The Free Way To Create a Hyper-V and Virtualization Lab Environment–Step-By-Step–Cloud Foundation

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The Free Way To Create a Hyper-V and Virtualization Lab Environment–Step-By-Step–Cloud Foundation

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In a prior post, Pay Yourself First-Learn How With Passive Learning-Free Training From Microsoft On Just About Any Topic–Virtualization, Cloud, Phone, Server, Client, SharePoint, SQL, Many, Many More, I shared a massive amount of information on where you can get great and FREE training on Microsoft products.  I would like to expand on that by giving you a challenge.  That challenge is to leverage those resources (as well as my blog) to go out and setup a Lab or Proof Of Concept environment.  In the coming months I will do blog posts and videos on how to install and configure some of these great tools.  For now, use the following links to download the bits you need to setup your lab.  You will be amazed at how much you can learn by going through this simple drill.

 Proof of Concept Get Started Today!

Download Windows Server 8 here!

Deploying and Managing Windows Azure Applications

Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1

System Center 2012 Suite

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3

Microsoft Virtual Academy

 

Configure Windows Server 2008 R2 Lab Environment Hands-On Guide

Source information:

·         Private Cloud Is The Future of IT, Free Training Coming Soon–Registration Open

o    Open HTTP: http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/danstolts/resources/2012/Add_Hyper-V_Role.wmv

o    http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/danstolts/resources/2012/2008r2sp1-Sysprep-Hyper-V_VM.zip

o    http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/danstolts/resources/2012/2008r2sp1-Sysprep-VHD.zip

o    http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/danstolts/resources/2012/AutoBootVHD-BCD.cmd

o    http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/danstolts/resources/2012/AutoBootVHD-BCD.txt

o    http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/danstolts/resources/2012/Boot2VHD-BCD-Help.rtf

o    Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 ISO as well as System Center ISO’s can be downloaded from http://aka.ms/lab

Hyper-V Overview Slides: http://itproguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bobh-Final-FY12H2-1.0.IntroOfHyper-V.pptx

Overview:

In this session we will teach you how to setup a cleanly installed Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 machine to run Hyper-V.  We will create a new virtual machine and make that machine a domain controller.  Then we will make the host a member of the newly created domain.  Upon completing this lab, you will have your cloud foundation built.  The next logical step to build out your cloud is to install and configure System Center (download from http://aka.ms/lab.  Installing System Center can take many hours so it is beyond the scope of this session.

Assumptions:

a)       Your hardware meets the requirements to run Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 with Hyper-V

b)       You already have Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Running on your computer

c)       Network drivers are installed and working  LAN and Wireless

d)       Wireless Feature Enabled

e)       Hyper-V Role Installed

Please COPY:  DO NOT MOVE the contents from the USB to your Desktop. Please return the USB keys

Steps overview:

1)      Boot computer into bios (Enable or Verify BIOS settings (i.e. DEP & VT) For Hyper-V)

a.       Enable Data Execute Protection  (Security)

b.      Enable Virtualization  (Processor)

2)      Boot to Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

a.       If Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is not already installed;

                                                               i.      See Appendix Plan B – Boot-Sysprep-Image or just observe instructor

b.      Enable Hyper-V role

                                                               i.      Add Wired Network Controller to configuration - Finish Install  then Reboot

                                                             ii.      Finish enable Hyper-V Role (auto-resumes after reboot)

c.        Tips – Please do not do this during lab as it can take some time (it requires a reboot too)

                                                               i.      You may want to go back and install the Desktop experience Feature as well

                                                             ii.      You might also want to go back and install the Wireless feature as well.

3)      Configure Virtual Networks – HOL Create a New Internal Virtual NetworkDemo Lab

a.       In Hyper-V Manager, in the Actions pane, click Virtual Network Manager.

b.      In the Virtual Network Manger window, click Internal, and then click Add. Internal networks are used to communicate between the host computer and virtual machines on the host computer.

c.       In the Name field, type “Demo Lab”, and then click OK.

d.      Click Start, right-click Network, and then click Properties.

e.      On the Network and Sharing Center window, click Change adapter settings.

f.        Note our new network is available

g.       Right-click the Local Area Connection that is connected to the Demo Lab, and then click Properties.

h.      Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties. Verify that no IP address is configured, and then click Cancel. In order for the host computer to communicate with the virtual machines using this network, you need to configure the network adapter with an IP address configuration that is able to communicate with the virtual machines.  (eg. 192.168.160.5)

i.         Close the Local Area Connection dialog box, and then close the Network Connections window.

