Hyper-V 2008 R2: Management Best Practices

Note: This article is based on Hyper-V 2.0, and might not apply to Hyper-V 3.0 (Server 2012)

This is a work-in-progress to collect your best practices for Hyper-V and VM Management. Please feel free to add and update as necessary, it is the wiki way!

Best Practice

1. When planning, follow Windows Server Virtualization Guide from Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide Series (ex-Windows Server System Reference Architecture, WSSRA).
2. Learn about [[articles: Choice of Virtualization Strategy: General|Choice of Virtualization Strategy]].
3. Make sure you understand [[articles:Hyper-V: Architecture|Hyper-V: Architecture]].
4. Use SCVMM, and SCVMM Self-Service Portal.
5. Aggressively monitor free-disk space, especially if you use snapshots, SCVMM self-service, or both.
6. If you use snapshots, review the Snapshot FAQ and the snapshots common issues video.
7. Use the Virtual Machine Migration Test Wizard.
8. Script wherever possible — for example, using the free community PowerShell management Library for Hyper-V.

Community Resources

• Hyper-V How To: Build a Virtualized Test Infrastructure
• Hyper-V Web Manager
• Tips and Tricks from the Lab Rat
• Configuring SCVMM PRO
• Network Mix (you can use VS 2010 to constrain network bandwidth on your VMs for tests)
• Video: Best practices for performance, backups, and management

See Also

• [[articles:Hyper-V: Survival Guide|Hyper-V: Survival Guide]]
• [[articles:Hyper-V: Tools|Hyper-V: Tools]]
• [[articles:Hyper-V: How to Find VM Files|Hyper-V: How to Find VM Files]]

References

• Creating and Working with Virtual Environments
• Hyper-V in the Lab