How to virtualize a server?

[CaEngineer]

Yes, for real. But when you don't want to interrupt the server you have to! I will take your advice anywas! Thanks fro the heads-up!

 

[CaEngineer]

But does that give me this opportunity to virtualize my machine to the spare server without the actual using of the server?

The point is having a copy of server on the spare and then going ahead and wipe it and reconfigure the Raid configurations.

I know that there must be something wrong that comes up with that purple screen of death!

 

[kevnich2]

Just put a usb flash drive in the server and when the install asks where to install to, choose that. I don't ever install esxi to onboard spinning drives. usb flash works fine as I assume so does an sdcard. Then you can just use onboard drives for vm images.

 

[kevnich2]

... For real? :-|

What do you mean you installed through virtualbox??

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Nesting ESXi in VirtualBox is not reliable at all, especially since VirtualBox does not always give VT-x extensions to an ESXi VM even when specified in the settings. PSOD's are to be expected when you do it this way. It is not a good method to try to virtualize your server with. ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor, which means it expects to be the root operating system of the server. Unless you natively install it on one of your servers, you can expect to keep having issues.

 

[kevnich2]

Nesting ESXi in VirtualBox is not reliable at all, especially since VirtualBox does not always give VT-x extensions to an ESXi VM even when specified in the settings. PSOD's are to be expected when you do it this way. It is not a good method to try to virtualize your server with. ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor, which means it expects to be the root operating system of the server. Unless you natively install it on one of your servers, you can expect to keep having issues.

This. I was hoping the OP didn't actually mean he put virtualbox on it then installed esxi but I guess that's what he meant. OP - reinstall esxi cleanly by itself, preferably on either a usb flash drive or an sd card if your server has it. After esxi is installed, assuming the built in hard drives have no data you need on them, you can then create a brand new datastore using them through esxi

 

[kevnich2]

On a side note - if you're doing this for a business, I would HIGHLY recommend contacting an experienced consultant to atleast guide you through this. You're making alot of beginner mistakes and I for one, wouldn't recommend you doing anything production wise with this until you have a good understanding of what the technology is that you're using. You're doing yourself and your company a big dis-satisfaction.

 

[CaEngineer]

On a side note - if you're doing this for a business, I would HIGHLY recommend contacting an experienced consultant to atleast guide you through this. You're making alot of beginner mistakes and I for one, wouldn't recommend you doing anything production wise with this until you have a good understanding of what the technology is that you're using. You're doing yourself and your company a big dis-satisfaction.

Totally agreed!

 

[CaEngineer]

What do you mean you installed through virtualbox??

Meaning that making a virtual OS on the current server and install the downloaded .exe when it boots up.

 

[CaEngineer]

Nesting ESXi in VirtualBox is not reliable at all, especially since VirtualBox does not always give VT-x extensions to an ESXi VM even when specified in the settings. PSOD's are to be expected when you do it this way. It is not a good method to try to virtualize your server with. ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor, which means it expects to be the root operating system of the server. Unless you natively install it on one of your servers, you can expect to keep having issues.

Well, on the spare server I used the virtual box and it was successful installation. But on the main server it failed!

 

[CaEngineer]

Just put a usb flash drive in the server and when the install asks where to install to, choose that. I don't ever install esxi to onboard spinning drives. usb flash works fine as I assume so does an sdcard. Then you can just use onboard drives for vm images.

Conclusion: Virtual box is not a must to have ESXI. Right? I can install it as you mentioned via flash or CD. Right?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Conclusion: Virtual box is not a must to have ESXI. Right? I can install it as you mentioned via flash or CD. Right?

Correct. ESX replaces Windows as your servers bare-metal OS.

 

[CaEngineer]

Correct. ESX replaces Windows as your servers bare-metal OS.

I see. Thanks buddy!

 

[kevnich2]

Conclusion: Virtual box is not a must to have ESXI. Right? I can install it as you mentioned via flash or CD. Right?

As Dave mentioned, esxi is a hypervisor by itself. It is it's own OS so it installs right on top of the hardware. You WILL have issues if you're using virtual box as the base OS with esxi installed on top of it as esxi will not see the underlying hardware correctly. You REALLY need to read up on esxi before doing the stuff you're doing. If you don't understand what a hypervisor is, you clearly haven't read and practiced enough with this to understand the foundations.

The GOOD thing is, just pick up a few books on amazon and take a few weeks to a month to read up on it and use one of the servers as a lab setup, set it up and break it a few times so you begin to understand how it works. It's very nice technology and does wonders for businesses, but you have to understand it first. If you are planning on using multiple esxi host servers in production, make sure to also either setup a SAN or use a NAS for shared storage among them.

 

[sdifox]

op forget virtual server.

just configure the new box as 2012 server, add it to domain as dc and replicate, then remove the old server from domain and then repurpose old box. I don't know why you are mucking with vm when you clearly don't know what you are doing.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

As Dave mentioned, esxi is a hypervisor by itself. It is it's own OS so it installs right on top of the hardware. You WILL have issues if you're using virtual box as the base OS with esxi installed on top of it as esxi will not see the underlying hardware correctly. You REALLY need to read up on esxi before doing the stuff you're doing. If you don't understand what a hypervisor is, you clearly haven't read and practiced enough with this to understand the foundations.

op forget virtual server.

just configure the new box as 2012 server, add it to domain as dc and replicate, then remove the old server from domain and then repurpose old box. I don't know why you are mucking with vm when you clearly don't know what you are doing.

These.

I haven't read the whole thread in awhile, but I really hope you're not doing this for a business. No offense, but some of these questions are really basic and if you don't know the answers, please take the time to read some books or get some training before you implement this for a business.

If this isn't for a business and you're just messing around in a lab environment - carry on!

 

[CaEngineer]

Thank you Kevin, SD, and Indy!