ptg6432687 290 9 Installing and Getting Familiar with Virtual Machine Manager 2008 The most common actions performed using the Administrator console include the following: . Adding hosts . Creating host groups . Managing hosts . Managing host clusters . Configuring the VMM library . Creating VMs . Deploying and migrating VMs . Managing VMs . Configuring the self-service portal . Monitoring and reporting . Administering and managing roles FIGURE 9.12 The VMM Administrator console. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 291 Understanding the VMM Administrator Console 9 Adding Hosts Hosts must be added to the VMM server to manage them from the VMM Administrator console. This section describes how to add hosts, both domain members and perimeter workgroup servers, to the VMM Administrator console. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the Make T hi s Server My Default check box. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Hosts view by clicking the Hosts button, then select All Hosts. The hosts managed by this VMM server will display in the Results pane. Selecting any host in the Results pane will display the details about that host in the Details pane. To add a new host, select Add Hosts from the Actions pane or click the Actions menu, Virtual Machine Manager, Add Hosts. The Add Hosts Wizard will run. In the Select Host Location screen, select one of the following options. The option chosen will alter the subsequent prompts in the Add Hosts Wizard. . Windows Domain Joined Host—If the host to add is a member of a Windows Active Directory domain, select this option and enter the credentials for a domain account with administrative rights on the host. Click Next to continue. On the Select Servers screen, enter the host server name and click Add or click the Host Server Name button to search for hosts. Enter a search term and click Search. Select one or more servers and click Add. Click OK to close the search window when finished. Click Next to continue. NOTE The administrator can also limit the scope of the search to servers with Virtual Server or Hyper-V already installed. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 292 9 Installing and Getting Familiar with Virtual Machine Manager 2008 On the Configuration Settings screen, select the host group to add the host servers to. If any of the hosts are currently being managed by another VMM server, select the Reassociate Agent with Virtual Machine Manager Server check box. This will reassociate the local agent on the host to be managed by this VMM server. On the Virtual Machine Paths screen, specify one or more default paths for storing the VMs deployed on these hosts. Here, you also can specify whether to enable remote connections to these hosts and which port to use. The default remote connection port is 5900. Click Next to continue. Review the Summary screen and, if everything looks fine, click Add Hosts to add the hosts to the VMM server and the administrator console. NOTE The administrator can also click the View Script button to view, copy, or edit the VMM command shell that performs the same task in a script that is done in the graphical user interface. After the hosts have been added using the Add Hosts Wizard, the VMM server will install the VMM local agent and the Hyper-V role on the hosts if it is not already installed. Then it will add the hosts to the Administrator console. . Windows Perimeter Network Host—This option guides you through adding perimeter hosts to the VMM Administrator console. Click Next. NOTE For a host that is on a perimeter network, you must install the VMM local agent manu- ally on the host before you can add the host to VMM. On the Select a Host screen, enter the hostname or IP address, encryption key, and security file path. The encryption key was entered when the perimeter host installed the VMM local agent. The security key is located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 folder on the perime- ter host. Copy it to the local computer and use this path for the security file. Add the hosts and click Next. On the Configuration Settings screen, select the host group to add the host server(s) to. If any of the hosts are currently being managed by another VMM server, select the Reassociate Agent with Virtual Machine Manager Server check box. This will reassociate the local agent on the host to be managed by this VMM server. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 293 Understanding the VMM Administrator Console 9 On the Virtual Machine Paths screen, specify one or more default paths for storing the VMs deployed on these hosts. Here, you also can specify whether to enable remote connections to these hosts and which port to use. The default remote connection port is 5900. Click Next to continue. Review the Summary screen and, if everything looks fine, click Add Hosts to add the hosts to the VMM server and the Administrator console. NOTE The administrator can also click the View Script button to view, copy, or edit the VMM command shell that performs the same task in a script that is done in the graphical user interface. After the hosts have been added using the Add Hosts Wizard, the VMM server will add the hosts to the Administrator console. . Other Host—This option allows the administrator to add non-Windows–based hosts, such as VMware ESX hosts, to the VMM server. Enter the username and password used to connect to the other host and click Next. On the Select Hosts screen, enter the hostname or IP address of the host server to add, select the virtualization manager from the drop-down list, and select the host group to add the hosts to. Click Add and repeat for other hosts, if necessary. Click Next to continue. Review the Summary screen and, if everything looks fine, click Add Hosts to add the hosts to the VMM server and the Administrator console. After the hosts have been added using the Add Hosts Wizard, the VMM server will add the hosts to the Administrator console. Creating Host Groups Host groups allow the administrator to group together collections of similar hosts, such as perimeter hosts, domain hosts, or account servers. