User`s guide
PLANNING FOR HYPER-V
November09 Page16
• Assign the virtual disks to the parent server, and create a file system and a virtual
hard drive (VHD) for the virtual machine.
• Assign an unformatted physical disk directly to the virtual machine (pass-through
physical disk).
With the Dell PowerVault MD3000i storage array, in addition to the previously mentioned
two options, you have a third option: You can assign a physical disk directly to the virtual
machine by installing the iSCSI software initiator on the virtual machine as you would on
a physical server.
Figure 5 Virtual Storage Configuration
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VHDs have several different options:
• Dynamic expansion – The VHD file grows as data is stored to the physical disk
with a maximum size not exceeding the size specified during creation. When
using the new virtual machine wizard in Hyper-V Manager, select <Dynamically
Expanding> when creating a new virtual machine.
• Fixed size – The VHD file uses the full amount of space specified during creation.
• Differencing – The VHD file exists as a child disk in a parent/child relationship
with an existing VHD. The parent VHD is left intact, and changes that occur are
stored on the child (differencing) VHD.
1
2009, Jose Barreto’s Blog, http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2008/03/06/more-on-
storage-options-for-windows-server-2008-s-hyper-v.aspx.
LUN1 – VHD Method
LUN2 – Pass-through Method
LUN3 – Storage Direct Method