Windows Server 2003 : Installing Virtual Server

Virtual Server Overview

Microsoft Virtual Server is a virtualization application that creates a virtual hardware environment that can support multiple virtual machines running multiple operating systems on the same physical hardware. The physical server is called the “host” and each virtual operating system is called a “guest.” Guest operating systems can be any operating system that runs on standard x86 hardware, including UNIX, Linux, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows 9x, Windows NT, or any of the currently shipping and supported 32-bit Windows operating systems.

Virtual Server presents each guest operating system with an entirely segregated and isolated virtual environment that simulates the necessary hardware for the guest operating system to run. The guest has no awareness of being in a virtual environment and is fully supported running under Virtual Server.

Virtual Server is an ideal environment for testing new applications and patches to existing applications. You can create multiple guest virtual machines on a single server, and test the new application under carefully controlled and isolated conditions that accurately reflect your real network conditions, without having to have many dedicated machines to support.

Virtual Server is also a great tool for testing new technologies, such as clustering, in a controlled environment and without having to actually buy expensive clustering hardware until you’re sure everything will work as you expect.

Installing Virtual Server

Virtual Server 2005 R2 can be installed on any 32-bit version of Windows Server 2003, and on x64 versions of Windows Server 2003. It can also be installed on Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. It is not, however, supported for production use when installed on Windows XP.

Installing Internet Information Services for Virtual Server

To install Virtual Server, you need to first install Internet Information Services 6.0 (IIS6) on either the host computer (the default) or on another computer with access to the machine that will host Virtual Server. This is because all configuration and maintenance of Virtual Server is done on the Virtual Server Administration Website. This Web site is created on the host machine by default, but if you need to configure Virtual Server to be administered from a separate computer you should follow the instructions in the Release Notes for Virtual Server. If you won’t be using IIS for any other Web functionality, you should just install the minimum components of IIS that are required for Virtual Server. These are: Common Files, Internet Information Services Manager, and World Wide Web Service. Installing these components will reduce the number of unnecessary services and attack surfaces on your server. If you already have IIS running somewhere on your network, do the installation of Virtual Server as a split installation.

To install IIS for Virtual Server, follow these steps:

1.	Open Add/Remove Components, and select Add/Remove Windows Components to open the Windows Components Wizard, shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. The Windows Components Wizard
2.	Highlight Application Server, and click Details.
3.	Highlight Internet Information Services, and click Details.
4.	Select Common Files and Internet Information Server Management.
5.	Select World Wide Web Service, and click Details to open the World Wide Web Service page shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. The World Wide Web Service page
6.	Select only World Wide Web Service and then click OK twice to return to the Application Server page. You should have Enable Network COM+ Access selected and Internet Information Services (IIS) partially selected, as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. The Application Server page, with the necessary selections for Virtual Server
7.	Click OK one more time, and then click through the rest of the wizard to finish installing IIS.

If your intention is to only use IIS for management and configuration of Virtual Server, you should configure the Windows Firewall accordingly to block access to the default Web site, especially from any externally facing IP address.

Performing the Installation

To install Virtual Server, follow these steps:

1.	Ensure that IIS is installed and started.
2.	Start the Virtual Server 2005 installation program, setup.exe, from the CD or other installation point to bring up the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Setup Wizard shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. The Virtual Server 2005 Setup Wizard
3.	Click Install Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, and then Accept the license agreement and click Next again.
4.	Fill in the Customer Information dialog box, and click Next to bring up the Setup Type dialog box shown in Figure 5. Figure 5. The Virtual Server Setup Type dialog box
5.	Choose Complete if you are installing Virtual Server on a computer that has IIS already installed.
6.	If you are doing a split installation, choose Custom, and then change Virtual Server Web Application to This Feature Will Not Be Available, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. The Virtual Server Custom Setup dialog box
7.	Click Next to bring up the Configure Components dialog box shown in Figure 7 (available with a complete install only). Figure 7. Configure the Administration Website components
8.	Click Next, and select Enable Virtual Server exceptions in Windows Firewall.
9.	Click Next and then click Install to perform the actual installation.
10.	When the installation completes, the Installation Summary page will be displayed, as shown in Figure 8. The exact contents of this page will vary, depending on exactly what components were installed. Figure 8. The Installation Summary page
11.	Note the location of the Installation Summary page for future reference, or add it to your Favorites. Finally, click Finish to close the installation program. No reboot is required.