Managing Hyper-V Server without the MMC

Why might someone need or want to manage Hyper-V without the Machine Management Console snap-in? Maybe you want to use XP, Server 2003, or a Vista/ Windows 7 Home Premium or lower edition which is not supported by the Hyper-V MMC. This post is most relevant to a Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 installation, not Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V role.

Four options* for managing the Hyper-V environment:

• PowerGui with the Hyper-V powerpack (Vista, Winows 7, Server 2008 clients)
• PowerShell Management Library for Hyper-V
• Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SC VMM) which can be used to manage both Hyper-V and VMware environments
• Hyper-V Management Console by utharam (the evaluation version threw a config error for me when I tried to run it)

* I will leave it as a homework assignment for you to determine which option may work best for you – if any.
photo credit: homard.net / CC BY 2.0

Hyper-V Poster

Slightly off topic, but Microsoft released a complex yet easy to read and informative Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V component architecture poster. A small snapshot of the poster is represented in the image below.