Course Overview & Delivery Format
Methodology: 95% Hands-On Enterprise Labs / 5% Instructor-Led Architecture Discussion
Target Audience: VMware Administrators, Infrastructure Engineers, Systems Engineers, Windows Server Administrators, Solutions Architects
Overview: This intensive boot camp is designed for experienced VMware administrators transitioning to Microsoft Hyper-V and Windows Server Failover Clustering. The course is approximately 95% hands-on and focuses on enterprise planning, workload migration, Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), Hyper-V Replica, PowerShell automation, high availability, backup, disaster recovery, and production operations across guided enterprise labs.
Module 1: Enterprise Microsoft Hyper-V Architecture & Foundations
Module Focus: Establish a foundational understanding of Hyper-V hypervisor architecture, virtual storage backends, software-defined networking, and Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC). Learn to build, optimize, and validate enterprise-ready standalone nodes and multi-node Failover Clusters managed via SCVMM and Windows Admin Center from bare-metal up.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- Microsoft Hyper-V architecture vs. VMware vSphere/ESXi infrastructure models
- Windows Server deployment models (Server Core vs. Desktop Experience), host servicing, and Windows Update for Business
- Hyper-V Virtual Networking: Hyper-V Virtual Switch, SET (Switch Embedded Teaming), VLAN trunking, and Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
- Storage Architecture: CSV (Cluster Shared Volumes), Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and SMB 3.0 shares
- Guest VM Generation 1 vs. Generation 2, Integration Services, Dynamic Memory, and discrete device assignment (DDA)
- Failover Cluster creation, Active Directory cluster accounts, Quorum models (Cloud Witness/Disk Witness), and cluster health diagnostics
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 1.1 Bare-Metal Windows Server & Hyper-V Role Installation: Install Windows Server Core on bare-metal hardware, enable the Hyper-V hypervisor role, and configure management IP settings and remote administration tools.
- Lab 1.2 Enterprise Host Servicing & SSU/Cumulative Patching: Configure WSUS/SCLM patching policies and applyServicing Stack Updates (SSU) and Monthly Cumulative Updates across Hyper-V hosts.
- Lab 1.3 Core System Services & Active Directory Integration: Join Hyper-V hosts to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), configure DNS, Kerberos constrained delegation, and NTP time hierarchy synchronization.
- Lab 1.4 Switch Embedded Teaming (SET) Setup: Configure SET (Switch Embedded Teaming) on Hyper-V hosts to bond multiple physical NICs for management, storage, and VM traffic fault tolerance.
- Lab 1.5 VLAN Trunking & Hyper-V Virtual Switch Isolation: Configure VLAN ID tagging on Hyper-V Virtual Switches and vNICs to segregate management, storage migration, and guest VM traffic subnets.
- Lab 1.6 VHDX Storage Allocation & Dynamic Disk Provisioning: Initialize local storage volumes, deploy fixed and dynamic VHDX virtual hard disk files, and configure VHDX block size optimizations.
- Lab 1.7 Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) Pool Deployment: Prepare NVMe and SSD drives to construct a hyperconverged Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) storage pool with two-way and three-way mirror resiliency.
- Lab 1.8 Shared Storage Integration: SMB 3.0 File Shares: Configure Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) and SMB 3.0 file shares with SMB Multichannel and SMB Direct (RDMA) for high-throughput VM disk hosting.
- Lab 1.9 Block Storage Integration: iSCSI & Fibre Channel SAN: Discover, authenticate, and attach external iSCSI LUNs and Fibre Channel targets using MPIO (Multi-Path I/O) on Hyper-V hosts.
- Lab 1.10 SCVMM & Windows Admin Center Integration: Deploy System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) and configure Windows Admin Center (WAC) for centralized cluster and host management.
- Lab 1.11 Custom Generation 2 Linux VM Creation: Deploy a Generation 2 Linux VM on Hyper-V, configure secure boot settings for Linux, and assign vCPU, memory, and vNIC profiles.
- Lab 1.12 Generation 2 Windows VM Deployment & Integration Services: Create a Windows Server VM, enable Hyper-V Integration Services, and verify synthetic disk and network controller performance.
