Virtualisation of Thin Client Server

[ndavies]

Good idea? Bad idea? I've been asked to investigate the possibility of 4 virtual thin client servers on one physical server (which i suspect has to be a very beefy spec)


N

[CyberNerd]

good idea to virtualise - and put 1 in 1.
bad idea to put 4 into 1 unless you have some very special kit

[ndavies]

forgive my ignorance...why would virtualising one server onto one physical server be better than having just a real server. i suppose i'm asking of the benefits of virtualisation really aren't I!

[plexer]

Presumably because you backup the image and if the server dies you move the image onto a new virtual server?

Ben

[ndavies]

Mmm so it's more about disaster recovery than performance gains?
Ta

N

[CyberNerd]

forgive my ignorance...why would virtualising one server onto one physical server be better than having just a real server. i suppose i'm asking of the benefits of virtualisation really aren't I!

with technologies like xen, the speed difference is negligible - its a good idea for availability and for capacity management. Assume that you virualise all your servers then if a physical machine falls over then there will be no loss because the virtual machine will automatically migrate over to another machine. it also means you can use all your servers to their full capacity rather than having an overspecced DC thats sits around doing nothing for 90% of the time like so many schools do - in emergency that DC can be a TS too

[ChrisH]

Mmm so it's more about disaster recovery than performance gains?
Ta

N

Yes that would be the case.

[CyberNerd]

Virtualizing Citrix XenApp with Citrix XenServer

This white paper will discuss how customers can achieve faster deployment, higher reliability, easier management, and reduced server foot print by virtualizing Citrix XenApp™ using Citrix XenServer™.

Citrix Systems » XenApp » White Papers

[ndavies]

cheers guys. will read up on it all.

Nick

[Ric_]

You don't want to read! Watch XenServer Enterprise - it is very cool how they move the virtual XenApp server between physical servers whilst connected to the published application!

The other benefit is that you can have 'server templates' which you just copy and bring online as and when you need them (sort of like server timeshares).

[fafster]

Now that's impressive. If only we had the money....

[reno-shinigami]

Virtualization is good for uptime, but that's not all it's good for.

Say for example you're hosting websites and you need two webservers. One IIS, one Apache. Problem is, you can't go and make another server and they both need to be on Port 80, so you obviously couldn't install them on the same server, or could you! Enter virtualization. You can install two virtual machines on to one server. Problem solved.

2 webservers, on one server. This is how I use it at any rate.

If, however, you install say 5 2k3 servers onto one server, all for AD linked together on the same domain, then you're just wasting power.

Reno.

[Luke_T]

oh did I enjoy that video paper!

ahh those blue sky dreams just got updated!

[fafster]

If, however, you install say 5 2k3 servers onto one server, all for AD linked together on the same domain, then you're just wasting power.

Reno.

I doubt anyone would be that silly.

Do all Xeon and Opteron Processors have the on-chip virtualisation?