How to virtualize a server?

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avos

Member
Jan 21, 2013
74
0
0
If you are going to go the ESXi way you might as well use the vCenter Converter Standalone client. It is free. You can run it from a laptop. It is fairly straight forward. You tell it where the hypervisor server is and you tell it the ip of the physical server you want to migrate and it pretty much does the rest.

But before you can do that you need a properly setup ESXi Hypervisor and from the questions you are asking about ESXi VMWare Workstation I have a feeling you are missing some core parts. Mostly because you don't want VMWare Workstation. You want ESXi on the server and vSphere client on your workstation to manage it.

I'm all for trying things on your own, but if this is for a production server I'd suggest hiring someone. Migrations are filled with little gotcha's and the like and you aren't going to get any support from VMWare with the free version.

If they were Windows 2012 servers I would probably suggest going with HyperV. I think it is a little easier of a jump for those familiar with Windows than going to ESXi. You can get a standalone HyperV, but if you have no experience with Windows Server Core it will be a steep learning curve doing the initial setup.
 
X

XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
avos said:
I'm all for trying things on your own, but if this is for a production server I'd suggest hiring someone. Migrations are filled with little gotcha's and the like and you aren't going to get any support from VMWare with the free version.
Click to expand...

THIS.
 
IndyColtsFan

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
avos said:
If you are going to go the ESXi way you might as well use the vCenter Converter Standalone client. It is free. You can run it from a laptop. It is fairly straight forward. You tell it where the hypervisor server is and you tell it the ip of the physical server you want to migrate and it pretty much does the rest.

But before you can do that you need a properly setup ESXi Hypervisor and from the questions you are asking about ESXi VMWare Workstation I have a feeling you are missing some core parts. Mostly because you don't want VMWare Workstation. You want ESXi on the server and vSphere client on your workstation to manage it.

I'm all for trying things on your own, but if this is for a production server I'd suggest hiring someone. Migrations are filled with little gotcha's and the like and you aren't going to get any support from VMWare with the free version.

If they were Windows 2012 servers I would probably suggest going with HyperV. I think it is a little easier of a jump for those familiar with Windows than going to ESXi. You can get a standalone HyperV, but if you have no experience with Windows Server Core it will be a steep learning curve doing the initial setup.
Click to expand...

Listen to this guy OP.

A lot of small companies want to "save money" by having their internal people implement things like servers, virtualization, etc. However, if their internal resources don't have the necessary experience, costs mount and a single failure anywhere along the line can erase any cost savings (and then some) that the company experienced by having an internal resource tackle the project.

My advice? Continue playing with it in a lab environment and reading/researching. If you're doing this for a production environment, I strongly advise hiring a professional to do it and you should shadow him and ask questions.
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
After having a successful installation of VMWARE ESXI on one server (spare), I was not able to install the same version of VMWARE ESXI on the other server(main). A purple screen of death came up!

We took some advice on the following site.

http://www.bussink.ch/?p=382

We changed the BIOS settings. But still no success!

As my colleague explained to me, in the past the server's raid configuration was screwed and I am guessing we have the memory issue!!!

What do you think?
ml110g7_esxi5_504890.jpg
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
sdifox said:
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.
Click to expand...

That is right! The Raid Configuration on the R710 is f* up! And my colleague want to have a copy of R710 on R410 running to make sure that back it up and then wipe R710 and start a new setting!
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
avos said:
If you are going to go the ESXi way you might as well use the vCenter Converter Standalone client. It is free. You can run it from a laptop. It is fairly straight forward. You tell it where the hypervisor server is and you tell it the ip of the physical server you want to migrate and it pretty much does the rest.

But before you can do that you need a properly setup ESXi Hypervisor and from the questions you are asking about ESXi VMWare Workstation I have a feeling you are missing some core parts. Mostly because you don't want VMWare Workstation. You want ESXi on the server and vSphere client on your workstation to manage it.

I'm all for trying things on your own, but if this is for a production server I'd suggest hiring someone. Migrations are filled with little gotcha's and the like and you aren't going to get any support from VMWare with the free version.

If they were Windows 2012 servers I would probably suggest going with HyperV. I think it is a little easier of a jump for those familiar with Windows than going to ESXi. You can get a standalone HyperV, but if you have no experience with Windows Server Core it will be a steep learning curve doing the initial setup.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice!
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
IndyColtsFan said:
Listen to this guy OP.

A lot of small companies want to "save money" by having their internal people implement things like servers, virtualization, etc. However, if their internal resources don't have the necessary experience, costs mount and a single failure anywhere along the line can erase any cost savings (and then some) that the company experienced by having an internal resource tackle the project.

My advice? Continue playing with it in a lab environment and reading/researching. If you're doing this for a production environment, I strongly advise hiring a professional to do it and you should shadow him and ask questions.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your advice according to your pricey experience sir!
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,987
1,617
126
CaEngineer said:
After having a successful installation of VMWARE ESXI on one server (spare), I was not able to install the same version of VMWARE ESXI on the other server(main). A purple screen of death came up!

We took some advice on the following site.

http://www.bussink.ch/?p=382

We changed the BIOS settings. But still no success!

As my colleague explained to me, in the past the server's raid configuration was screwed and I am guessing we have the memory issue!!!

What do you think?
ml110g7_esxi5_504890.jpg
Click to expand...
A PSoD during installation?

Yikes. Yeah, that box is probably sick.

Why are you installing 5.0.0? 6.0 is close to release and 5.5 has been out forever.
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
Um.... I will! Thanks for mentioning that! Hope this time work! but I am supposing that it will copy it to the HDD eventually and I will get the same error! What do you think?
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,987
1,617
126
CaEngineer said:
Um.... I will! Thanks for mentioning that! Hope this time work! but I am supposing that it will copy it to the HDD eventually and I will get the same error! What do you think?
Click to expand...
If it doesn't work installing to a USB drive, then you have bad RAM or motherboard or something else.

If it works on a USB drive, you have a bad HD or bad RAID card / controller config. Check to make sure the RAID is on the HCL, reset RAID controller to factory default settings, re-initialize the array, and try again. If it still doesn't work, replace the RAID card.

You could also just run it off the USB drive. Some servers come preconfigured that way, actually.
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
dave_the_nerd said:
If it doesn't work installing to a USB drive, then you have bad RAM or motherboard or something else.

If it works on a USB drive, you have a bad HD or bad RAID card / controller config. Check to make sure the RAID is on the HCL, reset RAID controller to factory default settings, re-initialize the array, and try again. If it still doesn't work, replace the RAID card.

You could also just run it off the USB drive. Some servers come preconfigured that way, actually.
Click to expand...

Um.... Ram or motherboard!

I see what I can do! Thanks buddy!
 
C

CaEngineer

Member
Feb 23, 2015
39
0
0
Umm.. here is the thing! Can you tell me how I can test my motherboard or RAM without turning the server off.
 
H

holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
it's not in production so why does it matter if you turn it off. You can run memtest from a cd but you still need to reboot unless restarting the server spikes the electricity and trips something I can't see why it would be important not to turn it off.
 
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