How to Add Trusted Hyper-V Hosts and Host Clusters in VMM

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedure to add a trusted Windows Server–based computer or Windows Server–based failover cluster as one or more managed Hyper-V hosts in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

Before you begin the procedure, review the following prerequisites:

• Make sure that the stand-alone server or the failover cluster is a member of an Active Directory domain that has a two-way trust with the domain of the VMM management server.

• The computers that you want to add must support Hyper-V. For more information, see the “Operating System Requirements” section of the topic Adding Windows Servers as Hyper-V Hosts in VMM Overview.

• If you want to add the VMM management server as a managed Hyper-V host, make sure that you enable the Hyper-V role on the VMM management server before you add the computer.

  Important

  You cannot add a highly available VMM management server as a managed Hyper-V host cluster.

• If you are adding a Hyper-V host cluster, this procedure assumes that you have an existing failover cluster that you created by using the Failover Cluster Management snap-in. For requirements for Hyper-V host operating systems, see the following:

  • For System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager or for System Center 2012 SP1 see System Requirements: Hyper-V Hosts in System Center 2012 and in System Center 2012 SP1.

  • For System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager see: Preparing your environment for System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager.

• If you use Group Policy to configure Windows Remote Management (WinRM) settings, understand the following before you add a Hyper-V host to VMM management:

  • VMM supports only the configuration of WinRM Service settings through Group Policy, and only on hosts that are in a trusted Active Directory domain. Specifically, VMM supports the configuration of the Allow automatic configuration of listeners, Turn On Compatibility HTTP Listener, and Turn on Compatibility HTTPS Listener Group Policy settings. VMM does not support configuration of the other WinRM Service policy settings.

  • If you enable the Allow automatic configuration of listeners policy setting, you must configure it to allow messages from any IP address. To verify this configuration, view the policy setting and make sure that the IPv4 filter and IPv6 filter (depending on whether you use IPv6) are set to *.

  • VMM does not support the configuration of WinRM Client settings through Group Policy. If you configure WinRM Client Group Policy settings, these policy settings may override client properties that VMM requires for the VMM agent to work correctly.

  If you enable any unsupported WinRM Group Policy settings, installation of the VMM agent may fail.

  Note

  The WinRM policy settings are located in the Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Remote Management (WinRM) node of the Local Group Policy Editor or the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC).

• When you add a trusted host, you must specify account credentials for an account that has administrative rights on the computers that you want to add. You can enter a user name and password or specify a Run As account. If you want to use a Run As account, you can create the Run As account before you begin this procedure, or you can create it during the procedure.

  Important

  If you configured the VMM service to use a domain account when you installed the VMM management server, do not use the same domain account to add or remove Hyper-V hosts from VMM.

  For example, create a Run As account that is named Trusted Hyper-V Hosts.

  Note

  You can create Run As accounts in the Settings workspace. For more information about Run As accounts, see How to Create a Run As Account in VMM.

To add a trusted Hyper-V host or host cluster

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. In the Fabric pane, click Servers.

3. On the Home tab, in the Add group, click Add Resources, and then click Hyper-V Hosts and Clusters.

   The Add Resource Wizard starts.

4. On the Resource location page, click Windows Server computers in a trusted Active Directory domain, and then click Next.

5. On the Credentials page, enter the credentials for a domain account that has administrative permissions on all hosts that you want to add, and then click Next.

   Important

   If you configured the VMM service to use a domain account when you installed the VMM management server, do not use the same domain account to add the hosts.

   You can specify an existing Run As account or manually enter user credentials in the format domain_name\user_name.

   Note

   If you do not already have a Run As account, click Browse, and then in the Select a Run As Account dialog box, click Create Run As Account.

   For example, if you created the example Run As account that is described in the "Prerequisites" section of this topic, click Browse, and then click the Trusted Hyper-V Hosts Run As account.

6. On the Discovery scope page, do either of the following, and then click Next:

   • Click Specify Windows Server computers by names. In the Computer names box, enter the computers that you want to add, with each computer name or IP address on a new line. If you are adding a Hyper-V host cluster, you can either specify the cluster name or IP address, or specify the name or IP address of any cluster node.

     Tip

     Realize that you can also enter a partial computer name. For example, if you have several computers that start with the same prefix, such as “HyperVHost,” you can enter HyperVHost, and then click Next. The next page of the wizard will then list all computers that have names that begin with “HyperVHost.”

     For example, click Specify Windows Server computer by names, enter HyperVHost01.contoso.com as the computer name, and then click Next.

   • Click Specify an Active Directory query to search for Windows Server computers. Then, enter an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) query in the Type your AD query box, or click Generate an AD query to create the query.

     Note

     For information about query filters that you can use in Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) queries, see the MSDN topic Creating a Query Filter.

7. On the Target resources page, select the check box next to each computer that you want to add, and then click Next. If you specified a cluster name or cluster node in step 6, select the check box next to the cluster name. (The cluster name is listed together with the associated cluster nodes.)

   For example, select the check box next to HyperVHost01.contoso.com, and then click Next.

   If the Hyper-V role is not enabled on a selected server, you receive a message that VMM will install the Hyper-V role and restart the server. Click OK to continue.

8. On the Host settings page, do the following:

   1. In the Host group list, click the host group to which you want to assign the host or host cluster.

      For example, click the host group Seattle\Tier0_SEA.

   2. If the host is already associated with a different VMM management server, select the Reassociate this host with this VMM environment check box.

      Note

      Realize that if the host was associated with a different VMM management server, it will stop working on that server.

   3. If you are adding a stand-alone host, in the Add the following path box, enter the path on the host where you want to store the files for virtual machines that are deployed on the host, and then click Add. Repeat this step if you want to add more than one path. Note the following behavior:

      • If you leave the box empty, the default path of %SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V is used. Be aware that it is a best practice not to add default paths that are on the same drive as the operating system files.

      • If you specify a path that does not already exist, the path is created automatically.

      Note

      When you add a host cluster, you do not specify default virtual machine paths, as you would for a stand-alone host. For a host cluster, VMM automatically manages the paths that are available for virtual machines based on the shared storage that is available to the host cluster.

   4. When you are finished, click Next.

9. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

   The Jobs dialog box appears to show the job status. Make sure that the job has a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box.

10. To verify that the host or host cluster was successfully added, in the Fabric pane, expand the host group where you added the host or host cluster, click the host or host cluster. Then, in the Hosts pane, verify that the host status is OK.

    Tip

    To view detailed information about host status, right-click a host in the VMM console, and then click Properties. On the Status tab, you can view the health status for various areas such as overall health, VMM agent health, and Hyper-V role health. If there is an issue, you can click Repair all. VMM will try to automatically fix the issue.

Adding Windows Servers as Hyper-V Hosts in VMM Overview
Configuring Hyper-V Host Properties in VMM