Hyper-V Live Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide 2

Hyper-V Live Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide 2
Storage Configuration

I used a LeftHand Networks ISCSI SAN for Hyper-V live migration as well as a test SQL Server implementation. On the iSCSI SAN I created four LUNs. One LUN was sized at 500MB to be used for the cluster quorum. Another was sized at 1024GB to be used for 10 VMs. Two other LUNS were for the test SQL Server implementation and consisted of a 200MB LUN for the Distributed Transaction Coordinator and a 500GB LUN for SQL Server data files Microsoft MCTS Training.

After creating the LUNs, I configured the iSCSI Initiator on both the Windows Server nodes. To add the iSCSI targets, I selected the Administrative Tools, iSCSI Initiator option, then on the Discovery tab I chose the Discover Portal option. This displayed the Discover Portal dialog box where I entered the IP address and iSCSI port of the SAN. In my case, this was 192.168.0.1 and 3260, respectively.

Next, in the Connect to Target dialog box, I supplied the target name of the iSCSI SAN. This name came from the properties of the SAN and varies depending on the SAN vendor, the domain name, and the names of the LUNs that are created. I checked the option Add this connection to the list of Favorite Targets. After completing the ISCSI configuration, the iSCSI Initiator Targets tab was populated with the LUNs.

Finally, using Disk Administrator I assigned drive letters to the LUNs. I opened Disk Management and used Q for the quorum, R for DTC, S for SQL Server, and V for the VMs. You need to make the assignments on one node, then bring the disks offline and make identical assignments in the second node. Figure 3 shows the completed Disk Management disk assignments for one of the nodes.
Adding the Hyper-V Role and Failover Clustering Feature

The next step is to add the Hyper-V role, then the Failover Clustering feature. You add both by using Server Manager. To add the Hyper-V role, select Administrative Tools, Server Manager, then click the Add Role link. From the Select Server Roles dialog box, select Hyper-V, then click Next. You’ll be prompted with Create Virtual Networks. This essentially creates a bridge between the Hyper-V VMs and your external network Microsoft MCITP Certification.

Select the NICs that you want to use for your VM traffic. Be careful not to choose the NICs that are used for the iSCSI SAN connection. Click Next to complete the Add Role Wizard. The system then reboots. You need to perform this process for all of the nodes in the cluster.

Next, add the Failover Cluster Feature by using the Administrative Tools, Server Manager, Add Feature option. This starts the Add Features wizard. Scroll through the list of features and select the Failover Clustering feature. Click Next to complete the wizard. This process must be completed on all nodes.
Configuring Failover Clustering

Next, create a Failover Cluster. You can do this on any of the cluster nodes. Select the Administrative Tools, Failover Cluster Manager option to start the Failover Cluster Management console. Then select the Validate a Configuration link to start the wizard, which displays the Select Servers or Cluster dialog box.

Enter the fully quailed names of all the nodes that will belong to the cluster, then click Next. Click Next through the subsequent wizard screens to run the cluster validation tests, which check the OS level, network configuration, and storage of all cluster nodes. A summary of the test results is displayed. If the validation tests succeed, you can continue and create the cluster. If there are errors or warnings, you can display them in the report, correct them, and rerun the validation tests.

After the validation tests have run, you create the cluster using the Create a Cluster link from the Failover Cluster Management console. Like the validate option, the Create a Cluster option first starts by displaying a Select Servers dialog box where you enter the names of all cluster nodes. Clicking Next displays the Access Point for Administering the Cluster dialog box, which you can see in Figure 4.

You use the dialog box labeled Access Point for Administering the Cluster to assign the cluster a name and an IP address. The name and IP address both must be unique in the network. In Figure 4, you can see that I named the cluster WS08R2-CL01 and gave the cluster an IP address of 192.168.100.200. With Windows Server 2008 R2 you can choose to have the IP address assigned by DHCP, but I prefer to use manually assigned IP address for my server systems because it allows all of my servers to always have the same IP addresses, which is handy for troubleshooting problems.

Clicking Next displays the Confirmation screen where you review your cluster creation selections. You can page back and make changes. Click Next again to create the cluster. A summary screen then displays the configuration of the new cluster. This action configures the cluster on all of the selected clustered nodes.