Virtual Server 2005 - Storing VMC Files on a Network Share


There are a number of tasks that a developer performs that go outside the realm of development. Recently I was given the task of performing a fresh install of Virtual Server 2005 on one of our boxes. Due to storage restrictions it was necessary to install VS on one server (srvr1) and place the virtual machines on another server (srvr2) – a simple task, but one which I hadn’t performed before and took a little investigation (and a lot of bugging one of our system guys) to get right.

I ran the default installation of VS, not knowing any better. I mapped a network drive to the folder which held my vmc, hoping that VS would see it as a local drive and allow me to mount it. I entered the path of the VMC (when adding a new server) but received an error indicating that the file was not found….not a good start!


I attempted to add the UNC to the ‘Search Paths’ stored in VS Configuration – but received an error indicating I did not have access permissions…still not a good sign, but a little bit of information to dig with. I came cross the following story:


http://pcquest.ciol.com/content/enterprise/2007/107020401.asp


This taught me a) what I was trying to do was possible and b) when setting up VS I should have set the Administration web site to run under an account with appropriate permissions on the network. So, I changed the Administration website authentication methods to enable anonymous access under a privileged account (see below screenshot), and re-entered the search path in VS. I was then able to add the Virtual Server by inputting it’s UNC in the add server dialog.


Now, I have srvr1 running VS, pointing to virtual servers on srvr2!

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