How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video
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@scottalanmiller helping to explain how to think about and figure out Windows Server licensing when running on Hyper-V (or any virtualization) and why Hyper-V seems confusing.
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I can't wait to watch this.
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The title of your video is what clears the confusion that folks I believe have. Since folks (mistakenly) install Hyper-V as a role, they have this idea that the particular Windows Server license dictates the number of VMs (of any OS) they can use, not the number of Windows Server VMs you can have.
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@scottalanmiller, you state that one should likely not use anything aside from Hyper-V server for virtualization. In this scenario, is there any way to use a datacenter license to license the guest OS' when using this platform?
I always deploy Server Datacenter with the Hyper-V role so that I'm able to use AVMA to license a large number of Server standard guests.
I would prefer to use Hyper-V server in all instances (lower attack service, less maintenance, less patching / downtime, smaller footprint, etc), but have never been able to determine if it was possible while using a datacenter license.
Thanks for the video!
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@manxam said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
@scottalanmiller, you state that one should likely not use anything aside from Hyper-V server for virtualization. In this scenario, is there any way to use a datacenter license to license the guest OS' when using this platform?
I always deploy Server Datacenter with the Hyper-V role so that I'm able to use AVMA to license a large number of Server standard guests.
I would prefer to use Hyper-V server in all instances (lower attack service, less maintenance, less patching / downtime, smaller footprint, etc), but have never been able to determine if it was possible while using a datacenter license.
Thanks for the video!
Hyper-v is just the hypervisor and doesn't care what guest OSes you use. You'd get a Server Datacenter license that covers the number of cores on your machine, which allows you to spin up as many Windows Server VMs as you want (as you know).
I could have a hyper-v server with a bunch of CentOS VMs, but if I wanted to make a Windows Server VM, then I'd need to buy the appropriate license.
Edit: I missed the significance of AVMA, but from a MS link I just read about it, it seems like you should be able to use it.
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@manxam said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
@scottalanmiller, you state that one should likely not use anything aside from Hyper-V server for virtualization. In this scenario, is there any way to use a datacenter license to license the guest OS' when using this platform?
The hypervisor has no effect on available licensing here. I agree that DC licensing is excellent and often a good choice. You can use it equally with VMware ESXi, XenServer, KVM, or Hyper-V. The DC licensing is always on the guest VMs only and is neither licensing for the host nor affected by the host.
There is a rumour that because Hyper-V offers a neat license management feature for DataCenter that it is tied to the licensing itself, but this is just a rumour. The licensing of the Windows VMs is the same. So yes, no matter how you deploy or what you deploy on, you can use DataCenter. You just have to handle the licensing in the traditional way(s).
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Bah. I stand corrected then.
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@eddiejennings said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
@manxam said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
@scottalanmiller, you state that one should likely not use anything aside from Hyper-V server for virtualization. In this scenario, is there any way to use a datacenter license to license the guest OS' when using this platform?
I always deploy Server Datacenter with the Hyper-V role so that I'm able to use AVMA to license a large number of Server standard guests.
I would prefer to use Hyper-V server in all instances (lower attack service, less maintenance, less patching / downtime, smaller footprint, etc), but have never been able to determine if it was possible while using a datacenter license.
Thanks for the video!
Hyper-v is just the hypervisor and doesn't care what guest OSes you use. You'd get a Server Datacenter license that covers the number of cores on your machine, which allows you to spin up as many Windows Server VMs as you want (as you know).
I could have a hyper-v server with a bunch of CentOS VMs, but if I wanted to make a Windows Server VM, then I'd need to buy the appropriate license.
The issue he's seeing is that if you deploy Hyper-V as a role, it can be crippled itself by applying the DataCenter license to it and when you do, it can enable a license management feature that makes it extra easy to quickly deploy Windows DCs VMs in that way. But that's not Hyper-V that does it, it's that you add a VM for Windows management, add a license function to that and cover its deployment with the DC license. Its a bunch of weird licensing tricks to make it seem transparent. It's all fine and above board, but weird and convoluted.
So because it does that, it can seem like Hyper-V is providing something needed by DataCenter. But DC does not require that license management, which is especially important since the main use case for DC is on VMware and VMware lacks that feature. So it would be a problem for WIndows deployments if DC didn't work hardly anywhere.
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@eddiejennings said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
Edit: I missed the significance of AVMA, but from a MS link I just read about it, it seems like you should be able to use it.
Yeah, it is a super weird thing that they do that the only situation in which this feature exists is a scenario where you'd never want it to exist. So people installing by best practice will never encounter it.
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Thanks to you both for replying. What product key does one use with a DC license and hyper-V server on the guest Windows Server OS' then? One cannot re-use the DC product key AFAIK.
