killnine

Hey guys,
I am looking to simulate a small network for my Active Directory and server studies. I have a rack that I would like to run some virtual machines on and wanted to know if I could run everything virtually. Here are the specs:

Dual Xeon Core2Duo 2.33Ghz Processors (Clovertown,VT enabled)
8Gb DDR2-667 (ECC)
Dual 250Gb hard drives (non-raid)
Windows Server 2008 Professional

I am trying to simulate 3 Vista (Home Premium) machines, perhaps an XP machine, too.

I'd like to set up DHCP, DNS, Active Directory, File Server, Print Server, and Backup roles on the server as well (don't know if this is advisable in a prod. environment, though).

Anyone have any thoughts on whether this is going to cripple the system? It will probably be only on rare occasions that all the workstations are running concurrently, just have to test that users' settings propagate across systems, and that files get shared and all that...

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chobes

great question, i myself have a server just sitting at home, i've learned some of what i know from forums and actually got to apply some of it at work, but doing that at home sounds like fun and a great way for hands on.

subbed

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killnine

Oh yeah, since I have Server 2008, I was planning on using HyperV for all this, and some demo versions of Windows Vista (I have a few extra keys of Windows, but not 3).

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trueg50

Boy, I think it might be a bit tricky with all those on one single machine. You could try using Vmware ESX, and run a few VM's (maybe DNS and DHCP in one, File and print server in another).

As for clients, using your desktop, and maybe a friends laptop or something would probably be the best way to try and access everything.

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chobes

the bank i work for just virtualize ALOT of their servers just recently, i was surprised to hear how much money they saved from doing so. its actually pretty cool cus our server and lab rooms have ALOT of empty space now and its alot quieter. thats not just a penny pincher on server hardware, but the electrical also, less machines, and the ventilation system in there is insane, so powerful and the cooling in the room sucks up just about as much juice as the servers themselves so cutting down on cooling and servers is a plus... virtualization is being heavilly implemented in my organization so it will be an asset to learn the bumps and boundries of its technology

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mbreitba

As long as you're not stressing the machines (actually running apps) too much you should be fine. Remember that Hyper-V does not have memory over-commit, so your vista and xp instances may have to be trimmed down on memory (512mb/768mb) or you could see problems.

Other than that, I say go for it. I run my active directory servers as two VM's (on separate blades) under Hyper-V. It is not advised to run AD on the actual Host partition though.

Kamakazi

About the only concern I would have with that rig and 5+ VMs would be the CPU. I know they are speedy but even still, that is alot of stuff to take care of.

mbreitba

I wouldn't be concerned about the CPU's at all - if they're relatively idle, there's no concern.

killnine

Yeah, I did a report a while ago on the interrupt cost of virtualization and its pretty hefty (even with Intel and AMD's custom instructions). Still, I dont anticipate using them simultaneously or having much going on with the systems.

I may run the domain controller on the host system, but on a drive that the HOST OS isn't on.



Yeah, I am working on a network design for a network of this same topology. just a few clients and a server. I dont want to have to make the owner commit to multiple servers just to run basic network services. As the network needs grow, I can always migrate to a new box and offload stuff to it.



Keep the thoughts coming.

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trueg50

My work too.

We had very serious issues with the amount of AC and power we could route to the only available server room, however with virtualization we were able to trim out a ton of old P3 and P4 servers, and replace them with nice Opteron machines, and save a ton of power and tons of AC.

__________________
Cable manage and liquid cooled Thermal take Armor

Synergy (G5 case mod)