Anything to know before upgrading 2008 to 2008 R2 on DC?

Over Clocker

Over Clocker

Over Clocker

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Hi guys,

We have a 2008 domain controller, which is also a Hyper-V host, hosting 2 clients. An Exchange 2007 server (Server 2008) and an XP test client.

We've looking to upgrade this DC to 2008 R2, but is there anything that I need to know before I do this? I know I need to shut the Hyper V clients down fully, and take an offline snapshot, but is there anything else? Anything to do with Exchange etc?

Thanks,

Mal
 
I dont think so, I am also looking into doing this and what you have found is what I also found... let me know how it goes, nice to know someone else is doing it before me :)

Stelly
 
Cant answer the question, but this sort of thing is exactly why a setup like this is a bad idea - if you weren't running your DC on your hyper-v host it wouldnt matter. Virtualise the DC too, there's no reason not to and means you actually realise one of the key benefits of virtualisation
 
iaind said:
Cant answer the question, but this sort of thing is exactly why a setup like this is a bad idea - if you weren't running your DC on your hyper-v host it wouldnt matter. Virtualise the DC too, there's no reason not to and means you actually realise one of the key benefits of virtualisation
Click to expand...

Totally agree - Build a new VM instance ground up with 2008 R2, join to domain and DCPROMO it. You can then look to migrate away from the physcial DC and enjoy a VM DC.
 
Thanks for the tips iaind and ecksman. I know it's not a good setup, and I will be changing it soon. Basically, we initially just had a single box 2008 DC with no hyper V, then we wanted to test hyper v on it, then started using it properly, but never got round to doing the above!

Cheers,

Mal
 
iaind said:
Nows a perfect opportunity to make the move then!
Click to expand...

Aye.

Right, If I'm going to do this properly then........

What would the ideal setup be with Hyper V for the following.

Hardware - 2x Xeon E5405 CPUs, 20GB Ram...

Required:
1x DC
1x Exchange 2007 server (already a virtual server)

How would you want to split the resources etc?

Cheers,

Mal
 
To be honest, if you are using a box for Hyper-V, in any environment, best practice is to run as few other roles and features as possible on the host machine.

If you want to go Microsoft best practice, backup your VHD(s), reinstall your host with Server Core, configure the server for Hyper-V and open the firewall ports, and leave the rest of the server locked down, it will highten your overall security, reduce maintance and as less things are installed on the host machine, less software related failures will occur.

Then run all your different wishes on small VHD's, maybe not splitting DNS, DHCP and AD, but split all over roles and services. Purely for ease of managment.

If you would like a couple of guides on setting up Server Core, via CLI/Power Shell, I can give you some good tips - or just google/bing it.

It really is easier than people think.

Good Luck
 
Create a new R2 DC VM, demote the your current one on the hyper-v server.

Backup all VHDs and then blat and install either Core or Hyper-V R2 Server as your Host.

Restore the 2 VMs, give the DC maybe 4GB and a small amount of disk and give the Exchange server whatever is left (saving about 2GB for your host)
 
Thanks very much Lanz. Sorry, am posting from my MDA this weekend, so what is the main difference between Core and Hyper-V R2 Server?

Thanks again,

Mal
 
Hyper-V R2 Server just does Hyper-V and nothing else, where as Core does other services. I dont think Hyper-V R2 Server supports CSV (live migration) but I could be wrong.
 
I've just done this.

I VM'd a 2008 R2 DC, moved all the roles to it and demoted the old one.

Actually simples. However, getting my Exchange 2007 box to dissappear is proving to be a nightmare!
 
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