Images: Microsoft Virtual Server R2 screenshots
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This is the main screen of Microsoft Virtual Server R2. From here you can view the most recent events, along with the current status, uptime, and processor utilization of any servers you have.
In this The Right Tool for the Job? post, Joshua Hoskins explains how his company uses Microsoft Virtual Server R2 to effectively and diplomatically balance his users’ desire for “their own servers”, with the IT department’s needs to consolidate server hardware.
From here you can configure the main properties of your Virtual Server R2 server. You can set your access security, your VMRC configuration and certificate, and the paths your system for virtual server files.
Here you configure your networks for virtual server. Initially you have 2 networks, internal and external. Internal is for inter-server communication only, while external maps to your real NIC, and presents the virtual servers as real servers on your network.
Here is where you configure your setting for remote control of your virtual servers. You can change default resolution of systems, use of SSL, or even a specific IP to be used.
Here is where you can create a hard disk. You have the option of fixed size and dynamically expanding. With a fixed size you create a certain size file that contains the whole hard disk. This file will be equal in size to the type of hard drive you created. A dynamically expanding hard disk will only grow enough to hold the data currently needed in the virtual systems hard drive. It is a file that can grow to a certain pre-defined limit.
Here is where you can inspect a hard disk. You can view all current data about the hard disk, as well as convert and compact them. Compaction is for dynamically expanding hard drives that have grown, but lost the data that was contained within them so they are full of free space. All of the operations must be performed while the system containing the hard drive is shut off.
This is the creation of a new virtual server. From here you configure the individual parts of this specific virtual server, including RAM, hard drive, and network connection.
From this page you can configure all the individual elements of your virtual server. You can mount the CD drive to an ISO, or change which network your systems NIC is connected to. Some settings are only available when the system is turned off.
You can view the current CPU utilization of your various virtual servers from here. You can also control their availability to resources through this page.
Here is the remote control of a test system. This is done directly through the webpage, but can also be done through VMRC.exe included with the virtual server installation. You have complete control of this system, as this is the actual console of the system. Special Keys (such as CTRL-ALT-DEL) can be accessed by the “Remote Control” drop down box in the top right.