- Lab 1.13 Dynamic Memory & NUMA Node Optimization: Configure Dynamic Memory parameters (Startup, Minimum, Maximum RAM) and adjust Hyper-V host NUMA spanning settings for high-density VM hosting.
- Lab 1.14 VM Template & VM Gallery Creation in SCVMM: Generalize master Windows and Linux virtual machines using Sysprep and cloud-init, converting them into reusable SCVMM VM Templates.
- Lab 1.15 Differencing Disk & Production Checkpoint Management: Create production checkpoints and differencing disks for development workloads, analyzing VHDX chain performance and delta storage growth.
- Lab 1.16 Multi-Node Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) Creation: Initialize a multi-node Failover Cluster using SCVMM/Failover Cluster Manager and configure Cloud Witness quorum in Microsoft Azure.
- Lab 1.17 Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) & Quorum Diagnostics: Enable Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) over S2D/SAN storage, evaluate vote allocation, and run Cluster Validation tests to verify HA state.
- Lab 1.18 Storage & Network I/O Performance Benchmarking: Execute benchmarking tools (DISKSPD, vMFleet) against CSV drives, S2D pools, and SMB 3.0 storage to measure IOPS, latency, and throughput.
- Lab 1.19 Hyper-V Cluster Network & Storage Troubleshooting: Diagnose intentional quorum losses, broken CSV networks, and Kerberos authorization errors using PowerShell (`Test-Cluster`, `Get-ClusterLog`).
- Lab 1.20 Architecture Validation & Pre-Migration Audit: Perform an operational health check on cluster nodes, storage pools, SET teams, and SCVMM configurations prior to executing migration workflows.
Module 2: VMware Infrastructure Assessment & Migration Planning
Module Focus: Discover, analyze, and plan the systematic migration of VMware vSphere workloads to Microsoft Hyper-V. Master automated discovery tools, Microsoft Azure Migrate, Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC), StarWind V2V Converter, and disk conversion pipelines.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- Automated discovery and inventory of VMware vCenter assets using Azure Migrate / MAP Toolkit
- VMware VM dependency mapping, performance profiling, and migration wave planning
- Storage format conversion methodologies (VMDK to VHDX conversion pipelines)
- Offline, warm (staged), and live near-zero downtime migration execution models
- Driver remediation: Replacing VMware Tools with Hyper-V Integration Services
- Rollback strategies, change control execution, and post-migration validation
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 2.1 Automated VMware Environment Inventory: Deploy Azure Migrate / MAP Toolkit appliances to catalog vCenter Server hosts, datastores, port groups, and virtual machines into an assessment tracking matrix.
- Lab 2.2 Application & Service Dependency Mapping: Analyze network traffic flows and service dependencies across vSphere VMs to group workloads into low-risk migration waves.
- Lab 2.3 VMDK to VHDX Disk Format Conversion via PowerShell: Convert single and multi-file VMDK disks into fixed and dynamic VHDX format using PowerShell and Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter scripts.
- Lab 2.4 Automated Conversion using StarWind V2V Converter: Execute automated batch disk conversions using StarWind V2V Converter CLI to convert VMDK files directly to Hyper-V host CSV storage.
- Lab 2.5 SCVMM VMware Import & Conversion Pipeline: Configure SCVMM to connect to vCenter Server, managing automated VM conversion jobs directly through the SCVMM console.
- Lab 2.6 Injecting Hyper-V Integration Services into VHDX: Mount converted VHDX images offline via PowerShell (`Mount-VHD`) to inject Hyper-V Integration Services and repair storage controller boot drivers.
- Lab 2.7 Registering Converted VHDX into Hyper-V VMs: Create shell Generation 1 and Generation 2 Hyper-V VMs matching CPU/RAM allocations, attach converted VHDX files, and configure boot order.
- Lab 2.8 Cold Migration Execution: Linux Workloads: Execute full offline migration of standalone Linux VMs from vSphere to Hyper-V. Rebind network adapters (udev/netplan) and verify SSH/service boot state.
- Lab 2.9 Cold Migration Execution: Windows Server Workloads: Perform cold migration of legacy Windows Server VMs, resolve storage controller driver dependencies, and verify system event logs post-boot.
- Lab 2.10 Migrating Active Directory Domain Controllers: Migrate secondary Active Directory domain controllers to Hyper-V while primary DCs remain on VMware. Validate SYSVOL replication, Kerberos, and DNS health.
