Here we are with the third part of the article series on Hyper-V 2016. In this article the Hyper-V 2016 configuration steps are organised in different sections for easy and quick read. The list below represents the topic we’ll cover in this article:
- Hyper-V 2016 Configuration of Windows Updates
- Remote Desktop Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
- Firewall Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
- Create a VMware template for Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
- Hyper-V 2016 Configuration of Network Settings
- Hostname Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
- Installing VMware Tools on Hyper-V 2016
- Domain Join Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
- Conclusions
Ready? Here we go!
Hyper-V 2016 Configuration introduction
As you can expect the Hyper-V 2016 configuration uses a text based wizard as per previous release of Hyper-V. Upon the first boot from the install phase the first option will be to create a password for the local Administrator user.
We can choose a password that of course can be changed later on if required. What’s interesting is that from the same “screen” we can also hit “ESC” twice to login with a different user when multiple users are created locally in Hyper-V or the Hyper-V server is part of an Active Directory Domain as we’ll cover later on.
As per screenshot below.
As soon as the password is created a new command prompt will appear for the actual Hyper-V 2016 Configuration.
Hyper-V 2016 Configuration of Windows Updates
the first thing I generally configure when installing a new OS is about Updates. And Hyper-V makes no exception. In this case considering I’m just running Hyper-V as VM for testing purposes I’m happy to use what’s currently out-of-the-box. Additionally the reserved space on the system drive might be filling up in the future very quickly by downloading updates. By the way this option can be changed at any time.
To change the policy for Windows Updates let’s press on option 5.
For this installation I will choose a Manual Install of the updates.
And confirm with the selection.
Remote Desktop Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
Hyper-V 2016 Server also includes a Remote Desktop feature that we can configure. Let’s hit on option 7.
Of course let’s select the Enable option.
Once the Remote Desktop feature is active we can also decide on the security features. NLA forces the client computer to present user credentials for authentication before the server will create a session for that user. Because NLA relies on a technology called Credential Security Support Provider (CredSSP) Protocol it is important the RDP client we use to connect to the target server supports this protocol.
Generally speaking I’m enjoying mRemoteNG to manage multiple connections but sometimes seems to fail connections to certain servers with NLA active. For this reason in my home lab I will go for option 2.
And hit OK to confirm the selection.
Firewall Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
Another aspect relative to Network communication of course is the Firewall. Next steps show how to disable the built-in Firewall using PowerShell cmd-lets. All we have to do is to use the seconf command prompt or hit option 14 to exit to command line. When done we can just issue the command “sconfig” to return back to the main wizard.
Next is to query for the NetSecurity module and see the available commands.
From the list below we can run a high number of configurations. We are looking for the Set-NetFirewallProfile to shutdown the firewall.
We can now execute the following commanf to shutdown the internal firewall:
Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False
We can now check the status of the firewall very quickly with this command:
Get-NetFirewallProfile
Of course we can also apply for specific network configuration where suitable.
As a next step at this point I’m going to shutdown Hyper-V Server so I can save this “VM” as a template in VMware. The idea is to store common settings in a template and eventually configure the unique ones from the VMs out of the templates.
Create a VMware template for Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
This step is optional. In my home lab I will be creating a Hyper-V Cluster and for this reason I’m cloning the first Hyper-V 2016 VM to a template so I can deploy faster the second Hyper-V 2016 Host VM based on this one. This way both members of the cluster share the same settings.
Hyper-V 2016 Configuration of Network Settings
Let’s take a look at the network configuration settings with option 8.
Should we have multiple network cards they will appear here with ID number. The benefit of using multiple network card of course would be to separate the Management traffic from the Storage one where VMs are located. In our example we’ll use only one network card. so let’s select ID 1 as per screenshot below.
From this sub-menu we can go through the network settings for IP Address, Network Mask, Gateway and DNS. Let’s start with option 1.
I would recommend to use a static IP address for Servers and also make sure DNS name resolution is fully working with respective FQDN names as well.
Next is the configuration of the DNS Server.
Let’s review and commit by going back to Main menu with option 4.
Hostname Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
From the main menu we have also the option to setup the Hyper-V 2016 hostname. This will require a confirmation and reboot to apply for settings.
As an alternative the hostname can also be changed when joining an Active Directory Domain. The wizard will offer the option before rebooting.
Installing VMware Tools on Hyper-V 2016
Since this Host is actually a VM using a Windows Guest OS template in VMware why not installing VMware Tools and benefit from the improved performances and management? The steps below outline the process. First let’s make sure we mount the VMware Tools ISO. The quickest would be to use the built-in option to start installing the VMware tools. Next let’s take a look at the content of the ISO.
From the command line let’s just run:
setup64.exe
This will start the VMware tools installation wizard as per screenshot below:
Let’s go for typical unless we have special requirement and pick and choose the individual features.
At the end of the wizard we can just reboot the Hyper-V 2016 Server.
Domain Join Hyper-V 2016 Configuration
As an additional step we might also want to add the Hyper-V Server onto a Domain. There are several benefits and primarily for management of the Hyper-V Server as a standalone or even part of a Cluster. For example once the Hyper-V server is aprt of an Active Directory Domain we can simply import Users and Group from Ad to be part of the Hyper-V Administrators.
Again another example is with WinRM (Windows Remote Management) that it is easier to use when coupled with AD accounts. This is quite handy considering we’ll be going to manage Hyper-V Server using a remote console installed on a different server taking advantage of the full GUI.
Once we specify the domain settings to join, the Hyper-V Server will ask to change the Hostname before joining the domain and commit changes with a final reboot of the server.
Conclusions
In this article a quick review of the Hyper-V 2016 configuration settings. Very easy to deploy and configure we can also clone this setup also to a Template in case of nested hypervisor install. Running Hypervisors as a VM is very handy and practical in particular for studying and home lab scenarios. Next article will focus on adding and configuring a second drive to store Hyper-V VMs, managing VMs and last but not least protecting Hyper-V VMs with Veeam Backup and Replication.