Tip of the Day: Cross Version Live Migration

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Today’s Tip…

Windows Server 2012 R2 delivers something to Hyper-V that we have not had before, Cross Version Live Migration.  What this means is that VMs running on a downlevel version of Windows can be easily moved to an up level server.

Example 1: Server running Windows Server 2012 with 10 VMs can Live Migrate those VMs to a Server running Windows Server 2012 R2.

Example 2: A cluster running Windows Server 2012 can use the following steps to upgrade to 2012 R2

  1. Move all the VMs to node 1
  2. Upgrade node 2 to 2012 R2
  3. Live Migrate all the VMs to node 2
  4. Upgrade node 1 to 2012 R2
  5. Balance the VMs as needed

NO DOWN TIME WHEN UPGRADING!  NONE!!

:)