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 294 9 Installing and Getting Familiar with Virtual Machine Manager 2008 NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the Make T hi s Server My Default check box. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Hosts view by clicking the Hosts button, and then select All Hosts. The hosts managed by this VMM server will display in the Results pane. To add a new host group, select New Host Group from the Actions pane or click the Actions menu, All Hosts, New Host Group. A new host group will appear under All Hosts in the Hosts view. Rename the group as required. Host groups can be moved or deleted using the Actions pane from the Hosts view. Managing Hosts Hosts can be managed from the Hosts view in the Administrator console. Select the appro- priate host group or All Hosts to view all hosts. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the “Make th is server my default” checkbox. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Hosts view by clicking the Hosts button, and then select All Hosts. The hosts managed by this VMM server will display in the Results pane. Right-click the host to manage and a choice of actions is presented. The administrator can move the host to a host group, refresh the host in the Details pane, remove the host from the VMM server, or access the host properties. The Properties page allows the administrator to view or configure the host summary, host status, VM status, hardware reserves (for example, CPU and RAM), hardware, networking, VM placement path, remote connections, security settings, and more. The details for each of these settings are beyond the scope of this chapter; suffice to say that many more options are available to configure than are available in the standard Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V management console. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 295 Understanding the VMM Administrator Console 9 Managing Host Clusters Host clusters are Windows cluster or VMware ESX cluster hosts that provide high availabil- ity and fault tolerance. The actions for host clusters allow the administrator to move a Hyper-V host cluster to a different host group, delete a host cluster from VMM, monitor host clusters, and modify the host cluster properties. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the Make T hi s Server My Default check box. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Hosts view by clicking the Hosts button, and then select All Hosts. The hosts managed by this VMM server will display in the Results pane. Select the host cluster to manage in the Results pane. The actions available for managing the host cluster are listed in the Actions pane. When Failover Cluster Node Management is used in Windows Server 2008 to add a node to a VMM-managed host cluster, the new node is discovered and added to the cluster. It will display in the Hosts view with a status of Pending Addition. Select Add Pending Hosts to add the host in VMM. VMM 2008 also detects when a node is removed from a VMM-managed host cluster using Failover Cluster Node Management MMC. VMM sets the Clustered property of the node to False and begins managing the host as a regular, nonclustered host. VMM marks the node as Pending Removal. Select Remove to remove the host from VMM. Configuring the VMM Library The VMM library is a Windows share that hosts the resources used by VMM to create VMs. The library contains files contains files (VHDs, ISOs, and so on). The VMM database stores hardware profiles, guest OS profiles, and templates. Select the appropriate host group or All Hosts to view all hosts. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 296 9 Installing and Getting Familiar with Virtual Machine Manager 2008 NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the Make T hi s Server My Default check box. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Library view by clicking the Library button, and then select the Library Server in the View pane. The library contents will display in the Results pane. Additional VMM libraries can be added to the Administrator console by clicking the Add Library Server action in the Actions pane. A library can be removed by right-clicking the library and selecting Remove. If Windows PowerShell scripts are stored in the VMM library, they can be viewed, edited, and removed. The administrator can run the scripts in Library view. Entire VMs can be stored in VMM library. From here they can be cloned, deployed, and removed. VMware VMs stored in the library can be converted to a VMM virtual machine. The VMware VM’s configuration files must be stored in the library to convert them. NOTE VMM libraries can be stored on Windows clusters to increase the availability and fault tolerance of the library resources. Creating VMs The administrator can use VMM 2008 to create VMs. This is similar to creating VMs using the Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V management console, described in Chapter 6, “Managing, Administering, and Maintaining a Hyper-V Host Server,” but includes many more features and options. This process is covered in detail in Chapter 11, “Using Virtual Machine Manager 2008 for Provisioning.” Deploying and Migrating VMs One of the most impressive capabilities of VMM 2008 is deploying and migrating VMs. This process is covered in detail in Chapter 10, “Creating Guest Images from Existing Production and Virtual Systems.” Managing VMs VMs managed by VMM 2008 can be fully managed within the VMM Administrator console. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 297 Understanding the VMM Administrator Console 9 NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the Make T hi s Server My Default check box. