Scenario 1: Installing the Second Server on a Hyper-V Virtual Machine

  • Article

Updated: February 4, 2010

Applies To: Windows SBS 2008

This scenario requires two physical servers. The primary server for Windows SBS 2008 is installed on one physical server. The second physical server is a Hyper-V enabled platform, where you install the second server for Windows SBS 2008 in a virtual machine. You can also create additional virtual machines on which you can install legacy operating systems and software that are not compatible with Windows SBS 2008.

Note

When you install Windows SBS 2008, you must provide product keys to activate the physical and virtual instances of your servers. For more information, see “Using Windows Small Business Server 2008 Product Keys” at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=124547).

Figure 1 depicts an implementation of Scenario 1. It includes an additional virtual machine that runs other applications.

Figure 1.   Scenario 1

You should use only the parent partition of a Hyper-V enabled physical computer to manage the guest operating systems that are installed on virtual machines. You must not install any software on the parent partition that you do not use to directly manage the guest operating systems. Additionally, you should ensure that the software you install on a Hyper-V virtual machine can operate within a Hyper-V environment.

Note

For a current list of guest operating systems that are supported on Hyper-V, see the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=131614).
For a current list of Microsoft server software that is supported in a Hyper-V virtualization environment, see Knowledge Base article 957006 at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=129034).

After you enable Hyper-V, you can create child partitions as necessary, and then you can create virtual machines on which to host the second server for Windows SBS 2008 and other guest operating systems.

For a list of known issues, see “Known Issues with Running Windows Small Business Server 2008 in a Hyper-V Environment.”

For information about how to implement this scenario, see ”Install the Second Server on a Hyper-V Virtual Machine.”