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    what are the best practices to do before virtualizing a physical DC ?

    IT Discussion
    windows server 2008 r2 p2v virtualization active directory best practices
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    • scottalanmillerS
      scottalanmiller @stacksofplates
      last edited by

      @johnhooks said:

      Why not use raw disks?

      1. No benefits to it. It's based off of one of those weird "SMBisms" that don't exist in the enterprise space where people are bizarrely trying to tweak one odd mechanism for performance that doesn't matter at all while overlooking all of the important stuff.
      2. It bypasses the encapsulation of the virtualization process taking away features for no reason.
      stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stacksofplatesS
        stacksofplates @scottalanmiller
        last edited by

        @scottalanmiller said:

        @johnhooks said:

        Why not use raw disks?

        1. No benefits to it. It's based off of one of those weird "SMBisms" that don't exist in the enterprise space where people are bizarrely trying to tweak one odd mechanism for performance that doesn't matter at all while overlooking all of the important stuff.
        2. It bypasses the encapsulation of the virtualization process taking away features for no reason.

        I don't really use them, I use LVMs anyway. Just curious. So qcow2 is what you recommend for an actual file?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller
          last edited by

          For what platform?

          stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • stacksofplatesS
            stacksofplates @scottalanmiller
            last edited by

            @scottalanmiller said:

            For what platform?

            Ah I didn't read the article. Is raw on hyper-v different from raw on KVM or xen?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              Same idea, bypassing the encapsulation of the file system to write directly to a block device not provided by the HV.

              stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stacksofplatesS
                stacksofplates @scottalanmiller
                last edited by

                @scottalanmiller said:

                Same idea, bypassing the encapsulation of the file system to write directly to a block device not provided by the HV.

                Ok. So is LVM use a bad idea then?

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  I would not use it, we used to do that a decade ago when we had to do extreme tuning because the technology was very nascent. Today, only in extreme cases would I be willing to consider that.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • stacksofplatesS
                    stacksofplates
                    last edited by

                    Which formats do you recommend?

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                    • scottalanmillerS
                      scottalanmiller
                      last edited by

                      Generaly qcow2 for KVM.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • IT-ADMINI
                        IT-ADMIN @JaredBusch
                        last edited by

                        @JaredBusch said:

                        There are only two reasons to P2V a DC.

                        1. You have another workload on the box like file shares or something.
                        2. See 1.

                        Even if you have no more licensing, spin up a new VM running Server 2008 R2, activate with your existing key, join it to the domain and then promote it to be a DC. Take the FSMO roles and then demote the old one and remove it.

                        i think i have that reason to P2V my DC, because this physical server actually play 3 roles :

                        • Domain conroller
                        • File Server
                        • SQL Server

                        so i think i have a reason to P2V it ??

                        DashrenderD scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • IT-ADMINI
                          IT-ADMIN @JaredBusch
                          last edited by

                          @JaredBusch said:

                          Even if you have no more licensing, spin up a new VM running Server 2008 R2, activate with your existing key.

                          do you mean i have to retrieve my current physical key and use the same key in my new VM (because windows server 2008 R2 entreprise edition include 1 Physical and 2 VM) ??

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                          • IT-ADMINI
                            IT-ADMIN @scottalanmiller
                            last edited by

                            @scottalanmiller said:

                            Things like don't let it be imaged are just general data base rules that apply to any database. AD uses a database, so database rules apply.

                            do you mean that all server that has DB on it, it is not recommended to P2V it ??
                            i'm confused, because almost all server has DB like DC and SQL, oracle ......

                            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • DashrenderD
                              Dashrender @IT-ADMIN
                              last edited by

                              @IT-ADMIN said:

                              @JaredBusch said:

                              There are only two reasons to P2V a DC.

                              1. You have another workload on the box like file shares or something.
                              2. See 1.

                              Even if you have no more licensing, spin up a new VM running Server 2008 R2, activate with your existing key, join it to the domain and then promote it to be a DC. Take the FSMO roles and then demote the old one and remove it.

                              i think i have that reason to P2V my DC, because this physical server actually play 3 roles :

                              • Domain conroller
                              • File Server
                              • SQL Server

                              so i think i have a reason to P2V it ??

                              Even so, If you can, you should create a new VM, don't P2V unless you have no other options. You're still running Windows Server 2008, If you have the 2012 R2 licenses for that server, you should definitely convert.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • scottalanmillerS
                                scottalanmiller @IT-ADMIN
                                last edited by

                                @IT-ADMIN said:

                                i think i have that reason to P2V my DC, because this physical server actually play 3 roles :

                                • Domain conroller
                                • File Server
                                • SQL Server

                                so i think i have a reason to P2V it ??

                                You have have to P2V. And both DCs and SQL Server should not be P2V'd. File servers can be easily moved otherwise.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller @IT-ADMIN
                                  last edited by

                                  @IT-ADMIN said:

                                  @scottalanmiller said:

                                  Things like don't let it be imaged are just general data base rules that apply to any database. AD uses a database, so database rules apply.

                                  do you mean that all server that has DB on it, it is not recommended to P2V it ??
                                  i'm confused, because almost all server has DB like DC and SQL, oracle ......

                                  Correct. Databases should not be P2V'd unless you can shut the databases down during the move.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • scottalanmillerS
                                    scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    How goes your project?

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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