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Virtual Machine view by clicking the Virtual Machine button, and then select the host in the View pane. The VMs hosted on that host will display in the Results pane. The administrator can start, pause, stop, save the state, shut down, or connect to any managed VM. Other actions include migrating the VM, creating and managing check- points, repairing the VM, installing guest services, cloning the VM, storing it in a VMM library, removing the VM, and configuring its properties. The details for each of these settings are beyond the scope of this chapter; suffice to say, many more options are available to configure than are available in the standard Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V management console. Monitoring and Reporting VMM 2008 has advance monitoring and reporting capabilities. VMM operates using jobs, which can be managed. Advanced reporting capabilities are achieved when using System Center Operations Manager 2007 (SCOM 2007) and the Server Virtualization Management Pack. The reports generated by SCOM can be opened directly in the Reporting view of the VMM Administrator console. Jobs can be managed from the Jobs view in the Administrator console. In the Results pane, the administrator can view all the jobs run by VMM. Running jobs can be canceled by right-clicking the job and selecting Cancel. If a job fails, it can usually be restarted by right-clicking the job and choosing Restart. The job will begin again where the operation failed. Administering and Managing Roles The entire VM infrastructure can be administered from the VMM Administrator console or by using the VMM command console. VMM administration includes managing user roles, managing agents on managed servers, adding non-Microsoft virtualization managers to VMM, and configuring VMM settings. Open the VMM Administrator console using the shortcut on the Windows desktop or via the Start menu under Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 298 9 Installing and Getting Familiar with Virtual Machine Manager 2008 NOTE You may choose to a lway s o pe n a co nn ec ti on to this s er ver by s el ec ti ng the Make T hi s Server My Default check box. Doing so prevents this connection window from displaying when the Administrator console is run. Go to the Administration view by clicking the Administration button, and then select the administrative operation in the View pane. The General settings allow the administrator to configure global settings in VMM, such as CEIP settings, the database connection, library settings, placement settings, remote control, and the self-service administrator email address. Managed Computers returns a list of the hosts managed by this VMM server, their status, version, and role. Networking allows the administrator to configure a static range of MAC addresses VMM should use when creating new virtual network devices. User Roles allows the administrator to manage user roles and create new user roles, such as delegated administrator groups and self-service users. Each of these roles can be scoped to a particular set of VMs, libraries, and so on. Self-service users can be permitted to perform only certain actions, as configured by the VMM administrator. NOTE The VMM Administrator role cannot be scoped or reduced in functionality. The System Center setting provides a way for the administrator to configure SCOM report- ing and the SCOM connection to enable PRO functionality. Physical Resource Optimization (PRO) provides workload- and application-aware resource optimization for Hyper-V host clusters. Virtualization Managers displays the name, status, version, managed hosts, and managed VMs of non-Windows virtualization managers. Summary Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager 2008 provides an easy installation process that installs its own prerequisite software. Only a few steps must be run on Windows Server 2008 computers before installing VMM 2008. The Administrator console, although simple and easy to use, is full featured and offers myriad choices for deploying and managing the virtual infrastructure. Its ability to manage both Hyper-V and non-Windows hosts and VMs brings unparalleled management Download at www.wowebook.com ptg6432687 299 Best Practices 9 opportunities to organizations. It offers the fine degree of granularity needed in today’s virtual environments. Best Practices The following are best practices from this chapter: . Make sure the system that VMM 2008 will be installed on is connected to the domain that hosts your Hyper-V host servers. . Use a single-server deployment for VMM 2008 and SQL 2005 for a relatively simple environment; split the roles for a large enterprise environment. . Unless your server configuration requires configuration variations that differ from the standard requirements for VMM 2008 (for example, PowerShell 1.0, .NET Framework 3.0), just let the installation script install the add-on components for you. . Install VMM 2008 on a Windows 2008 or a Windows 2003 SP2 or later system. . Choose the Make This Server My Default when launching VMM 2008 so that you won’t have to be prompted again to select the VMM 2008 host server you are working from. . To provide better security and simplified access to only host servers running Hyper- V, l i m i t t h e s c o p e o f t h e s e a r c h f o r v i r t u a l s e r v e r s t h a t c a n b e a d m i n i s t e r e d b y t h e Hyper-V or the VMM 2008 consoles. . Create other roles beyond the VMM administrator so that you can have a more gran- ular set of roles for administration, because the VMM Administrator role cannot be scoped or reduced in functionality. Download at www.wowebook.com . Hyper -V host servers. . Use a single -server deployment for VMM 2008 and SQL 2005 for a relatively simple environment; split the roles for a large enterprise environment. . Unless your server. to enable PRO functionality. Physical Resource Optimization (PRO) provides workload- and application-aware resource optimization for Hyper -V host clusters. Virtualization Managers displays the. Console. A Connect to Server window may open, prompting for the VMM server to connect to. Enter the server name and connection port (the default is port 8100) using the format VMMserver:port. NOTE You