By -Aaron Whittaker
Here are the short steps to configure Hyper-V Cluster replication, all virtual!:
Create a Domain Controller, x2 Hyper-V hosts in a cluster [production site](only 1 needs to be one to actually work), x2 additional Hyper-V hosts [disaster recovery site].
As this is just a test lab you may wish to do this all from the one Hyper-V host.
Add the 4 hosts to the domain.
To enable Hyper-V on a virtual machine you will need to run the follow commands on each host in powershell. You cannot add the Hyper-V roles from Server Manager.
DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /all /FeatureName:Microsoft-Hyper-V
DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /all /FeatureName:Microsoft-Hyper-V-Management-Clients
reboot
Create a cluster with the default settings (you will need to install the failover clustering role). Add x2 servers to each cluster.
Go to Windows firewall on the DR Hyper-V hosts. Find the inbound rule called Hyper-V Replica HTTP Listener rule. Right click ‘enable’ it.
On each cluster create a Hyper-v Replica Broker, as in the screen shot.
Once it is configured wait for it to be running (automatic).
If you go back to the Hyper-V replication settings, you will see they are now greyed out due to the host being in a cluster.
You can configure the cluster replication settings if you wish. In my demonstration we wont, we will be automatically prompted to do this. Go failover cluster manager create a basic vm. Mine cannot be turned on as it is a virtual in a virtual. Right click the VM, select Replication, Enable Replication.
You get an error asking to configure replica settings.
Configure the settings, I am just using Kerberos with no certificates. This is why you need a domain controller.
Select the appropriate recovery points (remember replication occurs every 5 mins and cant be modified)
All configured, as you can see the VM now appears on both servers. I can’t turn it on my test VM due to it being a VM inside another VM.
Please leave any comments/sugguestions.
Brisbane Cloud User Group 