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How to Assign SMB 3.0 File Shares to Hyper-V Hosts and Clusters in VMM

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

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

Starting with Windows Server 2012, Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 file shares can be used as shared storage for Hyper-V hosts, so that Hyper-V can store virtual machine files, which include configuration, virtual hard disk (.vhd and .vhdx) files, and snapshots on SMB file shares. By using Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), you can assign SMB file shares to stand-alone servers that are running Hyper-V and host clusters. This topic describes the required procedures to deploy this configuration:

  1. Add a storage device—As a first step, add a storage device or Windows-based file server to the VMM console. As part of the Add operation, VMM discovers all the storage of shares that are available on the device. For instructions, see How to Add Windows File Server Shares in VMM, and How to Add and Classify SMI-S and SMP Storage Devices in VMM.

  2. Create a file share—Create a file share on the Windows-based file server. For example, create a file share that is named \\fileserver1\smbfileshare. When you create the share, you do not have to assign specific permissions at the share or file system level. VMM automatically assigns the required permissions. For instructions, see Creating a file share.

  3. Assign the share—Assign the share to a virtual machine host or cluster. VMM automatically modifies the share to assign the necessary permissions for the server that is running Hyper-V or cluster to access the storage. For instructions, see Assigning a file share. Note the following prerequisites to create and assign the share:

    • We recommend that you use a dedicated file server.

    • The Windows-based file server should be in the same Active Directory Domain Services domain as the virtual machine hosts.

    • Files shares that are assigned to hosts and clusters should not be added as VMM library shares.

    • For SMB 3.0 file shares to work correctly with VMM, the file server must not be a server that is running Hyper-V. This rule also applies to a highly available file server. Do not add the file server, whether stand-alone or in a cluster, as a managed host in VMM.

    • The VMM service account must have local administrative credentials on the file server where the SMB 3.0 share resides. You must assign these permissions outside of VMM.

Creating a file share

Create the file share on the file server, or optionally, create the file share by using the VMM console.

To create a file share by using VMM

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. Click Storage, and then click Providers.

  3. In the Providers pane, select the file server, and then click Create File Share.

  4. In the Create File Share dialog box, specify the absolute path where you want to create the share. If the share does not exist, VMM creates it.

  5. Optionally, select Continuously Available File Server if you are using the Hyper-V Scale-Out File Server feature. For more information, see Scale-Out File Server for Application Data Overview .

Assigning a file share

After you create a host, you must assign the file share to any host or cluster on which you want to create virtual machines that use storage on the file server.

To configure a stand-alone host for SMB 3.0 file share access

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Servers, and then expand All Hosts.

  3. Click the host that you want to configure. Then, on the Host tab, in the Properties group, click Properties.

  4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Host Access tab.

  5. In the Run As account box, configure the account settings. Note the following:

    • By default, the Run As account that was used to add the host to VMM is listed. If you want to change the Run As account, click Browse, and then select an existing Run As account, or click Create Run As Account to create a new account. You cannot use the same account that you used for the VMM service account.

    • If you used a domain account for the VMM service account, add the domain account to the local Administrators group on the file server.

    • If you used the local system account for the VMM service account, add the computer account for the VMM management server to the local Administrators group on the file server. For example, for a VMM management server that is named VMMServer01, add the computer account VMMServer01$.

    • Any host or host cluster that accesses the SMB 3.0 file share must have been added to VMM by using a Run As account. VMM automatically uses this Run As account to access the SMB 3.0 file share.

      Note

      If you specified explicit user credentials when you added a host or host cluster, you can remove the host or cluster from VMM, and then add it again by using a Run As account.

  6. In the Host Name Properties dialog box, click the Storage tab.

  7. On the toolbar, click Add File Share.

  8. In File share path, select the required SMB 3.0 file share, and then click OK.

    Tip

    To confirm that the host has access, open the Jobs workspace to view the job status. Or, open the host properties again, and then click the Storage tab. Under File Shares, click the SMB 3.0 file share. Verify that a green check mark appears next to Access to file share.

  9. Repeat this procedure for any stand-alone host that you want to access the SMB 3.0 file share.

To configure a host cluster for SMB 3.0 file share access

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Servers, and then expand All Hosts.

  3. Locate and right-click the cluster node that you want to configure, and then click Properties.

  4. In the Host Name Properties dialog box, click the Host Access tab.

  5. In the Run As account box, configure the account settings. Note the following:

    Note

    By default, the Run As account that was used to add the host to VMM is listed. If you want to change the Run As account, click Browse, and then select an existing Run As account, or click Create Run As Account to create a new account. Do not use the same account that you used for the VMM service account. You must use the same Run As account on all cluster nodes.

  6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 on each node of the host cluster.

  7. After you have verified the host management Run As account on each cluster node, click the host cluster that contains the nodes. Then, on the Host Cluster tab, in the Properties group, click Properties.

  8. In the Cluster Name Properties dialog box, click the File Share Storage tab.

  9. In the File share storage pane, click Add.

  10. In File share path, select the required SMB 3.0 file share, and then click OK.

  11. Click OK to apply the changes and to close the dialog box.

    Tip

    To confirm that the cluster has access, open the Jobs workspace to view the job status. To view the access status, free space, and total capacity for the share, open the host cluster properties again, and then click the File Share Storage tab.

  12. Repeat this procedure for any other host cluster to access the SMB 3.0 file share.

See Also

Configuring Storage in VMM
How to Add and Classify SMI-S and SMP Storage Devices in VMM