Monthly Archives: September 2013

Windows server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Extended replica

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In Windows server 2012 R2 we can find a new DR functionality – extended hyper-v replica. In Windows server 2012 Hyper-V – replica was introduced – but some parameters were not as flexible as they are in a 2012 R2 preview. There was also possiblity to make hyper-v replica only to one location – so virtual machine that was running on one host was replicated only to an additional hyper-v host. Now you are able to do so called extended replication. It means that you are now able to replicate from location 1 to location 2 and from location 2 to location 3. So it is not possible to send replicas directly from a first hyper-v host to two others but from first to second and from second to third.

To see how it works you can check this video: http://screencast.com/t/8ZdQwdh3CM

Shared nothing live migration from Windows server 2012 to Windows server 2012 R2

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While we are waiting for Windows server 2012 R2 I just played with a feature that will come very useful after upgrading Hyper-V hosts to new version (R2). Microsoft did a great job with the possibility to live migrate (by using shared nothing live migration feature that was already available in Windows server 2012) from old Windows server 2012 hosts with Hyper-V to new Windows server 2012 R2 hosts with Hyper-V. So you will have zero downtime while upgrading your virtualization platform. This goes one way only – so only from older (Windows server 2012) to Windows server 2012 R2 and NOT vice versa.

Here is a video how it works – at the end I also demonstrated that it does not work in opposite direction.

http://screencast.com/t/yz0ggCbFki

Update: It will fail if you have different name for virtual switch – If you have a new name for virtual switch on new server I suggest that you create an “fictive” private virtual switch with the same name on original (old hyper-v). You are not able to choose virtual switch on destination.