Hi All,

Next weekend I will be installing a brand new Dell 720 server for a client of mine.

I would like to hear some recommendations on how to install this hypervisor.

Let me state that I have had some experience with virtualization technology  in the past with VMWARE ESXi.

This is a small client with under 10 users but I have learned that with the 2012 product offering you cannot get Small Business Server any more. I know Microsoft has Windows server 2012 Essentials but you would have to have Exchange server in the cloud which my client does not want. He wants to run his Exchange server in house.

Also he needs Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Server) because his accounting application requires it.

He has an existing Windows 2003 domain controller that eventually has to be decommissioned because it is too old and slow.

So I thought I install Hyper-v 2012 R2 core on the new server and then create 2 VMs:

1) Windows 2012 STD to run as a secondary domain controller.

2) Windows 2012 STD member server with Exchange server 2013 and Remote Desktop Services role.  

My questions here are these:

1) Do I install the Hypervisor in workgroup or domain mode?

2) When I am finished with the old server do I transfer the AD FSMO roles onto the VM that is acting as a domain controller?

The new server has 2 CPUs. How does Microsoft licensing go here? I know that Windows 2012 STD gives me 2 instances with the same product key on the same server for 1 CPU. What happens if you have 2?

Can someone give me some insight on how to go about this? I remember that I found this easier with VMWARE Esxi.

Now with Hyper-V I need to also get a management workstation with Windows 8 professional on it to manage the Hyper-V core server.

Thanks and regards

Alfred

In regard to the VM's: 

1.) DC: If you're going to be installing a second domain controller that is 2012 R2, you might consider reading this guide first. http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/archive/2012/07/30/upgrading-an-active-directory-domain-from-windows-server-2003-or-windows-server-2003-r2-to-windows-server-2012.aspx

2.) Exchange: Here's the guide for installing Exchange 2013 on Server 2012.  I don't believe R2 is supported yet for 2013. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/14506.how-to-install-exchange-2013-on-windows-server-2012.aspx

3.) Host: You'd install the host in domain mode....but that point may be moot after you read #5.

4.) FSMO: I would verify the health of the 2012 DC before moving the roles.  All too often I'll see a new DC get stood up, sysvol won't be published, the engineer will be in a rush to move the FSMO's, and things get a little sideways.  Ultimately you don't HAVE to move the FSMO's until you are ready to decommission the 2003 box.

5.) Licensing:  No licensing rights convey with Hyper-V Core, so this may not be best for your scenario.  See the queen mother of all Hyper-V licensing posts here - http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=13090

For what it's worth, plenty of SMB's are going to Office 365 to avoid the on-prem administration headache, but your client wants what your client wants. Sorry if this isn't the news you wanted but I hope it helps.

Hi Alfred,

In addition , if you have anyfurther licence question please try to contact " licencing activation centers " :

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/existing-customers/activation-centers.aspx

Hope this helps

Best Regards

Elton Ji

5.) Licensing:  No licensing rights convey with Hyper-V Core, so this may not be best for your scenario.  See the queen mother of all Hyper-V licensing posts here - http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=13090

Thanks for your answers Dirk!

I knew that the Hyper-V 2012 R2 hypervisor is free, but my question about licensing was relating to the actual installations of Windows 2012 R2 standard on the 2 VMs.

What happens if you have 2 CPUs in a server with licensing? Do we have to buy 2 extra licenses for the extra cpu?

Or somewhere in the installation, if we want to just use one product license, skip using the secondary CPU?

Thanks

Regards

Alfred

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/products/products.aspx You can find lots of information about licensing on this site.

Windows Server Standard (and Datacenter) are licensed in 2 processor increments.  If you have a physical server with one or two processors, it requires one license.  If you have a physical server with three or four processors, it requires two licenses.  Licenses are pieces of paper that grant you certain rights.  They are not 'installed', but rather assigned to a physical servers.  You need to keep track of which licenses you assigned to which physical servers.  Above URL has lots of information on this.

Hi

Today I started the installation of Hyper-V 2012 R2 core on a new Poweredge R720 server.

BIG PROBLEMS!

I created a RAID 5 with 1 Virtual Disk with 4 HDDs of 2TB each for a total capacity of 5.5TB approx.

Then when I installed Hyper-V I set aside about 300 GB for my Hypervisor installation.

After this I connected with my Windows 8 Pro management workstation and tried to do remote disk management.

I noticed the Windows created after my 300GB system partition a 2TB partition free space and there is also a 3TB free.

I can only create the partition on the 2TB free space, it will not let me manage the 3.5TB, why?

I did a bit of googling and learnt that the hyperv installer can only use MBR on set up not GPT which allows the bigger partitions.

Some article say you can use disk management later to creat GPT, bit it would not allow me. Then there is an article that says to use diskpart and convert to GPT.

Others say to convert to UEFI in the BIOS to create the GPT volumes.

What is the correct way to create a 300GB startup hyperv 2012 core partition and allocate the remainder of the virtual disk to store virtual machines.

Thanks and regards

Alfred