HyperV

[MS2011]

Hi All,

 

 

I am setting up a Hyper-V 2012 R2 test environment ( domain controller, DHCP , DNS + exchange ) . I got 1 TB sata and 250 GB SSD. Installed the Server 2012 R2 on the sata drive and installed the hyper v Role. Shall I install the DC role on the management server or create 3 separate VM's on the SSD for better performance and install DC, Exchange and file server or virtual router. The computer has only one NIC, shall add a second NIC to separate the management and VM's traffic?

 

Can someone guide me what is the best way to configure?

 

Thanks

MS

[detjo]

What you would want to aim for is to install Windows Server 2012R2 and Hyper-V, then set up as many VMs as you can to virtualise everything. Keep the host OS simply for management of Hyper-V and the hardware.

 

VM1 = DC, DNS

VM2 = DHCP

VM3 = Exch

VM4 = File server

VM5 = Print server

etc.

 

With VMs you can split everything out, rather than have all roles on one server. Hyper-V 2012R2 is a type 1 hypervisor, so it sits directly on the hardware and Windows Server OS sits on top, and it is extremely efficient with hardware resources - helped by you and your management of it thru the GUI. However, this is governed by your hardware spec and disk space, so you may have to condense things if you find the hardware is limiting, etc.

 

With regard to NICs, if you can add more then you would definitely want to do that as this would give options for NIC teaming or traffic separation.

[MS2011]

Many thanks Detjo for your advice. For the better performance shall I run all the VM's from SSD?

 

Shall I configure all the VM's configurations files and virtual HDD to run from SSD?

[detjo]

Absolutely! The host OS will essentially sit idle for most of the time so is better on HDD (if you haven't enough SSD), and the VMs doing all the work will be much better on SSD.

 

250Gb isn't huge and you could soon run low on SSD space, depending on how many VMs you have and what you're doing with them. You should def look at dynamic disk size when setting VMs up, so they use minimum disk space first and take more as they need it. Additionally, as a space saver, for non-critical VMs such as file and print etc. (defo NOT DC!) you might like to consider using a differencing disk set up, so you only have one OS VHDX that can be used by multiple VMs.

[mjs_mjs]

If you're feeling up for a challenge and seeing if it makes bugger all difference, you could create a storage pool on the Host using the SSD and spindles, then sit your VM's inside that - https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askpfeplat/2013/10/20/storage-spaces-how-to-configure-storage-tiers-with-windows-server-2012-r2/

 

i'm not sure how well it'll work for a VHD but i know for storage servers it can make a bit of a difference.

[PotNoodleTech]

If you're feeling up for a challenge and seeing if it makes bugger all difference, you could create a storage pool on the Host using the SSD and spindles, then sit your VM's inside that - https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askpfeplat/2013/10/20/storage-spaces-how-to-configure-storage-tiers-with-windows-server-2012-r2/

 

i'm not sure how well it'll work for a VHD but i know for storage servers it can make a bit of a difference.

 

It's a good shout. I tested storage spaces and the SSD did make a big difference.