Migrating Hyper-V to new host

[jmak]

Morning all

 

There's a back story I won't bore you with, but I'm looking for advice on how to move VMs to new hardware and an indication of how likely it is to go wrong!

 

My expectation of the process would be:

 

Select new hardware with higher spec than existing

Install Server 2016 with Hyper-V role only

Add new host to domain (using same network settings)

Shut down VMs

Export VMs

Import on new host

 

Open a bottle of something nice...

 

Current host is Server 2012R2

2 x virtual DCs on Server 2012R2

1 x virtual File Server on 2008R2 (also has all other roles: Print, WSUS, AV)

I was thinking of only moving one DC, so that at least everyone would be able to login and access internet (SIMS is remotely hosted and I could mitigate curriculum resources by putting a copy on GSuite)

 

I know it's not ideal - but is it likely to work? Are there any step by step guides you recommend? I'd intend to update properly over the summer.

 

Thanks in advance.

[3s-gtech]

Only thing I'd do is just import one of the DCs, keep one running on the old host, then build one new on the new host. That way you should be able to transfer roles etc without having any downtime, and still retain two DCs minimum.

[TwistedHelixis]

Do you backup the VM's, If so I would do a test restore before doing anything.

 

My hosts are not domain joined and in the past I have either done export / import, or simply restored the entire VM from a backup on to the new host. Both seem to work.

[Jaan]

Assuming the network config of the Hyper-v host is done and on the domain. if it was mine i'd backup the VMs (We use veeam) then do a live migrate to the new host. No down time.

 

edit, sorry just noticed you have two Virtual DCs. We have a dedicated physical DC off the Hyper-v. I'd recommended have one physical DC, but i know other are fully Virtual.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Jaan

[ADMaster]

If both hosts are on the domain simply live migrate them, no down time needed.

I have a cluster, but here is the info if you do not.

Use live migration without Failover Clustering to move a virtual machine

[jmak]

Do you backup the VM's, If so I would do a test restore before doing anything.

 

My hosts are not domain joined and in the past I have either done export / import, or simply restored the entire VM from a backup on to the new host. Both seem to work.

 

Set up was done for me by County. The host is on the domain - I was thinking that would make it easier. They also manage the backups, which means nothing on site. The restore procedure has been tested, but I don't have a copy on site. I was thinking of getting either the free version of Altaro or a trial of the full version. Would it really break things if I install two backup programs?

 

Assuming the network config of the Hyper-v host is done and on the domain. if it was mine i'd backup the VMs (We use veeam) then do a live migrate to the new host. No down time.

 

edit, sorry just noticed you have two Virtual DCs. We have a dedicated physical DC off the Hyper-v. I'd recommended have one physical DC, but i know other are fully Virtual.

 

I was planning on moving only one - I've been after a second box to run the second DC for a while. Every cloud etc

 

Only thing I'd do is just import one of the DCs, keep one running on the old host, then build one new on the new host. That way you should be able to transfer roles etc without having any downtime, and still retain two DCs minimum.

 

What's the advantage of building an additional DC? (Asking because of ignorance - not challenging ) And if I have a central store for policies and replication for ADUC won't it just copy everything anyway?

 

Thanks again

[JackCPickup]

Install Server 2016 with Hyper-V role only

 

Install Hyper-V Server 2016 instead so licences aren't tied to the host for future upgrades.

[TwistedHelixis]

I was thinking of getting either the free version of Altaro or a trial of the full version.

 

BTW From 2012r2 on wards Windows backup is great at backing up VM's

[PotNoodleTech]

I've never had a problem migrating VMs just make sure the new host is set up Exactly as the old hosts (i.e virtual network switches, network config etc etc).

 

Should be good to go. What I usually do is to shut down the old VM first, make sure to untick the box "delete the old VM on migration" (so the OLD VM gets left on the OLD box in a shut down state)and then you can test out the migrated VM on the new box and make sure all is OK. If all is not OK, shut down the new VM on the new box, start up the old VM on the old box and your back up and running whilst you figure out what went wrong. Never had it fail yet though!

 

Good luck.

[3s-gtech]

What's the advantage of building an additional DC? (Asking because of ignorance - not challenging ) And if I have a central store for policies and replication for ADUC won't it just copy everything anyway?

 

More DCs is usually a good thing for redundancy and load sharing, but my thoughts were just so that you always had at least one active during migration. You could migrate the second once the first has gone across too.

 

The old advice of keeping a DC on physical hardware is perhaps not so critical now, but personally I keep my DCs on different hosts at least, so that the domain keeps running if the host goes down. I have six DCs, they're split over six hosts (though that's overkill usually, we have geographic reasons and I run a root and child domain still).