I would go for a quad-core AMD system with 8-12gb of RAM and maybe 3 or 4 HDDs running in a SoftRAID 10 for that kind of setup. It's still small enough to fit in a minitower but the RAID 10 will significantly improve your disk I/O with minimal CPU impact and the quad-core processor will give you enough CPU cycles to host a fair amount of VMs. Hyper-V makes a good backend for this setup – there's a bit of a performance penalty to pay because you're running NTFS on top of NTFS but it's fast enough for everyday purposes and it's very easy to configure and manage (esp. with windows guests). You could go ESXi but then you'll have to find a ESXi compatible RAID card which will add significantly to your cost. Your other option is VMWare Server, which would basically work like Hyper-V – you gain the ability to use prebuilt VMWare images but lose the relatively tight integration Hyper-V has with Win2k8.
All told you should be able to do that for less than US $1000, which should keep to your budget nicely. ---- Jack Kramer Computer Systems Specialist University Relations, Michigan State University w: 517-884-1231 / c: 248-635-4955 From: James Rankin <kz2...@googlemail.com<mailto:kz2...@googlemail.com>> Reply-To: NT System Admin Issues <ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>> Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 04:40:12 -0400 To: NT System Admin Issues <ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>> Subject: Recommendations for cheap and cheerful virtual server I have recently overhauled my home systems and installed a NAS device and some new laptops....however, due to the neglect my AD and SCOM skills are currently receiving, I have decided to get myself a few virtual systems fired up at home to ensure I don't go too rusty. I'm looking for a cheap and cheerful system that can run either ESXi or XenServer (or even Hyper-V), probably to host about 8 or 9 VMs (not all in use at the same time, though). I guess the kicker is the storage, as I won't be using my NAS device for this. I'd prefer something small and inobtrusive, although that's in the ideal world. I read an article where someone recommended getting hold of an old Compaq ML110 G4 and adding some SCSI disks, so I'd also be willing to re-use some second-hand stuff, if needs be. I can back up the VMs to an external drive (if it is supported) so I wouldn't be looking for any hardcore redundancy measures in the hardware. Anyone have any thoughts, or care to share what they are using for similar setups? TIA, JRR -- "On two occasions...I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
