LUN to VHDX move with DFS Enabled

Question

Current Setup:

4 windows server 2012 R2 with IIS role.
Running on Hyper-V 2012 R2 with failover clustering and live migration capabilities.
DFS enabled on all web servers.
Each server has a LUN attached to it with the size of 50 GB.
A folder on each LUN created with the name of DFS, which is used by DFS obviously.
IIS configuration file was moved from default location to a folder inside of the DFS folder. This allows the configuration to be shared among all web servers.
Current setup works great, so I am not troubleshooting anything, however, I would like to change the LUNs with VHDX file for each VM. In case you’re wondering why I want to do this, the reason is that I am using Veeam to back up servers, and the backup is able to backup any data stored on virtual disks only, so data stored on those LUNs is not being backed up right now.

Of course, I could unnecessarily spend the money and get a windows host license for each VM and that will take care of the problem, but I would rather use the license that’s applied at the Hyper-V host level instead.

I am not entirely sure of the best way to do this, so I am seeking experts’ advice, as these web servers are very critical and run mission critical web applications and services.

I look forward to hearing from you all on the best way to do this.

Thanks in advance

Thread source link: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/742512e5-8fdb-4a9e-bc6b-83c53f8be573/lun-to-vhdx-move-with-dfs-enabled?forum=winserverfiles

Answer 1

Hi,

Hyper-V has a little known feature where it can convert any locally attached disk (to the hypervisor) to a virtual disk.

Here is the detailed guide:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff458344.aspx

2. Use Disk2VHD. It is a utility that creates VHD versions of physical disks.

Here is the link:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415.aspx

For dfs replication, based on my knowledge, if the VHD files are not virtual machine, dfs-r could still work.

But in your scenario, you may need to consider to re-create the dfs replication group after your convert it.

And you could also check the thread discussed before.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/c5d51d2d-87cb-4b98-b5cc-c750e927bff1/using-dfsr-to-replicate-vhd-and-vhdx-files?forum=winserverfiles

For web server related configuration after this change, I'm afraid that may need to consult in specialized iis forum.

https://forums.iis.net/

Best Regards,

Answer 2

Hey,

Alternatively, you can use StarWind V2V converter to P2V your LUNs to VHDXs to attach to your VMs. Check for more: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/v2v-help/PhysicalDisksandP2VScenario.html

Cheers,

Alex Bykvoskyi

StarWind Software

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