Hyper-V Cluster 2012 R2 Setup Instructions, Simple and Quick

The fastest way to install a Hyper-V cluster utilizing cluster shared volumes and failover clustering is presented in this article.

Overview

1. You need a domain controller. If you don’t have one yet, set one up now and make sure you don’t use it for Hyper-V as well (you could but shouldn’t)
2. Your CPUs used for all nodes should all be the same kind and be utilizing Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Technology http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/virtualization/virtualization-technology/hardware-assist-virtualization-technology.html
3. Connect both physical computers to the networks and storage
4. If using ISCSI, use the ISCSI Initiator screen to set up the connection to the shared storage. Mount it to all nodes, initialize the drive, and format.
5. Have plenty of RAM, at least twice the amount of all your VM RAM assignments added together
6. Install Hyper-V and Failover Clustering on all nodes
7. Create a virtual network
8. Optional step: Validate the cluster configuration
9. Create the cluster
10. Create a virtual machine and reconfigure the automatic start action
11. Make the virtual machine highly available (Use the failover clustering screens)
12. Install guest operating systems

Hints

• Use at least three NICs.
• Format disks with GPT layouts and use large block sizes for NTFS
• If you use just two nodes, consider using cross-over cabling for best performance
• 1GBps links are minimum, 10Gbps is far better for stability during peaks, such as during backup operations
• The heartbeat traffic and Cluster Management Service traffic should be isolated from disk access traffic and backup traffic.
• Do not use private virtual networks, since they would need to exist on all hosts in the case of a live migration
• All nodes need to run the same Windows version
• Install Windows Updates at the same time on all nodes, so they are all up-to-date at all times and have identical update counts
• Update Hyper-V Integration Services after setting up the Hyper-V Cluster and VMs on it
• Use as few network protocols as possible to reduce overhead
• Use tool to backup Hyper-V cluster shared volume virtual machines

More Information

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732181(WS.10).aspx