Exam Prep for 70-659 Part 1: Installing Hyper-V

As I wrote ain an earlier post, there is no better time to write your exam for 70-659 Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization, than now and particularly before May 31, 2012. So to aid in that endeavour, Joseph Yedid, an IT specialist with Enhansoft in Ottawa, has put together a series of posts focused on getting IT folk ready to pass this exam. Joseph writes his blog at www.josephyedid.com but has allowed me to repost this series here.

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In this series of blog posts, I will be trying to explain the requirements for the 70-659 exam.

In mirroring the actual exam outline, I will start with Installing and Configuring Host and Parent Settings.

Installing Hyper-V

To start off, the required BIOS settings should be turned on to allow Hyper-V to work. The BIOS must support:

  1. Hardware Assisted Virtualization:  
    • Intel-VT   or   AMD-V
  2. Data Execution Prevention (DEP):    

The nomenclature for DEP can differ between Intel and AMD, or BIOS vendors. But the standards are below:

    • AMD CPUs – AMD No-Execute (NX) bit must be turned on.
    • Intel CPUs – Intel Execute Disable (XD) bit must be turned on.

Once the BIOS settings are enabled, Hyper-V can be installed. There are a few ways that Hyper-V can be installed.

  • In Server Core:

Use Start /w ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V command.

  • GUI:

In the full GUI of Windows Server 2008 R2, you will have to add the role.

  • Virtual Machine Manager (VMM):

A third method to install Hyper-V on a system is using VMM.

In host systems without the Hyper-V role installed, VMM will install the Hyper-V role, as long as they are discoverable in AD. The host systems must be Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. For Windows Server 2003 systems, VMM will install Virtual Server 2005.

Hyper-V Server R2 is a standalone server that does only one thing; Hyper-V. It is the only role in the product. Configuring it is pretty straight forward. This is due to fact that it is configured with a menu type interface. The menu allows for quick configuration of the server, due to the fact that no GUI is present. The file name used to bring the menu back (if closed) is HVCONFIG. Don’t confuse HVCONFIG with SCONFIG. Although they look the same, SCONFIG is the menu for Server Core, whereas HVCONFIG is the menu for Hyper-V Server.

Read the full series >>


Joseph-1Joseph Yedid is an IT specialist working at Enhansoft a company based in Ottawa, Canada, that develops products and services to extend the value of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) and System Center Configuration Manager 2012. He is an avid user of technology and is certified in many areas of Microsoft infrastructure technologies. He is MCTS and MCITP certifed - Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Vista/Windows 7. Other interests revolve around virtualization technologies, System Center and Private Cloud. Joseph is a member and on the executive of the Ottawa Windows Server User Group.