How do I install System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)?

I am walking through the installation of SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1 on a new server that I just setup in my demo environment. Hope this is helpful. First lets look at the system requirements. If you want to setup your environment with multiple servers or you want to do a custom install you can find the requirements here. I am doing my install on a virtual machine that is being hosted on a Lenovo W510 laptop using Boot2VHD technology. If you want to do the same, you might want to checkout a post I did on automatically creating BCDEdit data for a Boot2VHD System.

I am starting with a sysprep’d Windows Server 2008 R2 Server. I have allocated 2 processors and 512mb memory to the guest using dynamic memory. Once I get the system up and running, I will bump up the memory to be close to what I actually need but I will leave it dynamic.

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I am going to be installing the Administrator console as well as the Self-Service portal on my machine. I need to install some prerequisite software before I can install SCVMM.

• Windows PowerShell 2.0 is included in Windows Server 2008 R2 so I do not need to do anything for this. Windows PowerShell 1.0 is included in Windows Server 2008. If this feature has been removed in Windows Server 2008, the Setup Wizard automatically adds it.
• Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 1.1 or 2.0. WinRM 1.1 is included in Windows Server 2008, and by default, the WinRM service is set to start automatically. WinRM 2.0 is included in Windows Server 2008 R2, and by default, the WinRM service is set to start automatically (delayed start). If the WinRM service is disabled or set to start manually and the service is stopped, Setup will display a warning during the prerequisites check. If the WinRM service is set to start automatically but is stopped, the Setup Wizard automatically starts the service. Once again, I will not need to do anything here.
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 or 3.0 SP1. .NET Framework 3.0 is included in Windows Server 2008. If this software has been removed, the VMM 2008 Setup Wizard automatically adds it. .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 is included in Windows Server 2008 R2. If this software has been removed, the VMM 2008 Setup Wizard automatically adds it. I have not installed .NET Framework but I am just going to let the installation do it for me.
• Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) 1.1. If this software has not been installed previously, the Setup Wizard automatically installs it. I want to keep things simple so I will let the SCVMM installer do it for me. If you want to install the WAIK yourself you can download the WAIK ISO from here.
• Windows Server Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 or 7.5. Finally, something I have to do… Click the Server Manager button on the task bar | Expand Roles | Add a Role | on Before You Begin screen just click Next | Turn on the checkbox for Web Server (IIS) then click Next | Click Next on the intro screen | then on the Role Services screen we need to enable all the required server role services:
• Turn on ASP.NET – When turning this on.. it will automatically pop up a box to turn on some of the other required services. Just click Add required Role Services
• .NET Extensibility
• ISAPI Extensions
• ISAPI Filters
• Scroll down and Expand IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
• Turn on IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
• Turn on IIS 6 WMI Compatibility
• The Remaining items that are needed should already be turned on by default
• Static Content
• Default Document
• Directory Browsing
• HTTP Errors
• Request Filtering
• Click Next | Then Install | It will take a minute or two for IIS to install then click Finish on the Results screen. You do not need to worry about the warning message about Automatic Updating not enabled. You can enable that later if you like.

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If you would like more detail on the installation of IIS see How To Install IIS 7 on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 For Use With SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1

• A supported version of Microsoft SQL Server is needed. For more information about supported versions of SQL Server, see System Requirements: VMM Database. The SQL Server 2005 Express Edition database size is limited to 4 GB and is not supported for integrating VMM with System Center Operations Manager 2007 for Reporting and Monitoring features in VMM. Therefore, it is recommended that you use a full version of SQL Server when you are managing more than 150 hosts or when you want to integrate VMM with Operations Manager. For more information about integrating VMM with Operations Manager, see Configuring Operations Manager Integration with VMM (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125948). If you use the SCVMM Setup Wizard to install SQL Server, the VMM 2008 R2 Setup Wizard installs SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP3 (the VMM 2008 Setup Wizard installs SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP2). I want to integrate my implementation with SCOM so I will NOT use Express. Instead I am going to install SQL 2008 R2. To use SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 for the VMM database, SQL Server Management Tools must be installed on the VMM server. In my case, I will put SQL Server 2008 R2 right on my VMM server.
• I want to minimize putting data on the C-Boot drive so I added an additional drive on my guest. With Windows Server 2008 R2, you can actually do this while the machine is running. For Step-By-Step instructions see How To Hot Add Storage To A Hyper-V Guest–Super Simple And No Service Interruption.
• For a complete step-by-Step walkthrough of installing SQL Server 2008 R2 see How To Install SQL 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 For Use With SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1

