Protecting Hyper-V Environments › Hyper-V Server Configuration Requirements › Configure Hyper-V for High Availability

Configure Hyper-V for High Availability

The following information applies only to Arcserve RHA High Availability. The default Hyper-V settings are usually sufficient when using Arcserve RHA but there are some default changes you should make to ensure virtual machines can easily and successfully be started on the Replica when the Master is unavailable:

• Integration Components are required by default. However, if you set the Is Alive, Check Method, Connect to DB property to Off, Arcserve RHA skips this check.
• The Snapshot folder cannot be overlapped for any Arcserve RHA-protected virtual machine but Microsoft puts all virtual machine snapshots in the same folder by default.

The following procedure uses a Windows guest as an example, but works for any supported Hyper-V guest operating system.

To configure Hyper-V for High Availability

1. Launch the Hyper-V Manager wizard.
2. From the New Virtual Machine wizard dialog, enter a Name, select the Store the virtual machine in a different location option and then provide the location. We recommend changing the default path to a NAS or SAN volume. Click Next.

3. From the Assign Memory dialog, set guest memory. Typically, 512 MB is sufficient for a single service guest. Click Next.

4. From the Configure Networking dialog, select the virtual network adapter. Make sure you select a virtual network adapter that is bound to the physical network adapter. Click Next.

5. From the Connect Virtual Hard Disk dialog, select Create a virtual hard disk. By default, the virtual disk is created under the VM folder. You may also use an existing disk. Click Next.

6. From the Installation Options dialog, select Install an operating system later and click Next.

7. From the Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard dialog, select Start the virtual machine after it is created and click Finish to exit the wizard.

8. The snapshot folder is automatically set to the virtual machine folder. Click OK.

9. Once the operating system is ready, connect to the virtual machine. Click the Action menu and select Insert Integration Services Setup Disk.

10. Install the integration services in the guest OS.

You should also configure the Hyper-V Replica as follows:

• Install 64-bit Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with the Windows6.0KB950050-x86.msu Hyper-V patch on the Master server, with a CPU and motherboard capable of running Hyper-V. The Replica server can run any Windows-based system.
• Configure the same number of network connections on the Replica that exists on the Master.