Lab answer key: Implementing and configuring virtualization in Windows Server

Exercise 1: Creating and configuring VMs

Task 1: Create a Hyper-V virtual switch

Connect to SEA-ADM1 and, if needed, sign in with the credentials provided by the instructor.
On SEA-ADM1, select Start, and then select Server Manager.
In Server Manager, select All Servers.
In the Servers list, select the SEA-SVR1 entry, display its context menu, and then select Hyper-V Manager.
In Hyper-V Manager, ensure that SEA-SVR1.CONTOSO.COM is selected.
In the Actions pane, select Virtual Switch Manager.
In the Virtual Switch Manager, in the Create virtual switch pane, select Private, and then select Create Virtual Switch.
In the Virtual Switch Properties box, specify the following settings, and then select OK:
- Name: Contoso Private Switch
- Connection type: Private network

Task 2: Create a virtual hard disk

On SEA-ADM1, in Hyper-V Manager connected to SEA-SVR1, select New, and then select Hard Disk. The New Virtual Hard Disk Wizard starts.
On the Before You Begin page, select Next.
On the Choose Disk Format page, select VHD and then select Next.
On the Choose Disk Type page, select Differencing, and then select Next.
On the Specify Name and Location page, specify the following settings, and then select Next:
- Name: SEA-VM1
- Location: C:\Base
On the Configure Disk page, in the Location box, enter C:\Base\BaseImage.vhd, and then select Next.
On the Summary page, select Finish.

Task 3: Create a virtual machine

On SEA-ADM1, in Hyper-V Manager, select New, and then select Virtual Machine. The New Virtual Machine Wizard starts.
On the Before You Begin page, select Next.
On the Specify Name and Location page, enter SEA-VM1, and then select the check box next to Store the virtual machine in a different location.
In the Location box, enter C:\Base, and then select Next.
On the Specify Generation page, select Generation 1, and then select Next.
On the Assign Memory page, enter 4096, and then select Next.
On the Configure Networking page, select the Connection drop-down menu, select Contoso Private Switch, and then select Next.
On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, select Use an existing virtual hard disk, and then select Browse.
Browse to C:\Base, select SEA-VM1.vhd, select Open, and then select Next.
On the Summary page, select Finish. Notice that SEA-VM1 displays in the Virtual Machines list.
Select SEA-VM1, and then in the Actions pane, under SEA-VM1, select Settings.
In the Hardware list, select Memory.
In the Dynamic Memory section, select the check box next to Enable Dynamic Memory.
Next to Maximum RAM, enter 4096, and then select OK.
Close Hyper-V Manager.

Task 4: Manage Virtual Machines using Windows Admin Center

On SEA-ADM1, select Start, and then select Windows PowerShell (Admin).

Note: Perform the next two steps in case you have not already installed Windows Admin Center on SEA-ADM1.
In the Windows PowerShell console, enter the following command. and then press Enter to download the latest version of Windows Admin Center:
```
$parameters = @{
  Source = "https://aka.ms/WACdownload"
  Destination = ".\WindowsAdminCenter.exe"
  }
Start-BitsTransfer @parameters
```
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to install Windows Admin Center:
```
Start-Process -FilePath '.\WindowsAdminCenter.exe' -ArgumentList '/VERYSILENT' -Wait
```
Note: Wait until the installation completes. This should take about 2 minutes. If the web page does not respond, open services.msc and verify that the Windows Admin Center server is Started.
On SEA-ADM1, start Microsoft Edge, and then go to https://SEA-ADM1.contoso.com.

Note: If the link does not work, on SEA-ADM1, open File Explorer, select Downloads folder, in the Downloads folder select WindowsAdminCenter.msi file and install manually. After the install completes, refresh Microsoft Edge.

Note: If you get NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID error, select Advanced on the Edge browser page, at the bottom of page select Continue to sea-adm1-contoso.com (unsafe).
If prompted, in the Windows Security dialog box, enter with the credentials provided by the instructor, and then select OK.
Review all tabs on the Configure your Windows Admin Center Settings and environment pop-up window, including the Extensions tab and select Complete to close the window.
Review the New in this release pop-up window and select Close in its upper-right corner.
On the All connections pane, select + Add.
On the Add or create resources pane, on the Servers tile, select Add.
In the Server name text box, enter sea-svr1.contoso.com.
Ensure that the Use another account for this connection option is selected, enter with the credentials provided by the instructor, and then select Add with credentials:

Note: After performing step 8, if an error message that says You can add this server to your list of connections, but we can’t confirm it’s available. appears, select Add. In the All Connections pane, select sea-svr1.contoso.com, and then select Manage as. In the Specify your credentials dialog box, ensure that the Use another account for this connection option is selected, enter the Administrator credentials, and then select Continue.