- Lab 2.11 Migrating Enterprise Microsoft SQL Server Databases: Perform database-aware migrations of Microsoft SQL Server workloads. Quiesce database services, sync transaction logs, attach CSV volumes, and verify DB consistency.
- Lab 2.12 Migrating IIS & Web Application Servers: Migrate IIS and web application servers to Hyper-V nodes. Update network bindings, SSL certificates, and verify external service reachability.
- Lab 2.13 VMware Tools Removal & Integration Services Cleanup: Uninstall VMware Tools completely from migrated VMs using silent scripts. Clean up ghost network adapters in Windows Device Manager and optimize Integration Services.
- Lab 2.14 Network Re-IP & Active Directory DNS Update Automation: Execute automated PowerShell scripts to reconfigure IP addresses, default gateways, and enterprise Active Directory DNS records for migrated VMs.
- Lab 2.15 VHDX Disk I/O & Controller Performance Optimization: Reconfigure VM disk controllers to use synthetic SCSI controllers, enable unmap commands (TRIM), and benchmark disk I/O performance against VMware baselines.
- Lab 2.16 Automated Cold Migration Wave Execution: Execute a multi-VM migration wave using scripted PowerShell pipelines. Track conversion times, import durations, and total application downtime against SLAs.
- Lab 2.17 Near-Zero Downtime Replication with Azure Migrate: Configure continuous replication of on-premises VMware VMs to Hyper-V target clusters using Azure Migrate appliance pipelines prior to final cutover.
- Lab 2.18 Rollback Plan Execution & DR Simulation: Simulate a migration failure during cutover and execute a full rollback procedure back to the original VMware environment to ensure zero data loss.
- Lab 2.19 Post-Migration Application Acceptance Testing: Run automated testing scripts to verify database connectivity, web endpoints, and Active Directory authentication across migrated VMs.
- Lab 2.20 Migration Readiness Gate Review: Audit overall migration metrics, conversion logs, and performance reports across completed waves. Complete the readiness checklist before advancing to enterprise HA.
Module 3: Enterprise Storage, Backup & High Availability Architecture
Module Focus: Design, deploy, and maintain highly available storage, compute, and cluster infrastructure in Microsoft Hyper-V. Master Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), Live Migration, Storage Live Migration, Hyper-V Replica, System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM), and Microsoft Azure Backup.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) architecture, disk pooling, mirror/parity resiliency, and CSV cache tuning
- Windows Server Failover Clustering HA, VM roles, priority auto-start, and cluster node drain
- Live Migration, Storage Live Migration, Shared-Nothing Live Migration, and Kerberos authentication setup
- Hyper-V Replica architecture, primary/replica site setup, compression, and failover testing
- Enterprise Backup: System Center DPM / Azure Backup / Veeam integration, VSS snapshots, and RCT (Resilient Change Tracking)
- Storage recovery, disk rebalancing, and cluster performance optimization
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 3.1 Hyperconverged Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) Expansion: Add physical NVMe/SSD drives to an active S2D cluster, execute pool expansion, and rebalance storage storage jobs via PowerShell.
- Lab 3.2 CSV Volume Maintenance & Resilience Configuration: Configure Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) cache settings, configure nested resiliency for S2D volumes, and test CSV redirect mode failover.
- Lab 3.3 Deploying Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) for Hyper-V: Deploy a highly available Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) role over Failover Clustering to host VM VHDX files on SMB 3.0 shares.
- Lab 3.4 System Center DPM / Azure Backup Integration: Install System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) or Azure Backup Server agent. Configure backup storage vaults and administrative policies.
- Lab 3.5 Automated Hyper-V VSS & RCT Backup Schedules: Configure host-level VM backup jobs leveraging Hyper-V Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) and Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for differential backups.
- Lab 3.6 Granular Item-Level & File Restores from RCT Backups: Perform file-level and database-level restores directly from host-level Hyper-V VSS backups without restoring full VM virtual disks.
- Lab 3.7 Hyper-V Replica Setup & Initial Synchronization: Enable Hyper-V Replica on primary and replica cluster nodes. Configure Kerberos/certificate authentication and replicate active VMs across subnets.
