Hyper-V

Hyper-V

See also: Hyper-V Server (the free version)

 

Hyper-V vs ESX / Xen / etc

Resources

Guest Operating Systems

  • Enlighten your guest OS so that they run faster and offer a wider array of management tools. (In the VM's window menu, click Action, then Insert Integration Services Setup Disk, and follow the onscreen prompts) Installing Integration Services is similar to adding VMware Tools or Virtual Server Additions, but it does a lot more, modifying the OS's kernel and adding new virtual devices that speed VM-to-hardware communication. Only supported in: Server 2008 RTM/SP1, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 2003 SP2, and Windows XP SP3
  • Virtual DCs: Never save state in a domain controller as this may cause synchronization issues in the domain. Never Pause a domain controller virtual machine for long periods of time as this may adversely impact replication. Always shutdown a domain controller. Do not take snapshots of a domain controller. Make a determination regarding time synchronization. The decision is either to use the Hyper-V Integration Service for Time Synchronization or not. If the decision is to treat the virtualized DCs like hardware based DCs, then disable the Time Synchronization capability in the Settings for each virtual machine and point the PDC Emulator to an external time source and allow all the other DCs to synchronize with the PDC Emulator. If the decision is to synchronize with the Parent partition, only enable the Time Synchronization capability for the DC holding the PDC Emulator FSMO Role.
  • There is no built-in way to copy files between host and guest, you need to either mount an ISO or floppy disk, or use networking features, such as mapping a drive or using the "map local drives" feature of RDP (you may find the tool "Folder2ISO" useful)
  • The number of virtual CPUs available to the guest depends on which OS is installed

Domain Controllers as Guests

Basically make sure the guest always auto-starts (and delay other auto-starting guests by 120 seconds or so), shuts down when the Hyper-V services stop, doesn't save state, and make sure you document local login details so that you can log in if there are problems with the DC. Preferably have another DC, either physical or virtual on another Hyper-V host.

Backing up Guests

Networking

Tools

  • VHD Resizer - expand VHD files, then use dispart to expand the NTFS partition. Useful if you have configured a fixed size VHD for performance benefits and outgrow your estimation.
  • VHDTool - to speed up the creation of fixed-size VHD files

Misc