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How to Add a Library Server

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Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

Use the Add library server action, which is available in all views of the Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console, to add new library servers to Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) and designate shares on the servers as library shares. You can later designate additional library shares by using the Add library shares action in Library view. For more information, see How to Add Library Shares.

To add a highly available library server, you can add a failover cluster created in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. To do this, enter the highly available file server name (not the cluster name) when you add the library server. Clusters created in Windows Server 2003 are not supported.

Note

VMM does not support using a failover cluster that contains the VMM server as a highly available library server.

Adding a library server installs a Virtual Machine Manager agent on the server with the Library Server role.

Important

When you add a virtual machine host or library server, VMM remotely installs a VMM agent on the managed computer. The VMM agent deployment process uses both the Server Message Block (SMB) ports and the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) port (TCP 135) and the DCOM port range. You can use either SMB packet signing or IPSec to help secure the agent deployment process. You can also install VMM agents locally on hosts, discover them in the VMM Administrator Console, and then control the host using only the WinRM port (default port 80) and BITS port (default port 443).

Requirements

A library server must meet the following requirements:

  • The library server must have either the Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system or the Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later operating system. For highly available file servers, the failover cluster must have been created in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

  • The library server must be in an Active Directory domain that has a two-way trust relationship with the VMM server’s domain.

  • Virtual Machine Manager does not support file servers configured with the case-sensitive option for Windows Services for UNIX (NFS Case Control is set to Ignore).

To add a library server to VMM

  1. In any view of the VMM Administrator Console, in the Actions pane, click Add library server.

  2. On the Enter Credentials wizard page, enter a domain account that has administrative credentials on all of the servers that you will add.

  3. On the Select Library Servers wizard page, type or select the server that you want to add, and then click Add to add the server to the list of selected servers.

    To add a highly available library server, enter the highly available file server name as the computer name. Also known as the Client Access Point, the highly available file server name usually is different from the cluster name. The wizard will discover all of the nodes in the failover cluster and install a VMM agent on each node. The highly available library server will appear as a single library server in Library view, with the node status available in the properties of the library server.

    Note

    For information about managing highly available library servers, see Frequently Asked Questions: Virtual Machine Manager Library.

  4. On the Add Library Shares wizard page, select each share that you want to add to the library. Only files on designated library shares will be indexed during library refreshes.

  5. On the Summary wizard page, click Add Library Servers.

    You can click the View Script button to display the Windows PowerShell – Virtual Machine Manager cmdlets that will perform this operation.

Note

After adding a library server, you can specify a library group in the library server’s properties. For more information, see How to Assign Library Groups. You also can allow unencrypted file transfers for the library server. For more information, see How to Allow Unencrypted File Transfers for a Library Server.

See Also

Concepts

How to Add Library Shares
Using the Windows PowerShell - VMM Command Shell