The following are best practices in designing and planning your VMM 2008 R2 rollout:
► Organizations using Hyper-V should use VMM 2008 R2 and not VMM 2007.
► VMM 2008 R2 can only be installed on Windows Server 2008 x64, Standard and Enterprise Editions or Windows Server 2008 R2 x64, Standard and Enterprise Editions.
► Ensure the system that VMM is being installed on is attached to a Windows domain.
► For most deployments, VMM can be installed on the same system as the SQL Server instance that hosts the VMM database.
► Use the Self-Service Portal to allow end users or developers to create and manage their virtual machines.
► Use the Administrator Console to manage Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESX, and Microsoft Virtual Server hosts.
► Add Hyper-V, VMware, and Virtual Server physical hosts to the Administrator Console to manage them with VMM.
► For organizations where the VMM components are installed on separate servers, VMM libraries should be on separate servers, too.
► VMM libraries should be placed on clustered file servers where fault tolerance of the library is required.
► Multiple VMM library servers should be configured for organizations with multiple host servers in different locations.
► Create hardware profiles to define the hardware used in common virtual machines (for example, a dual-processor server with 2GB of RAM and a DVD-ROM).
► Create guest OS profiles to define the operating system profile used in common virtual machines (for example, Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard Edition).
► Use VMM to reduce the complexity of managing multiple virtualization platforms.
► Learn the VMM Command Shell cmdlets for command-line management of the virtual environment.
► Use host clusters to host mission-critical virtual machines to provide a higher level of fault tolerance.
► Store common CD images (ISOs) in the VMM library for easy access from the VMM Administrator Console.
► Ensure that only highly available virtual machines are marked as such in the VM’s settings. Doing so ensures that the virtual machine can only be placed on host clusters.
► The VMM Administrator role cannot be limited. Therefore, create additional administrative roles to further delegate VMM administrative rights.
► Use a single-server deployment for VMM and SQL Server Express 2005 for a relatively simple environment; split the VMM components for a large, enterprise environment.
This posting is 1 of a monthlong series of postings on the Microsoft System Center family of products. This is an excerpt from my book "System Center Enterprise Unleashed" with more postings on the System Center family of products up at http://www.networkworld.com/community/morimoto