What VM are you all using?

First off, I am new here, first posting! (this forum is amazing by the way)

OK, so I have tried searching for about the last 45 minutes to find an answer to my big question.

I am planning on starting to study for the 70-640 and I have copies of server 2008 available to me through work, thats not an issue.

I am wondering what VM manager you all are using and why?

I have a pretty smoking little optiplex 755 at my house with XP pro and virtualbox on it already for a linux VM test bench. it recognizes 3.5Gb of memory and has a quad core 2.4g processor, all vmware "whitelist" approved hardware.

Would this be sufficient to start throwing copies of 2008 R2 on it?

If you think Vmware (server or workstation) is the way to go, why? I thought workstation was like $180, thats a biiiiiit much for me.

TL;DR
First post Yay me!
What are you using for Virtualization, and why?

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Comments

manny355

i've been using virtual pc for years...with my machines...and now that windows 7 has it built in...its just easier for me to run it.

I've been meaning to check out some of the others but haven't had the time.

I'm using virtual pc now for my ccna/mcse/mcitp machines

CChilderhose

For most of my exams until recently I had Windows 7 Ultimate at home with VMware Workstation 7 to lab.

I then dual booted my PC with Win2K8 R2 and installed Hyper-V which I will probably use from this point forward as I am taking the MCITP: VA track now. Then EMA next for Exchange 2010.

VirtualBox is good and free too. If you are looking for 64-bit though you have to step up to VMware or Hyper-V as some of these less expensive ones don't support 64-bit.

Good luck.

weasle37

So from what I am gathering, I could just install 2008r2-64 as my main OS on that little box, and from there install 64 bit vm's through hyper-v giving me full 64 compatibility correct? The processor is VT-x ready.

any amount of ram yall suggest? just go with the min amount recommended by MS for the OS install or should I bump it up a bit in each OS install (min is 512)

Thanks again!

JaCkNiFe

I have used VBox, VirtualPC, ESXi and XenServer. The baremetal hypervisor variants are my favorite. At home my current setup is not supported by VMware's ESXi or Citrix's XenServer so I have been using Virtual Box for all of my labs. I also use XenServer/XenCenter at work and it works amazingly on our servers.

My system at home has a single Q9550 and 8GBs of RAM and it can run 4 VMs (2008R2, ServerCore 2008, Win7 and WinXP) on top of my Win7 Ultimate 64bit primary OS just fine.

My suggestion would be to give each one a try and find out for yourself what will offer you the best performance and compatibility.

Best of luck and happy studies!

If you are a full time student be sure to check out Microsoft's DreamSpark website for business OSs and software you couldn't otherwise afford to lab with.

Tackle

weasle37,

I know you didn't mention anything about ESXi particularily, but if all of your hardware is VMware approved that is what I recommend you run. From my expierence, your VM's will perform better than using VMware workstation on the same hardware. And best of all, it's FREE! The only downside is that you need another computer to access Vsphere from, but just about any computer can handle that.

Would this be sufficient to start throwing copies of 2008 R2 on it?

I don't think 3.5GB is very sufficient for running a host OS, plus running anything more than 2 copies of 2008 R2 on, but give it a shot.

badboyeee

Currently using Virtual Box and VMware Player. I'd be interested to run ESXi but don't have the hardware for it. Will use Hyper-V when I start my Win 7/2008 R2 studies.

Zentraedi

Desktop: VMware Workstation. Works well on Win 7 and images are compatible with Fusion.

Labbing Server: Hyper-V. Currently working on my MCITP and using this setup to gain Hyper-V experience. Will change to ESXi later.

Laptop: VMware Fusion. More stable than Parallels and images are compatible with VMware Workstation.

ConradJ

ESXi on my dedicated server, no need to run anything else on any other machines.

earweed

In used to use Workstation on my desktop but now have a labbing server with 2008 R2 and Hyper-V.

Essendon

Workstation 7.1 on my desktop computer. Getting by so far, only just though since I only have 4GB RAM on this machine with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit installed on it.

cyberguypr

I'm a big advocate of setting labs on vSphere. Can't put a price on getting to know the basics of the product.

Povilas

I'm also big fan of vSphere, but for pursuing MCITP:SA/EA track I set up Hyper-V box. Price same as for ESXi, but gives additional hands on experience on managing Hyper-v role and dealing with Server Core environment.

weasle37

Right on, thanks for all the advice guys

Got things up and running but the key I got from dreamspark doesn't want to be installed on more than 1 machine at the same time. Anyone else run into this problem?

Did you buy license keys from Microsoft? I have a feeling that they would be fairly expensive as this is a server product...

earweed

You can get the trial version of Server 2008 R2 Enterprise which will allow you 4 VMs.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation Free 180-Day Trial

QHalo

Hyper-V at work, Virtualbox at home on my Mac, and Hyper-V on my server. MSDN or TechNet is your friend for licensing and home usage.

certhelp

earweed wrote: »

You can get the trial version of Server 2008 R2 Enterprise which will allow you 4 VMs.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation Free 180-Day Trial

You can also use Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 which is Server 2008 R2 Core installation with only Hyper-V role added. No limitation on number of VMs as far as I can tell. It 's free and not an evaluation version.

demonfurbie

the thing with vm is that you want to get the base os (the one you run them all from) to use the least resources that way it frees them up for the vms

how ive setup labs is

install an easy to use linux (mint)

install virtualbox and vmware player

make the vms in vmware player (virtualbox plays vmware but vmware doesnt play virtualbox)

copy the vm files to another folder (backup of base install)

use virtualbox to run the labs because vmware player doenst have state save, always state save after done with one lab encase you need to take one step back.