- Lab 3.8 Hyper-V Replica Planned & Unplanned Failover Testing: Execute planned failover operations for maintenance, simulate unexpected site outages, and trigger unplanned failover with reverse replication.
- Lab 3.9 Live Migration Configuration (CredSSP vs. Kerberos): Configure Hyper-V Live Migration settings, performance options (Compression vs. SMB), and Kerberos constrained delegation across hosts.
- Lab 3.10 Zero-Downtime VM Live Migration Execution: Perform live migrations of running virtual machines between cluster nodes using CSV storage. Verify uninterrupted ping response and zero downtime.
- Lab 3.11 Live Storage Migration (Storage Migration): Execute live storage migrations of running VM VHDX files from local host storage to CSV/SMB 3.0 shared storage while maintaining VM uptime.
- Lab 3.12 Shared-Nothing Live Migration: Perform Shared-Nothing Live Migration moving both compute and VHDX storage simultaneously between standalone Hyper-V hosts without shared storage.
- Lab 3.13 Production Checkpoint Management & VHDX Merging: Take host-level production snapshots using VSS, analyze checkpoint tree dependencies, and perform live checkpoint merges into base VHDX files.
- Lab 3.14 S2D Disk Failure Simulation & Automatic Repair: Forcefully fail a physical disk within an S2D cluster pool. Observe automatic health degradation, storage repairing, and disk replacement execution.
- Lab 3.15 Cluster Network Interface Failure & SET Failover: Simulate network interface failures on SET (Switch Embedded Teaming) physical adapters. Validate redundant path failover without disrupting VM operations.
- Lab 3.16 Hyper-V Host Drain & Node Maintenance Mode: Place a Hyper-V cluster node into Maintenance Mode using `Suspend-ClusterNode -Drain`. Observe automated VM Live Migrations to remaining nodes.
- Lab 3.17 Node Isolation & Quorum Cloud Witness Failover: Simulate total network isolation of a cluster host. Observe Cloud Witness quorum voting and automatic VM failover execution on surviving nodes.
- Lab 3.18 Cross-Datacenter Hyper-V Replica DR Sync: Configure Hyper-V Replica extended replication to a third offsite disaster recovery host. Verify offsite data consistency and recovery readiness.
- Lab 3.19 Total Bare-Metal Cluster DR Recovery: Simulate complete primary cluster destruction. Rebuild cluster nodes, restore S2D configuration, and recover all VMs from RCT backups.
- Lab 3.20 Storage & HA Operational Review: Perform full Failover Cluster, S2D, and Hyper-V Replica health evaluations using Failover Cluster Manager and PowerShell dashboards.
Module 4: Enterprise Security, Automation & Production Operations
Module Focus: Secure, automate, and manage Hyper-V environments at scale. Master Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Active Directory / Just Enough Administration (JEA), Shielded VMs / Guarded Fabric, PowerShell / DSC automation, System Center SCVMM, and Azure Arc management.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- Hyper-V Security: Shielded Virtual Machines, Host Guardian Service (HGS), TPM-based attestation, and BitLocker encryption
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): SCVMM User Roles, Active Directory security groups, and Just Enough Administration (JEA)
- Automation & IaC: PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC), SCVMM PowerShell SDK, and Terraform Hyper-V provider integration
- Hybrid Cloud Management: Onboarding Hyper-V hosts and VMs to Azure Arc for centralized monitoring, policy enforcement, and patching
- Monitoring & Operations: System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), Windows Admin Center, and Azure Monitor
/ Log Analytics integration
- Automated Patching: Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) for zero-downtime host updating and maintenance
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 4.1 Active Directory & JEA Role-Based Access Control: Configure Just Enough Administration (JEA) PowerShell endpoints to delegate restricted Hyper-V management tasks to helpdesk staff without admin rights.
- Lab 4.2 SCVMM Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Setup: Define custom User Roles, Tenant Scopes, and Delegated Administrator permissions in SCVMM to restrict administrative boundaries.
- Lab 4.3 Deploying Host Guardian Service (HGS) for Shielded VMs: Install and configure Host Guardian Service (HGS) with TPM-based attestation to establish a Guarded Fabric for secure VM execution.
