How to: Set Up and Configure Virtual Machine Manager

[This documentation is for preview only, and is subject to change in later releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

You must setup and configure System Center Virtual Machine Manager R2 before configuring Lab Management. Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) is a tool for managing your virtual machines from a central console. Visual Studio Team Lab Management talks to VMM to manage the virtual machines deployed using Hyper-V. The following procedures describe how to install and configure VMM on a separate server and the VMM Administrator Console for each Team Foundation Server application tier.

To install VMM server and VMM Administrator Console on the <VmmMachine>

1. Make sure that VmmMachine is running a supported operating system. For more information, see Lab Management System Requirements.

2. On VmmMachine, log on as a domain user who is also an administrator on the machine.

3. Install Virtual Machine Manager. Click Next in all except the following pages of the wizard.

   1. Under Setup on the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 startup page, click VMM Server.

   2. On the SQL Server Settings wizard page, click Install SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SPSP3, and then click Next.

   3. On the Summary of Settings wizard page, click Install.

   4. On the Installation wizard page, click Close.

4. Install Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console. Click Next in all except the following pages of the wizard.

   1. Under Setup on the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 startup wizard page, click VMM Administrator Console.

   2. On the Summary of Settings wizard page, click Install.

   3. On the Installation wizard page, click Close.

5. On the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 startup page, click Exit.

To configure Virtual Machine Manager

1. Open Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console.

   1. Click Start, All programs, Microsoft System Center, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, and then Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console.

   2. On the Connect to Server dialog box, type localhost or the name of VMM Server, and click Connect.

2. Add the HyperVHost machines to a host group in VMM.

   1. In the Actions pane on the right side, click Add host. Click Next in all except the following pages of the wizard.

   2. On Select Host Location wizard page of the Add Hosts wizard, type the credentials of an administrator for the Hyper-V host.

   3. On the Select Host Servers wizard page, type the computer name of the host that you are adding to VMM, for example, HyperVHost, and then click Add.

   4. On the Summary wizard page, click Add Hosts.

   Note

   It is recommended that you configure a separate host group for each team project collection. For instance, if you plan to configure Lab Management in two project collections in Team Foundation Server, create two host groups in Virtual Machine Manager and allocate the hosts to each host group.

3. (Optional) Configure additional library servers and/or library shares.

   1. By default, VMM configures the machine on which it is installed to act as a library server. It also sets up a default library share on the machine. You can optionally add additional library servers or shares to improve the performance.

   2. To add a new library server to VMM, click Add library server in the Actions pane on the right side and follow the instructions in the wizard.

   3. To add a new library share to VMM, first create a Windows file share on a library server. Then select the library server on the Library tab of VMM Administrator Console and click Add library shares under the Actions pane on the right side.

   Note

   It is recommended that you configure a separate library share for each team project collection.

4. Determine the network location for the hosts.

   1. In the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, in the bottom left navigation window, select Hosts.

   2. For each host that you added to VMM, right-click the host name in the Hosts tree, and then click Properties.

   3. In the Host Properties window, click the Hardware tab.

   4. In the left navigation pane under Network Adapters, click the network adapter that is connected to the physical network. If multiple network adapters are connected to the physical network, select the one that is connected to the same network as VmmMachine.

   5. For that network adapter, view the Network location in the right-side pane.

   6. If you find this network location to be empty, you may have selected the wrong adapter or your host may not have been setup correctly. Follow the instructions in How to: Set Up and Configure Hyper-V Hosts.

   7. Make sure that the value entered in Network location is the same for all hosts that you added.

   8. This network location will be needed later when you configure the lab service. This is referred to as the PreferredNetworkLocation.

      Note   If you are setting up all components of Lab Management for demo purposes on a single machine, and if you are using “Internal Network” on the machine to mimic the lab network, then the PreferredNetworkLocation is “Internal Network”. This location does not appear in the host hardware properties as described earlier in the procedure.

To verify that VMM is installed correctly and is working

1. In the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, in the Actions pane on the right side, click New virtual machine.. Click Next in all except the following pages of the wizard.

   1. On the Select Source wizard page, select Create the new virtual machine with a blank virtual hard disk.

   2. On the Virtual Machine Identity wizard page, in Virtual machine name, type blank.

   3. On the Configure Hardware wizard page, under Network Adapters, select the Network Adapter 1. In the right-side pane under Network location, select the PreferredNetworkLocation from the dropdown.

   4. On the Select Destination wizard page, select Place the virtual machine on a host.

   5. On the Select Host wizard page, view the ratings, and then click Next.

      You should see all the HyperVHost machines that you are using for Lab Management. All of them should have ratings of 4 stars or higher. If not, you have an issue that must be corrected. To determine why the HyperVHost machines are not usable by VMM, examine the Rating Explanation.

   6. On the Summary wizard page, click Create.

      A new virtual machine called blank should be created without any errors and should be visible in the Virtual Machines tab of VMM. There might be a warning that VMM could not locate the boot volume. This is expected and can be ignored.

2. In the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, right-click the virtual machine, and then click Start. If the VM does not start, review the information located on the following sites to identify the cause of the problem:

   • New Installation of VMM 2008

   • System Center Virtual Machine Manager TechCenter

3. After the Status of the VM is Running, right-click the VM, and then click Stop.

4. Store the virtual machine in the library.

   1. Right-click the VM, and then click Store in library.

   2. On the Select Library Server wizard page, click one of the library shares that were created during this wizard.

   3. When you are finished, confirm that a virtual machine called blank appears in the Library pane in the VMM Administrator Console.

To improve performance of VM transfers

1. Enable unencrypted file transfers for library servers.

   1. Click the Library tab in VMM Administrator console. Right-click each library server in the Library Servers tree, and then click Properties.

   2. Select Allow unencrypted file transfers.

   3. Click OK to close the dialog.

2. Enable unencrypted file transfers for host groups.

   1. Click the Hosts tab in VMM Administrator console. Right-click each host group in the Hosts tree, and then click Properties.

   2. Select Allow unencrypted file transfers.

   3. Click OK to close the dialog.

      Note

      Enabling unencrypted file transfers reduces the time taken by VMM to copy virtual machines from library to a host and vice-versa. However, this has security implications since the images are transmitted unencrypted over the network.

After you complete the procedures in this topic, update the following entries in the checklist in Lab Management System Requirements

Machine	Description	Computer name	Administrator
VmmMachine	Machine on which SCVMM is installed.
LibraryMachine	Machine that acts as a library server.

Variable	Description	Value
PreferredNetworkLocation	Network location of all Hyper-V hosts in the lab.

See Also

Concepts

Configuring Lab Management Pre-requisites

Other Resources

How to: Set Up and Configure Hyper-V Hosts

How to: Set Up and Configure Additional Library Servers