You will never be able to migrate those guest VM's because they are tied to the license of the host.
Not if they are proper licences. Only OEM ties to the hardware.
When you install Server 2012 R2 + Hyper-V, your license covers the host (with no other roles allowed to be installed) and the two VMs of Server 2012 R2. If you move those two VM's off to another server, but continue running the host, then you need to buy another license for those two VMs you jsut moved because the license is tied to the hardware by virtue of the host being Server 2012 R2 instead of Hyper-V Server 2012 R2. If you shut down the old server, then yeah, that license is no longer being used and can be noted for audit purposes as being used for those two VMs wherever they are running now.
Edited Mar 12, 2016 at 20:51 UTC Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
kevinmhsieh wrote:
My experience is that you cannot mix different types of Hyper-V within a cluster. That is, Windows Full GUI with Hyper-V doesn't work with Windows Core with Hyper-V. Likewise, Hyper-V Server only works with Hyper-V Server IN A CLUSTER. Shared nothing migration across platforms works fine. Things could be different with the 2016 versions, and there will also be the new nano server thrown into the mix as well. If you are not planning to cluster, none of this is an issue.
The OP specifically said a single server now. So even if they grow to use a second , there is still very little need for a cluster to be setup.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
Jimmy9008 wrote:
Very interesting. How does this affect licensing? If I were to have a box running Hyper-V Server, with 15 VMs running 2012 R2 Standard, would I have to purchase 15 2012 R2 Standard licenses?
If I had one host, running 2012 R2 Datacenter with Hyper-V enabled, they would all be covered under license already right...? Why would Hyper-V Server be better for me...
If you know that little about licensing, hire an ITSP to help you.
Datacenter is for a completely different scenario than a single server with 2 VMs.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
Gary D Williams wrote:
Jimmy9008 wrote:
Very interesting. How does this affect licensing? If I were to have a box running Hyper-V Server, with 15 VMs running 2012 R2 Standard, would I have to purchase 15 2012 R2 Standard licenses?
If I had one host, running 2012 R2 Datacenter with Hyper-V enabled, they would all be covered under license already right...? Why would Hyper-V Server be better for me...
You'd need 8 windows server 2012 R2 Licences as one licence is valid for two VM's.
One datacenter licence would cover all the VM's on that host, yes. However, it's one datacenter licence for TWO processors so if the server has four processors, you'd need two datacenter licences.
If you are big enough to be using Datacenter in the first place, you are going to also going to be highly likely to be needing more than one server for replication and/or load balancing. Which then means that you will have double the amount of Datacenter licenses. Assuming two 2 proc servers, then you have Datacenter purchased twice once for each server. That is a steep barrier for only 15 VMs. This also has nothing to do with the OP, so Jimmy, if you have questions, take it to a new thread.
OP will be setting up a second server next month, hence my comment regarding compatibility for clusters.
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
kevinmhsieh wrote:
OP will be setting up a second server next month, hence my comment regarding compatibility for clusters.
The OP never said the 2nd server was for the same site. Even if it is, he is not gong to be setting up a cluster because he has no shared storage.
There is little to no point setting clustering in the SMB. Very few SMB will need shared storage for any workload. It adds to complexity and thus cost for no benefit.
The SMB that has multiple servers can cheaply add enough local storage to the servers and setup native Hyper-V replication to handle close to real-time fail over for the mission critical VMs. Combined with a solid backup solution like Veeam or Unitrends backing up to a NAS they have everything except offsite.
Brand Representative for Altaro Software
Might also want to check out Altaro VM Backup as a backup solution for your VMs here Michael!
Really simple to setup and has a great set of features without breaking the bank. We're happy to help you getting it set up too if you wish, just give us a shout :)
Hyper-V 2012 R2 Core is the way to go.
as you intend to run virtual machines, then you would install hyper v core, which is free.
this can be installed on a USB pen even. setup the discs as a giant raid 10, partition as required in the hyper v and install your os then
Brand Representative for StarWind
brandon220 wrote:
Hyper-V 2012 R2 Core is the way to go.
"Core" is just an installation role of a licensed Windows Server. So it can be Standard installed as a "Core" or Datacenter installed as a "Core". So... Standard or Datacenter?
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
brandon220 wrote:
Hyper-V 2012 R2 Core is the way to go.
Brendan Pitstop NZ wrote:
as you intend to run virtual machines, then you would install hyper v core, which is free.
There is no such product as Hyper-V Core.
There is Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 or there is Server 2012 R2 with whatever roles you wish. Server 2012 R2 with no other roles is considered "Server 2012 R2 Core"
Bundy & Associates is an IT service provider.
Brendan Pitstop NZ wrote:
this can be installed on a USB pen even. setup the discs as a giant raid 10, partition as required in the hyper v and install your os then
Have you actually done this? I have, multiple times, and the Hyper-V dom0 runs like crap.
Most recently, I did it 3 weeks ago on a Dell R720xd fromxByte Technologies that I had just purchased.
The VMs that I put on it ran just fine. But accessing the Hyper-V instance was horribly slow. Windows updates took over 12 hours to download and install. Even with the limited subset of updates that Hyper-V server requires.
This topic has been locked by an administrator and is no longer open for commenting.
To continue this discussion, please ask a new question.
How To Create A Hyper V Server
Source: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1492917-hyper-v-virtual-server-setup
Posted by: alstonorwits.blogspot.com
0 Response to "How To Create A Hyper V Server"
Post a Comment