- Lab 4.4 Deploying Shielded Virtual Machines: Provision a Generation 2 Shielded Windows VM with BitLocker virtual TPM (vTPM) encryption, preventing host admins from accessing VM memory/disks.
- Lab 4.5 Hyper-V Host Security Hardening & Credential Guard: Enable Windows Defender Credential Guard, HVCI (Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity), and disable unneeded services across Hyper-V hosts.
- Lab 4.6 PowerShell DSC for Hyper-V Host Standardization: Write and apply PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) documents to enforce consistent Hyper-V settings, SET teams, and firewall rules.
- Lab 4.7 Automated VM Provisioning via SCVMM PowerShell SDK: Develop custom PowerShell scripts using the SCVMM module (`Get-SCVirtualMachine`, `New-SCVirtualMachine`) to automate VM deployment workflows.
- Lab 4.8 Infrastructure as Code with Terraform Hyper-V Provider: Configure the Terraform Hyper-V provider to declaratively provision, modify, and decommission Hyper-V virtual machines and virtual switches.
- Lab 4.9 Onboarding Hyper-V Clusters to Azure Arc: Deploy the Azure Arc Connected Machine agent to Hyper-V hosts and VMs. Enable Azure Arc-enabled vSphere/Hyper-V management capabilities.
- Lab 4.10 Azure Policy Enforcement for Hyper-V Guests: Apply guest configuration policies via Azure Arc to enforce OS compliance, security baselines, and software configurations across VMs.
- Lab 4.11 Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) Setup: Configure Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) on Hyper-V clusters. Automate self-updating node runs that Live Migrate VMs dynamically during patching.
- Lab 4.12 Centralized Logging via Azure Log Analytics & SCOM: Configure System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and Azure Log Analytics agents to collect Hyper-V host and guest event logs.
- Lab 4.13 Enterprise Performance Monitoring & Alerting: Set up performance counter monitoring for CPU, Dynamic Memory pressure, CSV latency, and network throughput in Windows Admin Center.
- Lab 4.14 Automated Alerting & Webhook Notifications: Configure automated alerting rules in SCOM / Azure Monitor to send notifications on CSV space thresholds, S2D drive degradation, or node offline events.
- Lab 4.15 Automated VM Fleet Optimization & Dynamic Optimization: Configure SCVMM Dynamic Optimization (DO) and Resource Optimization (RO) to automatically load-balance VMs across cluster hosts.
- Lab 4.16 Security Compliance Auditing via Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Run Microsoft Defender for Cloud security scans against Hyper-V hosts to identify misconfigurations and apply CIS benchmark remediations.
- Lab 4.17 Zero-Downtime Cluster Update via CAU: Execute a full Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) run across a 4-node Hyper-V cluster, verifying continuous application uptime throughout the update process.
- Lab 4.18 Disaster Recovery Scripting for SCVMM & Hyper-V: Develop automated disaster recovery recovery scripts using SCVMM PowerShell to restore VM configurations from backup metadata in a DR site.
- Lab 4.19 Guest OS Software Configuration via Ansible: Execute Ansible playbooks targeting Windows/Linux VMs on Hyper-V to perform post-provisioning software installations and domain joins.
- Lab 4.20 Operations & Security Operational Review: Audit CAU update pipelines, JEA roles, Azure Arc monitoring, and S2D storage health before completing the enterprise curriculum.
Bootcamp Key Takeaways & Enterprise Competencies
- Architecture & Deployment: Design, build, and maintain production-grade, highly available Hyper-V clusters integrated with Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) storage arrays and Switch Embedded Teaming (SET) network fabrics.
- Workload Migration: Execute end-to-end migrations of complex Linux and Windows workloads from VMware vSphere to Microsoft Hyper-V with minimal downtime using automated conversion pipelines.
- Automation & Management: Leverage PowerShell, SCVMM, Azure Arc, and Terraform to automate host initialization, guest provisioning, and daily operational tasks declaratively.
- Resilience & Disaster Recovery: Implement robust backup and recovery topologies using System Center DPM, Hyper-V Replica, automated snapshot management, and Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) failover.
- Operational Excellence: Develop comprehensive migration runbooks, lead change control processes, enforce security hardening compliance using Shielded VMs, and execute seamless production cutovers.
