mschedlb: Hyper-V upgrade

This article describes the Hyper-V upgrade process in a clustered environment.

In my previous post I described why we decided to upgrade our highly available Hyper-V environment from version 1 to version 2. We wanted to take advantage of the Cluster Shared Volumes, Dynamic Memory, and Live Migration. Next I’ll describe the process I went through to test the scenario in my test lab for the new features.

Upgraded one Hyper-V server to revision 2

Moved VMs to one host – Eventually a fresh install of Windows Server 2008 R2 was done. Before doing so, virtual machines needed to be moved to one host using Failover Cluster Manager console.

Evicted host from cluster – Now that one host (we’ll call it Host1) was not hosting any virtual machines, I began the process of removing the server from my domain by evicting it from the cluster using Failover Cluster Manager console. With the Cluster service no longer running, all iSCSI targets were disconnected in iSCSI Initiator.

Removed host from Active Directory – Final step to completely decommission server.

Setup additional iSCSI disks – On the SAN, created two new iSCSI targets. The first, R2VMClust, was to serve as the quorum disk for a new cluster. The second, CSV1, was a very large iSCSI target that would serve as my Cluster Shared Volume.

Fresh installed Windows Server 2008 R2 –During the process, I chose to format the system drive for a fresh install as opposed to an upgrade. Finally, I added Host1 to the domain and installed Hyper-V and Failover Clustering.

Created new cluster – On Host1, I created a cluster, HVR2Clust, that included Host1. I then modified the quorum to use Node Disk Majority using R2VMClust. Node Disk Majority is necessary to have quorum with only one Node online. To finish this step, I enabled Cluster Shared Volumes for the cluster and added CSV1 as a Cluster Shared Volume.

Hyper-V Upgrade – Live Migration

Moved virtual machines to the new cluster

Shutdown VMs – Shutdown the VMs so that resources aren’t being accessed.

Exported/Imported VMs – With the VMs shutdown, I exported the configurations only. I then moved all VM resource files to CSV1. On Host1, I imported each VM.

Upgraded the remaining Hyper-V server to revision 2

Destroyed Cluster and Disconnect from SAN – Now that Host2 was no longer being used, I destroyed the old cluster in Failover Cluster Manager. I then disconnected all iSCSI targets in iSCSI Initiator.

Fresh installed Windows Server 2008 R2 – Host2 was then removed from the domain. Windows Server 2008 R2 was installed, Host2 added to the domain, and finally Hyper-V and Failover Clustering were installed. Finally, I added Host2 to the existing cluster.

Hyper-V Upgrade – Cluster Shared Volume

Finalized VM Configuration

At this point, I redistributed VMs so that half were running on each host. I then shutdown VMs and modified memory settings to test dynamic memory settings. I then upgraded integration services.

Cluster Shared Volumes, Dynamic Memory, and Live Migration are all working as advertised.

Having simulated the upgrades, I’m ready to move forward with confidence Hyper-V 2.0 will provide the desired improvements to my virtual machine environment.

My next post will be a final summary once my live environment is upgraded.

Author: Aaron Denton

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