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Marcel
Asked: 2012-11-14 03:49:36 +0800 CST

Hyper-V 2012 Host Cluster - To domain or not domain

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I'm planning on implementing a Hyper-V 2012 cluster, in a host cluster configuration.

Should the host machines be in a domain? If so, should that DC machine be a part of the cluster, or a seperate machine? Should the hosts be in the same domain as the guest VMs?

active-directory

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The answer of whether to put the machines in a domain or not highly depends on your needs. I will tell you that the management of the machines will likely be a lot easier for you if you integrate them into Active Directory - for the same reasons why integration into Active Directory makes centralized management of everything better over just a collection of workgroup computers.

    If you do go with a domain, I cannot really recommend anything except two separate physical (but modest) machines as redundant domain controllers. The domain controllers are not in a cluster, and I definitely do not recommend that they be the same machines as the Hyper-V hosts. Domain controllers should only be domain controllers.

    "Should the hosts be in the same domain as the guest VMs?"

    Again, that depends. A domain is a management boundary. Are these VMs owned and managed by the same people that own and manage the domain? Maybe you run a managed hosting business and these are customer VMs, in which case you would not want them to be a part of your domain. It depends.

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  2. Maybe it's changed in 2012 and I haven't run across the announcement, but in all previous versions of Server clusters must be part of a domain.

    Server 2012 doesn't require DCs to start like previous versions, but it's still not recommended to have all your DCs in VMs (at least one should be physical, preferably two, per site). I've seen quite a few where they have one physical and one or two VM DCs. Your Hyper-V hosts should only have that one role installed, I highly recommend using Hyper-V Server (not the Hyper-V Role in Server, a separate product) as it helps to keep your configuration clean and has all the capabilities of Enterprise Server with the Hyper-V Role in regards to hosting VMs.

    In very large installs, it's common to use a resource domain to hold resources, and user domains for users, service accounts, and the like. I would guess you have a smaller installation, and you'll probably want everything in the same domain for simplicity. Remember that each domain requires a new set of DCs (you should always have at least two DCs per domain per "normal" site; small/satellite sites typically have one DC or a RODC).

    Also, there's no such thing as a PDC or BDC (never was anything called a SDC) in Active Director (PDC and BDC refer to Windows NT 4.0 and before, that's 1996, 16 years ago...). Active Directory is completely distributed, non-master. There are the FSMO roles, but they're not what you're thinking of. You may want to pickup a book on AD Administration, I'm trying not to be offensive, but it's clear you have a very limited and antiquated understanding of Windows Domains.

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