Virtualization - creating Virtual Images

[falko12]

looking at virtualizing and have a question,

If i was to create a virtual server (say a file server with 500gb storage) should I,
a) have the Virtual Image contain both the OS and DATA or b) have it contain the OS but have the storage mapped to it via ISCSI etc

hope that makes sense, whats best practice

[DAZZD88]

I would say kep the VM and the data separate, that way if the VM goes belly up for whatever reason then you can just create an iSCSI connection on another machine/VM and then change your drive mappings etc...

[Duke]

Is the storage local or remote? If the latter, does it offer CIFS/SMB so that users could connect directly to it, thus bypassing the need for a Windows server at all?

[falko12]

thanks for the replies i was merely just asking