How to virtualize a server?

[CaEngineer]

I have two different servers and would like to have backup of one to another. Their HDD size is different. I believe that I can virtualize one to another.

Also, I might need to run that virtualized version on the spare server. So, my questions are as follows.

How can I virtualize my srever? What software do I need to virtualize my server? Is there any open source version of VMWare?

Is it straightforward to run a virtualized server on my spare server? Any settings or so I have to apply?

---------------------------------

Rephrasing my question to the c following:

1. How do I set up a virtual server? Do I need a software? If yes, where and how can I get it?
2. How can we run that virtualized server from my Physical Server?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Let me get this straight:

So, you have a spare server. (Server 2) You're going to wipe it and install a hypervisor like VMware. You then want to import the virtual machine image (P2V) of your primary server (Server 1). The VM on Server 2 then becomes your primary server and Server 1 gets turned into a flower pot?

I would like to virtualize my server in a spare one. Also I might need to run a virtualized version on that spare server. So, my questions are as follows.

1. What software do I need to virtualize my server? Is there any open source version of VMWare?

There are a number of "P2V" utilities which essentially "rip" the configuration from a hardware server and save it to a VM. Look up the one specific to the Hypervisor you end up using.

There is a free-for-personal-use license of VMware. It works. It's picky about hardware - unsupported hardware is ignored. You might need to add drivers manually or something.

2. Is it straightforward to run a virtualized server on my spare? Any settings or so I have to apply?

Once it's set up and running, it's not particularly different than running a headless "real" server.

 

[JackMDS]

The only sort of Open source VM is this...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/virtualbox.html

Whether you can run a second copy (spare server) might depend on License too.

Whole in all, your open post contains very little info to enable providing you the best solution.

 

[Emulex]

You are going to have a world of mess just doing P2V import without knowing the ramifications - I'd suggest doing a clean install of your hypervisor (2012 R2 Hyper-V) or ESXi 5.5 vmware - then installing the server all over again from scratch.

Trust me - It works out better in the long run!

 

[thecoolnessrune]

The only sort of Open source VM is this...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/virtualbox.html

Whether you can run a second copy (spare server) might depend on License too.

Whole in all, your open post contains very little info to enable providing you the best solution.

There are a literal crap-ton of Open-Source Hypervisors. VirtualBox, DosBox, OpenVZ, KVM, QEMU, Citrix Xen, and Oracle VM (built off of Xen) are just a few of the heavy hitters that come to mind

 

[CaEngineer]

The only sort of Open source VM is this...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/virtualbox.html

Whether you can run a second copy (spare server) might depend on License too.

Whole in all, your open post contains very little info to enable providing you the best solution.

Jack!

I rephrased my question above. Thank you!

 

[CaEngineer]

You are going to have a world of mess just doing P2V import without knowing the ramifications - I'd suggest doing a clean install of your hypervisor (2012 R2 Hyper-V) or ESXi 5.5 vmware - then installing the server all over again from scratch.

Trust me - It works out better in the long run!

Oh! On VMWAre website I saw ESXI before! Thanks for mentioning that!

 

[CaEngineer]

Let me get this straight:

So, you have a spare server. (Server 2) You're going to wipe it and install a hypervisor like VMware. You then want to import the virtual machine image (P2V) of your primary server (Server 1). The VM on Server 2 then becomes your primary server and Server 1 gets turned into a flower pot?



There are a number of "P2V" utilities which essentially "rip" the configuration from a hardware server and save it to a VM. Look up the one specific to the Hypervisor you end up using.

There is a free-for-personal-use license of VMware. It works. It's picky about hardware - unsupported hardware is ignored. You might need to add drivers manually or something.



Once it's set up and running, it's not particularly different than running a headless "real" server.

Dave,

Yes, Exactly! The purpose is not to lose data on Srever 1 and after making sure that I have a backup on 2 I can reformat server 1.

So, you also recommend me to use VMWARE Hypervisor.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Dave,

Yes, Exactly! The purpose is not to lose data on Srever 1 and after making sure that I have a backup on 2 I can reformat server 1.

So, you also recommend me to use VMWARE Hypervisor.

No, I do not recommend it. Theres a good chance it won't even work with your hardware. But if you want to it's fine.

 

[CaEngineer]

No, I do not recommend it. Theres a good chance it won't even work with your hardware. But if you want to it's fine.

Um... I do not want to use something that I might not get it to work! Then what is your recommendation please?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Um... I do not want to use something that I might not get it to work! Then what is your recommendation please?

Try it and see if it works.

 

[CaEngineer]

Try it and see if it works.

Allright! Thanks Dave!

 

[Emulex]

This sounds like a bad situation eh?

 

[CaEngineer]

This sounds like a bad situation eh?

Thanks for your empathy!

 

[JackMDS]

There are a literal crap-ton of Open-Source Hypervisors. VirtualBox, DosBox, OpenVZ, KVM, QEMU, Citrix Xen, and Oracle VM (built off of Xen) are just a few of the heavy hitters that come to mind

Thanks, I am aware of most of them.

That said, being so long on Forums like this it become rather easy to Judge the Level of Knowledge of an OP by the content and style of his/her post.

There is No point to load people with info that Rather than help is geared toward showing how smart/knowledgeable is the person that provides the answer is (which is quite common in Forums).

Virtual Box has many simple straight forward instructions pages and to my judgement is the easiest one to deal with by people that do not specializing in these issues.

See example - https://www.google.com/search?q=howto+geek+virtual+box&ie=UTF-8

 

[CaEngineer]

Thanks, I am aware of most of them.

