Minimum requirements for xp running 3 virtual machines?

Chiz · 2 Apr 2009 at 12:07

Hello,

I plan on buying a laptop and also setting up possibly vmware or hyper-v to run 3 virtual machines. One being a domain controller; Two being MS server 2003 and 3 being a client xp machine. This is just for test purposes only.

What's the minimum required? I'm guessing no less than 3gb ram if all 3 were running at the same time? Could i even push it at 2gb and assign 512mb to each machine?

Any info would be appreciated.

JIM_BOB7813 · 2 Apr 2009 at 12:28

With 2GB RAM I can run 3 Linux VMs, but swapping between them involves a bit of thrashing.
You could probably get away with 2GB or 3GB if you don't mind waiting when you swap between machines.

If you are running 2x server 2003, you'd want 3GB+, it seems to eat RAM.

malachi · 2 Apr 2009 at 14:00

At home got Windows Server 2008 as the main server OS, Windows Server 2003 and XP running through Vmware on my Pentium Dual Core 2ghz with 2gig of ram. Allocating 512mb for Server 2003 and XP. So far its been running fine for 2 weeks flat without any noticable perform issues, even when remoting onto the virtual machines.

dave-lew99 · 2 Apr 2009 at 14:06

My ESX box runs 3x Server 2k3 and 2x CentOS, with 2Gb total system, ram, it's not ideal, but yeah it'll work, if it's just for basic dev/testing then 2Gb will be fine.

Edit, sorry just noticed it's a laptop, try and get as much ram as possible without breaking the bank, you will also have disk performance issues, it will be slow on a single 5400rpm disk.

Chiz · 2 Apr 2009 at 14:08

Thanks a lot guys. I wasn't sure whether 3gb would suffice, but i can see it's plenty. Cheers again!

Edit: yeah, 5400rpm i'm aware of and i understand the performance this will give unfortunately. What's also unfortunate is the fact that i'm not made of money so £600 at a push is all i can afford. The Dell M1330 is looking like a sure thing. Shame about the graphics card, but i don't play games on pc.

markyb · 2 Apr 2009 at 19:45

Really dependent on the Windows 2003 Roles which will be used and installed.

-For Windows 2003 Server with Exchange installed I would assign at least 2Gb. Currently I have it setup in a VM and it uses between 1500-1800mb of RAM.

-For a typical test Windows 2003 Server VM with AD/DNS Installed I would say between 512mb-768mb.
For a test client I normally use 300mb of RAM - Basic install of Windows XP.

Just keep an eye on task managers commit charge, ensuring you have enough for each machine. You can always see what they use and adjust accordingly. 3Gb is a realistic figure.

My Test Lab...

Windows 2003 with AD/DNS & Exchange installed - 2Gb RAM
Windows 2003 with AD (Replication with above) & WSUS Server - 800mb
Windows XP Client - 384mb