Home Server OS & Virtualisation

[kxv2020]

I've bought the HP Microserver...

 

Do I - install Win 7, create a virtual VM Exsi system for 2008, or do I install 2008 Server directly onto it? How long will boot up time be for 2008 server... as it was a good 5 mins for 2003 SBS.

 

What are the benefits or drawbacks...?

 

Thanks

Edited December 29, 2011 by kxv2020

[glennda]

Personally aslong as you have another machine at home _ i would stick ESXI on it then virtulise any host ontop of that - when the time comes would make it alot easier to use and if i remember correctly there may even be a SD slot of the mobo I can't remember

[computer_expert]

With ESXi you install that onto the machine, then use the vsphere client (or whatever VMware call it now) to connect to the server and create/manage VMs etc.

 

I find that if you have multiple Vista/S2008/7/S2008R2 guests running off the same HDD then things can get a lot slower due to the increased disk IO. Running multiple XP/S2003/linux installs isn't too bad though. As for boot up times, Server 2008R2 is slow for me (anywhere between 5-10 mins depending on how many VMs are accessing the HDD at the same time), but it may be due to the amount of VMs I've got running.

 

if i remember correctly there may even be a SD slot of the mobo I can't remember

 

It has a USB port rather than an SD card slot - however, you may be able to use an SD card reader instead (I've only used flash drives in mine). The added benefit of the internal USB port is that you can install ESXi to a flash drive and run it from the flash drive.

[IanT]

I have a HP ProLiant ML110 G7 at home running 2008 with Hyper-V with about 4 VM's on running my network (mail etc etc) nice little setup!

[kxv2020]

Ok.. thanks for the reply. One more question - why VMWare Exsi as opposed to Microsoft's solution? Is it down to cost? I've got 2008 server license.

 

I'm just thinking in terms of backing up the HDD - would it be easier with VM or MHyperV?

 

Happy with ESXi if there is free back up.

Edited December 29, 2011 by kxv2020

[Arthur]

I'm just thinking in terms of backing up the HDD - would it be easier with VMware or Hyper-V?

With Hyper-V, you could use either Windows Server Backup or a free copy of Veeam Backup & Replication v6 (which is also available for ESXi)...

 

Veeam is once again blessing the community with their generous holiday spirit, which of course includes gifts! Veeam recently launched version 6 of their flagship Backup and Replication product which now includes support for Microsoft Hyper-V. Those who are heavily active in the Microsoft and/or VMware community and formally recognized as such, are eligible to register for their free gift from Veeam – NFR licensing for Backup and Replication v6.

 

I will attest that I’ve been using Veeam Backup & Replication to protect valuable data in my home lab for a few years and I’ve had to rely on it for recovery more than once. I also included it as a backup and disaster recovery replication solution in my VCDX design submission which I successfully defended in February 2010.

 

Below you’ll find two promotions for redeeming the NFR licenses. First is the Hyper-V promotion for MVPs, MCPs, and MCTSs, followed by the VMware promotion for vEXPERTs, VCPs, VCIs, and registered VMUG members (remember, anyone can be a registered VMUG member, it’s free to sign up, so why not do it today?) (Source)

 

How many guest VMs are you looking at running and will they all be Windows?

[computer_expert]

Ok.. thanks for the reply. One more question - why VMWare Exsi as opposed to Microsoft's solution? Is it down to cost? I've got 2008 server license.

 

I used ESXi as when I set mine up as I wanted to gain some experience of using ESXi (as well as not having a licence for server 2003/2008 at the time)

 

I'm just thinking in terms of backing up the HDD - would it be easier with VM or MHyperV?

 

Happy with ESXi if there is free back up.

 

I've never used Hyper-V so cannot comment on that in terms of backups, but for ESXi you could possibly use the vmware converter software to back up the VMs (or this method). As my server is mainly used for testing stuff, I generally don't take backups of the VMs.

 

You could test out each one and see which one you prefer as both offer trial periods (ESXi is around 60 days or so and server 2008 is also 60 days, but you can extend it up to 240 days)

[dalsoth]

I have a HP Micro server with the AMD processor myself and am using it with ESXi. Personally i have a DVD drive installed although some people use the CD bay for an additional disk. There is also a USB connector on the motherboard inside the case where you can actually run the ESXi system from instead of having to use a bit of space off one of your disks.

 

Not tried running Win 2008 as I have a physical one running that at the moment but have tried Mac OSX which worked after some heavy tweaking although the performance was not great. Noticed that some guy had quite a few win 2008 virtual servers running off his and said they ran well. Think it was from comments on ebuyer. Some good links in the comments also for upgrading the ram and installing a second network card which i did. Great little system.

[sted]

The microserver will run 08 as a base os and run hyperv machines but its not fast and if you use dvd bay for boot drive you will want the bios patch to enable ahci on ports 5 & 6 as it makes a big difference

[sidewinder]

I've got mine running 2008R2 natively and it boots up fairly quickly. Performance seems ok too, although as its a home machine I'm only doing basic file sharing