We are about to upgrade our Hyper-V host servers from Server 2008R2 Enterprise SP1 to Server 2012 R2 Datacentre to take advantage of the latest Hyper-V features.
This only concerns the host servers and not the guest VMs running on the hosts (they will be upgraded next year).
This is what is running on our host servers:
- Host 1
- File,print & issuing CA server
- Exchange 2010
- SharePoint 2010
- Quickbooks server
- Domain controller 1
- Offline CRL CA
- Host 2
- SQL 2008
- Forefront TMG 2010
- Domain Controller 2
- Windows 7 client
- Create a list of all file locations for VM memory, snapshots, virtual memory and Hyper-V config files
- Document all existing system settings
- Gather server information, download drivers, RAID controller and other boot drivers & firmware updates (in case the in-place upgrade fails)
- Test all software media
- Copy all VMs onto external data storage (NAS drive)
- As part of the upgrade process we will redistribute some hard drive space i.e.
- expand them to their new sizes and verify the data integrity of copied VMs by powering up each VM in a test environment
- Wipe and adjust the sizes of the host partitions to accommodate the expanded VMs
- Perform an in-place upgrade to Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
- Check EV, services etc
- Change the default locations for VM memory, snapshots, virtual memory and Hyper-V config files
- Upgrade Anti-virus and other system software
- Test the system
With this is mind, I have drafted a rough action plan as follows:
Are there any glaring omissions? Does anyone have any tips they can give me?
Marco S