Physical or Virtual and which OS?

Discussion in 'Networks' started by paulwatson5, Jan 30, 2011.

  1. paulwatson5

    paulwatson5 Byte Poster

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    Right, 2 questions for all you experts out there.
    I want to setup a home network and i am torn between a physical setup and a virtual setup.

    I love the idea of having a physical setup as i love the sight of a server room/lab.

    I already have some (older) network gear that i could use like switches and patch panels etc, just need a few rackmount servers.

    Also, i like the idea of having it all on one pc and running virtual servers.

    So, what do you prefer?

    I want 3 servers, a home file server maybe using freeNAS or something similar and i also want to look into having a web server and mail server as i have never set one of these up before.

    Might add a hardware firewall at some point too using IPCop.

    So, which OS would you use for 1) File Server 2) Web Server 3) Mail Server.

    I have heard CentOS is good for web servers?

    I really want a physical setup but as i cant afford the hardware at the minute, im going to use my old (AMD 64 3500, 2GB Ram) mahcine and install ESXi and run a few VM's from it.

    Any suggestions, comments welcome.

    Cheers
     
    Certifications: CompTIA A+ (220-701 & 220-702)
    WIP: CompTIA Network +
  2. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    I have a virtual network for two reasons - I dont have any room for lots of hardware and virtualization technology is used by many businesses so having experience in things like vmware and virtual pc is a good thing.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  3. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Why not have a combo of both? I have a physical DC, ISA and also a hyper-v server running various virtual servers.
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
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  4. paulwatson5

    paulwatson5 Byte Poster

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    Yeah, im also hoping that learning this sort of stuff will help when im going for an IT job (along with the MCDST that im starting this week)

    I think im going to go the virtual route first until i get a nice steady setup, then deploy it onto physical servers so i have a bit of experience using both.
     
    Certifications: CompTIA A+ (220-701 & 220-702)
    WIP: CompTIA Network +

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