Connect Hyper-V 2016 using remote console

In this final step we are now ready to install the Hyper-V Management tools to Connect Hyper-V 2016 Server. This is the last part of a quick and introductory article series exploring the Hyper-V nested installation into VMware vSphere. As per previous articles, the Hyper-V2016 Server Core does not include the Windows GUI to configure and manage the Host Server. This really is helping saving resources that of course we can invest for Virtual Machines. Moreover a simpler interface is also reducing the number of packages to install and maintain. Music when hardening deployments into Production environments and also for our home labs!

We can still operate with Hyper-V Server Hosts in two ways:

• by installing the Hyper-V Management Tools into a separate computer
• by using PowerShell

Let’s take a quick look at both methods.

Install features to connect Hyper-V 2016 Server

In order to connect Hyper-V 2016 Server Host we need to install the Hyper-V Management Tools. We can easily obtain this by installing New Features from the built-in Server Manager application in Windows Server. In reality we can also perform the same installation using PowerShell.

Before proceeding let’s make sure we are working with supported combinations of Hyper-V Manager and Host versions.

As per screenshot below let’s navigate to the Remote Server Administration Tools > Role Administration Tools > Hyper-V Management Tools. Let’s make sure to select both the Hyper-V GUI Management tools and Module for Windows PowerShell.

The installation will take a few moments. Revisiting the Server Manager panel or the Administrative Tools we can now access to the Hyper-V Manager. Before proceeding let’s also make sure no firewalls are blocking ports between this Console and the Hyper-V Server Host.

Let’s select Connect to Server and specify the hostname for the Hyper-V 2016 Server. I always recommend to make sure DNS naming resolution is working as expected both ways with FQDN names.

We are now connected! From here we can access and manage the Hyper-V 2016 Server settings. We can control many parameters including the Virtual Machines location and behaviour.

And talking about Virtual Machines location, as per previous article adding new storage to Hyper-V Server, we can now define the default location for storing VMs and their configuration files. As per screenshot below let’s start from Virtual Hard Disks location to a separate volume on the Hyper-V 2016 Server Host. In my home lab something like “E:\VM\Data”.

Next we can then configure the default location for the Virtual Machines configuration files. In this example will be something like “E:\VM\Config“.

From the same panel we can also configure other settings. We’ll cover more with specific articles.

Last but not least, we can also connect and manage all the Hyper-V 2016 Server settings by using PowerShell. There are various PowerShell clients. The built-in PowerShell ISE is still my favourite. Very easy to use can also install  packages to add new features.

By selecting the Hyper-V Module we can see the full list of cmd-lets and relative quick help explaining how to use the commands and parameters.

There are really a lot of cool features we can do with Hyper-V PowerShell cmd-lets. Of course the integration with third-party processes is key for full automation and scalability scenarios. For example connecting to Hyper-V 2016 Server to create a new VM and deploy specific applications with custom settings. There are really endless scenarios.

This concludes a very quick article on how to connect Hyper-V 2016 using a remote console. Also this is the last article of an introductory series about nested virtualization. Next steps in my environments will cover the creation of a few Linux and Windows Guests inside Hyper-V 2016 Server and the deployment of a second Hyper-V Host. The idea is to create a sandbox environment in our home lab to test Virtual Machines availability and replication.

So what would you use the nested virtualization for? It would be great to receive your comments and feedback!