Adding Hosts

  • Article

Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

In Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM) or VMM 2008 R2, you can use the Add Hosts Wizard in the VMM Administrator Console to add the following types of virtual machine hosts to VMM:

  • Windows Server–based hosts that are located in an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain, including failover clusters.

  • Windows Server–based hosts that are located in an AD domain that does not have a two-way trust with the VMM server’s AD domain.

  • Windows Server–based hosts that are located on a perimeter network.

    Note

    VMM does not support managing a host cluster on a perimeter network or in an AD domain that does not have a two-way trust with the VMM server’s AD domain.

  • Windows Server–based hosts that are in a disjointed namespace.

    Note

    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 that is named na.corp.fabrikam.com is using a disjointed namespace. For more information about disjointed namespaces, see Naming Conventions in Active Directory for Computers, Domains, Sites, and OUs (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123886).

  • VMware ESX Server hosts located anywhere in your environment.

    Note

    Before you can add ESX Server hosts, you must add a VMware VirtualCenter Server to VMM. When you add a VMware VirtualCenter Server to VMM, all existing ESX Server hosts that are managed by that VirtualCenter Server are imported to VMM. For more information about adding a VMware VirtualCenter Server, see How to Add a VMware VirtualCenter Server (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=128560).

For information about improving the security of hosts, see Hardening Virtual Machine Hosts Managed by VMM (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145057).

  • Windows Server–based hosts in an AD DS domain
    You can use the Add Hosts Wizard to add one or more Windows Server–based hosts, including failover clusters, to VMM if all the hosts are in an AD DS domain that has a two-way trust with the domain the VMM server is in. For more information, see How to Add Hosts in an Active Directory Domain (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145073).

    When you use the Add Hosts Wizard to specify a node in a failover cluster that was created in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or to specify the cluster name, the wizard discovers all of the cluster nodes and adds the host cluster to VMM. For more information about configuration requirements for a host cluster that is managed by VMM 2008, see Configuring Host Clusters in VMM 2008 to Support Highly Available Virtual Machines (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145065).

    You can also use the Add Hosts Wizard to search for existing hosts that are in an AD DS domain and then decide which hosts you want to add to VMM. For more information, see How to Search for Hosts (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=163334).

    Important

    When you add a Windows-based host, VMM automatically installs or enables the appropriate version of virtualization software on the host and attempts to create a Windows Firewall exception, if needed.

    When you add a host to VMM and the host’s operating system supports Hyper-V, if Hyper-V is not enabled on the host, VMM will attempt to enable it automatically. Enabling the Hyper-V role will cause the host to immediately restart. If the host you are adding is the VMM server, restarting it will stop any jobs that are running and you must add the host again after the Hyper-V has been enabled.

    When you add a host to VMM and that host's operating system supports Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, VMM automatically installs the correct version of Virtual Server 2005 R2 if it is not installed already.

  • Windows Server–based hosts on a perimeter network
    Because the VMM server does not have a secure means to deliver required agent installation content to a host on a perimeter network (also known as a screened subnet), you must install a VMM agent locally on the host before you can use the Add Hosts Wizard to add the host to VMM. For more information, see How to Add Hosts on a Perimeter Network (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=162800).
  • Windows Server–based hosts in a disjointed namespace
    VMM 2008 supports adding and managing hosts that are in a disjointed namespace, which 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 of which the computers are members. For example, a member computer that uses a primary DNS suffix of corp.fabrikam.com in an Active Directory domain that is named na.corp.fabrikam.com is using a disjointed namespace. For more information about disjointed namespaces, see Naming Conventions in Active Directory for Computers, Domains, Sites, and OUs (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123886).

Adding Pending Hosts to VMM

You can also add pending hosts to VMM, but you do not use the Add Host Wizard to add these hosts. The availability of pending hosts occurs when VMM discovers cluster nodes that are not currently being managed by VMM. Pending hosts appear in the Hosts view with a status of Pending. For more information, see How to Add a Pending Host to VMM (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=162796).

See Also

Other Resources

About Default Virtual Machine Paths
Configuring Host Clusters in VMM 2008 to Support Highly Available Virtual Machines
How to Add a Pending Host to VMM
Adding ESX Server Hosts
How to Add Hosts in an Active Directory Domain
How to Add Hosts on a Perimeter Network
Managing Hosts
Modifying the Properties of a Host