virtualizing small office server

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Forealz

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
253
Hi guys
I've started administering a small office server on the side, and I'm considering virtualizing it. The server is SBS 2008, and it really needs to be cleaned up (they use public folders to archive email, I'm looking into using sharepoint for this)

Ideally, I'd like to make a new clean image with data in all the right places then load it up over a weekend and hopefully the process will be painless. I'm looking into the free vmware edition, as I'd like to keep costs down and don't need to make multiple virtual machines or anything. Can I use vmware for free for just one server like this?

I'd like it virtualized so that if the server were to go down I could get it back into service quickly without downtime. I'm not really sure where to start.

I'd like to make the perfect image on my work computer (im a basic computer tech) then just drop it into the server over a weekend or something. Can I use free vmware for this? Am I missing some huge piece of information that would derail my plan?
 
Yes check to make sure the server is compatible with ESXi free. If it isn't, Xenserver Free is a viable alternative.
 
I'm not sure on the policy of using free ESXi for business purposes, but if it's fine then there's nothing wrong with your plan, really. Just make sure the hardware can handle virtualization (older servers will not)
 
Dark Shade said:
I'm not sure on the policy of using free ESXi for business purposes, but if it's fine then there's nothing wrong with your plan, really. Just make sure the hardware can handle virtualization (older servers will not)
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You can definitely use the free ESXi for "business purposes." There's some restrictions regarding selling it as a service or using it for SaaS purposes without a paid license, but generally speaking it's fine to deploy the free version for business use. With more than two servers you will start to hit management roadblocks that can make the free version impractical, but for a single server there's really no reason not to use free ESXi as long as it suits the project.

OP, Xen is good to look into if you have Linux experience. (You will need it to effectively manage the server.) If you are only ever going to run Windows VMs, Hyper-V is worth taking a peek at, too.
 
I've managed SBS 08 on Hyper-V (free) and ESXi 4 and it works fine on either of them. It just depends on what you think will work better on your hardware and you are more comfortable with because they all provide the same basic functionality.
 
One potential issue :>
"I'd like to make the perfect image on my work computer (im a basic computer tech) then just drop it into the server over a weekend or something. Can I use free vmware for this? Am I missing some huge piece of information that would derail my plan?"
Hardware on your work computer isnt going to be the same hardware the server would be using on the actual server hardware in the office.
You might run into new hardware detected prompts, possibly have to reset the IP, reactivate if you activated on your hardware, etc, especially since on your work computer you wouldnt be using ESXi (guessing youd be using Vmware player or workstation)
 
dbwillis said:
Hardware on your work computer isnt going to be the same hardware the server would be using on the actual server hardware in the office.
You might run into new hardware detected prompts, possibly have to reset the IP, reactivate if you activated on your hardware, etc, especially since on your work computer you wouldnt be using ESXi (guessing youd be using Vmware player or workstation)
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Moving VMs between systems running VMWare works fine as long as the versions of VMWare are compatible. If you build a VM in Workstation, you can move it over to ESXi with minimal work. You shouldn't get any "new hardware" prompts or have to re-activate Windows.
 
ALso, dont forget...if your going to be putting in a 'new' server, you have to join it to the current domain, then move all the roles over, demote the old server, setup shares, printers, gpo's, etc (you didnt say you were going to do a new AD)
 
You may want to look at SBSmigration.com and do a swing from the current SBS server to the one you are going to build 'fresh' its not so simple to build a new server and migrate from an existing SBS server.
 
not a fan of SBS software like the concept just not the implementation especially because you are limited to 1 DC with it and its all jumbled on one box (Single point of failure) personal pref...

what ashman said is dead on though... i have had to migrate an environment before and i used that for migrating from 1 box to another made the job easier thats for sure.
 
not limited to a single DC with sbs, however Sbs does have to hold the fsmo roles.
 
