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How to Add Hyper-V Hosts in a Perimeter Network in VMM

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedure to add Hyper-V hosts that are in a perimeter network (also known as DMZ, demilitarized zone, and screened subnet) as managed Hyper-V hosts in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). You can only add stand-alone hosts that are in a perimeter network. VMM does not support managing a host cluster in a perimeter network.

Note

You can also use this procedure to add a stand-alone Hyper-V host that is in a workgroup and not part of a domain.

Before you can add a host that is on a perimeter network to VMM, you must install an agent locally on the server that you want to add.

To install the VMM agent on the target host

  1. On the VMM product media or network share, right-click Setup.exe, and then click Run as administrator.

  2. On the Setup menu, under Optional Installations, click Local Agent.

  3. On the Welcome page, click Next.

  4. Review and accept the software license terms, and then click Next.

  5. On the Destination Folder page, accept the default location or click Change to specify a different location, and then click Next.

  6. On the Security File Folder page, do the following:

    1. Select the This host is on a perimeter network check box.

    2. In the Security file encryption key box, enter an encryption key, and then enter it again in the Confirm encryption key box.

      Important

      The encryption key is a value that you choose. We recommend that you enter an encryption key that contains a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

      Important

      Make note of the encryption key that you use to create the security file. You must enter this same key again when you add the host in the VMM console.

    3. Either accept the default location where the encrypted security file will be stored, or click Change to specify a different location to store the encrypted security file.

      Important

      Make note of the location where you stored the security file. In the “To ensure that the Security.txt file is available to VMM” procedure, you must transfer the security file to a location that is accessible to the computer on which a VMM console is installed.

    4. To use a certificate to encrypt communications between the VMM management server and the host, select the Use a CA signed certificate for encrypting communications with this host check box. In the Thumbprint of the certificate box, enter the thumbprint of the certificate.

      Note

      To obtain the thumbprint of a certificate, open the Certificates snap-in, and then select Computer account. In the Certificates snap-in, locate and then double-click the certificate that you want to use. On the Details tab, select the Thumbprint field. In the lower pane, highlight the thumbprint value, and then press Ctrl+C to copy the value to the clipboard.

    5. When you are finished, click Next.

  7. On the Host network name page, specify how the VMM management server will contact the host, and then click Next. You can select either of the following options:

    • Use local computer name

    • Use IP address

    If you select Use IP address, click an IP address in the list.

    Important

    Make note of the computer name or IP address of the host. You must enter this same information again when you add the host in the VMM console.

  8. On the Configuration settings page, accept the default port settings, or specify different ports, and then click Next.

    Important

    We recommend that you do not change the default port 5986 for agent communication. The port settings that you assign for the agent must identically match the port setting that the VMM management server uses. By default, the VMM management server uses port 5986 for agent communication with hosts in a perimeter network, and port 443 for file transfers.

  9. On the Ready to install page, click Install.

To ensure that the SecurityFile.txt file is available to VMM

  1. On the target host, navigate to the folder where the security file is stored. By default, the location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\Virtual Machine Manager. The name of the security file is SecurityFile.txt.

  2. Transfer the security file to a location that is accessible to the computer on which a VMM console is installed. For example, transfer the file to the computer where the VMM console is installed, to an internal file share, or to a USB flash drive.

To add the Hyper-V host in the perimeter network

  1. In the VMM console, open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, click Servers.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Add group, click Add Resources, and then click Hyper-V Hosts and Clusters.

    The Add Resource Wizard starts.

  4. On the Resource location page, click Windows Server computers in a perimeter network, and then click Next.

  5. On the Target resources page, do the following:

    1. In the Computer name box, enter the NetBIOS name or the IP address of the host in the perimeter network.

    2. In the Encryption key box, enter the encryption key that you created when you installed the agent on the target host.

    3. In the Security file path box, enter the path of the SecurityFile.txt file, or click Browse to locate the file.

    4. In the Host group list, click the host group where you want to add the host.

      For example, click the Seattle\Tier2_SEA host group.

    5. Click Add.

      The computer is listed under Computer Name in the lower pane.

    6. Repeat this step to add other hosts in the perimeter network. When you are finished, click Next.

  6. On the Host settings page, in the Add the following path box, enter the path on the host where you want to store the files for virtual machines that are deployed on hosts, and then click Add. If you leave the box empty, the default path of %SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V is used. Be aware that it is a best practice not to add default paths that are on the same drive as the operating system files.

    Repeat this step if you want to add more than one path. When you are finished, click Next.

    Note

    You can ignore the Reassociate this host with this Virtual Machine Manager environment check box. This setting does not apply to hosts in a perimeter network.

  7. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

    The Jobs dialog box appears to show the job status. Make sure that the job has a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box.

  8. To verify that the host was successfully added, in the Fabric pane, expand Servers, expand All Hosts, expand the host group where you added the host, and then click the host. In the Hosts pane, verify that the host status is OK.

    Tip

    To view detailed information about host status, right-click the host in the VMM console, and then click Properties. On the Status tab you can view the health status for different areas such as overall health, host agent health, and Hyper-V role health. If there is an issue, you can click Repair all. VMM will to try to automatically fix the issue.

See Also

Adding Windows Servers as Hyper-V Hosts in VMM Overview