Server 2008 datacenter (upg from 2003 std)

[OverWorked]

Is anyone actually using Server 2008 Datacenter in school? I'm currently using Server 2003 Standard. I want to take adavntage of the unlimited virtualisation rights in 2008 Datacenter.

I've just been quoted £166 for 2008 Datacenter and £174 for 2008 Enterprise, so will go for Datacenter unless there's compelling reasons not to.

Also, one of my servers is running Server 2003 Std with SQL Server 2005. Is the upgrade to 2008 Datacenter likely to cause problems?

Thanks

[saundersmatt]

Who did you get those prices from? I was under the impression that datacentre was a few thousand per cpu licence.

Matt

[Theblacksheep]

Not in production yet, but slowly building the new network up.

Yes, education prices for DataC are that cheap. Although DataC is licenced per CPU seat, so although its cheaper than Ent, you may require 1, 2 or even 4 licences per server depending on how many CPUs.... where Ent you would only require 1.

Currently got 10 2008DataCs (and a 2003R2) running on 2 ESX servers with 10GB of ram each and 1 QC CPU each. More when I get the production level amount of ram, which is the limiting factor, much more than CPU spec.

[OverWorked]

I was surprised at the low price too. I've queried it, but it's probably correct.

At the moment I have only two servers (both DCs) that would need upgrading. And both of them are single processor, so would be that cheap.

One of them is already running Server 2003 std and VMWare Server, and with more RAM I could put many Server 2008 VMs on it at no extra cost for licenses. Ideally I'd like to have VMWare ESXi, but it would be a big job to virtualise the Windows Server already on it.

Does the unlimited VM allowance in DataCentre include for other editions of Server 2008 (like Web Server)?

[Theblacksheep]

Does the unlimited VM allowance in DataCentre include for other editions of Server 2008 (like Web Server)?

On the link below it says you can only install std, ent or dc editions with the dc licence.

Pricing and Licensing

[OverWorked]

Thanks for that. I've spent the best part of this week reading that site, but missed that bit.

I can always get Web Server 2008 for the one instance I need it, as it's only £28.

The way I read the Server 2008 licensing page, hosting ePortal (or any site that requires users to log in) requires server CALs for all the users (i.e. parents), on any edition other than Web Server.

See my other thread.

[Soulfish]

Just looking to move to 2008 DC for the same reasons. As has been mentioned do remember that it's licensed by CPU socket (so a dual quad-core server needs 2 x Datacentre licenses).

Out of interest who are you getting your pricing from as it seems about 10% cheaper then the quotes we've been getting!

[OverWorked]

I go to our LEA for software, as they generally do a good job of getting the best prices. I don't know who they went to for these prices, but the last time I bought MS licenses from them, it was from Misco.

The point about DC being licensed per processor, not per server like the other editions, is important.

At these prices, there's no need to buy Standard and Enterprise Editions. Just go for Datacenter (and Web if you need it). Buy a multi-core server with loads of RAM and good storage, then virtualise as much as you want for free!

MS even allow third-party virtualisation like VMWare, so you're not forced to learn Hyper-V. Which, I think, is very generous of MS.

As for virtualising existing servers, I see that VMWare have released vCenter Converter for free. If it does as claimed, it'll be a doddle to convert physical machines to virtual. I'm downloading it now and will have a go this week.

[techyphil]

I've just installed Windows Server 2008 with Hyper V. However, I still haven't found a decent way to clone a physical server into a guest machine.

I've tried Acronis, converters n all sorts. I know System Center is supposed to do this but it won't let me install it unless its a domain controller! I don't want this server to be part of a DOMAIN.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I would normally install a guest from fresh but I need to clone this server just for a week until it's replaced.


Cheers

phil

[Theblacksheep]

I've just installed Windows Server 2008 with Hyper V. However, I still haven't found a decent way to clone a physical server into a guest machine.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I would normally install a guest from fresh but I need to clone this server just for a week until it's replaced.

Dont really know with hyper-v, vmware is much easier here but found this while a wandering:
Use WDS and Hyper-V to virtualize Server 2003 SP2 | ESX Virtualization

If not, i suppose you create a new domain+dns+sccm vm for this on hyper-v... although not exactly a quick task!

[OverWorked]

Phil,

I know this doesn't help you with Hyper-V, but yesterday I tried VMWare vCenter Converter to virtualise a Server 2003 machine which was a DC, DNS server, DHCP server, WSUS server, Sophos AV server.

Apart from having to enter the IP details on the new virtual NIC, and install VMWare tools, it just worked. After switching off the physical server and switching on it's virtual clone, the rest of the network never noticed the swap over.