Ive used the migration kit as well, works great, sure you meant 2 SBS servers?
I didnt think an AD can have two SBS servers, it could have multiple servers but only one of the SBS type....no?
 
Actually, I was planning on making a new active directory. Completely new installation using the same domain name. I've done migrations before, and they are usually more hassle than making a new installation. Moreover, because they use public folders for archiving emails at the moment, the process of replicating those will either take weeks or stall. I just want to rip the important data off their server, make a clean image of it with everything working, then drop it onto their server over a weekend.
 
Oh, well then your idea of building it then popping it onto the esx box should be aok !
 
I do this all the time. I use Free ESXi or just essentials so I can use FastSCP. Works great no performance loss what so ever.

Run Esxi of a USB stick.
 
Wrench00 said:
I do this all the time. I use Free ESXi or just essentials so I can use FastSCP. Works great no performance loss what so ever.

Run Esxi of a USB stick.
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Because of u, now I had wished I bought 2 r210 ||'s and done vmotion etc etc ! Bastard lol! Great demo the other day at the house!
 
I'm about to start this project and realized that I'm a fish out of water. Is VMware workstation free to use? It looks like its not. Should I save the image as a VHD? Now my plan is to make the image then load it onto a spare desktop and plug it in to their system to make sure its working (I know that hard drive performance will probably suck, but it's more of a check to make sure its working.)
 
Forealz said:
I'm about to start this project and realized that I'm a fish out of water. Is VMware workstation free to use? It looks like its not. Should I save the image as a VHD? Now my plan is to make the image then load it onto a spare desktop and plug it in to their system to make sure its working (I know that hard drive performance will probably suck, but it's more of a check to make sure its working.)
Click to expand...

for every machine you install the vm' to you have to -re-activate the software with in it and the os.
 
I'm just planning on installing the vmware on the server, making the image on my workstation but maybe loading it on a spare desktop i have to test it. Can I use virtualbox to make the image?
 
You cant easliy move a machine between VMware, Microsoft and VirtualBox, every time you move it, youll get 'new hardware found' when the vm detects new hardware for that virtual application

vmware doesnt use VHD for the disks, Microsoft does, vmware uses VMDK, not sure what vbox uses
 
I think virtual box can save in multiple formats. If not, what should I use to make it?
 
dbwillis said:
You cant easliy move a machine between VMware, Microsoft and VirtualBox, every time you move it, youll get 'new hardware found' when the vm detects new hardware for that virtual application

vmware doesnt use VHD for the disks, Microsoft does, vmware uses VMDK, not sure what vbox uses
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Yes and if you are unlucky that you use something like the VMware proprietary virtual storage controller, instead of the emulated LSI, Windows might not start (it can handle driver installs live, but not if the storage controller it boots from is unsupported, then you have to do recovery console and provide working drivers)
 
I must seem like a big noob to you guys. I'm trying to become unnooblike with virtualization, but virtualizing small office servers is probably the most I will end up using it for. What should I use to make the image if not virtualbox?

And if anyone has any recommendation to a good resource (so I can stop bugging you virtual masters:) I'd appreciate it.
 
Use VMWare Player (free) or VMWare Workstation (paid) to build the images. You will be able to move them to ESXi easily. You have limited options when configuring in VMWare Player, but you can always tweak the config file by hand later if you need more options.
 
So I'm going through the steps, and I'm thinking for networking I should do host only while I'm setting up the image. Can I change that when I'm ready to move it to the box?
 
Forealz said:
So I'm going through the steps, and I'm thinking for networking I should do host only while I'm setting up the image. Can I change that when I'm ready to move it to the box?
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Yes. You can easily reassign or reconfigure networking once the VM has been migrated to its destination host. Unless you want to set up the VM in a vacuum, you should probably do NAT mode or something so that you can gain internet access for downloading patches and software. Host-only networking prevents your VM from gaining access to the internet unless you set up an alternate route like a tunnel or VPN.
 
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