It sounds a bit strange writing about Microsoft Hyper-V Server when the whole intention was to gain experience on Linux. Since my server is heavy enough for virtualization I though my first goal should be have it running Virtual Box on top of Ubuntu Server 12.04.1 so I could easily play around with servers. Believe it or not but after a few unsuccessful attempts I gave up installing Ubuntu. Why ? Installation seems to be fine as you would expect it to be when installing it on any box but after booting into the OS I got weird behaviour using the keyboard. Pressing a key showed a very slow response and almost always resulted in the character reading multiple on the screen as if I pressed the key a few times in a row. Typing “sudo” would result in something like “sssuudooo”. I was not able to find the root cause (tried multiple keyboard settings) and decided to install my server with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 since that is also free and would allow me to focus on gaining experience on Linux. If anyone knows how to resolve the above issue please do drop me a note !

Getting Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 up and running

Installation of Hyper-V server is, like most of the Microsoft products, quite simple and self explanatory so this is not going to be a very detailed wording.

The following basic steps are what we need to perform:

• Download Hyper-V Server 2012 and burn the iso to a DVD.
• Install Hyper-V Server 2012 (Copied from this Microsoft page)
  1. Start the computer from the installation media.
  2. Click Install Now, and then accept the license terms.
  3. In the next screen, specify the location where you want Hyper-V Server 2012 to be installed, and then click Next.
  4. As the installation proceeds, the computer will restart several times. When the installation is complete, you will have the opportunity to set up the Administrator account. Click OK.
  5. Type a strong password for the Administrator account, confirm it, and then press ENTER.
  6. When you see the message Your password has been changed, click OK.
• Configure the Hyper-V Server:
  After logging on to the console a Command Box with the command prompt ad a second Command Box with a menu (sconfig.cmd) will be presented. The menu makes the basic steps available to configure the server. 
  1. Join the server to the domain or workgroup as per your requirements.
     I would advise here to join the server to a workgroup having the same name as your domain (if you have one of course). If the server is joined to a domain and your Domain Controller is down you might find yourself in a situation not being able to manage your Hyper-V server.
  2. Change the Computer Name and let the server reboot, after reboot log back on again to continue with the remainder.
  3. Add a Local Administrator account (Tip: use the same account and password as you are going to use on the remote machine to connect to and manage this server).
  4. Enable Remote Management (if not already enabled).
  5. Set the Windows Update settings as per your wish. (I choose to keep it on manual as I like to be in control when and what updates are going to be applied).
  6. Skip this one as you first need to finish configuring the server. Updating the server can be done at anytime afterwards (or automaticly if you have set it to automatic).
  7. Enable Remote Desktop so you will be able to use a RDP client to manage this server from your remote machine. (for the sake of ease I choose all clients, option 2).
  8. Configure the Network Settings as they apply to your network.
  9. Verify the Date and Time and adjust if needed.
• In the Command Box with the command prompt execute the following line to configure the Windows Firewall:

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off

• At this point you should be done configuring your server. Have it reboot again and logon with your Local Administrator account to verify you are able to logon to the server.

Managing the Hyper-V Server 2012 from a remote Windows 7 client

Although you can use a Windows 7 client to manage a Hyper-V 2012 Server by default you will not find the management software installed on your machine. In order to install and use it from your Windows 7 client follow the following steps:
(David Davis made a good detailed description which you can find here.)

• Download and install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1). (Take note of the requirements in the overview section).
  Since this is a Windows Update package it will present the Windows Update installer.
• After installation go into the Programs and Features from Control Panel, Software and click Turn Windows features on or off.
• In the Windows Features dialog box scroll down to and expand Remote Server Administration Tools.
• Expand Role Administration Tools and tick Hyper-V Tools.
• Click OK to start installing the tools.
• After installation the Hyper-V Manager can be found in the Start menu under Administrative Tools, Hyper-V Manager.
• Now you should be able to manage your Hyper-V Server by connection to it using the Connect to Server option and providing your Servers IP# or hostname.
  On this site you will find usefull information working with Hyper-V Manager.