17 replies to this topic

[Joe_Miner]

To move my VM's that are on my MicroServer to a New Host would I need to export each VM and import those VM's into the new host or could I simply shut down each VM and since all the VM's are on one drive -- just move the Drive and import those VM's?

The reason I'm asking and what I was thinking of trying is shutting down each VM then wipe 2K8R2 off my OS drive and install either Server 8 or Win 8 (haven't decided yet which -- may try both eventually) -- start up Hyper-V and then import my VM's into the new host. Then a little voice in my head said that maybe I should ask about this.

Wouldn't this be essentially the same as if I had lost the OS drive and wanted to rebuild the host?

I've been trying to follow best practices of keeping just the OS on the OS drive C: and VM configuration & VHD's on Drive D:

My other "wrinkle" is that I have 2 pass drives to 2011 that I would have to re-establish as pass thru's again to that VM.

Any gotcha's I should watch out for?

[Greg Welch]

Now thats what i call thinking ahead RTM is not till end of year

another question is will you need to pass through the drives to a 2011 vm ,maybe Server 8 will suffice


i.e.

Host: Server 8
> VM: WHS 2011
> VM: Windows 8
>ect.

or

Host: Server 8
> VM: Server 8
> VM: Windows 8

or ?

[Joe_Miner]

Now thats what i call thinking ahead RTM is not till end of year

another question is will you need to pass through the drives to a 2011 vm ,maybe Server 8 will suffice


i.e.

Host: Server 8
> VM: WHS 2011
> VM: Windows 8
>ect.

or

Host: Server 8
> VM: Server 8
> VM: Windows 8

or ?

I guess fundamentally I would like to learn how to do it. It seemed that if there was a way to save my VM's and change my host then re-install my VM's I could switch hosts with the minimal fuss and still be trying out different things with the VM's.

I would like to save the 2011 VM with the pass thru disks at least for awhile to get more experience with it and the pass thru's. The same with the W8 VM -- I would like to save that VM with stuff that I added to it and move it to another host.

What I think would be very interesting would be to use W8 as a host and move VM's to it.

It looks like from stuff I've been reading like http://social.techne...D2-5358C201F3DB I'm stuck with Export/Inport and to preserve the "identity" of my VM's I would need to check the box "reuse VM identification" when I inport.

Edited by Joe_Miner, 11 March 2012 - 09:38 AM.

[jmwills]

Is everything on the same partition?

[Joe_Miner]

Is everything on the same partition?

If I understand your question -- everything is in the Child Partitions that I want to stop and move.

[no-control]

I'm not clear on what you want to do. I'll assume blow out a host OS. If VM's and VHDs are on a separate partition, volume, or disk. you just blow out the host OS reinstall new host OS enable Hyper-V. You'll need to recreate the VMs (BMPs) then use the existing VHD and attach pass through disks. Done.

[timekills]

I'm fairly certain if I understand the request correctly he will either have to export the VM and reimport it, or depending on how crazy you want to get you can move the VMs between HyperV instances even while running. But you can't just move and reassociate a VM. It might be faster to recreate the VMs like Michael states above than export/reimport the full VM with associated VHD.

[jmwills]

No, are the VM's on the same partition as the OS? If not, blow away the OS.

[Joe_Miner]

No, are the VM's on the same partition as the OS? If not, blow away the OS.

The OS is by itself on Drive C: while the VM's are all on Drive D: -- so they are on seperate physical drives. C: is a SSD while D: is a WD Black.

Each VM on Drive D: is in it's own folder that contains a folder for Snapshots, a folder for Virtual Machines, the VHD file and the AVHD file.

I'm fairly certain if I understand the request correctly he will either have to export the VM and reimport it, or depending on how crazy you want to get you can move the VMs between HyperV instances even while running. But you can't just move and reassociate a VM. It might be faster to recreate the VMs like Michael states above than export/reimport the full VM with associated VHD.

It's looking like the best way to do it would be to export each VM then when I've created a new host and started up Hyper-V again to inport each VM and set up it NIC and reattach any HD's passed thru like Michael mentioned.

[ikon]

Not sure I'll be doing any of this, but it's a fascinating discussion. I look forward to reading more about it.