We now have IIS and SQL Server 2008 R2 configured and the firewall ports open for SQL and for IIS.

Default VMM library server: VMM uses library servers and library shares to store file-based resources, such as ISO images and virtual hard disks that can be used to create virtual machines. The VMM library also makes available virtual machine templates, guest operating system profiles, and hardware profiles that reside in the VMM database. You can also store virtual machines in the library when they are not in use. When you install the VMM server, Setup also adds the computer as the default library server, and you have the option to either create a new default library share on the VMM server or use an existing share on the VMM server as a library share. After setup is complete, you can add other library shares to the default library server or other library servers on separate computers.

Important: You cannot remove or relocate the default library server or its library share. Give careful consideration to the location of the default library share before installing the VMM server.

Time to put the media in and start the VMM installation

• Make sure you are logged into the machine as a Domain account that is also a local Administrator
• On the product media or network share, right-click setup.exe, and then click Run as administrator.
• On the Setup menu, click VMM Server.

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• On the Microsoft Update page, indicate whether or not you want to use Microsoft Update.

Note If you have previously chosen to use Microsoft Update on this computer, the Microsoft Update page does not appear.

• On the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page, click Yes to participate in, or No to opt out of, the CEIP. I am opting out.
• On the Prerequisites Check page, review any alerts or warnings about hardware that does not meet the minimum or recommended requirements, or missing software prerequisites. You can continue the installation if you receive warnings, but you must resolve all alerts before you can proceed with the installation. For more information, see System Requirements: VMM Server. In my case all is well so I will just click Next.
• On the Installation Location page, type an installation path for the program files or click Next to use the default path. In my case, I just changed the drive to E: to put the application on my data volume.
• On the SQL Server Settings page, select the appropriate Microsoft SQL Server settings for your VMM database. [

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Important If you specify a remote SQL Server instance, there are additional configuration steps you must perform. For more information, see Configuring a Remote Instance of SQL Server for VMM (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=134060).

• If you followed my instructions above you would simply put in the values from your installation of SQL Server 2008 R2.
• my Server name is Atlanta
• My SQL Instance is SCVMM (remember I changed it from the Default). you should be able to select it from the drop down list.
• We do not have a database yet so turn on the Create a new database checkbox and it will auto-fill the database name. I will take the default.

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Note

• The database name cannot exceed 128 characters.
• To use SQL Server 2008 for the VMM database, SQL Server Management Tools must be installed on the VMM server.
• If you have a 32-bit version of SQL Server installed on a 64-bit computer, the database instance name will not appear automatically in the instance list. You must enter the instance name manually.

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• On the Library Share Settings page, select the option to either create a new default library share on the VMM server or use an existing share on the VMM server as a library share. The default library share created by VMM is named MSSCVMMLibrary and its folder is located at %SYSTEMDRIVE%ProgramDataVirtual Machine Manager Library Files. As has been the case with all other location decisions, I have changed the path to point to my E drive. I also created a folder called VMM-Library and selected that folder.

Important After setup is complete, you can add other library shares to the default library server or other library servers on separate computers; however, you cannot remove or relocate the default library server or its library share. So give careful consideration to the location of the default library share before installing the VMM server.

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• On the Installation Settings page, in the Ports area, type the ports that you want to use for the VMM server connections, and, in the VMM service account area, do one of the following:
• To use the local system account for the VMM service account, click Local system.
• To use a different domain account, click Other account, and then type the credentials for a domain account that is a local Administrator on the computer that you are installing VMM server on.

