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Virtualisation Server Setup
I am after some advice for setting up a T310 for vitualisation in a very small network.
I am setting up a R200 as the main server. The hardware is single X3320, 8Gb RAM + 2 x 250GB disks RAID 1 on SAS6iR controller. The software will be SBS 2008 premium setup as PDC, AD, DNS and will have Exchange installed with web access.
The secondary server is a T310 which I want to set up to do the following;
- File server for all shared documents
- Secondary backup domain controller
- Virtualisation to run upto 8 child OS (XP, XP 64, Win 7, etc)
The hardware is a single X3440, 32Gb RAM + 4 x 500Gb disks on Perc 6 RAID 5 (1 hot spare) + 2 x 1TB disks on a SATA controller for backups only. Supplemental backups will be done onto NAS devices.
I have a third server which is a 2850 with 2 x Xeon CPUs, 8GB RAM, 6 x SAS 146G disks. This machine I am not sure what to do with just yet but may end up being a backup/development box.
The additional software I have is a Server 2008 (from the SBS 2008 premium package) + Server 2008 R2 standard + SQL 2008 + the OSs for the child partitions I want to set up on the T310.
The questions I have regarding the T310 are;
1 –Is is best to install in the parent partition:
a) Full Server 2008 with Hyper-V role
b) Full Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V role
c) Core Server 2008 with Hyper-V role
d) Core Full Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V role
e) Hyper-V Server 2012
2 – Where should I locate the File Server role ?
3 – Is the following disk space setup on RAID 5 the most suitable raid to use on the T310;
C: 100GB for parent OS
D: 150GB for documents
P: 32GB for page file
V: Remaining space for VHDs
At some point I will need to set up Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Services too.
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Dev Mgr
9.3K Posts
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November 1st, 2013 15:00
If a physical server is being used for virtualization, I'd recommend not to run any other services on it (no AD, no fileserver, etc). Instead run those services in virtual machines instead and let the physical server focus on the virtualization only.
pcmeiners
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4 Operator
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1.8K Posts
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October 19th, 2013 14:00
Just a few points....
1) "Virtualization to run upto 8 child OS (XP, XP 64, Win 7, etc)"
Don't you realize virtualization has a price? Each one absorbs system resource. XP, XP64, Win 7 does not belong on a server, they are just malware/viruse magnets. Virtualization is becoming the most over used dis-service MS has produced. Think of virtualization as an added passenger in an SUV which could have 12 passengers, for each passenger (VM) added the performance/safety goes down, until fully loaded, you have no performance/safety. Virtualize a wks for those.
As far as Domain controllers, the idea is to keep them as simple and clean as you possibly can.
2) "3 – Is the following disk space setup on RAID 5 the most suitable raid to use on the T310;
C: 100GB for parent OS
D: 150GB for documents
P: 32GB for page file
V: Remaining space for VHDs"
Since you are using a single raid 5 for the above, which is a single spindle set, you not going to gain anything with so many partitions, at least do away with the pagefile partition....using too many partitions on a single spindle set just increases the disk drive head movement/overhead . Definitely have at least a separate partition for the OS and data.
3)" At some point I will need to set up Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Services too."
You could use the 2850 as a TS Gateway and Terminal server.
Gizzo
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November 1st, 2013 13:00
Thanks for the reply.
1) All the different OSs in each child is for testing software that I develop and evaluate. I will usually be the only user using them so will not have all running at the same time.
2) No great volumes of data are being processed on a regular basis. Volumes of transactions may only be done when stress testing software. Disk performance is not too critical. Reliability to avoid inconvenience is more of an issue. So is ease and speed of backups.
3) Comments about TS are noted so I will have a read up on this subject.