Just wondering about Hyper-V upgrades - meaning, we have hyper-v VMs running on a windows 2008 host and we want to upgrade the host to 2012 (or even 2016). How do you upgrade the host and keep the existing VMs? With the VMs on a separate volume, I can see upgrading the host OS as being straight forward, so how do bring the VMs along? Do we just export them, upgrade the OS and then import them into the new host OS? I did a search on the ItPro site but didn't find anything for hyper-v and migration or upgrade. Thanks for the help.
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Solved Hyper-v: Replacing/Upgrading the Host OS
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Hi Bob,
Thank you for thinking to check with us. I do recall shooting an episode with Ronnie to cover a DHCP migration but I think that may be the only migration covered in the library. Remember you can always request show topics on the Course Request page here, https://itpro.tv/course-request/
Also, you may want to check out the System Center shows as I’m pretty sure you can automate this process thru system center. However, I’ll give you a couple of ideas of what I would do.
Planning is going to be key here. I am assuming your host OS is just running the Hyper-V role, as per Microsoft recommendation. I am also assuming you are not utilizing clustering.
This process will involve moving the virtual machines, virtual networks, and all the associated settings from one physical computer to another physical computer in the enterprise. With that being said you have a couple of options.
If you need to upgrade on the old piece of hardware without access to a new server and if your environment can tolerate some downtime you can shut the VMs down and perform an in-place upgrade to the host OS.
Your host drive will not be reformatted with this method which could be good or bad depending on the current system health.
Once the system has been successfully upgraded you can then power on the individual VMs. You may also want to update the Integrated Services for each VM afterward.
Alternatively, if you have access to another physical host you can perform a clean install of the ne OS then manually move the VMs over followed by decommissioning the old server. This would be my method of choice just to get a fresh and a seamless transition. Note: You want to pay close attention to any configuration settings you may loose and verify new hardware is sufficient for all pre-existing VMs.
I have included a link to a detailed guide from Microsoft to help you thru this. I hope this gives you a good start. Feel free to check back and let me know how it goes.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn872560(v=ws.11).aspx#bkmk_inplace
Kindly,
Cherokee -
Thanks. That info and link should help us get this done.
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Hey Bob,
I upgraded 8 Hyper-V hosts last year from 2008 R2 to 2012 R2. The process was simple for me as all our VM's were on a separate volume. I simply did a clean install of the 2012 R2 OS, erasing the existing C:\ partition in the process.
Once installed I set the drive letter for the disk with the VM's on to be the same as the original disk under 2008 R2 and then, after installing the Hyper-V role, selected the option to Import the VM's, pointing to the configuration file in the folder for each VM.
Not sure if this is the approved method but it worked fine for me.
I wasn't using clustering, but was using vMotion. Make sure you record your IP addresses and setup the right NIC cards when you re-install to avoid switch reconfiguration. Most importantly though make sure you have good working backups before you start!!.
Mark
