Updated 11/22/2008 with new info regarding connectivity after fresh OS load.

Some of this may be old news to some readers, but it was not old news to me, and it cost me a bit of time and frustration to put it all together.

There are, of course, lots of resources available to cover these steps - but what I could not find was a reasonably simple overview in plain English that contained enough detail to send me down the right path. I found some complex details regarding some key point or other in some places, arguments about whether Hyper-V or ESXi was better, and some obvious copy/paste crap content from MS marketing materials.

Nothing I found really put it all together on a basic level, to help me get to a platform from which I could then drill down to my desired level of detail, after first feeling like I was making some progress with the product.

So, I have decided to provide for others that which I was seeking. Here is my “middle ground” overview.

Components:
Hyper-V Server Installation (Standalone)
Hyper-V Remote Management Tools Update for Vista x86
Hyper-V Remote Management Tools Update for Vista x64
Hyper-V Update for Windows 2008 x86
Hyper-V Update for Windows 2008 x64

The first piece of the puzzle I was missing was that there are multiple ways to install Hyper-V:

• As a standalone server
• As a role on Windows 2008 Core
• As a role on a full Windows 2008 Server

This document covers only the standalone Hyper-V server because it is free, and is the closest I can get to a bare-metal hypervisor product from Microsoft.

Once you have downloaded the components you need, the next step is to burn a DVD from the ISO you downloaded for the Hyper-V Server installation. Put that in the drive and install away. If you get any errors about your hardware not being supported, you’ll need to check the system requirements. Also, here is a handy quick tool for checking some basics. It will tell you instantly whether your CPU is 64-bit, and whether hardware DEP and Intel VT are supported and enabled – some basic building blocks that Hyper-V needs.

Once you’ve installed Hyper-V, you’ll log on at the console with Administrator / blank password, and then change the password. You’ll be presented with a very basic text menu. Set your IP addressing, change the computer name, and JOIN A DOMAIN. I was unable to connect to the Hyper-V server with anything (RDP, SMB, Hyper-V Manager, nuthin’!) until I joined it to a domain.

Update: After some testing, and a helpful tip from Brian East, I have new information regarding connectivity:

• Turning on RDP does create an exception in the firewall, and it works. Not sure what I did wrong the first time.

• Sharing a folder does create a firewall exception for file/printer sharing, and it works.

• Connecting to the server via the management console works through the firewall, as long as you are logged on with a username/password that matches the Hyper-V admin account, or it is joined to a domain and you are logged in with a domain account that has permission to do the job.

• The management console will NOT prompt you for a password. Either you’re in or you’re not, based on your user account.

• When connecting to a running VM, (or starting one after connecting to it) you are prompted for a password unless the Hyper-V server is joined to a domain and you are logged in with a domain account with sufficient permission.

You may need to use DISKPART at the command prompt to set up any additional hard disks in your server, if you did not do that part during setup.

Once you’ve completed all of that, you may start to wonder “How in the heck do I configure VMs and VM-related settings on this thing?“, since those things are not in that basic text menu.

The answer is: Connect to your Hyper-V server from a management console you have installed on another computer. Yes, you can manage it from inside a VM that is running on it, but you have to get there first. The links above will give you the latest management tools for Vista and 2008.

For Vista, click the appropriate management tool link above, and install it. A new icon will appear under Administrative Tools called Hyper-V Manager.

For Windows 2008, use Server Manager. In the Features section, under Remote Server Administration Tools, you’ll find Hyper-V Tools.

Once you have your Hyper-V server installed and joined to a domain, and your management tools installed, the rest is pretty straightforward, so I’ll not belabor it here.

• One nice feature about Hyper-V is that you can use Windows Explorer to copy ISO images and virtual floppy images around, as well as VHDs.

So now that you’ve gotten started with Hyper-V, you might want to know: How do I perform a P2V into a Hyper-V environment? That, my inquisitive friends, is another story. The short answer is “Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager” (That’s a mouthful!).

For known issues with running SBS2008 in a Hyper-V environment, and some other miscellaneous ramblings about SBS2008, check this out.

Tags: Hyper-V, management, Virtualization, vm