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Proto TintFlag for Sudan

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domain controller as VM, recommendations?

Hi experts,


We plan to make or migrate physical microsoft DNS AD to hyper-v VM,


Is domain controller is recommended to be in VM hyper-v and why

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Mlanda T
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There should be no problem with virtualising your domain controller. This is a model that's increasingly adopted in many environments and will give you access to the many benefits of virtualization (easier backups, snapshots, dynamic scaling, more efficient use of compute resources, etc). 

Yes.


I deal with small (30-user or less) networks with a single physical server.  My usual configuration is Windows Server as a physical host that simply hosts Hyper-V.  I'll then have two VMs: one that is the DC that also does DNS and DHCP and a second one that does file and print sharing as well as being an app server.  I think you'll find that to be a fairly common arrangement.


For the last few versions, the minimum Windows Server license allows this arrangement.  If you want additional VMs, you'll need additional licenses.


As others will tell you here, if you intend to set up Windows server NOT as a VM, you should have a really good reason.  There are many advantages including ease of backup, ease of moving to different hardware, maximizing the use of hardware resources, and more.


I had trouble with a client's server that I thought was hardware related.  In short order I was able to throw together a Windows 10 Pro computer, install a large enough SATA drive (this was all temporary), install enough RAM, and copy the VMs over from the failing server to the Windows 10 Pro computer.  Once the VMs were up and running, users on the network didn't see any difference other than slower performance.  That gave me plenty of time to resolve issues in the hardware of the original server.  This is not nearly as easy to do with the server if it is running directly on the host hardware (bare-metal).


There are some excellent articles about VMs and Hyper-V on EE.  If you can't find them, just ask and either I'll find them or the authors will point them out.

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ASKER

Thx Mlanda and Thx CompProb

As Mlanda and CompProbSolv have said, it definitely is recommended.  If you turn the question round and ask is there is any good reason to NOT virtualize the servers?  I can't think of any.

I think the question should be why should a DC be physical, we've been using virtual DC's since 2004 !

and most are now using AD in Azure offsite in the Cloud !

Microsoft Server has been virtual aware since 2012 !
Thx Guys
Yet, we come across organisations which still to this day, use a Physical!

I suppose they don't trust virtualization !

I'd take out "trust" and change that to "understand". Maybe they don't understand virtual. 

@Mlanda T

Nope, they understand virtualisation, because they have between 1,000 to 17,000 virtual machines!

They don't trust it for a DC!

Very odd !
We do understand virtualization, we do have hyper-v and vmware ESXi vms. Old data center nowadays migrate to virtual environment saving spaces of racks and for better performance, management, and hardly for saving money.

I see. It is perhaps a trust issue then. Ah well, let's hope they cross the rubicon now and just migrate their DC to their local cloud as well. All the best Proto. 

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CompProbSolv
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