So I've decided to give Hyper-V a real show on my new home VM server. I haven't given up on ESXi yet but with all the trouble it's giving me on my new "cutting edge hardware," I think it's smart to at least give Hyper-V a shot and see how well it works on the same hardware. And given the fact that I already know my two 10gig NICs work in Windows, that's one leg up.
While I'm anxious to give Hyper-V a shot, I'm completely new to it. I'm a Windows admin so I'm familiar with Windows server and guest OS's but I've never messed with Hyper-V. I've worked with VMware since 5.0 was released. Therefore I have a few questions/concerns right off the bat.
1) Hyper-V Server Core, Full Hyper-V Server, or Full Server 2012 R2?
Being this is my first run at Hyper-V I'm unsure which solution is best for me. In theory it sounds like Hyper-V server core is the way to go for the less overhead and fewer patches needed. Seems like it's the closest to a "bare-metal" hypervisor of all the 3 Windows options.
However I'm concerned about my ability to configure and manage it being a total noob in the regard. For example how would I even go about installing drivers (such as my NIC drivers), etc.? How easily is this managed without a domain (my plan is to run a Server 2012 R2 DC as a guest VM so I'd imagine that can't manage the host hypervisor it's a part of)?
Also, are there any recommended remote administration tools for managing Hyper-V from a Windows PC as opposed to the standard Windows 8 RAT?
2) How does hardware passthrough work in Hyper-V?
A deal breaker for me is being able to get my storage solution (unRAID) working in Hyper-V. I haven't seen any documented users getting it to work however those over at Lime Technology have indeed provided the guest drivers for Hyper-V so in theory it should work.
However I need to be able to passthrough a bootable USB flash drive and my M1015 storage controller to get unRAID up and running the way I need it to be. How does hardware (and most notably USB) passthrough work with regard to Hyper-V? I heard Microsoft only added native support for this in R2?
3) Any other gotchas for those who have mad the switch from ESXi over to Hyper-V?
If I'm to give Hyper-V a real shot and not just spend a few days working on it before deciding to go back to VMware, it would help to be able to avoid any early missteps. So if there is anyone who has made this transition who can lend some advice I would GREATLY appreciate it!
I plan to run the following guest VM's on my host. If anything stands out as a possible issue please speak up!
While I'm anxious to give Hyper-V a shot, I'm completely new to it. I'm a Windows admin so I'm familiar with Windows server and guest OS's but I've never messed with Hyper-V. I've worked with VMware since 5.0 was released. Therefore I have a few questions/concerns right off the bat.
1) Hyper-V Server Core, Full Hyper-V Server, or Full Server 2012 R2?
Being this is my first run at Hyper-V I'm unsure which solution is best for me. In theory it sounds like Hyper-V server core is the way to go for the less overhead and fewer patches needed. Seems like it's the closest to a "bare-metal" hypervisor of all the 3 Windows options.
However I'm concerned about my ability to configure and manage it being a total noob in the regard. For example how would I even go about installing drivers (such as my NIC drivers), etc.? How easily is this managed without a domain (my plan is to run a Server 2012 R2 DC as a guest VM so I'd imagine that can't manage the host hypervisor it's a part of)?
Also, are there any recommended remote administration tools for managing Hyper-V from a Windows PC as opposed to the standard Windows 8 RAT?
2) How does hardware passthrough work in Hyper-V?
A deal breaker for me is being able to get my storage solution (unRAID) working in Hyper-V. I haven't seen any documented users getting it to work however those over at Lime Technology have indeed provided the guest drivers for Hyper-V so in theory it should work.
However I need to be able to passthrough a bootable USB flash drive and my M1015 storage controller to get unRAID up and running the way I need it to be. How does hardware (and most notably USB) passthrough work with regard to Hyper-V? I heard Microsoft only added native support for this in R2?
3) Any other gotchas for those who have mad the switch from ESXi over to Hyper-V?
If I'm to give Hyper-V a real shot and not just spend a few days working on it before deciding to go back to VMware, it would help to be able to avoid any early missteps. So if there is anyone who has made this transition who can lend some advice I would GREATLY appreciate it!
I plan to run the following guest VM's on my host. If anything stands out as a possible issue please speak up!
- pfSense (router/firewall for home network)
- unRAID (storage + Plex media server docker)
- Server 2012 R2 AD DC
- Backup Server
- Torrent VM
- Few test Windows VMs