I used to run SCOM 2007 and Exchange 2010 off mechanical drives, and things just crawl. Installing Exchange 2010 took nearly an hour (when other VMs are running) but took less than 7 minutes using an SSD.
Whilst you could, theoretically, run 5 low intensity VMs off a single disk (e.g. some DCs, CAs, print servers etc), anything else will suffer (e.g. SharePoint, Exchange 2010, SCCM etc). There's no way you could 5 x MOSS servers off a single disk. Also, consider the amount of time you want to spend doing backups or rebooting the host. Doing VSS snapshot of the VM on the host (rather than backing up from within the guest) takes ages on mechanical disks if you are running lots of VMs. Suspending 10GB of VMs takes ages if you want to patch/reboot the host. With SSDs, it's a few seconds to suspend a 1GB VM. Cheers Ken From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:asbz...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, 4 November 2010 10:37 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Recommendations for cheap and cheerful virtual server I'm using SATA drives. I am able to run 5 guests actively without any issues. (I can get 6, but it depends on which 6 <g>) I need to get up to 10GB or 12GB of RAM, and I'll be happy. I have two DCs, File Services, Email Security, Server & Network Monitoring, Syslog, WSUS, and some game serving (Freelancer) Each guest was given 1GB RAM, except for the monitoring/patching server which has 1.5GB RAM and 2 CPUs. They don't *feel* like VMs, either. Nice and spiffy access. Currently, my Ubuntu Linux VM is down. I might steal 256MB from each DC to give the Linux box enough breathing space. Or, I'll just get up to the 10GB RAM mark. More info here: http://home.asbzone.com/ASB/archive/2010/02/22/home-network-overhaul-2010-conclusion.aspx I'll be upgrading the network diagram next month, because I made some changes since I posted this. ASB (My XeeSM Profile)<http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage... On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 9:49 AM, Raper, Jonathan - Eagle <jra...@eaglemds.com<mailto:jra...@eaglemds.com>> wrote: Curious, ASB - What type of drives did you use? Also, how many VMs do you run concurrently, and what services/apps are you running? Jonathan L. Raper, A+, MCSA, MCSE Technology Coordinator Eagle Physicians & Associates, PA jra...@eaglemds.com www.eaglemds.com ________________________________ From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:asbz...@gmail.com<mailto:asbz...@gmail.com>] Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 9:46 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Recommendations for cheap and cheerful virtual server I built a nice virtual host server (HyperV) with a decent case, quad-core motherboard, 8GB RAM, and a couple 1TB drives for a few hundred dollars. Fast and stable. ASB (My XeeSM Profile)<http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker> Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage... On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 4:40 AM, James Rankin <kz2...@googlemail.com<mailto:kz2...@googlemail.com>> wrote: 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 ~ 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
