Step-By-Step Guide: Configuring Hyper-V and Failover Clustering for Windows Server 2008 R2 on the HP ProLiant DL980, rev 1

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Overview
The Hyper-V role enables you to create a virtualized server computing environment using Hypervisor
technology that is part of the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system. This solution is provided
through Hyper-V. You can use a virtualized computing environment to improve the efficiency of your
computing resources and improve server availability without using as many physical computers as you
would need in a failover configuration that uses only physical computers.
The Failover Clustering feature enables you to create and manage failover clusters. A failover cluster is a
group of independent computers that work together to increase the availability of applications and
services. The clustered servers (called nodes) are connected by physical cables and by software. If one of
the cluster nodes fails, another node takes over to provide service (a process known as failover). Users
experience a minimum of disruptions in service.
This step-by-step guide shows you how to use these two technologies together to make a virtual machine
highly available. We illustrate this process by creating a simple two-node cluster and a virtual machine,
and then verifying the set-up by failing over the virtual machine from one node to the other.
This paper provides two main sections:
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Requirements for Using Hyper-V and Failover Clustering (page 3).
Describes the basic hardware, software, and network infrastructure requirements.
•
Configuring Hyper-V with Failover Clusters (page 7).
Provides step-by-step information for configuring Hyper-V and Failover Cluster.