Upgrading 2012 to 2012R2 when there are a few guests VM running on the server

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lchiu7

6470 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#159973 18-Dec-2014 21:19

I got asked the following question at work lately.

The team has a test server running 2012 on bare metal and a few Hyper-V guests. This would make an ideal test for DR to Azure but this requires the host be running 2012R2 (using Azure backup without SCVMM).

Can you upgrade the host without disturbing the guests or do you have to save the VHD's for each guest and after the host has been upgraded, create new VM's and re-attach the VHD's?

Thaks

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

JWR

821 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1200273 19-Dec-2014 00:50

Yes. You can upgrade from 2012 to 2012R2 without reinstalling all your VMs.

Obviously, back all your VMs up before the install. Also, shut them all down during the install.

You should upgrade Hyper-V Integration Services for each VM after the install.

/edit.. btw worked for me OK

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1200711 19-Dec-2014 17:48

I have done it in test and it worked fine, but never in prod. It does work though and I would consider it a viable upgrade to do especially if there are no other roles on the hyper-V host server.

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lchiu7

6470 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1200854 19-Dec-2014 21:57

Thanks. I will tell the team to give it a shot. Maybe the safe approach is to backup all the VHD's first just in case!

This isn't a true production system - more like UAT so the impact of a failure is much less.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1200933 20-Dec-2014 08:28

As JWR said, I would definitely have a set of backups first. You can never have a truly risk free upgrade, but as far as upgrades go, this one seems pretty safe.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B