Bare Metal Restore: The Full Procedure
The disaster: someone deleted the entire VM. Or the OS volume corrupted. Or a ransomware event encrypted the host. The procedure now is to bare-metal restore from the backup we…
Tag: Hyper-V
Bare Metal Backup Test on a VM (Prove the Backup Actually Restores)
An untested backup is not a backup. This post is the test. We’ll create a bare-metal backup of a disposable lab VM — not just system state, but the full…
SQL Always On Availability Groups Part 1: Creating Hyper-V VMs
SQL Server Always On Availability Groups (AG) are the modern HA + DR primitive for SQL workloads. Two or more SQL nodes hold synchronized copies of the same database. A…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 14 of 15: Test Failover (Live Migration + Auto-Failover)
Cluster built, HA VM running. Now we prove it works under both planned and unplanned conditions. Phase 1: Live Migration — planned move from Node-01 to Node-02 with zero downtime.…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 15 of 15: Expand Cluster Storage (Series Finale)
The series finale. Cluster is built and HA VMs are running. Eventually you’ll need more storage — new VM, growing dataset, etc. This part covers the workflow: provision a new…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 13 of 15: Create Highly Available VM
Cluster is fully prepared. Now we create the first highly available VM — one that can failover between NODE-01 and NODE-02. The single most important detail: create the VM via…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 12 of 15: Rename Networks, Add CSV, Enable Nested Virt
Cluster created with quorum. Now three cleanup tasks: rename the generic Cluster Network names, add the Data disk to Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) so multiple nodes can access it concurrently,…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 11 of 15: Configure Cluster Quorum (Disk Witness)
The Create Cluster wizard auto-picks a quorum config based on heuristics. For a 2-node cluster it usually picks Node Majority + Disk Witness, but the wizard’s “auto” choice depends on…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 10 of 15: Create the Cluster (CNO + IP)
Validation passed in Part 9. Now we create the actual cluster object — gives the cluster a name, an IP, registers it in AD, and pulls in the iSCSI disks.…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 8 of 15: Configure iSCSI Initiator (CHAP, Disks)
SAN built in Part 7. Now we connect the cluster nodes. Same pattern as the SQL FCI series — bind iSCSI Initiator to the Storage NIC, log in with CHAP,…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 9 of 15: Install & Validate Failover Cluster
Storage and networks are wired. Time to install the cluster bits and prove the design is supported. Two moves: install Failover Clustering feature on both nodes, then run Validate Configuration.…
Two-Node Hyper-V Failover Cluster Part 7 of 15: Setup iSCSI Target & Create Shared Storage
Networks done in Part 6; now we build the SAN. Install iSCSI Target Server on the iSCSI VM, bind it to the Storage NIC ONLY, and carve two LUNs —…