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Greetings Spiceheads!

So, I have been doing a lot of thinking/reading on virtualization. I work at an MSP and I am thinking of creating a Hyper V host in my own office and migrating our 1 physical server to a VM.

Now my idea of how to do this is as follows:

  • Piece together a decently specced VM host and install Server 2012 R2 on it and the Hyper - V role

  • Do a P2V conversion of the current physical server and use that VHD file to create a new VM on the host machine

  • Test the VM to see that everything works (without having it on the physical network)

  • Once I’m happy that everything is working on the VM, turn off the physical server and give the VM the same network settings and let it run as the main server.

If in any event the VM doesnt work as planned but users have already connected to it, would I be able to shut it down and turn the physical machine back on again or would this create issues?

Please let me know if I’m going about this wrong or if there is any additional tips or tricks you can provide .

Thanks!

PS: Specs of current server:

  • Server 2012 R2

  • AD

  • Exchange (I know, I know, I didnt set it up! :P)

  • Quickbooks

  • File server

In terms of the Exchange Im wanting to perhaps move that to a secondary VM on the new host machine.

7 Spice ups
2

Similar thread:

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/648442-coverting-domain-controller-from-pm-to-vm

Exchange can be hosted on a VM, but you will need to pay close attention to your configuration. I know you might toss this advice out but if you aren’t hosting thousands of email accounts, Office 365 might be a better alternative and help you get rid of Exchange all together.

As for the rest of the server specs, just make sure you have plenty of storage and RAM and 1-2 physical CPU’s. You can do a lot with 2TB RAID 10, 32GB RAM and a couple of quad core Xeon CPU’s.

2 Spice ups
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I recommend you read this thread before virtualizing your (one and only?) DC:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/e437e2ce-ef80-4ab5-b3d3-331f0ac47d03/is-it-a-good-thing-to-have-the-domain-controllers-virtualized?forum=winserverhyperv

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A lot of what is mentioned in that 2 year old blog isn’t the case anymore. You can virtualized DCs , I’ve done it numerous times without issue. Same practices apply as they always have with ad design and deployment. The fact that its a VM guest is a non issue.

2 Spice ups
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agreed, we have virtualized 2 of our 3 DC’s no problems at all.

only thing I can see as a basic level is if your users are working off the virtual server for files and you turn it off to go back to the old physical server you’ll get a few files lost (I say a few if you have a lot of users this might become a headache)

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Should be fairly simple though I always recommend starting from scratch. Lot easier than trying to remove years of drivers, unnecessary updates and other stuff. Also lets you fine tune the VM for optimal performance (as others have said Exchange can be a pain to get working well).

Even if you just do the P2V I would recommend that you start building a VM from scratch once everything is working well and make a few templates and snapshots for the future.

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Some things to think about and plan for before doing the conversion so you won’t have problems later:

a) plan your time sync carefully;

b) plan your backup solution carefully;

c) train yourself on Hyper-V management and configuration (and VM management/configuration);

Be fully prepared before you start.

2 Spice ups
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We have been trying to migrate our main server to virtual for 6 months and it’s still not working but we had a breack through a week ago just can’t remember what we did to get it to not blue screen because wehn physical was set up it was done with uefi not bios

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Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think I’m going to go with creating a new VM and migrating the data.

2 Spice ups