16 Windows Machines on a Box

Mayoor

Mayoor

Mayoor

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Joined
9 Jun 2004
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165
Hi there, not sure if this is being posted in the right section but here goes. I am in need of a solution which will allow me to run 16 windows installations on a box all connected to a different ip address.

I will be purchasing a business broadband connection which comes with 16 static ips and each installation will need to browse from its own separate ip. First question is, is it easy to set each installation up to use a different static ip?

Also in terms of usage each install will be used purely to browse the internet and access some of our company accounts via a browser. Daily use will involve logging into the install, checking a few things via a browser and that's it so no huge requirement for processing or crazy graphics cards.

What kind of server would I need to achieve this?
 
nickcardwell said:
doesnt really make sense , in that unsure what your trying to achieve?
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What don't you understand? I need a box that can handle 16 different windows installations and all browse the internet from different ip addresses provided to me by my broadband providers. Browsing the internet is all they will be used for.
 
I don't think I fully understand what these machines are for, though it seems something like Terminal Services or Citrix might be better suited for what you describe.

But otherwise, as mbell1984 points out, a nice big virtual server will do what you want.
Having said that you'd most likely need to pack it with SSD's. CPU and memory are unlikely to become your bottleneck if you spec it sensibly, the next issue with these VDI type scenarios will be disk IOPS.
And, of course, don't forget licensing for all the windows machines you'll be running.
 
What is the requirement driving 16 individually addressed machines?

When we know that, I think we'll be able to give you a better answer.

Also, what sort of network setup have you got? What's your edge router?
 
With the limited info provided I think the best anyone can suggest is to echo what myself, mrbell1984, and Westyfield2 have said.

To expand on my prior recommendation: A virtualised environment (I'd recommend ESXi), 64GB of RAM or more, 2 x CPU with as many cores as possible (preferably Intel), and lots of SSD's probably in RAID10.
Providing the 16 IP addresses are from the same provider and on the same router coming in you'd just need a dual NIC. 1 for your connection out, 1 for the management of the Host.
 
Mayoor said:
Browsing the internet
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Three words isn't a requirement! If you want people to help you and offer you proper advice and solutions then you're going to need to elaborate on 'browsing the internet' otherwise you'll continue to get "how long is a piece of string" answers :rolleyes:

We don't know how the VM's are to be used, so to get the ball rolling - Is it multi-user or single user? How do you plan to access the VM's, locally or remotely (RDP/VNC)? If remotely, how? What are you planning to use for the host OS? Do you need to use MS Window guests or could you use open-source (*nix variant etc)? Will you been using the guests simultaneously or when required? What's the planned network (/edge router as mentioned)?

But to answer your questions -
Mayoor said:
First question is, is it easy to set each installation up to use a different static ip?
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Depends.

Mayoor said:
What kind of server would I need to achieve this?
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One with the correct hardware and 'power' for the requirements.
 
I wonder if by 'box' @Mayoor means router and not PC? One router, 16 PCs. If so there are plenty of routers that will handle this for you. Do be aware that you will only get 14 usable IP addresses out of the 16.
 
Mayoor said:
Hi there, not sure if this is being posted in the right section but here goes. I am in need of a solution which will allow me to run 16 windows installations on a box all connected to a different ip address.
Click to expand...

How are the clients connecting to the host ?

Mayoor said:
I will be purchasing a business broadband connection which comes with 16 static ips and each installation will need to browse from its own separate ip. First question is, is it easy to set each installation up to use a different static ip?
Click to expand...

What is the backbone like ? A core switch ? any vlans ?

Mayoor said:
Also in terms of usage each install will be used purely to browse the internet and access some of our company accounts via a browser. Daily use will involve logging into the install, checking a few things via a browser and that's it so no huge requirement for processing or crazy graphics cards.

What kind of server would I need to achieve this?
Click to expand...

For home use 16VM on one host is easy. But in a enterprise environment you will need 2 hosts and a SAN.

Each VM say 2-4GB dynamic memory, and 40GB hard drive.

Over all you be looking at needing about 40GB memory per host , you may get away with a single xeon cpu. SAN will need at least 1TB in some kind of Raid.


And why hell do you need 16 external IPs ?
 
visibleman said:
Three words isn't a requirement! If you want people to help you and offer you proper advice and solutions then you're going to need to elaborate on 'browsing the internet' otherwise you'll continue to get "how long is a piece of string" answers :rolleyes:

We don't know how the VM's are to be used, so to get the ball rolling - Is it multi-user or single user? How do you plan to access the VM's, locally or remotely (RDP/VNC)? If remotely, how? What are you planning to use for the host OS? Do you need to use MS Window guests or could you use open-source (*nix variant etc)? Will you been using the guests simultaneously or when required? What's the planned network (/edge router as mentioned)?

But to answer your questions -

Depends.


One with the correct hardware and 'power' for the requirements.
Click to expand...

Is it multi-user or single user? - I will be accessing the server from my home PC and there will be my business partner accessing the server from the USA. Each windows install will be accessed 2-3 times a day for about 5-10 mins. We will require minimal bandwidth per access, we'll be logging into a website, checking a few statistics and logging out. The key thing here is we need to be using residential ips. The website that we are working with and dong business with will not allow access from ips that look like they are from a data center because of the amount of fraudulent people who use dedicated boxes from hosting companies to defraud them. By using residential ips we are saying that we are able to be tracked via our broadband provider and they have it on record where we are, who we are and who we say we are.

What are you planning to use for the host OS? - We dont mind what this is, cheapest possible solution that allows us to browse the internet via a browser would be great. I assumed windows but i'm sure there are better solutions out there.

Will you been using the guests simultaneously or when required? - Good question, yes and no, I will be accessing the hosts in the UK time but then my USA counterpart will be accessing them whilst I am asleep, there will be some overlap and there will be times where we will both need to access the same host at the same time so he can show me on screen things that are going on, rather like a screen share. At the moment we have a few laptops all on different connections which we access via team viewer and team viewer can be accessed by multiple people at the same time and works really well for us. However as our business expands we need more guest hosts and more ip addresses.

What's the planned network (/edge router as mentioned)? - We will be obtaining a virgin media business broadband line which comes with 14 static ips and will need to tie each guest so that it only accesses the internet from that ip address.

Feel free to ask any questions that doesn't compromise the details of my business model.
 
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