4)      Create folder to store New Virtual Machines (eg. C:\VM)  This should be on a physical disk

5)      Deploy a New VM

a)      Create new virtual machine to be used as a Domain Controller.

b)      From the Hyper-V Host, open Hyper-V Manager.

c)       In the Actions pane, click New, click Virtual Machine.

d)      The New Virtual Machine Wizard appears. Click Next (before you begin screen).

e)      On the Specify Name and Location page,

a.       Name field, type a name  Lab-DC

b.      Select Store the virtual machine in a different location check box. In the Location field, type C:\VM, click Next.

f)       On the Assign Memory page, in the Memory field, type 1024 (or a different value as long as you have memory to allocate) click Next.  This value can be changed later.

g)      On the Configure Networking page, in the Connection list, click Demo Lab, click Next.

h)      On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page

a.       Create a NEW virtual hard disk 

                                                                                       i.      Type in a new Name or accept the default 127GB

1.       You will have to attach Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 ISO image to your new virtual machine (next page of wizard)

2.       When you turn on  the machine you can start loading the OS

a)      On the installation Options page, you can keep the defaults and you will attach by selecting .ISO IMAGE and point to your ISO here, Click Next.

b)      Select Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – ENTERPRISE Edition (FULL INSTALLATION)

c)       Boot Virtual Machine

a.       Enter Administrator password and other configuration settings as desired

a.       [Recommended but Optional] Set to ALWAYS auto-start – Right Click on virtual machine – Select Properties – at the bottom of the left pane select Automatic Start Action – then on the right pane select always start this virtual machine automatically. Click OK

b.      Boot Virtual Machine

                                                               i.      Enter Administrator password and other configuration settings as desired

                                                             ii.      Attach  VM to “Demo Lab” network – if you skipped that step when you created the machine

6)      Reviewing Hyper-V User Settings

                On the HOST machine, on the top right-side in the ACTIONS pane

a)      Click Hyper-V Settings

b)      Under User, click Keyboard to configure the Keyboard combinations.

c)       Under User, click Mouse Release Key to configure Mouse Release Keys.

d)      Under User, click User Credentials to Manage User Credentials.

e)      Under User, click Reset Check Boxes to reset the settings.

 

7)      Manage the Virtual Machine Connection Application

a)      On your HOST Machine, Open Hyper-V Manager

b)      In the Hyper-V Manager, select your VM, right - click Start or click the Green Start Button in the VM window.

c)       In the Virtual Machine Connection window, notice the top (title) bar, which provides information about the virtual machine and the Hyper-V server where the virtual machine is running. You can start the virtual machine from the Action menu or from the toolbar after the connection window is open if it is not already running).

d)      Click File menu, click Settings. You can use the Settings dialog box to configure the same virtual machine settings that you can through the Hyper-V Manager. Click Cancel.

e)      Click Action menu, then click CTRL+ALT+DELETE or the 3 little buttons icon in the upper left corner of the virtual machine window. The Action menu allows the user to execute selected actions in the virtual machine.

f)       Click Media menu, and look at the options for connecting to DVDs or diskettes. The DVD Drive selection allows for ejecting or inserting a DVD\CD\ISO into the virtual machine DVD drive, or capturing the Hyper-V server optical drive. The Diskette Drive selection allows for ejecting or inserting a Virtual Floppy Disk drive (*.vfd).

g)      Click Clipboard menu. The Clipboard menu provides two selections: Type clipboard text and Capture screen. Type clipboard text allows for the transfer of text from the parent partition into the child partition. Go into Notepad and type something and select COPY. Go then to your Virtual Machine and open Notepad, go to the Type clipboard text. Capture screen enables you to take a screenshot in the child partition and then paste it into an application that is running in the parent partition. Copy your screenshot and paste it to a file.  Experiment with it.

h)      Click View menu, and take a look at the Options.

i)        Close the Virtual Machine Connection window.

