12 Feb 2013

Installing Hyper-V Remote Management

One of the strengths of Hyper-V is that there isn't much that can be accomplished at the console that can't be accomplished off the console. Even RDP sessions are generally unnecessary. This is true whether you have a one standalone system running a couple of virtual machines or a dozen clusters running hundreds of machines. There is absolutely no requirement for a centralized management server or for administrators to touch individual hosts. This applies to Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2012 running Hyper-V as a role just as readily as it applies to native installations of Hyper-V Server.

Installing and Enabling the Tools

The package of tools is called "Remote Server Administration Tools", or RSAT for short. They are built-in to versions of Windows Server from 2008 onward. They are matched on client desktops from Vista onward through optional downloads. The version of RSAT on a given operating system is best suited for managing servers from the same operating system generation. For instance, RSAT for Windows 7 is best used to manage Windows and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Some tools can partially manage other servers and a few work in their entirety. The links for all three client RSAT installations are included below, but Vista and the 2008 series of servers will not be discussed further.


RSAT includes many tools; the most important tools for this post are Hyper-V Manager and Failover Cluster Manager. The downloads for the client editions installs the tools but does not enable any of them.

To get to the location where you can enable these tools on Windows 7:

Click on Start and access the Control Panel.
If the Control Panel is in Category view, click Programs; for all other views, click Programs and Features.
On the left pane, click "Turn Windows features on or off".

To access the installation location on Windows Server 2008 R2:
  • Access Server Manager (following steps 1 and 2 from the Windows 7 steps will open it if you can't find the shortcut)
  • Click "Features" on the left. Click "Add Features" on the right-pane.
To get to the installation location on Windows Server 2012:

Open Server Manager; by default it has a pinned icon on both the Start bar and the Start menu.
On the "Dashboard" tab, click "Add roles and features"
Click Next on the introductory screen. Leave the dot on "Role-based or feature-based installation" and click Next.
In the Server Pool, highlight the name for the local server and click Next.
Click Next on the Roles screen to access the Features page.

To get to the installation location on Windows 8:

Move your mouse to the far top-right or far bottom-right of the screen so that the Charms bar appears.
Click "Settings".
Click "Control Panel".
Follow the same directions as for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 from step 2.

Whichever OS you're using, the directions are mostly the same from this point.

Expand "Remote Server Administration Tools". Expand "Feature Administration Tools". The Failover Clustering Tools are here. There are multiple options for that item on Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8; the PowerShell options are separate and you have to select "Failover Cluster Command Interface" if you want access to the deprecated clus.exe.

Expand "Role Administration Tools". This is where you'll find the tool selection for Hyper-Vexcept on Windows 8. On Windows 7/Server 2008 R2, there's just the one box, but on Windows Server 2012 there are sub-selections that allow you to add the GUI management tools and/or the PowerShell tools for Hyper-V. In Windows 8, you have the same options but they are not underneath Remote Server Administration Tools. Instead, there is a top-level "Hyper-V" item which has a sub-item that contains the management tools. The other item allows you to install Client Hyper-V, if you are so inclined.

The following is a screenshot from Windows Server 2012; 2008 R2 has a very similar layout.



The following is a screenshot from Windows 8; Windows 7 has a similar appearance but is laid out more like the server editions above:



If you want Hyper-V PowerShell tools for Windows 7/2008 R2, you can download them from here CodePlex. They are basically the same tools as the ones in 2012 but some of them don't work quite as reliably.

Accessing and Using the Tools

All of these tools are placed under "Administrative Tools", although how you get there changes a bit from version to version. For Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, an Administrative Tools link should show up directly under the Start menu and possibly under the All Programs menu; this is an option. On Windows 8 and Server 2012, you can right-click on the Start menu and go to "All Apps", and then you'll be able to find Administrative Tools. In all versions, there is an Administrative Tools icon in Control Panel (for Category view, you first have to access "System and Security").

Once the PowerShell modules are selected on Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, their cmdlets are always available in any PowerShell session. For 7/2008 R2, you'll need to run the following commands in each session to have access to the Failover Cluster cmdlets:

Import-Module FailoverClusters

When you first open the GUI tools, you'll need to connect them to their remote targets. For Failover Cluster Manager, right-click on "Failover Cluster Manager" in the top-left and click "Connect to cluster…" You can enter the name or IP address of a cluster or one of its nodes. For Hyper-V Manager, right-click on "Hyper-V Manager" in the top left and click "Connect to Server…" Use the name or IP address of any server running Hyper-V natively or as a role. This tool is not cluster-aware (for the most part) so you must enter each node of a cluster individually.



Cross-Generational Compatibility

As previously mentioned, tools in RSAT have variable ability to manage servers from different generations.

Hyper-V Manager in 7/2008 R2 can manage guest machines on Windows 8/Server 2012 with the exception of the new features introduced in that hypervisor, primarily the new networking features.
Hyper-V Manager in 8/2012 cannot manage guest machines on 2008 R2.
All levels of Failover Cluster Manager will only manage servers of the same generation.
Failover Cluster Manager in Windows 8 is unable to load some dialog boxes. I provided an unsupported workaround for the Advanced Policies tab in an earlier post. If you right-click "Networks" and go to "Live Migration settings", the box will appear and disappear immediately (I've seen no other reports so it's possible this issue is restricted to my system).
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