Managing VM Storage On A Hyper-V Cluster

Managing storage on a cluster can be pretty dry but it is a challenge to keep your data files from becoming a sprawling mess much like my desktop.  File duplication from copies, backups, even testing VMs can create a confusing mess.  When it comes to your virtual machines and their storage you should make sure that you do everything you can to keep everything together; otherwise your not only asking for trouble. Microsoft has some great tools for managing your virtual machine storage and you should use them otherwise you could easily end up with duplicated virtual disks which could be outdated and can cause you all sorts of issues.

My Messy Desktop

In my case I want to move several VM's off of a storage server called STORAGE1 and move them to STORAGE2 as shown below.  Now before I go head and move these because I am cautious and paranoid; I make a backup of said VM, in this case let's say it's VM1.  I run a export out of the cluster node to which the VM is on (or you can move it to the node your on) and run a full export to a usb drive I have connected.  

VM File Management

Wanting to keep your File System Organization nice and clean, I highly recommend that you pre-setup your folders where you want to move your VM, so on STORAGE2 I would create a folder called VM2 and inside that folder I created a folder called Virtual Hard Disk.  The Cluster Server Manager will move your files but it won't create the same folders, the cluster storage manager will just put everything in a single directory, and I myself prefer to keep the default structure as much as possible.  So on Storage2 my directory pathing is setup like this.

STORAGE2 -> VM2 -> Virtual Hard Disk

As you can see below I have the Failover Cluster Manager open and I have the roles menu selected.  Here is where you can modify your Clustered Role Storage

Right click on the selected VM and Select Virtual Machine Storage as shown below.

You will get a dialog box showing you where the virtual machine storage resides.  Then you drag and drop the virtual machine storage elements into the folders on the left as shown below.

Once you move all the items to the new storage locations press start.  This will take some time to process which also depends on the VM and the size of the VM disk etc.  Obviously the larger the VM is the longer the process will take.  Unfortunately there isn't any progress bar to tell how where the progress is on the moving of the VM storage, but the text on in the information section will disappear when the process is complete.  You can run this while the VM is live, though I do recommend shutting down the VM then move it; but that is just me being extra cautious.

Once your VM has finished moving the folders on the storage server where the VM was will still be there but will be empty.  I do recommend tiding up after and removing these unused folders as shown below.  This really beats the alternative of removing the role of the VM on the cluster and moving your backed up file to where you want it on the storage and resetting up the role.