You can use the Add Hosts Wizard to add one or more virtual machine hosts in an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain. The domain can be either a domain that has a two-way trust with the domain that VMM server is in or a domain that does not have a two-way trust with the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) server’s domain.

You can also use the Add Hosts Wizard to add a host that is on a perimeter network, after you have first installed a VMM agent locally on the host. For more information, see How to Add Hosts on a Perimeter Network.

Important
When you add a virtual machine host or library server that is in an AD DS domain, VMM remotely installs a VMM agent on the managed computer. The VMM agent deployment process uses both the Server Message Block (SMB) ports and the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) port (TCP 135) and the DCOM port range. You can use either SMB packet signing or IPSec to help secure the agent deployment process. You can also install VMM agents locally on hosts, discover them in the VMM Administrator Console, and then control the host using only the WinRM port (default port 80) and BITS port (default port 443).
Important
When you add a Windows-based host, VMM automatically installs or enables the appropriate version virtualization software on the host and attempts to create a Windows Firewall exception, if needed.When you add a host to VMM and the host’s operating system supports Hyper-V, if Hyper-V is not enabled on the host, VMM will attempt to enable it automatically. Enabling the Hyper-V role will cause the host to immediately restart. If the host you are adding is the VMM server, restarting it will stop any jobs that are running and you must add the host again after the Hyper-V has been enabled.When you add a host to VMM and that host's operating system supports Virtual Server 2005 R2, VMM automatically installs the correct version of Virtual Server 2005 R2 if it is not installed already.

For information about improving the security of hosts, see Hardening Virtual Machine Hosts (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=145057).

To add virtual machine hosts in a domain
  1. In any view in the VMM Administrator Console, in the Actions pane, click Add hosts to open the Add Hosts Wizard.

  2. On the Select Host Location page, do the following:

    1. Click Windows Server-based host on an Active Directory domain and then do one of the following:

      1. To add hosts on a trusted domain, type the credentials for a domain account with administrative rights on all hosts you want to add. If you are adding a host cluster, the account must have administrative rights on all nodes of the cluster.

      2. To add hosts that are not in a domain that has a two-way trust with the VMM server’s domain, clear the Host is in a trusted domain check box, and then type the credentials for a local account with administrative rights on all hosts you want to add.

    2. Click Next.

  3. On the Select Host Servers page, in the Domain box, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the hosts you want to add and then do one of the following:

    1. In the Computer name box, type the NetBIOS name of a host in the specified domain.

      Note
      • The name of the host should be the NetBIOS name, not the IP address or the FQDN. To add a host in a different domain, change the value in the Domain box and then enter the NetBIOS name.

      • When you specify the name of a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster or a node in a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster, the Add Hosts Wizard discovers all nodes in the cluster and adds them to VMM. If needed, the wizard enables the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2008 on each node.

      • If the host is in a disjointed namespace, you must select the Skip the Active Directory name verification check box. To skip Active Directory name verification, the computer name must be a registered host Service Principal Name (SPN) in Active Directory Domain Services. When you use the Add Host Wizard to add a computer that is in a disjointed namespace, VMM checks Active Directory Domain Services to see whether an SPN exists, and if it doesn’t, VMM attempts to create one. If this does not work, you have to add the SPN manually.

    2. If the specified domain has a two-way trust with the VMM server’s domain, you can click Search to open the Computer Search dialog box and then search for computers you want to add as hosts. For more information, see How to Search for Hosts.

      Note
      If you add multiple hosts at one time, the hosts will share the same host group, remote connection settings, and virtual machine default paths. After adding the hosts, you can change the properties for individual hosts by modifying the host properties for each. For more information, see How to Modify the Properties of a Host Group.
  4. On the Configuration Settings page, do the following:

    1. In the Host group list, select a host group that will contain the hosts or host cluster, or accept the default host group, All Hosts, which is the parent host group of all hosts and host groups.

      In VMM, host groups are used for delegating administration, for managing virtual machine self-service, and for setting the scope for host-level actions that are performed in Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO). The host group determines the default host reserves. In VMM 2008 R2, the host group also determines whether non-encrypted file transfers are allowed on the hosts. For more information, see About Host Groups.

    2. If one or more of the computers you are adding is a host or a library server that is currently being managed by another VMM server, select the Reassociate host with this Virtual Machine Manager server check box to associate those hosts with the current VMM server.

  5. On the Host Properties page, do the following:

    1. In the Add the following path box, specify a virtual machine default path for storing virtual machines deployed on the hosts and then click Add.

      Note
      The Add Host Wizard does not automatically create folders on the hosts for default paths that you specify. You must manually create the folders on the hosts before you can add default paths and use them to store virtual machines.
    2. In the Remote connection area, by default, the Enable remote connections to virtual machines on these hosts check box is enabled and set to use the global default port setting. To disable remote connections, clear the check box. To use a different port for remote connections, enter a value from 1–65,535 in the Remote connection port box. To change the global default port setting, see How to Configure Remote Access to Virtual Machines.

      Important
      You cannot enable security for remote connections from within the Add Hosts Wizard. To enable security, you must modify the host properties in the VMM Administrator Console after the host has been added. For more information about enabling security for remote connections, see How to Change Remote Connections to Virtual Machines on a Host.
  6. On the Summary page, click Add Hosts.

See Also


For the most up-to-date Help information, go to the Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Help Online. To find additional Virtual Machine Manager 2008 documentation, go to the Virtual Machine Manager 2008 TechCenter Library.