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The Hyper-V to ESXi Conversion Project

Started By jmwills, Jan 22 2012 09:52 PM

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#1 jmwills

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Posted 22 January 2012 - 09:52 PM

It is time to consolidate my temporary HyperV server to something a little beefier and with a little more horsepower. My current server (here in the States) is a Server 2008R2 box powered by an i3 Sandy Bridge with 16 gigs of DDR3 RAM. I had available an i5 Sandy Bridge with 16 gigs that had been my SBS 2011 Standard server. This box will be upgraded to ESXi 5.0 with 32 Gigs of RAM and will host the following:
  • Windows Primary Domain Controller on a Server 2008R2 platform
  • Windows 2010 Share Point Server running on Server 2008R2
  • Windows Home Server 2011 for Client Backups
  • Windows 7 Professional for DVR Recordings

The datastore resides on a 1TB WD Black Caviar while the ESXi OS (v 5.0) is running on a USB 3.0 Flashdrive. Storage for the VM's will be supplied by a 5 x 2TB Raid 5 storage array.

The tricky part about this is trying to convert the existing Hyper V servers over to a VMWare platform, essentially on the fly. This is being accomplished by using a free program from VMWare called VMWare converter.

Details to follow.
Windows 7 Desktop - Antec 100 Case, Intel D8H67BL, OCZ 550W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/16GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM
Server 2012 - Fractal Arc Midi, CoolerMaster M600 PSU, ASUS P8H67V, Intel i5-2500 CPU w/32GBG-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM, 90 GIG OCZ SSD OS Drive – Roles: Hyper-V (WHS-SharePoint-DC-SQL-Exchange-WSE 2012), Print Server - Rocket RAID 2720 5x2TB
HTPC Build - Silverstone GD05 Case, ASUS P7H55-M PRO, CoolerMaster M600W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/4GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM. OCZ 60GB SSD Drive for the OS with a 120GB WD 2.5" Blue drive for data storage.
Travel Laptop: Dell XPSL502X 15.6"

#2 Joe_Miner

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Posted 22 January 2012 - 10:00 PM

Keep us informed -- I'm looking forward to following this!
WHS-V1: HP EX-487: 4*WD20EARX, Athena AP-MFATX30, 4GB G.Skill, E5200, Stablebit Scanner-|-
WHS-2011: HP N54L G7, Kingston ECC 8GB KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G, OS: 256GB M4, 5*ST3000DM001, WD PCIe USB3, R640L, Stablebit DrivePool & Scanner -|-
Test Labs: HP N40L, G.Skill 16GB F3-1333C9D-16GAO, rr2720 -|- HP N40L, Kingston ECC 16GB KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G -|-
S2012 Hyper-V Lab: Lian-Li K9WX, GA-Z77X-UD5H, i7-3770, 32GB G.Skill, 240GB Corsair GT + various HDD's-|-
Desktop W8P64: HAF 932,GA-X58A-UD3R,i7-930,12GB,240GB Corsair GS + various HDD's,HD5850,Samsung Series9 & 213T+Planar PX2710MW,C920 -|-
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Laptop W8P64WMC: Acer 1810T, 4GB RAM, 240GB Corsair GT SSD-|-

#3 jmwills

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Posted 22 January 2012 - 10:02 PM

The hardest part may be re-doing the signature line! :unsure:
Windows 7 Desktop - Antec 100 Case, Intel D8H67BL, OCZ 550W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/16GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM
Server 2012 - Fractal Arc Midi, CoolerMaster M600 PSU, ASUS P8H67V, Intel i5-2500 CPU w/32GBG-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM, 90 GIG OCZ SSD OS Drive – Roles: Hyper-V (WHS-SharePoint-DC-SQL-Exchange-WSE 2012), Print Server - Rocket RAID 2720 5x2TB
HTPC Build - Silverstone GD05 Case, ASUS P7H55-M PRO, CoolerMaster M600W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/4GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM. OCZ 60GB SSD Drive for the OS with a 120GB WD 2.5" Blue drive for data storage.
Travel Laptop: Dell XPSL502X 15.6"

#4 pcdoc

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Posted 23 January 2012 - 01:39 AM

I want to hear about this one. Good luck let us know.

