Virtualisation of servers help needed

[angry_geek]

During the conversion, scvmm removes the old drivers and installs the virtualization components. It's really quite an easy and amazing process to see a live server get converted over the network. When it's done, you literally turn off the old server and spin up the vm. The only caveat here is to make sure you properly configure your virtual networking ahead of time and assign the correct nic.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Ideally, your host server only has the Hyper-V role installed, nothing else no matter how tempted you are. .

I'm the same...I prefer to have the Hyper-V host have nothing but hyper-V roles installed...nothing else. Leave it lean and mean! Less running on it means less to go wrong, and more resources it can dedicated to being a hyper-v host. Better performance for guests. Better stability.

For larger deployments..."more guests"...you can install hyper-V "core"...basically a command line host, very minimal GUI...even better stability. But because I typically do Hyper-V hosts for smaller clients with one or two guests..and staff at my clients often tend to the server doing basic stuff...I just do the traditional hyper-v GUI install so they can comfortably navigate about.

 

[autumn]

Sorry guys hopefully just a couple of more questions,

with the P2V with say 500 G, how long would this take? Can I set and forgot? So I can quote.

If I mirgrate to SBS 2011, I know how long this can take but what extra time with the Guest would be needed?

I'm going to do some trials in house first, of course, but at the moment to get a quote to the client.

Thanks

Tim

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

A lot depends on existing disk condition/performance (of old server you're sucking the image from)....switch between the servers...

example...last winter I did a P2V migration from a server that was in horrible condition..the single large RAID 5 array of 6 disks was performing horribly. Server had about 120 gigs worth of space to move. Took over 10 hours.

I usually do P2V conversions over night..start it at end of business day....monitor it throughout the evening, hopefully brushing it up and getting it to settle in early the next morning.

As far as "migrate" them to SBS2011...from vanilla server...that can take a good couple of days to get them all up on SBS services. I usually quote SBS jobs from 3 to 7 grand depending on size of client (amount of workstations, existing data, etc).

 

[autumn]

Ok, I know it's a how long is a piece of string. I think I will be working on this one over a weekend as they have an afternoon shift as well. With the P2V mirgration can you like ghost it (ie take the HDD out of the old server and and put it in the new server and copy the data, the old server is mirrored) or does the old server need to be running?

Thanks again

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Ok, I know it's a how long is a piece of string. I think I will be working on this one over a weekend as they have an afternoon shift as well. With the P2V mirgration can you like ghost it (ie take the HDD out of the old server and and put it in the new server and copy the data, the old server is mirrored) or does the old server need to be running?

Thanks again

I have not chased down methods of doing that. Was never a possiblity...because I was doing P2V's from servers that had RAID arrays. The P2V conversion client gets installed on the "old" server....as the server is running, and you shut down as many services as you can...(such as Exchange, SQL, file sharing, dhcp, etc etc)...and run the conversion client. Conversion client give you options of where to copy it to (ESX or Hyper-V host)...how to manage drive volumes, etc.