super noob question: server 2008 or win7 as host

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badboyeee

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I'm about to build my VM rig for labbing purposes.. should i use windows server 2008 or windows 7 ent as my host OS?
 
Just out of curiosity, how do you plan to deploy your VMs?
The answer to that question pretty much dictates what software you install on your host.
 
What are you using? ESXi, Xen, VirtualBox? You know what...doesn't even matter. No matter what you should install Linux as your host. If you download ESXi it has it's own embedded Linux and uses a nice GUI client to create / manage VM's.

Don't use Windows!
 
Carlosinfl said:
No matter what you should install Linux as your host. If you download ESXi it has it's own embedded Linux and uses a nice GUI client to create / manage VM's.

Don't use Windows!
Click to expand...

Except when he wants to learn Hyper V. Your Microsoft Angst is misplaced here, also ESXi is not Linux.
 
I wanna learn how to use windows 2008 server and use active directory. Also plan to take windows 7 cert (70-680) sometime later this year. Was planning to use vmware player since it's free or should I use virtualbox? also wanna try out a linux os.

I already have another rig installed with win xp pro which I can lab with on the same network.

Need some guidance how to start out...
 
Depending on your hardware you might have trouble getting ESXi going.

Since you have Server 2008 as an option I would use that as your host and add the Hyper-V role. From there just start adding VMs, Hyper-V is pretty self explanatory for a few simple VMs to mess around with.
 
Thuleman said:
Except when he wants to learn Hyper V. Your Microsoft Angst is misplaced here, also ESXi is not Linux.
Click to expand...

Don't confuse my suggestion for hating any particular vendor. I've used Microsoft, VMware, Oracle, & KVM. My suggestion was based alone on performance and nothing more. I apologize if you felt I was bashing a particular vendor. There's just no comparison of two identical machines running Linux/KVM & 2008/HyperV. Linux is much more resourceful but if the OP wants to learn Windows 7 & A.D., well then its up to him to do so. You can still run Linux hosts that shell out Windows clients and learn everything you need.

VMware ESXi is built on RHEL 4. That's Linux. Other ESXi vendors may differ they back end architecture.
 
Carlosinfl said:
VMware ESXi is built on RHEL 4. That's Linux. Other ESXi vendors may differ they back end architecture.
Click to expand...

Do what? I have no idea what different vendors for ESXi there are? ESXi is strictly a VMware product, while in two forms (embedded and installable) do exist, they're only different in the ways they're implemented. Neither ESX or ESXi are Linux in and of themselves, although ESX does have a RHEL service console for management purposes. ESXi does away with it.

ESX 4 has an RHEL 5 based service console. The service console is actually a virtual machine (albeit a special one) running ontop of the hypervisor (vmkernel) which is a proprietary microkernel, or so at least, that is what VMware claims. It is all closed source so I guess we'll take their word for it :).

ESXi is not linux in any shape or form, although it does include busybox, which is an application, it is not linux. It runs atop vmkernel. I'm sure vmkernel probably has its roots from the linux kernel, but it is safe to say its been modified so much it isn't fair to call it "Linux" anymore. Here's a link to the wikipedia article on busybox for those who are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busybox.

As far as the don't use microsoft comment above -- I don't think it is a good idea to tell someone which vendor to use without knowing their entire situation. I'm a VMware fan boy, no reason for me to be quiet about that. I do avoid vendor bashing and making rash recommendations though. However, if the OP is serious about building a lab then I think a type 1 hypervisor (bare metal) is far more approprate than a type 2 (hosted) hypervisor.
 
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The service console made me think the ESX backplane was RHEL based. Thanks for your input.
 
Shane_c82 said:
Depending on your hardware you might have trouble getting ESXi going.

Since you have Server 2008 as an option I would use that as your host and add the Hyper-V role. From there just start adding VMs, Hyper-V is pretty self explanatory for a few simple VMs to mess around with.
Click to expand...

Okay for now I'll just go the MS route and do what you suggest, I should learn Hyper-V anyway since I plan to take a couple MS certs.

I just installed Windows 2008 standard, Ubuntu, and Win7 Ent on my WinXP Pro hosted rig. I used VMWare Player, will my new rig using Hyper-V be able to communicate with my VM's on my WinXP rig?

Down the road I may try ESXi. Is there a free trial I can use? From my research I don't think I can run it tho, I have a Phenom II X4 but dont see that listed as a compatible CPU.

Well thanks everyone. As you can tell im a noob to all this, your replies, the stickies, and some googling helped a lot.

edit: oh wow ESXi is free.
 
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