Virtual Machines

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Ozzy2k7, Sep 21, 2007.

  1. Ozzy2k7

    Ozzy2k7 Nibble Poster

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    Hi,

    I'm interested in what people run multiple virtual machines on.

    I'm looking at buildng a machine for this and am very interested if anyone can recommend a mother board that would allow expansion and suit the job.

    Ozzy
     
    WIP: A+ Network+
  2. warrmr

    warrmr Byte Poster

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    I run them off what was a Acer aspire 3660 laptop. it has been upgraded to

    Intel Core Duo 1.7ghz
    2GB DDR ram

    everything else is standard
    80gb hdd
    ATI radeon 200m

    i can run around 6 Virtual machines at once.

    the had disk is the bottleneck on this system as its a slow spinning laptop drive. as it takes a while if there all trying to write to disk at once
     
    Certifications: MCP 70-270, 70-290
    WIP: MCSA + Messaging, MCSE + Security
  3. derkit

    derkit Gigabyte Poster

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    I use a Sempron 3200+ with 1.5GB DDR RAM.
    On board graphics and a HD from years back.

    Nothing else special.

    Happily runs 2 XP clients simultaneously. I haven't had the need to try any more yet.
     
    Certifications: MBCS, BSc(Hons), Cert(Maths), A+, Net+, MCDST, ITIL-F v3, MCSA
    WIP: 70-293
  4. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    My laptop:

    Intel C2D 2Ghz, 2gb ram, 120gb HDD. Can run 3 Virtual PC's, but slowly due to HDD

    My Home PC:

    AMD X2 4200+ (2.2GHz), 2 gb ram, 2 x 7200rpm HDD. Can run 3 virtual PC's ok

    VPC's would include either 1 server and 2 clients or 2 servers and 1 clients. I probably could run more at the same time, but I give a descent amount of ram per VPC & haven't had the need. Virtual PC's run with MS Virtual PC 2007 (I don't use VMware at home, at work yes on the server).

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  5. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    I have a dedicated test lab server dell poweredge 2500, 4 ultra scsi 18.2 hard drives, 3.5GB of ram and cpu dual @ 1.6GHz. I currently run MS virtual PC 2007 with Win server enterprise 2003 ed. I would add Citrix presentation server and win 2003 server standard ed when I've got the time.
     
    Certifications: MCSE: 2003, MCSA: 2003 Messaging, MCP, HNC BIT, ITIL Fdn V3, SDI Fdn, VCP 4 & VCP 5
    WIP: MCTS:70-236, PowerShell
  6. derkit

    derkit Gigabyte Poster

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    i'm guessing a Friday night typo?? :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MBCS, BSc(Hons), Cert(Maths), A+, Net+, MCDST, ITIL-F v3, MCSA
    WIP: 70-293
  7. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    It sure was a typo:biggrin , meant 3.5GB of RAM
     
    Certifications: MCSE: 2003, MCSA: 2003 Messaging, MCP, HNC BIT, ITIL Fdn V3, SDI Fdn, VCP 4 & VCP 5
    WIP: MCTS:70-236, PowerShell
  8. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    At work we run ESX on blades and a SAN with an HP StorageWorks array - gawd knows what the configuration is for them because I don't manage it.

    At home I run VMWare server on two boxes. One of them is a dedicated box with a P4, 4gb RAM and an 80Gb HDD. The other is my main workstation which is a core2duo, 4 gb ram and a 500gb drive. I can run about 10 on the test box and, if i really push it, 16 on my main workstation - but of course it all depends what resources i allocate to them. I reckon if they were all 2K Pro boxes I could probably eke about 30 out of both of them if i wanted :twisted:
     
    Certifications: A few
    WIP: None - f*** 'em
  9. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    Macbook with 1.25GB Memory in it. 8)
     
  10. Boycie
    Honorary Member

    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Tecra A2, 1.7M, 1.5GB, VM Workstation

    Got all my VM's on a Freecom Toughdrive Pro (recommended from IT Idiots site).

    It will run 2 servers and a client fine.

    Boyce
     
    Certifications: MCSA 2003, MCDST, A+, N+, CTT+, MCT
  11. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Ozzy2k7,

    Questions:
    1. Which Applications are you planning to run on the OSes that will be run on the virtual machines?
    2. Which Operating Systems are you planning to run in the virtual machines?
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCP+I, MCP, CCNA, A+
    WIP: CCDA
  12. Ozzy2k7

    Ozzy2k7 Nibble Poster

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    Hi,

    I'm looking at running Home Server/server 2003 (undecided) as well as linux and win XP.

    I will mainly be using XP for testing web sites so will be running coldfusion etc on them.

    I also want to have the option of running more if needed.

    Ozzy
     
    WIP: A+ Network+
  13. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Questions:
    1. What are the system requirements for Home Server?
    2. What are the system requirements for Windows Server 2003?
    3. What are the system requirements for Linux?
    4. What are the system requirements for Win XP?

    Question:
    1. What are the system requirements for coldfusion?

    Question:
    1. What possible more do you think you'll be running?

    After answering all the above questions:
    1. Pick a CPU that meets or exceeds the highest minimum required CPU of all the applications and operating systems since once you decide on the CPU, then you're pretty much stuck with it.
    2. Pick a motherboard that will support that CPU.
    3. Pick a motherboard that will support the RAM requirements. The RAM requirements may be approximated by adding up ALL of the OS RAM requirements for each and every operating system and applications. If you fail to do this important calculation step, then you will probably run into "it's too slow" problems either out of the box or in the future which will directly affect your "I also want to have the option of running more if needed" because you may not have enough options out of the box.
    4. Pick the rest of the components based on what will fit as well as being on the Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.microsoft.com for your intended operating system. If you fail to do this step then you're going to run into issues in the future which will make you either run out of options or have problems that may need another computer replacement or some other added cost factor.
    5. Don't forget the system requirements for the "virtual machine" software you're planning to run.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCP+I, MCP, CCNA, A+
    WIP: CCDA

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