Potential Server Hadware - Enough For Virtualization?

E

ElectroPulse

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Messages
129
Hello, all!

I am planning on getting an Active Directory, website blocking, etc. set up at a mission school I am currently working as the computer teacher/network admin at.

We have had a computer donated to the school, and I am wondering if the hardware (particularly the processor) is capable of doing what I would like to do:
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V on bare metal.
Running under that, 3 VMs. Windows Server 2012 Standard (for AD, DHCP, etc.), Untangle (for Firewall, website blocking (curse you, Squid... I've screwed with you enough on pfSense), and anything else that is free), and pfSense (for anything else that is not free on Untangle, such as bandwidth management, and possibly website caching (we have very slow internet)).

The hardware I have to work with:
Intel Pentium D dual core @ 3.2ghz, and 4gb RAM (DDR1 or DDR2) (current server)
or
AMD E2-1800 dual core APU @1.7ghz, and 6gb RAM (DDR3) (donated computer)

Number of users: Probably the peek would be somewhere from 50-75, only up to about 30 of which would be using AD.

Thanks in advance!
P.S. If you have any suggestions about what could be done better with my above idea, feel free to let me know!
 
Exactly which Pentium D is it? Some of them support virtualisation; others do not. From here:

Intel® Pentium® D Processor 800 Series 805 820 830 840 No No
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 900 Series 920 930 940 950 960 Yes No
915 925 945 935 920 No No
Click to expand...

Note that some 920s support virtualisation and others do not.

The AMD E2-1800 does support virtualisation, and I would be very tempted to use it simply because it has more RAM.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Exactly which Pentium D is it? Some of them support virtualisation; others do not. From here:



Note that some 920s support virtualisation and others do not.

The AMD E2-1800 does support virtualisation, and I would be very tempted to use it simply because it has more RAM.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks!

I honestly don't know which Pentium D it is... I just arrived a few weeks ago, and it's what was sitting here. After looking through pfSense, I saw that it was a Pentium D. Unfortunately, it does not elaborate on the specific model.
 
For so few users, you might consider running Windows Server Essentials. See here.
 
Since it's a 3.2GHz model, it's probably a 940 which does support virtualization. Of course, that's basically 2 Pentium 4s strapped together so performance is, umm, meh. I'd use the AMD box.
 
Neither one is a stand-out performer for the intended role. The AMD will definitely use less power and be cooler, if that is a concern.
The AMD solution should also have a better disk sub-system, unless the Intel system has a recent Drive Controller card or HBA.
 
Quartz-1 said:
For so few users, you might consider running Windows Server Essentials. See here.
Click to expand...

With essentials, are you permitted to create more than 25 user accounts?

Also, is it concurrent users who are using AD, or any service?

Also, is it an actual limit, or is it a "you're not supposed to go over 25, or you're a bad person."
 
Quartz-1 said:
Yes: 75 is the maximum. Read the article to which I linked.
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry about that. I looked through it earlier but must have somehow missed it.

Yea, I believe that I would probably want to go with Standard then... With just the students that I have between the 3 separate sections, I have at least 50 students, and with dorm students + faculty, I would be pushing 75, if not over (potentially by a lot, depending on who all has user accounts... If every student has a user account, we would be looking at a minimum of 150 user accounts).

Thank you very much for the suggestion, though! :)
 
You could download it and see how it runs. I have a feeling your going to be disappointed in the performance. But what have you got to loose.
 
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