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I have a server running W28R2 with Hyper-V activated. I am running W2K3R2 production server on this host. I need to move the W2K3R2 production server from this host to another host, on the same domain.
I see that you can use sysprep utility. But I also see warnings of not using the sysprep on production servers.
In my case what will be the steps of preparing my production W2K3R2 server for the move? How can I run sysprep against the server, if it is a produciton server?

Thanks

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3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I noticed you are trying to clone instead of copy. The following article gives details regarding cloning a server with hyper-v

http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/general-virtualization-articles/cloning-hyper-v-virtual-machines-right-way-part2.html

I would suggest you take a snapshot of the source machine before running sysprep and then after running sysprep and exporting reverting to the snap.

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I did this but I am running into weired problems on the network. I end up running the production server from the old host. Now when I try to login to the old host into the W2K3R2 server using the domain account, I have to disable the virutal NIC, then login, then activate the Virtual NIC. I think something happened to the AD, when I tried to run the W2K3R2 on the new host after importing the image. – Shazam Aug 29 '11 at 14:57
Instead of the export/import process. Snapshot the host, run sysprep, make a copy of the vhd's create a NEW vm on the new server and attach the vhd's. Revert the original and make sure it is still working, then bring up the NEW one – nate Aug 29 '11 at 15:04
Just to clarify my issue, when I used export/import, I tried to login to the newly imported VM, using the domain login, and it said, cannot connect to the domain...., the same message you get when you have a duplicate machine with same identification on the domain. – Shazam Aug 29 '11 at 15:09
So should I be cloning or copying? I need to move the VM from host A to B. – Shazam Aug 29 '11 at 15:10
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Then you are trying to just Move it not clone it as your title says. Turn off the original server, copy the vhd's to the new machine, create a new VM and attach them. (Note the import/export option really should be working in this case) – nate Aug 29 '11 at 15:17
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up vote 1 down vote

You can export the VM from the current host, then import on the desired host. It's a builtin feature into hyper-V.

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But both hosts are on the same domain. I did this and ran into networking issues specificlally with Active Directory (same SID, Computer Name etc). This happened even though I Shutdown the old VM before importing the image to the new host. That is why I researched and found that you need to sysprep before exporting the image. – Shazam Aug 29 '11 at 14:47
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You could also try to copy the base harddisk file of one Virtual Machine and using that disk image create another virtual Machine. Before you power on the second machine, turn off the first machine. Then configure the changes into the second machine and then start the first machine. This is a procedure that I have used in some topologies to create multiple server machines from the same base Virtual Machine.

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What type of changes? – Shazam Aug 29 '11 at 15:11
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