Hyper-V Host as DC
- Hi everyone,
I have a quick question regarding a design.
Background:
We are in the process of migrating 2 datacenters into 1 single datacenter and downsizing a total of 27 physical servers to a 12 server environment with 4 hyper-v servers and 8 terminal servers. We have limited rack space available because of other hardware.
Scenario:
I am considering making the 4 Hyper-V hosts as Domain Controllers. I know running DC as guest virtual servers on top of the Hyper-V hosts has its issues and read through the recommended deployments for DC's as virtual servers. However, I have not found much discussing actually using the Hyper-V host OS as the domain controller. I know resources are a concern, but even with the virtual server loads, we should have enough to spare for each to run these services on each Hyper-V host.
Question:
If I make each of the 4 Hyper-V hosts OS's Domain Controllers, what are the gotchas? Basically, can anyone give me a reason why not?
Thanks in advance.
TJ Rosenthal
TJR
Answers
- Hello,
I would definately not use the host machines for domain controllers. This is definately not a supported topology and you would be better off with either (1) standalone physical systems or (2) VMs as DCs. I'd recommend multiple VMs as DCs and at least one domain controller outside of a Hyper-V failover cluster.
Here is another post to which multiple people have addressed this question: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/173f9256-f285-4402-8398-662dc53c2aa3
Thanks,
Nathan Lasnoski- Proposed As Answer byNathan Lasnoski Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:42 PM
- Marked As Answer byBrianEhMVP, ModeratorTuesday, September 29, 2009 8:45 PM
All Replies
- Hello,
I would definately not use the host machines for domain controllers. This is definately not a supported topology and you would be better off with either (1) standalone physical systems or (2) VMs as DCs. I'd recommend multiple VMs as DCs and at least one domain controller outside of a Hyper-V failover cluster.
Here is another post to which multiple people have addressed this question: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/173f9256-f285-4402-8398-662dc53c2aa3
Thanks,
Nathan Lasnoski- Proposed As Answer byNathan Lasnoski Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:42 PM
- Marked As Answer byBrianEhMVP, ModeratorTuesday, September 29, 2009 8:45 PM
Hi Nathan,
Thanks for your reply. I will utilize one of the other 8 available servers and repurpose it as a DC. I will then create 2 other DC's virtually. Thanks for the information and link.
TJR
