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I have currently one Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 server installed, it's successfully running 4 VM's, but memory/RAM is starting to become sparse. I actually have a 2nd machine available, so my great idea was go ahead and set up a second Hyper-V server on the 2nd machine; to avoid buying more RAM and storage space, since the second machine already has RAM.

Then I thought of one snag.

I want to use one public-facing domain name; so is it possible for me to setup a cluster of two Hyper-V server's, each one hosting 4 VM servers dedicated to one-purpose as follows:

Server 1:

  • SQL Server 2012
  • Gaming Server
  • TeamSpeak Server
  • Team Foundation Server 11

Server 2:

  • Domain Controller
  • Exchange Server
  • Sharepoint Server
  • IIS/WebServer

If possible, how would I do it?

Brian Deragon
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  • I don't think there is enough information to answer your question. The fact that the HyperV boxes are hosting different servers really have nothing to do with the public facing domain name. Since Virtual Machines are essentially just servers running on shared hardware, it wouldn't matter what HyperV server they are running on. I say add the second HyperV box and add whatever you'd like. – MikeAWood May 14 '12 at 20:35
  • Right now, I have server 1 (a hyper-v machine) running already, properly setup with Routing and Remote access, taking requests, and forwarding them to the appropriate 4 vm's it's hosting. Server 2 though, I have that also up and running but it's a 2nd ip. So my public facing address/domain, only points to the first ip, I need it to point to both. – Brian Deragon May 14 '12 at 20:48
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    Just so I understand, you are using Routing and RAS as a way to direct packets to the IPs of the VMs, if that is the case, you can continue doing so. You will need to allow the Virtual subnet external access so it can see the Virtual subnet on the 2nd HyperV box. In Virtual Network Manager in Hyper-V Manager you will have the "Vitrual Network" conencted to an "external" adapter. That external adapter will need to see the "external" adapter on the 2nd HyperV box. Simply put, routing and ras is just a router. you just need to put the 2nd HyperV box on the same subnet as the existing VMs. – MikeAWood May 14 '12 at 20:56

1 Answers1

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A "cluster" is a completely different concept from "two or more Hyper-V servers hosting some VMs each". You can have as many Hyper-V servers as you want, and they don't even need to be part of a domain at all (if not for better management); they will happily work together.

You need a cluster in order to provide high availability, i.e. the capability for each host to run the VMs that normally are hosted by the other one, if it becomes unavailable.

In order to setup a Hyper-V failover cluster, you need some form of shared storage between the hosts, some very specific network configuration and an Active Directory domain (you can't have any failover clustering on Windows without it); also, you need to make sure each host has enough hardware resources to run all the VMs if the need arises, otherwise it won't be able to do much if the other host fails.

You can find all the info you need here.

Massimo
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  • Definitely plans for the future, but I need more funding before I can setup a failover for these two; but from the looks of it, I should be able to set up a failover for each server individually with no issues. – Brian Deragon May 15 '12 at 13:06