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I have a windows server (server 2008). It has gotten complicated with installs of IIS, SQL server, MySQL, Com Components, and site data.

I am constantly worried that if the sever explodes, that re-configuring everything would take a small army, and my sites will suffer.

The server hardware has enough juice to handle hyper-v, with 8gb or ram. I wish that I would have setup hyper v to begin with and then setup my system in a hyper-v image.

Since i am so far ahead, are there any tools that will convert what I have now into a Hyper-V image? A Hyper-V image will be so much easier to backup.

Note, I do regular DB and File system backups, but I am worried about my configuration.

Any advice is appreciated.

Frank
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1 Answers1

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Most hypervisors have built-in physical to virtual conversion tools. Hyper-V is no exception. While I've had fairly good luck with P2V migrations, it's not bullet-proof.

Having said this, I worry about this comment,

A Hyper-V image will be so much easier to backup.

Have you taken into consideration the necessary hard drive space and speed of said drives? Plan on adding a SAN or already have one? What network technology do you plan on implementing, iSCSI, FCoE, etc.?

GregD
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  • Greg, will a hyper-v image be larger than an actual os install? I am assuming there will be some bloat because of the extra hyper-v layer. My server is a dell poweredge it has 2 scsi drives now, with slots for more. My goal is to backup only the windows system, blank databases, IIS metabase, MYsql blank dbs, users, passwords, hots file, and basic web site files (around 1 gb). Then if my server crashes i can just populate the db's from backups, and user uploaded files from backup drives. ? – Frank Dec 20 '10 at 15:11
  • @Frank: Short answer is YES. I am in the throes of testing/migrating to Hyper-v right now. One of the things that has caught us off guard is exactly how much disk space these VMs take up. When you factor in snapshots, merging, etc., the bulk can really pile on. I would highly recommend you do a LOT of research before you make the assumption that a hypervisor will make backups easier. – GregD Dec 20 '10 at 15:22
  • Hyper-v is not a panacea to proper backups. – GregD Dec 20 '10 at 15:24
  • @greg, thanks! What tool are you using to image your system to Hyper-v? Also, how much ram does hyper-v take, and lets say my whole os is 30gigs, how much do you think the size of the Hyper-V file might be? I wish i could find an affordable Hyper-v host, and outsource this. – Frank Dec 21 '10 at 14:12
  • @Frank - I don't mean to be rude, but if you're asking me these types of questions, you really need to look at outsourcing this as you said. – GregD Dec 21 '10 at 14:18
  • @greg, not rude at all. I am a developer, not an It expert. I am trying to get far enough while we can, and then eventually outsource this. I actually was excited to hear that Azure is going to be supporting a Hyper-v role, and hope to eventually outsource all the it aspects. We have built our app in a way where we could change IP addresses and not have to do too much work getting things running. – Frank Dec 21 '10 at 14:20
  • @greg, you never did say what too you use for this.. – Frank Dec 21 '10 at 18:51
  • @Frank: What tool are you using to image your system to Hyper-V? I'm not sure what you mean by this. Your original question was about taking a P2V, which I answered. – GregD Dec 21 '10 at 19:55