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vmware questions

J

Journer

Banned
my company is going to be purchasing a beefy server in the near future and was going to run a bunch of VMs on it. Thankfully i'm not a part of this project, but i was wondering some things, so, here is the layout:

2x quad core xeons
16gb ram
2tb storage
integrated graphics

lets take the following scenarios into consideration:

1) a encoding box whose only purpose is to encode a/v
2) a linux server box that hosts all file storage across a network and runs a few small things in the background (similar to newsgroups and torrents)
3) a windows server 2008 x64 that hosts IIS, exchange, sharepoint, etc.
4) a free BSD box that routes all int/ext traffic (pfsense router)(can use its down dedicated network cards)*
5) a windows development box running vista x64
6) 32/64 bit versions of windows for audio devices that may not have linux or x64 drivers

will these environments run?


*: i'm thinking this is better left to another box

with ESX, there is no host OS, therefore, if there are not drivers for one devices, lets say, an audio controller, but there are for another...will it work?

can all the VMs run independently of each other? i.e., if one has to reboot the other doesnt have to

 
You can't use hardware the way you are describing, ESX VMs are limited to server type hardware only, NICs, storage, serial port. No audio anything. Server and Workstation has more options for USB devices, but you couldn't use a PCI device like that in any virtualization product.

Everything else would work.

All the VMs are independent of each other.
 
Is that one server going to be part of a larger cluster? What type of storage are they using for the VMs? iSCSI or Fiber Channel?
 
I'll reiterate that everything you describe should be possible except for #6 (audio is usually completely unnecessary on a server).

Also, you can run pfsense as a vm and split up the interfaces using vlans. This is what we do with a router running RHEL for our 10mbit (up and down, over fiber) internet connection with no noticeable latency and speed tests show full 10mbit bandwidth capability. If you are segmenting your network though, and you want a gigabit of bandwidth going through your router, then you will probably want it's own physical machine for this, although I would bet 100mbit would still be feasible in a vm.
 
this is not going to be part of a cluster. just a single, robust, machine. honestly, this isnt what they are doing with it; i'm just curious as to how VMs can be used.

but continuing on, lets assume that all the storage is sata or sas there are two built in nics and maybe a multi port nic in a pic-e or pic-x slot.

would i run into any further implications if i ran a host OS as server 08/03 x64 with vm server and all the other situations as guests?

 
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Originally posted by: Journer
would i run into any further implications if i ran a host OS as server 08/03 x64 with vm server and all the other situations as guests?
Click to expand...

Performance
Click to expand...

Yeah, you would be better off with ESX or VMWare Server running on a stripped-down install of a linux distro (which is basically what ESX is).
 
Originally posted by: Brazen
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Originally posted by: Journer
would i run into any further implications if i ran a host OS as server 08/03 x64 with vm server and all the other situations as guests?
Click to expand...

Performance
Click to expand...

Yeah, you would be better off with ESX or VMWare Server running on a stripped-down install of a linux distro (which is basically what ESX is).
Click to expand...

Not even close. ESX is a hypervisor, not a hosted VMM. Without getting into too much technical detail, ESX has more stuff going on under the covers to improve performance. VMware Server also does not use vmfs. The console OS (RHEL3) is only there as a console. The VMkernel is doing all the heavy lifting. With ESX 3i the COS is already gone.
 
Hmmm.... 1 can kill you and depending on the Encoder, may need audio. What is the encoder that will be running? Some encoders can spin multiple threads and it could try to starve the machine. Some A/V sync is actually done through the CPU and the audio processor, so needs an audio device.

That one is an "ask the vendor".
 
how much of a performance loss is it to run vmserver over 08 x64?

the a/v encoding is just x264, divx, mp3, and ogg. your basic gordian knot packaging.

honestly i'm wondering if a configuration like this is even necessary. i mean, i could load 08 server x64 and it could easily handle 1, 2 (use windows instead), 3, 4(vm server or seperate box), 5 (software on the server or vmserver), 6) i'm specifically talking about a USB mixer that allows you to record from live inputs into your PC. i doubt it will work in any virutal environment as i can't find any 64 bit drivers anyways :/

the reason for these scenarios is i'm thinking about consolidating some of my equipment into a single box (if possible) in a year or so. by then dual quad cores, ram, and storage space will cost significantly less and it would be nice to have all my non-gaming/music stuff handled by one box.

consider this scenario:
win2k8 x64
-domain controller (<5 users), IIS (<50 hits/day), file server(servers up to 20gb files locally, not too much access), FTP (very few users, very few daily hits),
exchange 07
-a few mailboxes, nothing special
encoding
-x264, 30min-3hour videos (once a week or so, at night)

wouldn't it be better to just run all these services on one install of 08 since the machine has plenty of power? or would it be better to split them up into more specialized VMs like stated in the first post?
 
how much of a performance loss is it to run vmserver over 08 x64?
Click to expand...

CPU-wise probably not too much but it's been my experience with VMWare on XP that disk I/O speeds are terrible compared to run VMWare on the same system but using Linux as the host instead.
 
Originally posted by: Journer

consider this scenario:
win2k8 x64
-domain controller (<5 users), IIS (<50 hits/day), file server(servers up to 20gb files locally, not too much access), FTP (very few users, very few daily hits),
exchange 07
-a few mailboxes, nothing special
encoding
-x264, 30min-3hour videos (once a week or so, at night)

wouldn't it be better to just run all these services on one install of 08 since the machine has plenty of power? or would it be better to split them up into more specialized VMs like stated in the first post?
Click to expand...

Aside from the encoding, you could probably run all that on a single core system right now. That is practically no load.
 
Originally posted by: stlcardinals
I'll just add a comment on #3. Microsoft will not support Exchange on a virtual enviornment.
Click to expand...

Really, oops!.....My Exchange Box is....There is even a paper from VMWare on performance benchmarks of Echange running in a Virtual environment.
 
Originally posted by: SolMiester
Originally posted by: stlcardinals
I'll just add a comment on #3. Microsoft will not support Exchange on a virtual enviornment.
Click to expand...

Really, oops!.....My Exchange Box is....There is even a paper from VMWare on performance benchmarks of Echange running in a Virtual environment.
Click to expand...

They will support for Premier level or if you can reproduce it on physical or MS Virtual server. Also, if you buy eveything from a single vendor, like HP or IBM, that vendor will support you.

But whatever, it works fine.
 
Originally posted by: quikah
Originally posted by: SolMiester
Originally posted by: stlcardinals
I'll just add a comment on #3. Microsoft will not support Exchange on a virtual enviornment.
Click to expand...

Really, oops!.....My Exchange Box is....There is even a paper from VMWare on performance benchmarks of Echange running in a Virtual environment.
Click to expand...

They will support for Premier level or if you can reproduce it on physical or MS Virtual server. Also, if you buy eveything from a single vendor, like HP or IBM, that vendor will support you.

But whatever, it works fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my Exchange 2000 server works fine in a vm on WMVware ESX with about 400 clients. "Supported" or not, I've never even had to call support on it since putting it on a vm a year and a half ago.
 
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