[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] HyperV Server for SMBs - a step by step how to series - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Thu, Jul 26 2012 23:04 bradley

HyperV Server for SMBs - a step by step how to series

Watching/Listening to Karmin on Youtube, planning the fall garden by figuring out how many Pink Impression Tulips I'll need.

So in anticipation of the soon to be here RTM of Windows Server 2012 I'm going to see if I, Susan Bradley, PowerShell un-lover, Command line not so sure of-er, can see if I can do a proof of concept of a HyperV 2012 (yes the command line only thing) server.  But as first and foremost as a penny pinching geek, I am going to do this on a proof of concept hardware not one that I'd necessarily recommend as a HyperV base.. but it's a cute box nonetheless and I plan to repurpose it into a Home Server 2011+DriveBender box after I do this.  So step one buy a HP Microserver... so far the cheapest (and on a site that I don't think is a scam) is from Amazon.   Adding on the ram memory keeping in mind that the intended virtualized server I plan to put on here is only the SBS Essentials or Windows Server 2012 Essentials that needs a minimum of only 2 gigs of ram (aka no Exchange on the server), and the base ram you need for hyperV is only 1 gig or less.

I want to build a HyperV wiki for the SMB... translation single box, no private cloud system center, no fallover clustering thing, just a HyperV solution you might want to consider for a client (granted probably not on THIS HP Microserver but a HP server of a different vintage).  I'm going to tag this entry and all future entries as HyperVServer.

..and ... done.  ordered the Server and RAM from Amazon.

Delivery Estimate: Wednesday August 1, 2012 - Monday August 6, 2012

So in the meantime I'll start finding SMB resources and organizing items on this wiki page -- http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/12636.hyperv-server-for-smbs-how-to.aspx

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# re: HyperV Server for SMBs - a step by step how to series

Friday, July 27, 2012 10:23 AM by Neil

The hard thing is the temptation to manage the HyperV from the gui guest OS. You need to be ready for out of band situations where the guest is offline and can't provide RWW - I have had some success with "Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2" + Powerhshell + PSHyperV + hvremote.

I use hvremote for testing/setting up the GUI remote management between the workgroup HyperV and the domain Windows Essentials server to work with Hyper-V in the gui.

When a nice GUI client is not available to do the management I use the following:

I use netsh set the scope for the RDP firewall exception to be limited to the local subnet with a firewall VPN to get me an IP in that range.

That RDP session to the Hyper-V host/parent allows me to usepowershell + pshyper-v for basic Hyper-V operational management.

"Start powershell.exe -noexit"

"Import-Module Hyperv"

get-vm SBS* | shutdown-vm

etc.

http://pshyperv.codeplex.com/

note: PSHyperV  "show-hypermenu" gives you a text gui for many of the common functions needed to manage hyperv

With 2012 you just use the built in HyperV powershell commandlets instead of pshyperv.

I hope this helps.

-N

# re: HyperV Server for SMBs - a step by step how to series

Friday, July 27, 2012 1:56 PM by bradley

I'm planning to stick a Win7 in the box to remote manage from.

# @Neil: Want out of band servicing?

Friday, July 27, 2012 4:16 PM by Joe Raby

Lantronix has their SpiderDuo IP KVM server modules for only $199.  It also includes pass-thru for local console hookups too.

The best part is that it works for any system, not just a particular board, and certainly not just for a server.  If your system doesn't have a spot for a remote management module, this one is a good option, and it's cheaper than most other brands.

# re: HyperV Server for SMBs - a step by step how to series

Friday, July 27, 2012 5:44 PM by Brian Higgins

a Win 8 (or Win 7) box to manage it from would be by far the simplest thing, however you still need to do some work from the box locally to get it initially setup so the Win 8 box can get connected to begin setup.

# re: HyperV Server for SMBs - a step by step how to series

Saturday, July 28, 2012 1:35 AM by NeilG

Susan,

If the "gui management station" is in the box, as is common for these kinds of small biz scenario's then you still need a way to manage the box when one of the services goes wonky.

Its best to get the non-gui management setup, get a feel for it (once you have powershell its not bad).

Otherwise if you hit something that takes your virtualization offline  - now you are trying to get the non-gui management system working while under pressure. Nothing like testing out new functionally as part of trying to diagnose a problem.

"All I need to do is bind the new network card to the virtual switch" - or "If only I could do a shutdown and insert the cd-iso file to boot from I could recovery my gui environment".

Also hvremote provides some good basic diagnostics (2008 R2 and earlier) for the tricks involved with getting workgroup HV and domain servers to talk with the GUI tools.

-N