The Windows Server 2012 installation process is almost the same as Windows Server 2008. Some steps such as IP settings, computer name, and domain join have been removed (in comparison with older versions such as Windows Server 2003), to make it straightforward. That's why the post installation settings are more important than ever now because the setup just adds the default configurations like a random computer name in workgroup, the Automatic Private IP Address (APIPA) and some other settings.
A Windows Server installation with the default settings can lead to security risks, network access errors, and management problems.
Beyond that, Hyper-V also has some configurations that must be changed, such as default locations for new virtual machines, shortcuts, and other things that you will see in this task.
The only thing you need is a basic Windows Server installation with the Hyper-V role enabled.
The following steps will show how to configure the Windows and Hyper-V post installation settings:
First, you need to make sure the Windows Server post installation settings were completed. Before we start the Hyper-V post configuration, let's list the Windows Server post installation settings that you might need to change:
Windows activation
Configure the time, date, and time zone
Network configuration such as IP address, default gateway, and DNS settings
Computer name
Workgroup or Domain settings
Update and configure automatics updates
Add the necessary roles and features
To guide you through the post configurations, the Windows setup opens the Server Manager tool during the first login, with some settings from the mentioned list for quick access and setup.
To see the list, click on Local Server in the pane on the left-hand side in Server Manager, as shown in the following screenshot:
Using the list provided by Server Manager, you can make sure that your server is ready to be used with all the common post-installation settings. Select the components you want to change by clicking on the hyperlink in front of them and follow the configuration steps.
However, some other interesting settings are not provided by the Server Manager list because they are optional, but some of them you might want to consider are as follows:
After using Server Manager, check the Do not show me this console at logon option
Choose a wallpaper to show the system configuration using tools such as
bginfoorBackinfofrom SysinternalsFrom the Windows Explorer options, uncheck the Hide extensions for known files type option and check the Show hidden files option
An antivirus installation that supports your Windows server version and the roles being executed on it
Clients and agents for products such as backup, software deployment, monitoring systems, and so on
Now that your Windows Server is ready to go, you can open Hyper-V and change its default settings, if needed.
To open the Hyper-V settings, open the Hyper-V Manager tool and then click on Hyper-V Settings column on the right-hand side.
You'll then see the Hyper-V Settings window as you can see in the following screenshot:
Hyper-V Settings allow you to manage the Hyper-V default settings divided in 10 components. To change the virtual hard disk's default location, click on Virtual Hard Disks.
To modify the default virtual machine location, click on Virtual Machines and specify the new location.
To manage and enable the Remote FX feature select Physical GPUs.
To allow the Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA) spanning, select Numa Spanning.
To enable and change the default values of virtual machine movement settings such as limits and networks that will be used, select Live Migrations, as shown in the following screenshot:
To change the maximum number of simultaneous storage migrations, click on Storage Migrations.
To set up your server as a replica server and change its configuration, click on Replication Configuration.
The next settings—Keyboard,Mouse Release Key, and Reset Check Boxes—can be changed as well, if needed. Change the settings that you want wherever necessary. After that, your Hyper-V Server will be ready with the specific server settings based on your needs.
Changing these configurations might help in some cases when we need a different setting or when you don't want to change them manually every time you have to use them. The first steps showed the most common settings for every Windows server, no matter if it's a Hyper-V Server or not. You won't be able to access your network or access your Active Directory if you don't specify information such as the computer name, IP address, and the other components listed in the first step.
The settings showed between steps 6 through 16 are designed only for Hyper-V Servers and are optional, however most of them are not enabled by default, for example Live Migration and Replication Configuration. In this case, if you don't enable them, some tasks such as the Hyper-V Replica or the Move option will not work.
By completing all these steps, you will make sure your server was deployed with the correct and necessary configuration for Hyper-V and the operating system.
The Migrating the Virtual Machine storage using Storage Migration recipe in Chapter 2, Migrating and Upgrading Physical and Virtual Servers
The Installing and configuring anti-virus on host and virtual machines recipe in Chapter 5, Hyper-V Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks
The Configuring Hyper-V Replica between two Hyper-V Hosts using HTTP authentication recipe in Chapter 8, Disaster Recovery for Hyper-V