If you would like to read the other parts in this article series please go to:
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 1)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 2)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 3)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 4)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 5)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 6)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 7)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 9)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 10)
Add Cluster Node: Add Cluster Node helps you add a node to the existing host cluster. While you can always add a node to an existing Hyper-V cluster via Failover Cluster manager snap-in or using other methods such as Failover PowerShell cmdlets, but adding a VMM managed node to a Hyper-V cluster via VMM is an easy process. All you need to do is right click on the Hyper-V cluster and then select “Add Cluster Node” action as shown in the figure below.
Figure 1
When you click “Add Cluster Node” action, next thing you need to do is select the nodes from the list of available nodes that are going to be part of Hyper-V cluster as shown in the figure below.
Figure 2
It is imperative to understand that the node that you are going to add to the Hyper-V host cluster must be available in the same VMM host group. In case Hyper-V host/node resides in a different group, move the node to the VMM host group where Hyper-V cluster resides. Select the cluster nodes you want to add to existing Hyper-V cluster and then click on “Add” button. When you click on “Add” button, “Add Host Cluster Nodes” window will prompt you to provide a Run As account that will be used by VMM to perform various actions when adding nodes to existing Hyper-V cluster as shown in the figure below.
Figure 3
Next thing VMM is going to do is create a VMM job that will run in the background to add new node to the Hyper-V cluster. As you can see in the figure below, VMM will perform a handful of tasks automatically. VMM job will be configured to install failover clustering feature, validate the cluster, updating cluster node state in the VMM, and refreshing the host cluster to update cluster information.
Figure 4
Validate Cluster: You can run cluster validation test via VMM by right clicking on the Hyper-V cluster. To validate Hyper-V cluster via VMM, right click on the Hyper-V cluster and then click on “Validate Cluster” action as shown in the figure below.
Figure 5
When you click on the “Validate Cluster” action, VMM will create a PowerShell job to run cluster validation tests for all the nodes in the Hyper-V cluster and then provide a report as shown in the figure below.
Figure 6
The VMM Jobs window will always show you the result of a task. As you can see Validate Cluster action was completed for the Hyper-V cluster, but VMM reported a warning. If you need to look as to what warning was generated as part of the cluster validation test, you can open the cluster validation report created on any of the nodes located under \Windows\Cluster\Reports folder.
Tip: It is always recommended that you run the cluster validation test if the following conditions are true:
- When a new node is added or removed from the cluster.
- When a new disk is added or removed from the cluster.
- When a host cluster is moved to another VMM host group.
View Networking: “View Networking” action helps you understand how networking is configured for the Hyper-V host cluster. When you click on the View Networking action, VMM will show you the View Networking window as shown in the figure below.
Figure 7
There are three buttons provided in the View Networking window; VM Networks, Host Networks and Network Topology. Host Networks button will show you how nodes in the Hyper-V host cluster are connected and the VMM logical networks they are using. Clicking on the Network Topology button will show you how networking components are associated with the VMM logical network as shown in the screenshot below.
Figure 8
Clicking on “VM Networks” button will show you virtual machines that are running in the Hyper-V host cluster as shown in the screenshot below.
Figure 9
Conclusion
This article and the previous article explained actions available on the right click context menu of a Hyper-V cluster managed by the Virtual Machine Manager. In the next part of this article series, we will learn how to remove a specific node from Hyper-V cluster.
Since the overall purpose of creating a Hyper-V cluster is to make virtual machines highly available, we will also learn how to deploy a virtual machine or a service in a Hyper-V cluster.
If you would like to read the other parts in this article series please go to:
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 1)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 2)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 3)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 4)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 5)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 6)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 7)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 9)
- How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 10)
