Understanding Hyper-V in Enterprises

Here are a few ways how running Hyper-V in an enterprise can be beneficial:

• Hyper-V provides a way to “try out” new operating systems without fully committing to them on production clients. If you are interested in a new operating system (say, the latest version of Windows 10), but you are not sure you are ready to take the plunge, fire up a Hyper-V virtual machine of the latest and greatest version and give it a spin. If you are not sure about jumping feet first into the latest version, simply remove the virtual machine and you are finished with it.
• Installing Hyper-V on a workstation, even an old workstation or laptop, enables you to install older versions of software to test how that software operates under Windows 10.
• Hyper-V provides a “closed” environment if you need it. With this environment, you can run tests on applications, device driver settings, network infrastructure modifications, and other tasks that you don't want on your production environment.
• Hyper-V enables administrators to set up multiple occurrences of operating systems, such as Windows 8, Windows 10, Linux, and so on, on a single computer. This makes it easy to test applications, device drivers, networking features, and more, without dedicating multiple computers for each operating system.
• Hyper-V provides a way to set up and customize organizational infrastructures on a single host. Once ready, that Hyper-V infrastructure can be exported and set up on another host or more powerful server hardware.

Migrating Virtual Machines

You can migrate a virtual machine from one host to another. This makes it convenient for testing operating systems, applications, and other issues. To migrate a virtual machine from one host to another, you use the Export Virtual Machine command and Import Virtual Machine wizard.

During the export process, files associated with that VM are bundled in the export. The bundle includes virtual hard drive files, checkpoints, and configuration files.

Upgrading Virtual Machine Configurations

Sometimes you need to upgrade the Hyper-V virtual machine configurations to the latest version. This way, your virtual machines can take advantage of new features released during the upgrade.

To upgrade, follow these steps:

1. Upgrade your local Windows 10 host to the latest version.
2. In Hyper-V Manager, stop the virtual machine you want to upgrade.
3. Select the Action menu. Look for the Upgrade Configuration Version. If this option is not available, your virtual machine has the highest configuration version that is supported by the Hyper-V host.
4. Select Upgrade Configuration Version and work through the upgrade steps.

Once your VM is upgraded, you can restart the VM using the controls in Hyper-V Manager.

Understanding Hyper-V Checkpoints

Hyper-V provides a way to create checkpoints of your virtual machines. Checkpoints can be used to specify a specific point in time to which you would like to roll back a virtual machine. Checkpoints must be established prior to rolling back to them, but you can automate the creation of checkpoints. You also can manually create a checkpoint.

Checkpoints are handy if you experience issues within the virtual machine operating environment. For example, say you install an application on a virtual machine and the application changes configuration settings on the VM operating system, creating an unstable environment. In some cases, simply uninstalling the application may undo the damage. However, in other cases, the system may still operate unpredictably.

In that scenario, it would be nice to stop, reverse the system back to the time before the errant application was installed, and resume as if nothing happened. To make sure you can do this, create a checkpoint before you start installing applications and making changes to your system. Then, if you experience an issue after the installation, you can restore the system to the checkpoint and your system will run just as it did before the installation. The key is to stop and make the checkpoints prior to the installation process.

Creating a Checkpoint

To create a Hyper-V checkpoint, perform the following steps:

1. Start Hyper-V Manager.
2. In the Virtual Machines column, right-click the VM for which you want to create a checkpoint.
3. Click Checkpoint (see Figure 14.1). Hyper-V starts the process of creating the checkpoint. You can see that Hyper-V is creating the checkpoint by looking in the Actions column for the “Cancel creating checkpoint” action, as shown in Figure 14.2.
4. After the checkpoint is created, the Virtual Machine Checkpoint dialog box appears (see Figure 14.3). Click OK.
5. The new checkpoint appears in the Checkpoints area in the Hyper-V Manager (see Figure 14.4).

You can create as many checkpoints as you want.

Applying a Checkpoint

To revert to a system state using a checkpoint is called applying a checkpoint. This simply returns the VM to its state at the time the checkpoint was created. In many cases, you should create a checkpoint of the current state of the VM just in case you want to return to it if the previous checkpoint does not meet your needs. You can do this manually before you begin the apply process, or do it during the applying a checkpoint process.

