How to Use a PowerEdge 1800 as a Virtual Machine Host

Question

I have a refurbished Dell PowerEdge 1800 with 12 GB of memory and three RAID-1 arrays.  I have Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (32-bit) installed.  I want to use this machine to host four or five virtual Windows 7 (32-bit) machines.  From what I can surmise, the PowerEdge 1800 processor does not support Hyper-V, so I cannot use Hyper-V to accomplish my objective.  What can I use as an alternative to meet my objective?  My hope is that whatever solution I choose will be at least as easy as the Hyper-V manager, will run on my host (not require another workstation to manage the virtuals), and will be relatively inexpensive.  Thanks for any help.

DELL-Geoff P · Answer

To have virtual machines on this server, the processors have to be able support virtual technology. With that being said, none of the processors that shipped with the PE1800 support virtual technology. You will need to locate a newer server to provide virtual environments. Most of the Dell 9th generation and up come with processors that will support this technology.

Here is a link that shows the capabilities of these processors: www.cpu-world.com/.../TYPE-Xeon%20Irwindale.html

Regards,

theflash1932 · Answer

I wasn't going to 'taint' this thread with ideas already offered on your other thread, but since Geoff said it couldn't be done, I thought I'd interject to offer that there are some options, and to maybe just get the ball rolling ... we'll see if someone else has any suggestions, alternatives, or thoughts. Most 'modern' virtualization software requires VT, but some do not.   VMWare ESXi 3.5 would normally be your best bet, but requires another system to manage VM's (which may be what has prompted the wording of your question). Short of that, the only thing I know of that you could do is install 2008, then install a software virtualization solution, like VMWare Workstation or VirtualBox.

Dev Mgr · Answer

To add to theflash1932, if you opt for ESXi 3.5 (or really any other virtualization that can run on processors w/o VT), you'll only be able to run 32-bit VMs.

Chaplain Doug · Answer

Woe is me!  I have been plowing ahead buying more memory and new disks for my PowerEdge 1800, blissfully talking of the coming 'virtual PCs' that would alleviate the 'PC bank' that now dominates an office in our building.  Now I must go 'hat in hand' and say, 'This old boy has been delusional and certainly did not do his homework.'  Maybe I can get a bailout from Washington or perhaps the 'Americans with Disabilities Act' will cover my waning mental acuity.  Now I search for a used PowerEdge 2900 under $500, hope MemoryStock.com will take back the memory and credit me for some that will work in a 2900 and hope that the Seagate Cheetah 10K drives I bought for the 1800 will plug and play in a 2900.  Now I feel better.  Not:)

theflash1932 · Answer

It can be done ... I ran a few 2003 VM's on a PowerEdge 2800 with ESXi 3.5. I don't know why you "must" not have to manage the VM's through VMWare's management application, but it is an acceptable option, as long as they are not going to be super-heavily used (no video/audio encoding or intense code compiling/number crunching). Not all is lost, unless you were looking for a "high-performance" virtualization solution, in which case, the budget should probably be high enough for 2 VT cores per VM, 15K SAS drives, and a dedicated NIC per VM.

I wish you luck.

magic-rat · Answer

I can tell you that I have a PE 1800 ... running Xubuntu (32-bit) ss the host O/S, Oracle VirtualBox, and Win 2003 Server 32 bit as a guest OS.

It works.

Now, I cannot install a second guest ... but I can get one to work .. and it has been running for over a year.

If I try to install a second guest O/S ... I get VT-x errors.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

How to Use a PowerEdge 1800 as a Virtual Machine Host

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