Going Virtual (Hyper-V) at a primary school - Advice needed.

[edutech4schools]

I was just reading this post - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/learning-network-manager/141632-virtualise-not.html and decided not to hijack.

 

Thinking of going virtual at a small primary 150 pupils, but not sure it's worth it.

 

The setup

1 new server +5 year warranty

1 old server - no warranty

offsite backup that costs per gb

onsite backup using USB HDD's.

 

I might be able to get a small HP microserver with some 2tb drives.

 

I am having problems thinking how I would go virtual.

Should the new server have 2008r2 full version with hyper-v role or do you use the non gui hyper-v?

 

Is it still recommended to one pysical DC?

 

We would not be able to backup the vms off site due to cost, Would USB HDD's do.

Edited February 9, 2015 by edutech4schools

[Steve21]

Generic advice? or specific question?

 

Steve

[edutech4schools]

Generic advice? or specific question?

 

Sorry but I hit post before I had finished typing. Please check my OP.

[Steve21]

I wouldnt even consider using 2008R2 nowadays tbh, 2012R2 deffo And I'd use the GUI version, although its slightly more hungry makes management a lot easier.

 

If you're only interested in more "playing" with the virtual side, don't bother with the data centre option, just use standard, as can still use 2 virtual OSEs within the pricing.

 

Generally the one physical DC is still recommended especially if only running the single host etc.

 

In your setup you could also backup the VMs to the old server (if space allows) as well as the USB for quicker recovery etc etc

 

Steve

[edutech4schools]

If you're only interested in more "playing" with the virtual side, don't bother with the data centre option, just use standard, as can still use 2 virtual OSEs within the pricing.

So if we get 2012r2 standard and install the hyper-v role I can then install 2x 2012r2 vms?

[Steve21]

Yep

 

Standard edition is ideal for those customers who want to have a physical or lightly virtualized environment. This edition enables you to run up to two virtual instances of Windows Server with each license and provides all the same features as Datacenter edition. The licensing for Standard edition will continue to be processor plus CAL, with each license covering up to two physical processors on a single server, just like Datacenter edition.

 

Steve

[edutech4schools]

so,

 

New server has 1.2 tb total

Old server has 700gb total

I can definitely get hold of a HP Microserver but it will only have 1tb total.

 

Can you help with the question marks below

 

New server

FULL 2012r2

- VM DC

- VM DATA server

 

Old server

????????

 

HP Microserver

????????

[Steve21]

Out of curiosity you already bought the server/microserver? or changable items on it?

 

Steve

[edutech4schools]

Out of curiosity you already bought the server/microserver? or changable items on it?

 

It was purchased a while back for another school who have have said they do not need it anymore. The HDD's and ram could be changed but that's about it I think, although school has no money and it would not be easy for me to get anything extra at the moment.

[Steve21]

Ah ok no worries then ignore that haha

 

Well personally I wouldn't use the old server for anything particularly "critical" if it's not warranty etc but that's just my opinion, but I'd go for DC, maybe WSUS/App deployment etc as saves storing stupid updates on better storage etc. (Depends how full you are I guess), if enough free space and nothing major you want, then consider DFS linked for staff docs incase main server does die etc

 

Steve

[edutech4schools]

Next questions are about backups.

 

Once I have gone virtual do I continue with standard OS backups (windows backup) along with doing a full VM backup or does everyone just do full VM backups?

 

Suppose Ill need to find some VM backup software. Veeam has a free version - Veeam Backup Free Edition for virtual machines (VeeamZIP)

Is this any good. Can you recommend anything cheap.

 

Thanks

[edutech4schools]

In addition to above will this 6 core processor be OK for 2 VM's

 

Intel Xeon E5-2430 v2 2.50GHz, 15M Cache, 7.2GT/s QPI, Turbo, 6C,.

[Steve21]

Next questions are about backups.

 

Once I have gone virtual do I continue with standard OS backups (windows backup) along with doing a full VM backup or does everyone just do full VM backups?

 

Suppose Ill need to find some VM backup software. Veeam has a free version - Veeam Backup Free Edition for virtual machines (VeeamZIP)

Is this any good. Can you recommend anything cheap.

