Rob Waggoner |  |
Today while I was delivering the Selling Affordable Disaster Recovery Solutions with Windows Server 2012 R2 Samurai webcast, I received the following:
Question:
Can Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials use Hyper-V Replica?
Answer:
Yes. You could always use the Microsoft Hyper-V server, which is a free download here, but back in September, we also expanded the licensing rights of Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials that allows you to now install Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials on the bare metaland in a Virtual Machine (with just one license). There are some restrictions for this configuration all explained here, but basically this installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials on the hardware is only for the use of Hyper-V and the management UI. You would then install your full Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, with all of the other Essentials roles, in the VM. This configuration is consistent with our recommendation for Windows Server Standard and Datacenter editions as well when it comes to configuring Hyper-V and workloads.
Here is an excerpt from the article; thanks to David Fabritius:
The Hyper-V role and Hyper-V Manager console are now included with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials! The server licensing rights have been expanded, allowing you to install an instance of Essentials on your physical server to run the Hyper-V role (with none of the other roles and features of the Essentials Experience installed), and a second instance of Essentials as a virtual machine (VM) on that same server with all the Essentials Experience roles and features.
Please review the whole article here for all of the details, but this news means that you can put the full UI on Hyper-V and put your workloads in a VM so you can leverage tools like Hyper-V Replica for DR.
Again, this question came from the Windows Server 2012 R2 Samurai webcast series, this link will let you register for upcoming webcasts or view the past webcasts on demand.
Until next time,
Rob