Note If you use a domain account for the VMM service account, it is strongly recommended that you create an account that is specifically designated to be used for this purpose. When a host is removed from the VMM server, the account that the VMM service is running under is removed from the local Administrators group of the host. If the same account is used for other purposes on the host, this can cause unexpected results. You also should not use the same account for the VMM service account that you use for configuring a remote SQL Server for the VMM database. For more information, see Hardening the VMM Server (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145055).

Important If you plan to use shared ISO images with Hyper-V virtual machines, you must use a domain account for the VMM service account.

Important If you are using a disjointed namespace, you must use an account other than the Local System account. A disjointed namespace occurs when one or more computers have a primary Domain Name System (DNS) suffix does not match the DNS name of the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain of which the computers are members. For example, a member computer that uses a primary DNS suffix of corp.fabrikam.com in an AD domain named na.corp.fabrikam.com is using a disjointed namespace. For more information about a disjointed namespace, see Naming conventions in Active Directory for computers, domains, sites, and OUs (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123886).

Important It is a best practice to not use the default port settings. The port settings that you assign during the VMM server installation cannot be changed without uninstalling and reinstalling VMM server. The ports that you assign during setup must identically match the port settings that you assign when installing the related VMM components that the VMM server communicates with. For more information, see VMM Ports and Protocols (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=128912). Consider this… All other web services IIS and SQL Reporting will default to port 80! I will take the default. [

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Note The value of the File transfers to agents on hosts and library servers port cannot exceed 32768.

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• On the Summary of Settings page, review the settings that you chose and if all is well, just click Install

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• On the Installation page, do one of the following:
• To close the wizard and automatically check for the latest VMM updates, click Close.
• To close the wizard without checking for the latest updates, clear the Check for the latest Virtual Machine Manager updates check box, and then click Close.

Note When you install the VMM server, all accounts in the local Administrators security group are automatically added to the VMM Administrator user role. If you want to add or remove user accounts from the VMM Administrator user role, see Managing User Roles (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125951).

Now that we have the server installed and running, we need to install a client so we can connect to it.

• You should still have the Setup screen up. We want to do the VMM Administrator Console first.

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• Accept the license Agreement then click Next
• On the customer Experience screen just click Next
• Prerequisites Check should be successful. If that is the case, just click Next
• For the Installation folder, I am changing to the E: drive Just click Next or change the location and click Next
• for the port I will keep the default of 8100
• The Summary should look something like this…

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• On the summary screen just click Install

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• Once installation finishes just click Close

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• You can Exit out of the installation program unless you will also be installing the VMM Self-Service Portal
• Notice that this added the Virtual Machine manager Administrator Console to the menu. It also added an icon to the desktop
• Let’s go ahead and reboot the server before we login to the console
• Launch the console by double-clicking on the desktop icon or selecting the icon from the All programs | System Center menu

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• When you launch the application it will ask you for the server name and port you should be able to leave the default and click Connect. if you do not want to be prompted each time, just leave the Make this server my default checked

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• Under Services you will see the new components that were added: Virtual Machine Manager and Virtual Machine Manager Agent

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Resources that were helpful in putting this post together: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc793149.aspx

Important After you have finished installing the VMM components, there are additional tasks required to make VMM fully functional and optional configuration tasks depending on how you implement VMM in your environment. Case in point… check out Backing Up and Restoring the VMM Database

I will do a separate post on adding a Hyper-V Host to the VMM. I will also do a separate post on Integrating VMM with SCOM. And yet another to add the Self Service Portal in the days or weeks to come.

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IT Pro, VMM, Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Manager, SQL Server, Virtualization, IT Manager, Windows Server 2008 R2, Management, System Center, How To, SCOM, Operations Manager 2007 R2, IT Management, SCVMM, Systems Management, GURU-Tip, Dan Stolts, Step-By-Step