Cheng's Random Thoughts on System Management

Add host into VMM 2008 Beta

Well, once you finish installing VMM Server and have your admin console setup, the next you want to do is to start managing your hosts. Virtual Server hosts, Hyper-V hosts and VMware ESX hosts.

I talked about managing VMware VCS and how VMM imports the existing ESX hosts managed by the VCS. Next, let me drill into how you can start adding Virtual Server hosts and Hyper-V hosts, as well as some AddHost limitations in this Beta release.

This is what you will see in the Add Host wizard from the admin console for our VMM 2008 beta release:

(Note: This UI will change by our RTM.)

First, here are some requirements for adding hosts with different types of virtualization platforms:

• To add a Virtual Server host
• You must have Windows Server 2003.
• In beta release, we do not support Virtual Server running on Windows Server 2008.
• We're looking to provide support for running Virtual Server on Windows Server 2008 in our RTM release.
• The Virtual Server needs to be at version 2005 R2 SP1 release.
• To add a Hyper-V host
• You must have Windows Server 2008.
• Your computer must meet the hardware virtualization assistance requirements:
• 64-bit CPU
• VT (Virtualization Technology feature from Intel) or AMD-V (from AMD) enabled on the BIOS
  NX (No eXecute) /XD (eXecute Disable)
• And full BIOS support for hardware virtualization
• You must install Hyper-V RC0 software update.
• To add a VMware ESX host
• You must have at least one VMware VirtualCenter Server added to VMM.
• Your VirtualCenter Server must be running version 2.0 or above.
• Your ESX host must be running version 3.0 or 3.1.
  

Here are the things your need to know for different types of server (server locations):

• To add a trusted domain joined Windows host
• Make sure the requirements for the virtualization platform are met (see above). 
• Make sure the server is domain joined.
• Make sure your server is reachable (DNS, AD, network firewall, etc.).
• Make sure you know the proper credentials you need to let VMM use to manage the host.
• Note: When there is no two-way trust between the VMM server domain and the domain the Windows host (to be added), you will need to use to do it from the CLI (Add-VMHost cmdlet) by using the "-NonTrustedDomainHost" switch. In our Beta release, you cannot do this from the UI. 
• To add a perimeter network (or DMZ) Windows host or a non-domain-joined Windows host
• Make sure the requirements for the virtualization platform are met (see above).
• Make sure the agent is installed locally, and security file is generated and transfered to the VMM console.
• Make sure your server is reachable (DNS, network firewall, etc.).
• To add a VMware ESX host
• Make sure you have at least one VMware VirtualCenter Server added to VMM.
• Make sure you know the "root" user credential.

Thanks for reading,

Cheng