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Review prerequisites for the Host Guardian Service

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Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016

This topic covers HGS prerequisites and initial steps to prepare for the HGS deployment.

Prerequisites

  • Hardware: HGS can be run on physical or virtual machines, but physical machines are recommended.

    If you want to run HGS as a three-node physical cluster (for availability), you must have three physical servers. (As a best practice for clustering, the three servers should have very similar hardware.)

  • Operating system: Host key attestation requires Windows Server 2019 Standard or Datacenter edition operating with v2 attestation. For TPM-based attestation, HGS can run Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server 2016, Standard or Datacenter edition.

  • Server Roles: Host Guardian Service and supporting server roles.

  • Configuration permissions/privileges for the fabric (host) domain: You will need to configure DNS forwarding between the fabric (host) domain and the HGS domain.

Upgrading HGS

If you've already deployed HGS and want to upgrade its operating system, follow the upgrade guidance to upgrade your HGS and Hyper-V servers to the latest OS.

Next step

Obtain certificates for HGS