Hyper V with DFS storage

tristan williams 1 Reputation point
2021-09-16T10:31:59.887+00:00

Hello

Does anyone know if the below is possible at all. And if so how it works?

Setup 2 server hosts with Hyper V role and DFS role

setup DFS to replicate between the 2 hosts
Setup a VM onto the DFS share E.G Virtual hard disk is located on the DFS share on hyper v node 1

Obviously the virtual hard disk will get replicated over to Hyper v node 2

What happens if I now migrate the VM over to node 2? Does it do it instantly? or will it still try to copy the files over to the other node first before migrating.

Im trying to see if this would work instead of using shared storage such as an MSA or SAN as these are very expensive and I don't have the budget for that.

Thanks in advance

Windows Server
Windows Server
A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.
12,108 questions
Hyper-V
Hyper-V
A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
2,531 questions
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Leon Laude 85,651 Reputation points
    2021-09-16T11:58:42.517+00:00

    Hi @tristan williams ,

    The best practice is to only have the Hyper-V role installed on the server acting as a hypervisor, DFS Replication (DFS-R) is meant for replicating files and not virtual machines or databases. The .VHDX files of the virtual machines will also be in use which will complicate the DFS Replication.

    Note that DFS Replication can have delays so it is definitely not optimal for virtual machines, if you want to replicate Hyper-V virtual machines you should consider Hyper-V Replica or any third-party replication, or storage replication.

    ----------

    If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you!

    Best regards,
    Leon

    0 comments
  2. Limitless Technology 39,341 Reputation points
    2021-09-16T19:31:25.9+00:00

    Hello @tristan williams

    This is exactly why Live Migration exists. Storage doesn't move, but the VM control does from host to host in matter of seconds

    Check this out: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/manage/live-migration-overview

    Hope this answer your questions,
    Best regards,

    0 comments