Building the First Hyper-V Host

Starting with a stand-alone host is probably the best approach if you are new to Hyper-V, because this deployment is very straightforward. It also helps you to more quickly understand how Hyper-V works—and how to evolve building a bigger Hyper-V farm.

Preparing Windows Server

Because Hyper-V is a role of Windows Server, the first requirement is to have a freshly installed operating system. This task is not different from installing a new Windows Server used for Active Directory or a file server, for example. There are no Hyper-V-specific options available. Unless you use the free Hyper-V Server, the Hyper-V role is also not enabled by default, even when you use the Datacenter edition (see Figure 2-6).

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