SCVMM 2008 Step-by-Step Installation

Installation Prerequisites

The following section discusses the hardware, Operating System, Software and Infrastructure Prerequisites to be considered before installing System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

Prerequisites are also provided for the individually installable SCVMM Components, VMM Server, Administrator Console, Self-Service Portal.

Hardware Requirements

Hardware Prerequisites are classified by the number of hosts and the associated virtual machines that will be managed by the SCVMM server.

The following table contains recommended and minimum requirements for managing up to 150 hosts.

Hardware Component / Minimum / Recommended
Processor / Pentium 4, 2 GHz (x64) / Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 3.2 GHz (x64) or greater
RAM / 2 GB / 4 GB
Hard disk space (remote DB) / 10 GB / 40 GB
Hard disk space (local DB) / 4 GB / SQL Server 2005 Express DB limit is 4 GB
Hard disk space (Library Server) / 120 GB / 120 GB

Operating System Prerequisites

SCVMM 2008 will install only on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (x64) edition.

Additional Software Prerequisites

Software Requirement / Notes
Windows Remote Management (WinRM) / Included with Windows Server 2008 and service is set to start automatically.
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 / Included with Windows Server 2008 as a server feature. If not installed, it is installed as part of the setup process.
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 / Required for Administrator Console and Self-Service Portal functionality on supported operating systems other than Windows Server 2008.
Windows PowerShell 1.0 / Included with Windows Server 2008 as a server feature. PowerShell is required for the Administrator console and Self-Service Portal. If not installed, it is installed as part of the setup process.
Windows Server Internet Information Services (IIS) / Required for Self-Service portal. Must install the Web Server Role in Windows Server 2008 including IIS 6 Management Compatibility.
Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 1.1 / If not installed, it is installed as part of the setup process.

If you are using the same server for both the VMM server and the database server, you must install a supported version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Note: For better performance, when managing a large number of hosts (> 150), it is recommended a separate machine be used to host the VMM database.

Note: If the default port (80) for the VMM Self-Service Portal is used by another Web site, you must either use a different dedicated port or specify a host header for the portal.

SCVMM 2008 Pre-Installation

The installation process for SCVMM begins with the following interface:

In addition to reviewing information about the product and connecting to the SCVMM website, we can run the VMM Configuration Analyzer prior to actually beginning the setup process. The configuration analyzer examines the server that will be hosting the Virtual Machine Manager function. The VMM configuration Analyzer is not included with the product and must be downloaded from the Microsoft public download site.

The Virtual Machine Manager Configuration Analyzer has a pre-requisite that must be installed first - the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer. This is mentioned on the download page for the Analyzer package, and a link is provided for the download.

The Virtual Machine Manager Configuration Analyzer has a pre-requisite that must be installed first - the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer. This is mentioned on the download page for the Analyzer package, and a link is provided for the download.

Once the analyzer is installed, it can be used to scan computers to verify if they are suitable to function as a VMM Server, run the VMM Administrator console, function as a Self-Service Portal or be a Managed Host.

Note: Be sure to run the analyzer in the context of an account that has administrative permissions to all machines that are being scanned.

After the scan completes, a report is opened in Internet Explorer documenting the results of the scan.

The Configuration Analyzer can be downloaded from here.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Configuration Analyzer

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=02d83950-c03d-454e-803b-96d1c1d5be24&DisplayLang=en

Installing Virtual Machine Manager Server

Installation Steps

1. Select VMM Server under SETUP on the main screen.

Note: When you install the VMM server, only the domain account that you are logged on with is automatically added to the VMM Administrator user role.

2. Accept the license.

3. Join the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

4. Enter Product Registration information.

5. Execute the Prerequisites Check and make sure it completes successfully. If not, correct the problems and re-run the check.

6. Select an Installation location on the local machine.

7. Configure SQL Server settings.

8. Create a new library share on the VMM server or select a pre-configured share. As a 'best practice', you may want to consider using another volume on the VMM Server for better performance and storage capacity.

9. After setup is complete, you cannot remove or relocate the default library share, so give careful consideration to its location before installing the VMM server. You can specify an existing share on the VMM Server in place of the default location; however it must reside on the VMM Server. Additional Library Shares and Servers can be added in the future.

10. Specify ports to support SCVMM communications and designate a domain account to use for the VMM Service Account (Default is to use local system). If the Self- Service portal is being hosted on the VMM server, Port 80 will already be taken by the Default Website. You will either need to change the port in IIS Services Manager or set a different one for VMM communications.

11. Specify Local system or a domain account to use for the VMM Service Account (Default is to use local system).

12. Verify all the selections before selecting Install

13. Provided no issues are encountered, the install will complete and you will be able to check for Virtual Machine updates on the Microsoft website.

Note: When you install the VMM server, all accounts in the local Administrators security group are automatically added to the VMM Administrator user role.

VMM Administration Console

For ease of administration it is recommended that you install a Virtual Machine Manager Administrator Console on the same computer as the SCVMM server. You can install additional VMM Administrator Consoles on other computers to remotely access and manage the SCVMM server. When you install the VMM Administrator Console, the Setup Wizard also installs Windows PowerShell — Virtual Machine Manager Command shell. Additionally, if installing the VMM Administrator Console on another supported platform the .NET Framework version 2.0 is required.

If you plan to use the reporting feature of VMM, you must install a VMM Administrator Console on the same computer as the VMM server. The reporting feature of VMM relies upon System Center Operations Manager 2007 (OpsMgr), and for OpsMgr administrators to perform tasks on hosts and virtual machines from within the Server Virtualization Management Pack requires that the Windows PowerShell — Virtual Machine Manager command shell be installed on the VMM server.

Installation Steps

1. In the setup menu select Administrator Console

2. Accept the License Terms

3. Review customer Experience Improvement program (CEIP) information

4. Execute the Prerequisites Check and make sure it completes successfully. If not, correct the problems and re-run the check.

5. Select an Installation location on the local machine.

6. Verify the Port Assignment.

The default port is 8100.

7. Verify all the selections before selecting Install.

Provided no issues are encountered, the install will complete and you will be able to check for Virtual Machine updates on the Microsoft website.

9. By default, a shortcut to the VMM Administrator Console will be placed on the desktop. Double-click on the shortcut and verify the Administrator console does open.

10. The first time you open the VMM Administrator Console, the Connect to Server dialog box opens. In the Connect to Server dialog box, do one of the following:

· If you installed the VMM Administrator Console on the same computer as the VMM server, click Connect to connect to the local VMM server (localhost) using the port that you assigned during the installation of the VMM server.

· If you want to use the VMM Administrator Console to connect to the VMM server on the different computer, in the Server name box, type the name of the computer where the VMM server is installed, followed by a colon and the port that you assigned during the installation of the VMM server.