[jmwills]

Just shut them down and export them to the new location.

[coxhaus]

This is kind of late as I have been doing spring planting mowing i Texas and not much computer work. In terms of copying or duplicating Microsoft virtuals I would shut down the vm and copy the virtual hard drive of the machine I wanted to move. I would then setup a new virtual and point it to the copied virtual hard drive. You now have a working matching vm of the original vm. This can be on a new server or on the same server as it does not matter. This is how I duplicated vm s. It makes for a easy back up of your vm s. Whether this will work with server 8 I do not know.

Edited by coxhaus, 26 March 2012 - 12:34 AM.

[Joe_Miner]

Just an update:

I've now loaded Server 2012 (i.e. Server 8) on to my MicroServer as the Host OS. Server 2012 really likes my SSD Spent the weekend doing that and fiddling around with Server 2012 (also set it up in SplashTop and played with it on the iPad).

Before shutting down my 2008R2 I exported all of my VM's and copied them to my GoFlex 4TB.

The Server 2012 install went without a hitch, live is good, so far

Next up, turning on the Hyper-V function -- importing some of my VM's -- etc.

[ikon]

I really do suspect you will be able to simply import them without a lot of fuss.

[jmwills]

If the VM's were on a separate drive, all you would have to do is move the drive over to a new box.

[kittler]

OK You're exporting, thats the best option. Just to point the differences:

1. you can recreate a VM with about the same configs. Add the extinting VHD only, boot it up. It will work. You dont need to move all the files, just the vhd.
2. Export it. Make sure to copy the files to the new location, and than import using the move option. It will keep some unique identifiers like SID.
3. Export it. Make sure to copy the files to the new location, and than import using the copy option. Use this if you want to copy this machine again somewhere else.

If your new machine don't boot, check the network configuration. Some times all you need to do is delet e create a new network adapter.

Edited by kittler, 08 May 2012 - 03:51 AM.

[Joe_Miner]

Just an update:

I've now loaded Server 2012 (i.e. Server 8) on to my MicroServer as the Host OS. Server 2012 really likes my SSD Spent the weekend doing that and fiddling around with Server 2012 (also set it up in SplashTop and played with it on the iPad).

Before shutting down my 2008R2 I exported all of my VM's and copied them to my GoFlex 4TB.

The Server 2012 install went without a hitch, live is good, so far

Next up, turning on the Hyper-V function -- importing some of my VM's -- etc.

Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement.

I used the export function in 2K8R2’s Hyper-V where the toughest thing was typing in my export path

After cleaning 2K8R2 off of my MicroServer and installing Server 2012 (Server 8) onto my 128GB M4 – which went really easy BTW – I loaded my drivers for my USB 3.0 card, installed a WD 1.5 TB Green drive in the ODD bay to be my VHD drive – I then installed the Hyper-V Manager in 2012.

To import I:

• specified the folder containing the virtual machine to import
• Select the virtual machine to import
• Choose the type of import to perform:
  
  • Register the virtual machine in-place (use the existing unique ID)
  • Restore the virtual machine (use the existing unique ID)
  • Copy the virtual machine (create a new unique ID)
• I chose the 2^nd choice – Restore the virtual machine (use the existing unique ID)
• Choose Folders for Virtual Machine Files [I picked D:\VMs\]
• Choose folders to store Virtual Hard Disks [I picked D:\VHD\]
• After confirming that the info above was correct then the Hyper-V Manager did it’s thing and created the Virtual Machine – but I wasn’t quite done yet
• Went into settings for my imported virtual machine and deleted the old Network Adaptor (it had a message “Load Failed”) then went to Add Hardware and added a new Network Adaptor (Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter – Virtual Switch) – cool
• I next enabled Dynamic Memory and set my minimum to 1.5 GB and my max to 3 GB

That was it.

Step 7 looked like:


Step 8:


I turned on my Windows8 VM and it loaded right up.


Later I turned on my iPad and found it in SplashTop. Life is good – on to more messing around!

[ikon]

Way to go Joe_Miner. Looks great. A few more items to do that I thought might be necessary, but at least it worked well.