Use Your #ITCamp #HyperV Lab - Migrate To Windows Server 2008 R2

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You've built your Hyper-V lab environment at our IT Camp events … now it's time to put that lab environment to good use so that you can take advantage of those cool Server 2008 R2 features like Managed Service Accounts, Active Directory Recycle Bin, Offline Domain Join and Hyper-V Live Migration!

Below I'm providing a list of useful links that you can use in your own lab environment to step through a migration to Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.  Once you've followed the first four steps to prepare your lab environment and install the server migration tool bits, then follow the links in Step 5 that are appropriate for the server roles you'd like to migrate.  If you have servers that include multiple roles, you'll want to step through the combined steps for each of the roles in your lab and then customize them as appropriate for your production environment.

  1. Use the Disk2VHD tool to create a VHD for each of the servers you'd like to test migrating in your Hyper-V lab. 
  2. ROBOCOPY these VHDs to your Hyper-V Server and create a VM based on each one.  Make sure you attach these VMs to a Private network on your Hyper-V host to prevent these servers from communicating on your production network!
  3. If you haven't downloaded Windows Server 2008 R2 bits for use in your lab environment yet, you can download them here.  Use these bits to build the target server VMs you'll need for testing each migration scenario in your lab.
  4. Install the Server Migration Tools on your source and destination lab server VMs by following these steps.
  5. Choose the Server Roles to Migrate below and follow the step-by-step guidance to test your migration scenarios in your new Hyper-V Lab environment!  Document any customizations or changes needed for your environment as you go.

Once you've completed your testing, you'll have all the steps needed for you to begin your production migrations to Windows Server 2008 R2!