VM n00b advice please

ho-hum

ho-hum

ho-hum

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11 Nov 2009
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Hi all,

at work i administer a domain environment with 6 servers incorporating; Server 2003/2008 Standard, Exchange 2007, BES and Terminal Services.

But I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to virtualisation, however i'd like to have a play with it to see if it's something the company could benefit from in the future.

Questions:
1. What VM software would you recommend? I have a technet sub. so i could use MS's version
2. Whats the min. spec hardware i can test it on?
3. Is VM the best way to test multiple OS environments? I want to try/test SBS (2003 or 2008) as a friend has asked me to look into it for possible implementation into his network. As i use 'Standard Edition' i'm unsure of the differences.


Thanks for any help offered :)
 
1. For a work environment, VMWare all the way. You can use VMWare server free if I remember right. But if you don't mind just having 60 days, you could install ESX server, which sits on the bare metal, but is more complicated than VMWare server

2. As much RAM as you can throw at it, but you can test it on a desktop, it will just be slow.

3. Definately, you can easily isolate the environments, copy and rollback the VM, create desktop VM's and play around with it.

You could use MS Virtual Server, but I am a vmware fanboy. :)
 
We run vmware server (1.9) under linux (fedora). Main reason being its free.
We have two desktops (optiplex 755: E8500, 4-8GB RAM, 2x250gb sata) for cheap development hosts (along side a few poweredge servers). You can easily run one or two Server 2003 hosts on the optiplexes without too much hassle. There is an additional hard drive to reduce contention of OS and VM's.
There is also vmware converter which you can use to virtualise running machines, I've used it in the past very successfully.

Since its development you should be able to use your MSDN licences within the VMware setup (if you go that route).

You could also look at the recently released ESXi which is a free/cutdown version of the commercial ESX (although I havent looked into it).
 
1) I've only used VMware products, but think they are very good. VMware Server is free, but is slow and clunky to administer. ESXi is free and is a lot slicker. The downside is it is more complex and is more picky about what it will run on.

2) VMware server will run on most computers. Memory and CPU cores are key and the more the better. ESXi is very picky about the hardware it will run on. Look at the HCL (Hardware Compatibility List) here for more information: www.vmware.com/go/hcl

3) Yes.
 
Baz said:
You could use MS Virtual Server, but I am a vmware fanboy. :)
Click to expand...

He has Server 2008, so he wouldn't be forced into using the dross that is Virtual Server 2005, he can happily use Hyper-V.

Whilst not quite as good or versatile as ESX4, he does already have the licensing for it.
 
We use VMWare ESXi 4 free edition here for server stuff, but for quick dev and testing locally you can also use VirtualBox (also free)
 
ho-hum said:
Hi all,

at work i administer a domain environment with 6 servers incorporating; Server 2003/2008 Standard, Exchange 2007, BES and Terminal Services.

But I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to virtualisation, however i'd like to have a play with it to see if it's something the company could benefit from in the future.

Questions:
1. What VM software would you recommend? I have a technet sub. so i could use MS's version
2. Whats the min. spec hardware i can test it on?
3. Is VM the best way to test multiple OS environments? I want to try/test SBS (2003 or 2008) as a friend has asked me to look into it for possible implementation into his network. As i use 'Standard Edition' i'm unsure of the differences.


Thanks for any help offered :)
Click to expand...

1) If you can get cheap MS software, then use Hyper-V R2 that comes with Windows 2008R2.
2) Min spec is a CPU that has TV technology + about 4GB RAM
3) Yes

4) you might also want to `try` Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, so you can easily virtualise existing servers (P2V) and open up more options than the standard product.
 
I use VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus at work, and have hundreds of VMs running. You can install the free ESXi onto a usb pen and if you have a spare server which is compatible just boot it of the usb stick, and if you have any spare storage just use that to house your first VM.

I have never tried the MS version of virtual machines etc but i have used the end product. I would recommend VMware since they have been in the game far longer and are more advanced however if you dont touch linux or are comfortable i would try MS first and then have a look at VMware and see which you feel more comfortable with.

If you have a desktop why not download a trial copy of workstation and install a few vms on your desktop? you can even run vSphere in a VM.
 
Another vSphere 4 Enterprise user here.
We have been using ESX since version 2.0 and with the latest incarnation, it really is a great product.
 
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