8)      Login to New Virtual machine - Install the Integration Services

a.       From the Hyper-V host, select the VM which was just deployed and click Start in the right actions pane

b.      Click Connect.

c.       On the Action menu in the Virtual Machine Connection window, click Insert Integration Services Setup Disk.

                                                               i.      If this option is unavailable or nothing happens it means that the Integration Services have already been installed or the virtual machine is not finished starting.

d.      In the AutoPlay window, click Install Hyper-V Integration Services. If you do not have AutoPlay turned on you can run the installation from the CD under My Computer.

e.      In the Hyper-V Integration Services dialog box, click OK.

9)      Configure Firewall on host and guest to allow ping:

a.       Start – Control Panel – System and Security – Windows Firewall – Advanced Settings

b.      File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request – ICMPv4-in) – Right Click and Select Enable Rule

c.       http://aka.ms/ping  for detailed instructions

10)   Configure IP on host and guest.  Make sure the Host and the New Virtual Machine can communicate (ping). You will need to set static IP address (192.168.160.x) on each of the machines. {eg. Host: 192.168.160.5  Guest 192.168.160.10} 

End Session: Hands-On!  Should be time for lunch!!!

  

Next steps when you get back to home or office

11)   In your Virtual Machine, go to Start, type in dcpromo  and right-click run from Elevated command prompt (this will enable the roles and features that are needed) 

a.        New Domain in New forest - give it a domain name of your choice. (eg. itproguru.loc) – confirm the DNS warning message if you get it.

b.      Reboot when finished

c.       Change default domain password policy – Group Policy Manager - Security Settings - Accounts – Password Policy

                                                               i.      Enforce password history = 0;

                                                             ii.      Maximum age = 0; minimum password age = 0;

                                                            iii.      Password must meet complexity: disabled?

12)   Optional Join the Host to your New DC – note, if you are already on a domain please consider the consequences.

a.       You will need to set the host DNS server on the Host “Demo Lab” network to the IP address of your DC.

13)   Next Steps: Create new machine to install and configure SCVMM 2012.  See below for download to sysprep image

a.       SysPrep_Hyper-V_VM Zip (3.5gb) Important Note: This sysprep image will NOT work with Boot2VHD.  It is configured for Hyper-V.

b.      On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page you can Create a NEW virtual hard disk  like we did for the DC or  Use existing Sysprep Image – same instructions as before but instead of creating a new disk, we will attach and existing disk and point to the downloaded Hyper-V sysprep VHD file

                                                               i.      Recommended: Select use an existing virtual Hard disk. In another window Copy 2008R2SP1-sysprep.vhd to destination folder and rename it to whatever you want

                                                             ii.      Click Browse, click the 2008R2SP1-sysprep.vhd  (or whatever you called it), click Open, and then click Next.  You can download sysprep image from Dan’s Blog

 


 

Appendix

Plan B – Boot-Sysprep-Image - Use Sysprep image to create a boot2vhd on the client host machine

1)      If you do not already have Windows Server 2008R2 SP1 Installed and running, AND you have Windows 7 running on your machine (Enterprise or Ultimate), you can use these steps to create a Windows Server 2008 R2 Boot Option.  {This capability is not supported on Win}

2)      Prerequisites

a.       Have Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 ISO available

b.      Have network drivers already downloaded and available

c.       Have downloaded or created sysprep image(s)  SysPrep BootVHD Zip (3.5gb) Important Note: This sysprep image will NOT work with Hyper-V.  It is configured for Boot2VHD.

d.      Have downloaded AutoBootVHD-BCD files – AutoBootVHD-BCD download link (tiny)

3)      Create Boot2VHD Folder on drive with at least 45gb available space (eg. c:\Boot2VHD)

4)      Copy 2008R2SP1-sysprep.vhd and AutoBootVHD-BCD.cmd from USB Drive to c:\Boot2VHD

5)      Run elevated command prompt then command to install the VHD (Windows 7 or later)

a.       Start | type cmd | CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER | Accept UAC prompt

b.      Change to  Boot2VHD directory (eg. cd c:\boot2vhd )

c.       NOTE: Double-Check the following command before you press enter

d.      AutoBootVHD-BCD.cmd c:\boot2vhd\2008R2SP1-sysprep.vhd “Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – Boot2VHD”

e.      If no error messages, just reboot

f.        HINT: if you want to see the new line item before you reboot, you can just run bcdedit from the command prompt window  or run MSConfig look at the boot tab.

