File Server over Hyper-V 2016

[vimagoes]

Hi guys,

 

I am about to receive a new Dell T330 16GB - (x4) 600GB SAS 10k

 

RAID 10, so 1.2TB for OS (HyperVisor Type 1) and Data.

 

My idea is install Windows Server 2016, add Hyper-V role (which is Type 1 as far as I know) and create a VM with Windows Server 2016 running as a File Server. This VM will be Backed up on a NAS. This FS will be a Member Server on my domain, it will be my sole VM, I have 2 DCs, AntiVirus and WSUS, running on Server 2008 R2 no virtualized.

 

Am I doing this move right?

 

Thanks.

[PotNoodleTech]

Yes sounds like a great start to virtualising your servers. you want to get one DC, Antivirus and WSUS on as virtual machines too it makes backup and recovery SO much faster, easier and more reliable especially if you use a backup program like Veeam.

[vimagoes]

But according to IT gurus it is not a good idea to virtualize DCs, is it?

[Steve21]

That changed a while ago, they're all supported now

 

Steve

[Primus]

It's fine to virtualise DCs. Previously you needed a physical DC if you had a cluster but since Server 2012 it's not needed.

 

Having a physical DC isn't a bad idea if you have a spare piece of tin however.

[Davit2005]

As long as you don't install Hyper-V services on a DC, unless that has changed.

 

If you install DC as a Virtual Server make sure you sort out the ntp settings on the DC holding the PDC Emulator role so it doesn't get time from the Hyper-V host, same goes if you are using VMWare ESXi as Hyper Visor .

 

Depending on the other Physical hosts suitability you could always make one of them an additional Hyper-V host.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Davit2005

[mullet_man]

It's fine to virtualise DCs. Previously you needed a physical DC if you had a cluster but since Server 2012 it's not needed.

 

Having a physical DC isn't a bad idea if you have a spare piece of tin however.

 

We've got 2 virtual DC's and with an old bit of tin created a third DC which sits in a different cab in another area of the school.

[ITGURU]

All my DC's are Physical, Would never virtualize. Unless your Hyper-V hosts are on a workgroup, surely a DC would need to initialise first before the hyper-v server can login/authenticate.

Always got physical DC's so at least users can log on even if I had a failure of application servers.

[NB9457]

All my DC's are Physical, Would never virtualize. Unless your Hyper-V hosts are on a workgroup, surely a DC would need to initialise first before the hyper-v server can login/authenticate.

Always got physical DC's so at least users can log on even if I had a failure of application servers.

 

Nope, cached credentials, plus you can always log on to the hypervisor as a local admin too.

 

Not had a Virtual DC for a while now, isn't much need. When we ran a Hyper-V cluster, we ran a Virtual DC outside of it with some other services, but this was only for if we lost the cluster for some bizarre reason. Physical DCs seem a little like wasted resources these days, they don't require huge amounts of CPU power to run well.

[ITGURU]

Nope, cached credentials, plus you can always log on to the hypervisor as a local admin too.

 

Not had a Virtual DC for a while now, isn't much need. When we ran a Hyper-V cluster, we ran a Virtual DC outside of it with some other services, but this was only for if we lost the cluster for some bizarre reason. Physical DCs seem a little like wasted resources these days, they don't require huge amounts of CPU power to run well.

 

I don't use cached credentials, even with the clients. if the network isn't there, it cant login.

[vimagoes]

0k, I am going to share some info here and ask you some things.

 

This is a Primary School, so the budget isn't tight, the budget is SUPER-tight. I started three years ago and when I came I found a physical tower with w2k3 x86 2GB RAM. It was no acting as a DC or anything, it was a computer with a shared folder on C:\ with all school data in it, of course "Access to EveryOne - Full". Also a SIMS Server acting as a normal desktop computer, used by an office staff member for everything, browsing, MS Office, Email, Installing software, etc, etc. A 24 port 10/100 for everything. Computers running Windows XP. Antivirus and printers installed manually. No trace of OS updates. After a few minutes thinking in "I am going to get the hell out of here", I rolled up my sleeves and started to move the school to the 21st century (with a small budget 20.9th century). I bought a new physical tower, install 2k8 R2 x64 16GB RAM, upgrade the old one with the same OS and 8GB RAM. Both are my DCs. SIMS was isolated. With two old tins and 2k8 R2 x64 and 4GB RAM on each one I installed Sophos AV Manager in one and WSUS on the other. I bought a NAS with (x4) 1TB HDD RAID 10 as a temporary FS (no more money left). Move every computer to W7 Pro x64. GPOs working as silk. Three 48 Network Switches, one Edge, one Core, one as spare. Now everything is deployed from servers, no more manually interaction.

 

So the next move is a proper FS, so I decided to go for this Tower and force myself to be brave and start virtualizing things. It is great that DCs could be virtualized now, didn't know.

 

Some questions to ask:

 

1- With less than a 1TB of information, but constant I/O operations, how much memory will be necessary?

 

2- Would it be a good idea having more than one server vistualized on just one box? I mean, if the box is down everything in there will go down, right?

 

3 - Should I go with just one VM in this box and when I have money to have a second one, start increasing VMs and have everything duplicated?

 

4 - what is your line of action in this?

 

P.S.1 I want to start backing up the most important information on Azure too, so maybe I won't need two boxes.

 

P.S.2 I am just working three days a week so is so, so difficult to find time for testing and to move quick.

[vimagoes]

All my DC's are Physical, Would never virtualize. Unless your Hyper-V hosts are on a workgroup, surely a DC would need to initialise first before the hyper-v server can login/authenticate.

Always got physical DC's so at least users can log on even if I had a failure of application servers.

 

This is what I have understood