Main Server - WHS 2011, Core I5-2500, 12T RAID 5 (5x3T) + 2T of Mirror + 2T of backup
Second Server - 2008R2, Core I5-2500, 12T RAID 5
Main Systems - Core I7-2600k, 16 Gigs DDR3-1600, 180 Gig Intel 330 SSD Max IOPS 240 Gig Vertex 3, 2T Sata 3 for local Backup
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#5 ikon

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Posted 23 January 2012 - 06:36 PM

The hardest part may be re-doing the signature line! :unsure:


LOL. Now you know why I don't have one :)

If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you.

#6 no-control

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Posted 23 January 2012 - 11:31 PM

What are you using the DC for?
VISIT MY NEW BLOG

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#7 pcdoc

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Posted 24 January 2012 - 12:34 AM

You said the magic words to get Michael s attention..... "DOMAIN"

Main Server - WHS 2011, Core I5-2500, 12T RAID 5 (5x3T) + 2T of Mirror + 2T of backup
Second Server - 2008R2, Core I5-2500, 12T RAID 5
Main Systems - Core I7-2600k, 16 Gigs DDR3-1600, 180 Gig Intel 330 SSD Max IOPS 240 Gig Vertex 3, 2T Sata 3 for local Backup
Other systems - Core I7-2600, Core I3-530's, Core I5-2500, Core I7-920, Core I3-2100, and G620 (see System List)
My Blogs - The Docs Blog and Tablet Resource
BYOB Videos - TheBYOBPodcast
For a complete system List: Computer Systems

#8 jmwills

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Posted 24 January 2012 - 05:26 AM

The DC is being used for Sharepoint and Exchange.
Windows 7 Desktop - Antec 100 Case, Intel D8H67BL, OCZ 550W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/16GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM
Server 2012 - Fractal Arc Midi, CoolerMaster M600 PSU, ASUS P8H67V, Intel i5-2500 CPU w/32GBG-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM, 90 GIG OCZ SSD OS Drive – Roles: Hyper-V (WHS-SharePoint-DC-SQL-Exchange-WSE 2012), Print Server - Rocket RAID 2720 5x2TB
HTPC Build - Silverstone GD05 Case, ASUS P7H55-M PRO, CoolerMaster M600W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/4GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM. OCZ 60GB SSD Drive for the OS with a 120GB WD 2.5" Blue drive for data storage.
Travel Laptop: Dell XPSL502X 15.6"

#9 KrisseZ

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 03:19 PM

I hope you succeed in installing the ESXi since it's kinda picky with the hardware and ASUS P8P67 is listed as might work on the white box list. And since I've been fighting with 2 esxi 5 servers for the past month I know that a lot of the esxi 4 guides and tips won't work anymore.
[Hydrabox] Windows 7 Ultimate - Intel Core i7 920 @ 3,8 Ghz - Asus P6T Deluxe - 12 Gb 1600 Mhz DDR3 - Intel X25M G2 160 Gb - 2x1 Tb WDM @ Raid 0
[Khronos] Windows 2008 R2 - AMD Athlon II X 2 250 - ASrock N68C-S UCC - 4 Gb 1333 Mhz DDR3 - RR2680 with no proper disks yet. - 4x 3 slot sata backplane

#10 jmwills

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 04:44 PM

The conversion went fine; my only hitch is trying way to present more than 2TB to a single datastore. The only I know how to do it is through iSCSI over the LAN, unless I want to buy a Drobo or external NAS box, which I do not.

The VMWare converter tool is to say the least, slick and works just fine.

Sorry for not updating the link but I have to figure out this storage before proceeding and a lot of work stuff is ahead of this.
Windows 7 Desktop - Antec 100 Case, Intel D8H67BL, OCZ 550W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/16GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM
Server 2012 - Fractal Arc Midi, CoolerMaster M600 PSU, ASUS P8H67V, Intel i5-2500 CPU w/32GBG-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM, 90 GIG OCZ SSD OS Drive – Roles: Hyper-V (WHS-SharePoint-DC-SQL-Exchange-WSE 2012), Print Server - Rocket RAID 2720 5x2TB
HTPC Build - Silverstone GD05 Case, ASUS P7H55-M PRO, CoolerMaster M600W PSU, Intel i3-530 CPU w/4GB G-Skill DDR3 1333 RAM. OCZ 60GB SSD Drive for the OS with a 120GB WD 2.5" Blue drive for data storage.
Travel Laptop: Dell XPSL502X 15.6"
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