 

Thanks

 

We use Veeam so VM backup does everything including individual files/VM/blahblah, but wouldn't bother with both as the main backup should do everything for you that is needed.

 

Steve

[edutech4schools]

Going to have a play with Veeam at some point.

 

Just wanted to run the following past you,

 

Lots of advice online about making one DC virtual and keeping one on physical but why even bother making a DC virtual when you cant snap shot it or restore it from a VM Backup?

 

Also I am currently going to do this

 

2012r2 server

-VM DC

-VM Sims and DATA drives

 

Would it make sense to do this instead?

 

2012r2 server - with DC (DNS)(DHCP)

-VM Sims and DATA drives

[edutech4schools]

Are there any primary schools that are already visualized? If so I would really like to ask a few questions about your specific setup.

[LeMarchand]

Are there any primary schools that are already visualized? If so I would really like to ask a few questions about your specific setup.

 

Assuming you mean virtualized, I have a Primary and a Junior that are. Though from some posts up the thread, possibly not in the "proper" way (no physical DC). One was set up with me while the other was done just before I started (and has some things that seem odd to me, but probably make perfect sense to the chap who did the installation). Both use VEEAM for backups: the one I set up to USB HDD, and the other was set up to back up to the VEEAM VM only(!). It's currently copied to the old server (now sited) t'other end of the school) but the head has been convinced that it would be better to get an off site solution in place. Unfortunately our LEA makes it very difficult to open up lines to another school - so it's likely to be USB.

[MattDLEA]

Im just about to start working on it this morning.

 

Similar scenario to you small primary school, 1 old server.

Moving to 2012R2 I have 2 servers that im going to make into 4 VM's dont know if im using hyper-v or xen for virtulisation yet

[edutech4schools]

Am I right in thinking there is no point backing up a VM DC with DNS etc as restoring it would cause time sync issues and it would simply be better to have another DC replicating?

[bshingler]

I use to do this across multiple primary schools..

 

1. the server needs to be powerful enough to support the number of virtual servers - CPU and memory + HDs.

 

sometimes 3 or 4 virtual servers

 

DC - DHCP,DNS,AD

FILE Server

SIMS

 

remeber the key to this is your primary server - high spec and make sure you also get a decent raid card if you go down cheap end servers the raid will be your bottle neck and cause your VM's to slow causing latency on file transfers. everyone will moan the network is going slow ( its the HD Raid Controllers poor performance)

 

server 2012 R2 standard you will need 2 licences - as you can have 1 license and 2 virtual servers under the licesne key.

 

with 2012 r2 you could run replication to nas box or your small server you mention or run DPM on that and have that doing backups - 1 bit of advice i would also keep a standalone DC for disaster recovery and reboots - you DC will be virtual server fails no way of getting DPM to see active directory backups are useless.

[edutech4schools]

Should Veeam (Free version) be installed on the host that has the VM's or can it get installed on another server?

[bshingler]

Veeam is best installed on a seperate server with storage for backup then i think you deploy an agent onto the hyperv server (correct me if im wrong its been a while since ive used veeam)

[edutech4schools]

With the 2012r2 host do you join it to the domain before installing the hyper-v role or just leave as standalone?

[bshingler]

Generally speaking should be joined into domain and will give you flexability if you then want to move to clustered setup as that needs to be in the domain.. You need an additional server running dc roles if you join into domain.

 

Example you reboot hyperv server joined into domain.. Cannot find dc because your virtual dc hasn't started = a very long wait before you are able to login locally to start services nightmare..

 

Ms recommended practice is to have at least 1 domain controller separate to your hyper v server

 

I would always recommend this server setup wise

 

1 domain controller = dc01

1 hyper v host = host01

1 backup server = Dpm / veeame however usb or nas box will work

[bshingler]

As a note virtual domain controllers should also be set in hyperv as do not save state - always shutdown

[snagrat]

Server 2012R2 has much better support of virtual DC's.

 

Previous versions had issues with the cluster service starting because no DC could be found, that is all fixed in Server 2012R2