To create a checkpoint and apply a checkpoint, do the following:

1. Start Hyper-V Manager.
2. Click the VM on which want to apply a checkpoint.
3. In the Checkpoint area, right-click the checkpoint you want to apply (see Figure 14.5).
4. Click Apply. The Apply Checkpoint dialog box appears (see Figure 14.6).
5. Click Create Checkpoint and Apply. Click Apply if you want to apply a checkpoint without creating a current checkpoint. Also, if the VM is running, Hyper-V Manager shuts down the VM, creates the checkpoint, and then applies the selected checkpoint.
6. Restart the VM to view the system state.

If you have an issue with the older checkpoint, apply the checkpoint you created in Step 5 to return to the latest system state. This procedure should allow you to start your VM in a known working state.

Exporting Virtual Machines

Virtual Machines can be exported from one device and imported on another. This provides a way to share system environments between devices to make it easy to set up VMs on different hosts for testing purposes, evaluating software, and so on.

To export a VM, do the following:

1. Start Hyper-V Manager.
2. Turn off the VM you want to export. (Right-click the VM, click Turn Off, and then click Turn Off).
3. Right-click the VM you want to export in the Virtual Machines column (see Figure 14.7).
4. Click Export.
5. The Export Virtual Machine dialog box appears (see Figure 14.8).
6. Specify the location where you want to save the exported VM. Make sure the location has enough space for the exported VM. Many Windows 10 VMs are of considerable size, such as over 6–10GB.
7. Click Export.

The VM exports.

Importing Virtual Machines

An exported VM can be imported into Hyper-V Manager to allow you to share VMs from one host to another. This feature is handy when you have a working VM on one computer and want to bring up the VM on another computer to share its capabilities or to see how that VM runs on a different host.

When you're importing, Hyper-V offers the following three types of imports:

• Register in-place: Export files are in the location in which you will store and run the virtual machine. The VM you import will have the same ID as it did when you exported it.
• Restore the virtual machine: This option restores the VM to a different location of your choosing. You also can use the default Hyper-V location. The VM you import creates a copy of the exported files (with the same ID) and moves them to the selected location.
• Copy the virtual machine: This option restores the VM to a different location and creates a new unique ID for the VM. This allows you to import the VM to the same host multiple times.

To import a virtual machine, do the following:

1. Export the VM you want to import using the steps provided in the preceding section.
2. Start Hyper-V Manager on the host on which you want to import the VM.
3. In the Actions pane, click Import Virtual Machine (see Figure 14.9). The Import Virtual Machine wizard appears (see Figure 14.10).
4. Click Next. The Locate Folder wizard screen appears (see Figure 14.11).
5. Specify the location of the imported VM file.
6. Click Next. The Select Virtual Machine wizard screen appears (see Figure 14.12).
7. Click Next. The Choose Import Type wizard screen appears (see Figure 14.13). In this example we will create a new ID by selecting Copy the Virtual Machine (Create a New Unique ID).
8. Click Next. The Choose Folders for Virtual Machine Files wizard screen appears (see Figure 14.14).
9. Specify the location of the imported VM, such as a new or existing folder.
10. Click Next. The Choose Folders to Store Virtual Hard Disks wizard screen appear (see Figure 14.15).
11. Specify the location of the import VM hard disks. By default, Hyper-V attempts to store the hard disks in the same location as the one you have on that host. To avoid an error, specify a new location.
12. Click Next. The Completing Import Wizard screen appears (see Figure 14.16).
13. Read the summary description to ensure your import settings are correct. You can click the Previous button to return to a screen to correct any mistakes in the import settings.
14. Click Finish.

After the import process, you can start the VM from Hyper-V Manager.

Wrapping Up

Virtual machines are one way administrators have found to become more adept at Windows 10 features, application enrichments, device driver issues, and other elements of the operating system. You can manage them using the Hyper-V Manager in Windows 10 to perform several tasks, such as migrating VMs, creating VM checkpoints, exporting VMs, and importing VMs.

This chapter introduced the following points:

• Understanding Hyper-V in enterprises
• Migrating virtual machines
• Upgrading virtual machines
• Understanding Hyper-V checkpoints
• Exporting virtual machines
• Importing virtual machines