Introduction

Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) is a critical component of Hyper-V Network Virtualization. It provides the management infrastructure to control Hyper-V Network Virtualization.

It provides the following features:

• Network definitions, both physical and virtual
• Control of Hyper-V hosts
• Virtual Machine templates
• Service templates

VMM is a part of the Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 product. It is primarily composed of seven components, which are listed in the following table:

The following diagram shows the components and where they would be installed:

VMM is capable of managing the alternative hypervisors: XenServer and VMware ESX/vSphere (via a VMware vCenter installation).

For the smallest implementation, it is possible to install all of the components on a single server, including the VirtualManagerDB database. You have the option to make the installation of VMM highly available by using features such as SQL Server Failover Clustering, SQL Server AlwaysOn High Availability Groups, Failover Clustering for VMM Management Servers, Clustered File Servers for the VMM Library, and multiple Windows Deployment Servers.