Are Virtual PC 2004 / Virtual Server 2005 VHD's compatible with Hyper-V?

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lyonrouge

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#69280 5-Oct-2010 18:06

I'm planning on a complete domain rebuild with hyper-V backing it, I don't yet have the Hyper-V hardware and started defining the domain controller on 2005 but before I go any further, thought I should check that I can bring it across.

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Snowflake

#388460 5-Oct-2010 20:40

you can re-use the VHD but you will need to replace the network and disk drivers when you migrate. one major difference is that you cannot run 64bit guest operating systems under vpc or virtual server so that means you wont be able to create a "windows 2008 R2" based domain image - as it is 64bit only.

ideally, for best compatibility, you want to create everything using hyper-v. you can get hyper-v running on a desktop class machine pretty easily, thats probably your best option going forward.

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lyonrouge

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#388599 6-Oct-2010 08:07

Regs: you can re-use the VHD but you will need to replace the network and disk drivers when you migrate. one major difference is that you cannot run 64bit guest operating systems under vpc or virtual server so that means you wont be able to create a "windows 2008 R2" based domain image - as it is 64bit only.

ideally, for best compatibility, you want to create everything using hyper-v. you can get hyper-v running on a desktop class machine pretty easily, thats probably your best option going forward.

Super advice, that may have saved me some pain. I was planning on putting the DCs on only 32bit, but as my licenses cover either 32 or 64 bit, then I guess I may as well run everything on 64. I was really only planning on 3 64bit machines, the Hyper-V host itself and Exchange.

Thanks again.

ps. are there any other current servers that are also only 64bit, i.e. SharePoint, CRM, BizTalk? I'm currently on old versions of all these and don't have BizTalk installed at all.

Regs

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Snowflake

#388902 6-Oct-2010 20:10

lyonrouge: ps. are there any other current servers that are also only 64bit, i.e. SharePoint, CRM, BizTalk? I'm currently on old versions of all these and don't have BizTalk installed at all.

SharePoint 2010 and CRM 2011 are both 64bit only. Lync Server (ex OCS 2007) is 64bit only. Expect similar paths for everthing else too...

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gehenna

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#388905 6-Oct-2010 20:16

any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

lyonrouge

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#389035 7-Oct-2010 08:15

Regs:
lyonrouge: ps. are there any other current servers that are also only 64bit, i.e. SharePoint, CRM, BizTalk? I'm currently on old versions of all these and don't have BizTalk installed at all.

SharePoint 2010 and CRM 2011 are both 64bit only. Lync Server (ex OCS 2007) is 64bit only. Expect similar paths for everthing else too...

Thanks very much. I'll get a new host and install Hyper-V and the new domain in paralell, migrate and phase out the existing domain and then repupose teh exisitng host as an additional Hyper-V host.

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#389036 7-Oct-2010 08:19

gehenna: any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

I don't know his reasons, but if you are running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Hyper-V then you automatically can use the same Windows licence in the physical machine, plus four guests... A huge savings there.

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lyonrouge

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#389037 7-Oct-2010 08:20

gehenna: any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

Familiarity and integration.

I have the host on the domain, therefore each administrator that accesses it is identifiable and peer managable. Single signon is quiet important to me.

the challenge with this is that one of the DCs is virutalised so I'm running a separate host for the additional DC's so that the Host can authenticate and start the virtual DC (avoid the old chicken/egg syndrome).

In an ideal "open" world I could move virtual instances from one host to another, regardless of vendor, making my upfront decision unimportant.

lyonrouge

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#389043 7-Oct-2010 08:39

freitasm:
gehenna: any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

I don't know his reasons, but if you are running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Hyper-V then you automatically can use the same Windows licence in the physical machine, plus four guests... A huge savings there.

Wow, that I was unaware of, do I use the same product key for all and it checks this allowance during activation or do I need to call MS to get this extension, either is fine with me.

ps. assume this includes R2?

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#389044 7-Oct-2010 08:40

gehenna: any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

Is the esxi "hypervisor" the same as the one included in OpenSuse?

freitasm

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#389046 7-Oct-2010 08:44

All you need to know is here http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/virtualization.aspx:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise: Run up to four software instances at a time in virtual operating system environments on a server under a single server license.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter: Run any number of software instances in physical and virtual operating system environments on a server.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise: Run any number of software instances in one physical server and any number of virtual operating system environments on the server.

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Regs

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#389215 7-Oct-2010 15:09

freitasm:
gehenna: any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

I don't know his reasons, but if you are running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Hyper-V then you automatically can use the same Windows licence in the physical machine, plus four guests... A huge savings there.

Even if you are running ESXi you can still run four instances of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise on a VMware host if you have purchased a single copy of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise.

The cost difference comes down to the cost difference betwee ESXi and Hyper-V as the hypervisor, both of which are 'free'.

(taken from the windows 2008 virtualisation brief published by microsoft)
If you have assigned a single license of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise to the server running ESX, then you may run up to four instances at a time of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. You may not run a fifth instance under the same license since that right requires that the fifth instance be running hardware virtualization software and software managing and servicing the OSEs on the server.

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Regs

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#389223 7-Oct-2010 15:23

lyonrouge:
gehenna: any reason you're going with hyper-v over esxi?

Is the esxi "hypervisor" the same as the one included in OpenSuse?

I'm not sure what is shipped in OpenSuse. ESXi is available, for free, from here:
http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/

One advantage of running Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V over ESXi is the ability to run a Hyper-V failover cluster with the ability to 'live migrate' servers between hosts when you need to take a host down for patching/upgrades etc.

Disclaimer: I use both, but being a Microsoft shop I am more committed to Hyper-V... plus I get additional management tools for free as part of the microsoft partner program.

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lyonrouge

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#389243 7-Oct-2010 15:51

"Hyper-V failover cluster", that sounds tantalising. Maintenance at the moment is the a complete network outage at the moment.

Regs

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Snowflake

#389388 7-Oct-2010 23:21

lyonrouge: "Hyper-V failover cluster", that sounds tantalising. Maintenance at the moment is the a complete network outage at the moment.

is it quite nice to be able to right-click a virtual server and send it to another node with zero downtime. of course you need to have sufficient free memory on the target node to support the extra load....

the failover cluster is pretty easy to set up too (takes 10 minutes). You'll need some sort of shared storage though - e.g. a SAN (fiberchannel or iscsi), or build your own iscsi from open source

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lyonrouge

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#389419 8-Oct-2010 08:31

SAN maybe over the top for me, but node to node transfer will be perfect as I will have two equivalent boxs, the second with nothing on it.