Beginner’s Guide for Microsoft Hyper-V: Windows Admin Center Hyper-V Management – Part 8

Quick Bites:

• Windows Admin Center is a powerful tool for managing Windows Server and hybrid resources, offering significant advantages over traditional management tools.
• It provides real-time server performance statistics, patch management, troubleshooting tools, and more for on-premises servers, making it an invaluable asset for Hyper-V admins.
• Windows Admin Center is also a bridge to Azure hybrid infrastructure, allowing seamless integration of cloud services with on-premises resources.
• Installing Windows Admin Center is straightforward, and it’s a free tool provided with your Windows Server license.
• It simplifies management tasks and offers a modern interface for beginners learning Hyper-V.

Microsoft has left no doubts that Windows Admin Center is the management platform of the future for Windows Server and hybrid cloud resource management. It provides many advantages over traditional management tools, such as the legacy Server Manager tool found in the latest Windows Server versions. Let’s look at Windows Admin Center Hyper-V management for beginners and see what features and capabilities this tool offers for Hyper-V admins.

Table of Contents

1. What is Windows Admin Center?
2. On-premises servers
3. Azure hybrid infrastructure
4. Installing Windows Admin Center
5. Windows Admin center Hyper-V management for beginners
6. Wrapping Up

What is Windows Admin Center?

First of all, what is Windows Admin Center, and what capabilities and features does it provide?- Windows Admin Center is the new modern management tool for managing Windows Server and hybrid resources across on-premises and Azure environments. It is offered free of charge with your Windows Server license and can be downloaded directly from Microsoft. Note the following features it provides for on-premises resources and Azure hybrid cloud resources. You can also take advantage of these for your Windows Servers running Hyper-V.

On-premises servers

• Real-time server performance statistics – You get real-time performance data delivered to the Windows Admin Center dashboard
• Ability to administrator updates and patches – Deliver patches, query patch history, and schedule patch installation
• Predictive analytics – Windows Admin Center gives predictive analytics on components that may be displaying signs of problems, such as a failing hard drive
• Troubleshooting tools and storage migration between servers – You get various troubleshooting tools along with the Storage Migration Service, allowing the migration of file storage from one server to another
• Administer roles and features – Add Windows Server roles and features to local or remote Windows Servers, including Hyper-V hosts
• Manage Devices – Display and manage local or remote devices
• Window Server events – The Windows Server Events dashboard is similar to the legacy event viewer with a modern look and feel
• Network configuration – View and configure network settings in your Windows Server host locally or remotely
• Packet monitoring – Create packet captures and monitor low-level network traffic
• Performance monitoring – Capture performance queries over time
• PowerShell prompt – You can interact with the PowerShell prompt, even if connected to a remote Windows Server or Hyper-V host
• Registry Editor – Edit the registry
• Process Monitor – View processes running in Windows
• Services – Interact with Windows services
• Virtual Machines – Specific to Hyper-V, you can add, connect, perform power operations, and manage virtual machines in Hyper-V
• Virtual Switches – Create, configure, and manage Hyper-V virtual switches

Azure hybrid infrastructure

• Azure hybrid center – Allows working with hybrid cloud services and integrating these with on-premises resources
• Azure Kubernetes Service – Azure Kubernetes Service simplifies deploying and managing containerized applications
• Azure Backup – Setup backups of your on-premises servers using the Azure Backup service
• Azure File Sync – Synchronize files between on-premises servers and Azure cloud storage
• Azure Monitor – You can collect events and performance counters for analysis and reporting
• Azure Security Center – It provides unified security management and advanced threat protection across hybrid cloud workloads

Below is a view of the Windows Admin Center Overview dashboard. It displays an overview of the system health of the Windows Server you are managing.

Installing Windows Admin Center

The process of installing Windows Admin Center is straightforward. You can visit the Microsoft download page for Windows Admin Center to download the MSI installer for WAC. The download page can be found here:

Once you have downloaded the installer, simply execute it and follow the prompts. First, accept the EULA

Select an option to send diagnostic data to Microsoft.

Choose how you want to keep Windows Admin Center up-to-date.

Click Next to begin the configuration of Windows Admin Center.

Select how to configure the trusted hosts of the Windows client or server hosting Windows Admin Center.

Configure the port for the Windows Admin Center site. Click Install to begin the installation of Windows Admin Center.

The installation of Windows Admin Center begins.

Click Finish to finish the installation of Windows Admin Center.

After the installation of Windows Admin Center completes, you can browse to the FQDN of your server or the loopback address.

After opening Windows Admin Center, you will see the dashboards for local and Azure hybrid services listed in the left window pane.

Windows Admin center Hyper-V management for beginners

In Windows Admin Center, you can add your local or remote Hyper-V server.

Enter your Hyper-V server name and the account with permissions to connect to the Windows Server hosting the Hyper-V role.

Below, I have added a Windows Server Core installation with the Hyper-V role installed.

Now that we have connected to the remote Windows Server with the Hyper-V Role installed, we can manage our virtual machines and virtual switches configuration using Windows Admin Center. The server we are connecting to is running a Windows Server Core installation.

Using the Virtual switches option in Windows Admin Center, we can add and configure a new Hyper-V Virtual Switch.

Also, we can create, configure, and connect to virtual machines using Windows Admin Center.

Windows Admin Center makes it easy to perform PowerShell remoting and connect to a PowerShell prompt on the remote Windows Server. Click the PowerShell menu and enter credentials. You will be connected to the remote Windows Server, Hyper-V, where you can issue PowerShell commands as if you were logged into the console.

Wrapping Up

Windows Admin Center allows beginners to start managing and configuring Hyper-V, even if the Windows Server is remote or running Windows Server Core. It provides the management solution that Server Core installations have long been missing. Now, with Windows Admin Center, there is little reason to install the Windows Server Desktop Experience unless an application requires it.

Windows Admin Center is a great place to start for those beginning their journey in learning Hyper-V. Since it is Microsoft’s management solution moving forward, getting familiar with WAC now will help admins grow in their ability to effectively and efficiently manage Hyper-V versions to come.

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