Note: To perform single sign-on, you would need to set up Kerberos constrained delegation.
On the sea-svr1.contoso.com page, in the Tools list, select Virtual machines, select the Summary tab, and then review its content.
Select the Inventory tab and verify that it contains SEA-VM1.
Select SEA-VM1 and review its Properties pane.
Select Settings, and then select Disks.
Scroll to the bottom of the pane and select + Add disk.
Select New Virtual Hard Disk.
On the New Virtual Hard Disk pane, in the Size (GB) text box, type 5, leave other settings with their default values, and then select Create.
Select Save disks settings, and then select Close.
Back on the Properties pane of SEA-VM1, select Power, and then select Start to start SEA-VM1.
Scroll down and display the statistics for the running VM.
Refresh the page, select Power, select Shut down, and then select Yes to confirm.
In the Tools list, select Virtual switches and identify the existing switches.

Exercise 1 results

After this exercise, you should have used Hyper-V Manager and Windows Admin Center to create a virtual switch, a virtual hard disk, a virtual machine, and then manage the virtual machine.

Exercise 2: Installing and configuring containers

Task 1: Install Docker on Windows Server

On SEA-ADM1, in the Tools listing for SEA-SVR1, select PowerShell. When prompted, authenticate with the credentials provided by the instructor, and then press Enter.

Note: This establishes a PowerShell Remoting connection to SEA-SVR1.

Note: The Powershell connection in Windows Admin Center may be relatively slow due to nested virtualization used in the lab, so an alternate method is to run Enter-PSSession -ComputerName SEA-SVR1 from a Windows Powershell console on SEA-ADM1.

In the Windows PowerShell console, enter the following commands, and then press Enter to install the Docker CE (Community Edition) on SEA-SVR1:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/Windows-Containers/Main/helpful_tools/Install-DockerCE/install-docker-ce.ps1" -o install-docker-ce.ps1

.\install-docker-ce.ps1

After the installation completes, enter the following command, and then press Enter to restart SEA-SVR1:
```
Restart-Computer -Force
```

Task 2: Install and run a Windows container

After SEA-SVR1 restarts, use the PowerShell tool again to establish a new PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-SVR1.

Note: For the remaining steps in this task, you will need to run interactive Docker commands that require a TTY-capable terminal. The PowerShell console in Windows Admin Center does not support TTY. Therefore, it is recommended to use the alternative method: open Windows PowerShell as Administrator on SEA-ADM1 and run Enter-PSSession -ComputerName SEA-SVR1 to establish a PowerShell Remoting session.
In the Windows PowerShell console, enter the following command, and then press Enter to identify Docker images currently present on SEA-SVR1:
```
docker images
```
Note: Verify that there are no images in the local repository store.
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to download a Nano Server image:
```
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:ltsc2022
```
Note: The time it takes to complete the download will depend on the available bandwidth of the network connection from the lab VM to the Microsoft container registry.
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to verify that the Docker image has been successfully downloaded:
```
docker images
```
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to launch a container based on the downloaded image:
```
docker run -it mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:ltsc2022 cmd.exe 
```
Note: The docker command starts a container and connects you to the command line interface of the container.
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to retrieve the IP address information of the container host:
```
hostname
```
Note: Verify this is the hostname of the container instance, not SEA-SVR1.
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to create a text file in the container:
```
echo "Hello World!" > C:\Users\Public\Hello.txt
```
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to exit the command line interface of the container and return to the PowerShell prompt on SEA-SVR1:
```
exit
```
Enter the following command, and then press Enter get the container ID for the container you just exited by running the docker ps command:
```
docker ps -a
```
Note: The -a switch lists all containers, including those that are not currently running.
Create a new helloworld image that includes the changes in the first container you ran. To do so, run the docker commit command, replacing <containerID> with the ID of your container:
```
docker commit <containerID> helloworld
```
You now have a custom image that contains the Hello.txt file. You can use the docker images command to see the new image.
```
docker images
```
Run the new container by using the docker run command with the –rm option. When you use this option, Docker automatically removes the container when the command, cmd.exe in this case, stops.
```
docker run --rm helloworld cmd.exe /s /c type C:\Users\Public\Hello.txt
```
Note: This command line outputs the content of the file you created earlier and stops the container again.
Enter the following command, and then press Enter to launch a new container instance of the original image and check if the file you created is present:
```
docker run --rm mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:ltsc2022 cmd.exe /s /c type C:\Users\Public\Hello.txt
```
Note: The original image was not modified by adding a file and reverted back to its original state after stopping.

Task 3: Use Windows Admin Center to manage containers

On SEA-ADM1, in the Windows Admin Center, go to the settings icon in the top left corner, and then select Extensions.
In the Extensions pane, verify the Containers extension is installed and updated under Installed Extension. If the extension is not installed, add it from the Available Extensions pane.
On SEA-ADM1, in the Windows Admin Center, in the Tools menu of sea-svr1.contoso.com, select Containers. When prompted to close the PowerShell session, select Continue.
In the Containers pane, browse through the Overview, Containers, Images, Networks, and Volumes tabs.

Exercise 2 results

After this exercise, you should have installed Docker on Windows Server, downloaded a Windows container image containing web services, and verified its functionality.