A cluster with only one virtual machine

An uncommon but viable use of Hyper-V Server and Microsoft Failover Clustering is a cluster that has only one virtual machine. Clearly, the goal of such a design is not maximization of resource utilization, but maximizing protection for a single guest. The most likely usage for this scenario is a mission-critical server application that requires a substantial amount of computing resources but does not have any high availability capabilities of its own. Be especially conscious of licensing requirements in this situation. Remember that even if only one host will ever have a guest at any given time, guest licensing is tied to the physical processor. Review the licensing overview from Chapter 2, Cluster Design and Planning, if this is unclear.

Because such a deployment is highly focused on one virtual machine, there are some additional considerations that may justify more thought and preparation than a standard consolidation deployment. Uptime of hosts...