VMware ESXi

[Met-AL]

Has anyone ever used
VMware ESXi?

I was given a server that has two XEONS and 8GB of RAM in it. I am going to use it at home for file server, webserver, game server, and XBOX360 media transcoding at home. I really do not want to buy a server OS that will be able to handle the 8GB of RAM. I have 4 XP licenses left, so I was thinking of installing Linux and then running virtual XP machines and I came accross this OS called VMWare ESXi. Any experiences?

 

[nessus]

Have you posted this same question in the Virtual Computing forum? This should probably be moved there.

The main thing is you need to make sure your server components are on the hardware compatibility list.

 

[Met-AL]

Have you posted this same question in the Virtual Computing forum? This should probably be moved there.

The main thing is you need to make sure your server components are on the hardware compatibility list.

No I didn't post in there, I didn't know that forum existed until just a couple of minutes ago.

 

[nessus]

I know a few people who are running Vista x64 to support large amounts of RAM, then they are using the freeware version of VMWare server on that as their base virtualization platform. Kind of an in between solution from a cost perspective if your hardware can't run ESXi since Vista x64 has very broad hardware support.

Another option would be using the free Hyper-v server from MS. Its x64 with hardware support for everything that will run Windows 2008 server which is pretty much the same hardware supported by Vista x64. You have to admin it remotely. Definitely read all the docs before diving in.

 

[Met-AL]

Another option would be using the free Hyper-v server from MS. Its x64 with hardware support for everything that will run Windows 2008 server which is pretty much the same hardware supported by Vista x64. You have to admin it remotely. Definitely read all the docs before diving in.

Looking into it right now http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/default.mspx

I would prefer to remote administer this server as it will be in the basement. This Hyper-V looks interesting.

Installation is pretty straight forward http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_gu...lustrated-installation-of-hyper-v-server.aspx

Hyper-V Server is limited in terms of CPUs (maximum 4, not cores but sockets) and memory (32 Gb RAM) and requires specific hardware. Make sure your processor supports x64, VT extensions (such as Intel VT or AMD-V) and hardware Data Execution Protection (or DEP, such as Intel XD and AMD NX). These settings can be enabled in the BIOS of your server/workstation (or are already enabled by default).

Hyper-V is Microsoft’s alternative to VMware’s ESXi solution. This product is mainly targeted at the home user and SMB, as it lacks advanced features such as clustering support, quick migration and large memory sets. However, it can be installed on almost any hardware (assuming you have the correct CPU).

Tool for making sure the CPU meets the requirments: http://www.grc.com/securable.htm