That said, being so long on Forums like this it become rather easy to Judge the Level of Knowledge of an OP by the content and style of his/her post.

There is No point to load people with info that Rather than help is geared toward showing how smart/knowledgeable is the person that provides the answer is (which is quite common in Forums).

Virtual Box has many simple straight forward instructions pages and to my judgement is the easiest one to deal with by people that do not specializing in these issues.

See example - https://www.google.com/search?q=howto+geek+virtual+box&ie=UTF-8

Thank you Jack!

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Thanks, I am aware of most of them.

That said, being so long on Forums like this it become rather easy to Judge the Level of Knowledge of an OP by the content and style of his/her post.

There is No point to load people with info that Rather than help is geared toward showing how smart/knowledgeable is the person that provides the answer is (which is quite common in Forums).

Virtual Box has many simple straight forward instructions pages and to my judgement is the easiest one to deal with by people that do not specializing in these issues.

See example - https://www.google.com/search?q=howto+geek+virtual+box&ie=UTF-8

That's ok.

The only sort of Open source VM is this...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/virtualbox.html

This is not. There is avoiding information overload, and then there is misleading. Saying *only* isn't factually true in the slightest. There's no reason to say that. At all.

As far as the OP's request goes, you might recommend VirtualBox, but there is a major caveat in the fact that it is not a dedicated Hypervisor. The OP will need to use an additional Windows license, or run it on Linux. Patching will need to be maintained, and it will need to be ensured that patching does not break the Hypervisor.

That's a caveat that can be resolved by using a dedicated Hypervisor such as Citrix Xen. While not quite as simple as VirtualBox, it does resolve most of the OP's issues.

1. Dedicated Hypervisor with a small footprint. Minimal (if any) patching needed for a given environment. Occasional version upgrades.

2. Open Source, as the OP wanted.

It checks all the OP's points, and XenServer + Xen Management is not that difficult to use at all. Very similar in most functions to ESX.

XenServer 6.5

As far as the need to do P2V, I recommend the OP review Clonezilla. It can make an image of a hard disk for virtualization that works well in both VirtualBox, and Xen, whichever the OP chooses.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'd like to help, but I need more information to give a good recommendation.

What kind of servers are these? Do they have a specific model number, like a Dell PowerEdge R420 (for example)?

(I need this to know if VMWare ESXi is going to work on the new server)

Also, What is the old server running? What's the OS, and the software installed on it?

 

[CaEngineer]

I'd like to help, but I need more information to give a good recommendation.

What kind of servers are these? Do they have a specific model number, like a Dell PowerEdge R420 (for example)?

(I need this to know if VMWare ESXi is going to work on the new server)

Also, What is the old server running? What's the OS, and the software installed on it?

Ultimate,

Sorry for the late reply! Here are the requested info. as follows.

The server that we need to virtualize it:
Dell PowerEdge R710

The spare server:
Dell PowerEdge R410

Both servers have Os of Server 2008R2

Thanks.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That's ok.



This is not. There is avoiding information overload, and then there is misleading. Saying *only* isn't factually true in the slightest. There's no reason to say that. At all.

As far as the OP's request goes, you might recommend VirtualBox, but there is a major caveat in the fact that it is not a dedicated Hypervisor. The OP will need to use an additional Windows license, or run it on Linux. Patching will need to be maintained, and it will need to be ensured that patching does not break the Hypervisor.

That's a caveat that can be resolved by using a dedicated Hypervisor such as Citrix Xen. While not quite as simple as VirtualBox, it does resolve most of the OP's issues.

1. Dedicated Hypervisor with a small footprint. Minimal (if any) patching needed for a given environment. Occasional version upgrades.

2. Open Source, as the OP wanted.

It checks all the OP's points, and XenServer + Xen Management is not that difficult to use at all. Very similar in most functions to ESX.

XenServer 6.5

As far as the need to do P2V, I recommend the OP review Clonezilla. It can make an image of a hard disk for virtualization that works well in both VirtualBox, and Xen, whichever the OP chooses.

If you mention Xen in a room full of Windows users, you really, really, need to link to XenCenter, or you're just actively hurting people.

 

[CaEngineer]

Guys,

Now, I have Esxi Virtual Machine installed on my spare server. So, I used the top left corner tool-bar to have access to my main server.

When I enter the main server's IP Address, seems it does nothing. As I followed the following video clip on the Youtube, she talks about an IP address and a client-side Vmware. I am not sure how the connection is related to that client. In other words, what it is doing between my Esxi and the main server?
Do you guys suggest any tutorial video to get connected to the main from a spare server?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpzq7ajNNjQ

 

[Dahak]

I have not used the Vmware Workstation to connect to a ESXI Hypervisor, but you can put in the IP address that you setup when you installed it into a web browser and download the vsphere client

 

[CaEngineer]

I have not used the Vmware Workstation to connect to a ESXI Hypervisor, but you can put in the IP address that you setup when you installed it into a web browser and download the vsphere client

Hi Dahak,

Yes, I have downloaded and installed the Client one but don't know why I should use it while I have Esxi?!

 

[XavierMace]

Because that's how you manage an ESXI box?

 

[sdifox]

op I know I am late to the game but what exactly are you trying to accomplish?
Are you trying to repurpose the R710 and leave the 2008R2 running on the R410 as a vm?

Is the R710 your DC? What is going to happen to the after you move the 2008r2 off it?

a bitmore explanation of your goal would help determine your best course of action. From what I have read so far, I am not sure virtualisation is the right solution.