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@manxam said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
Thanks to you both for replying. What product key does one use with a DC license and hyper-V server on the guest Windows Server OS' then? One cannot re-use the DC product key AFAIK.
DC product key gets used on each VM, but not on the host. DC is reused standardly, that you don't need to enter it at all is purely an edge case that shouldn't even come up. All deployments of DC licensing assumes a reused key.
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What is used is called a MAK key.
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@scottalanmiller said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
What is used is called a MAK key.
Yeah with AVMA, it requires the host to be running Windows Server Datacenter 2012 R2 or 2016 Datacenter. This is something you don't want to do in 99% cases, though, unless you have real business needs that require specific Datacenter-only features on bare-metal that are not available on Hyper-V Server.
AVMA should never alone be a reason to run Windows on bare-metal. That's just silly.
What if your Hypervisor was running VMWare or KVM and you have a Datacenter license? You wouldn't get AVMA then anyways on the VMs. It's not actually a benefit.
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Funny, I do this on Server STD all of the time (utilizing the same serial for the two guest OS' regardless of hypervisor platform) but the two times that I've attempted it with DC the guests fail to activate. I always assumed it was a restriction with DC and that one has to use the full blown Windows installation with hyper-v role on this platform.
I only have 2 DC clients + 1 DC internal use license so I never investigated it further.
I guess I'm going down the rabbit hole of figuring out why this never worked for me.
Thank you.
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@manxam said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
Funny, I do this on Server STD all of the time (utilizing the same serial for the two guest OS' regardless of hypervisor platform) but the two times that I've attempted it with DC the guests fail to activate. I always assumed it was a restriction with DC and that one has to use the full blown Windows installation with hyper-v role on this platform.
I only have 2 DC clients + 1 DC internal use license so I never investigated it further.
I guess I'm going down the rabbit hole of figuring out why this never worked for me.
Thank you.
You probably didn't get the MAK keys.
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WOah Hyper-V is for free for real, i just downloaded it (2016) and toyed with it, cause of this video.... I always thought it is not
And yh downloaded from evaluation site but MS listed as unlimited, amazing video.
But after using it for the first time, its meh.. it opens cmd window + command line wizard, I wouldnt use it if starting from scatch it likes to be used from AD domain but you can use it without it domain via:
Step 1
Enable WinRM on both machines. This can be done trough an elevated command prompt. The command used for enabling WinRM is: winrm quickconfigStep 2
On the Hyper-V Management client open cmd.exe as administrator and add the server as a trusted hosts. Here you can comma separate to add multiple machines. winrm set winrm/config/client @{TrustedHosts="192.168.1.15"}Step 3
On the Hyper-V Management client add credentials to make the connection possible. cmdkey /add:192.168.1.15 /user:ADMINISTRATOR /pass:**********Its performance is okay, I managed it using Hyper-V manager in WIndows 10, and it feels very limited.
I loved that they kept notepad.exe and taskmgr.exe in the HyperV server, I can launch those and avoid Windows command line.
Notepad.exe --> File --> Open (GREATEST HACK EVER)
I dont know why GEN 2 cannot be installed from host CD/DVD rom, and GEN 1 can.
Also it is very difficult to share files or send files, like I am used with WinSCP or SFTP protocol with Linux and KVM, the sharing module is removed in HYPER-V I tried to share but was unable to, kept giving me errors.
Oh and they provide the hyper v integration as cab file (guest agent):
windows6.x-hypervintegrationservices-x64.cabI cant belive I complained when VIRT IO Tools was repackaged some time ago and they changed some folders in there ISO image, while MS gives you a .cab file and not even an executable.
Also moving the VMs between 2 HYPERV needs FQDN
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@msff-amman-itofficer said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
WOah Hyper-V is for free for real, i just downloaded it (2016) and toyed with it, cause of this video.... I always thought it is not
LOL, yup. Totally free. All features are included, no limits.
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@msff-amman-itofficer said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
Also it is very difficult to share files or send files, like I am used with WinSCP or SFTP protocol with Linux and KVM, the sharing module is removed in HYPER-V I tried to share but was unable to, kept giving me errors.
I've not tested by I can only assume that OpenSSH works fine on Hyper-V. Have you tested it?
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@msff-amman-itofficer said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
I dont know why GEN 2 cannot be installed from host CD/DVD rom, and GEN 1 can.
It can. How are you doing it?
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@msff-amman-itofficer said in How Many Windows Server VMs Can You Run on Hyper-V SAMIT Video:
Also it is very difficult to share files or send files, like I am used with WinSCP or SFTP protocol with Linux and KVM, the sharing module is removed in HYPER-V I tried to share but was unable to, kept giving me errors.
What do you mean? Hyper-V Server isn't a file server.
But you can access anywhere on the server via admin share without issue... ex: \server\d$\share
