VM Server Setup

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#8827 1-Aug-2006 11:25

Hi All,

I'm new to the VMWare Server scene. I was wondering what sort of machine I would be looking at to run 5 virtual servers. Domain Controller, Mail Box, Web Box, ISA, and a spare.

I was looking at a dual Xeon setup with 6gb of memory to start off with using 2x320gb drives in raid.

My fear is the hard drives are going to be the bottleneck here... any suggestions?

freitasm

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#43030 1-Aug-2006 11:31

Quite possibly you are right. You might want to have the Domain Controller on a separate disc. Also, make sure the host OS is not part of the domain, because how would it join the domain, before being able to start the virtual server?

As for the virtual servers, more memory is better too. I have a Windows Server Enterprise Edition running Exchange 2003 SP2 with 2.5GB RAM allocated. I've noticed a huge difference in server availability once I bumped the memory on the host hardware from 1.5GB to 3GB and accordingly increased the virtual machine memory.

For the note, I use Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2.

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infused

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Master Geek
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#43035 1-Aug-2006 11:39

Cheers for the info.

For the host OS, is there any particular way it should be configured? All the
servers will be Win2k3.

freitasm

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#43045 1-Aug-2006 12:11

Not with Virtual Server 2005 R2, not sure on VMWare. I am running Virtual Server 2005 R2 on a Windows XP Pro SP2 box, 3GB RAM, connected to a UPS (with USB for control). Plain Windows XP Pro install, nothing else except for Virtual Server and the UPS software.

I use Northon Ghost to backup the whole host to an external disk (1TB Maxtor), but I am about to install Symantec Backup Exec 10d on the server to manage backup for my entire home network (another desktop, a tablet PC and an Apple iMac).

I have licenses for Acronis software though haven't tried it yet.

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infused

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Master Geek
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#43049 1-Aug-2006 12:23

I might give Virtual Server a shot from Microsoft, didn't know it was a free download. What nice guys :P

Sounds like you have it sused. I'll have to do some testing today and see how she goes.

Cheers.