6)      On reboot, select the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – Boot2VHD boot configuration

7)       

Additional Resources:

Stubborn NIC

  • Install the Intel Ethernet driver from manufacturer (eg 6irf24ww_764). You are running the installer but it does not really install it. However, it does put the driver on disk so you can manually select it later.
  • Start | type Device Manager | Press ENTER
  • Right-click “Ethernet Controller” (under other devices)
  • Select the Update Driver Software… menu item
  • clip_image001[4]Click Browse my computer
  • Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
  • Scroll down the list and click Network Adaptors to select it, then click Next
  • Click the have disk button
  • Click browse
  • Go to c:\drivers\win\ethernet\pro1000\winx64\ndis62 (if you put it in the default location or wherever you put it during installation) and select the e1k62x64.inf file.
  • Click Open
  • Click OK
  • Select the 82567LM-3 nic in the list and click Next
  • Click Yes on the compatibility warning dialog box
  • Click Close.

Download Links:  See Above… Source Information

 

Quick Start…

1) The easiest way to get started is to get your paws on a machine that supports Hyper-V.  Download and install either Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 or  Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1.  For my lab, I like to use Boot2VHD.  You can learn (Step-By-Step) how to do this from my recent 4 part video series from Boot2VHD-Part 1-Overview of Native Boot To VHD.   As you are going through installs, take a look at Microsoft Virtual Academy for training opportunities on the product you are installing or about to install.

2) While you are doing the install (or in advance) go ahead and download the next tool you would like to add to your environment.  I usually just start downloading all the tools at once. I leave it overnight to bring everything down.  This way regardless of what I want to install, I have it at my fingertips.  The next morning, I am ready to roll.  My personal preference would likely be  System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Pre-Release.  If however, you want to stick to only released software download System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1 and get that setup and running.   I would actually encourage you to Install SCVMM in a guest on the hypervisor you installed in step 1 above.

3) Next, move on to another management component.  System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 for monitoring (I have lots of stuff on my blog about this topic). Or, if you prefer, System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 and start working with that.  If using Config Manager, go ahead and set it up a deployment to deploy Windows 7.  Once you do that, add Office 2010 to the image.  Then perhaps you should add some other applications and create a target reference machine.  Go ahead and install IE9, change default settings for IE, Windows, Office and other apps.  All good stuff.  If you get through all of this… Next Step System Center Orchestrator 2012!  It is not out yet, but adding it to your environment when it is out in beta will skyrocket you and your ability to proactively manage your infrastructure.  In case you did not know, System Center is the place to be for insuring a long and lucrative career in IT Smile.  Once you get done with this, you will likely be ready to take your 70-659 Exam (Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization).

One last thing… Once you are done, post a message to this blog post and let me know what you thought of going through this process.  Was it a valuable use of your time?  Where there any issues you faced?  Did it help you add a line (or more) to your resume?

Ok, one MORE thing... If you want to play with an online lab, there are opportunities for that as well.  You will learn way more from building your own lab so go ahead and start the download.  While you are waiting for the bits, check out some of the online labs Microsoft Virtual Labs Available NOW! System Center, Windows, Virtualization, SharePoint, Exchange, SQL, And Lots More!

 

Good Luck!!!!

 

 

Revision History:

2011/09/30: Updated with AKA Links and changed SCVMM to RC (from Beta)

2011/11/03: Updated with System Center 2012 Suite download manager

2012/1/18: Added Link to online labs

2012/04/02: Added Step-By-Step

Leave a Comment
  • Please add 8 and 3 and type the answer here:
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  • This looks like a great project!  I've been wanting to revisit Hyper-V for some years now, and I'm hoping to be able to give at least some of these products a try (especially boot to VHD).  Now that I have most of the hardware and storage coming online in my lab (discussed at my blog at http://tinkertry.com ), now the other big challenge is finding the time, but your excellent info should reduce the time requirements considerably.

  • Excellent lab!

    Can't wait to play with it.  

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