For installing Server 2008 R2, assign the full recommended 40gb?

Hello all,

I was able to successfully install (via VM) Server 2008 R2 on my home desktop and during the process I assigned it the default recommended 40gb. I need to get two more 2008 R2 VM's going on the same machine, and my question is do I really need to assign that much HD space, I can't just get away with 10gb or less?

I've started my mcitp:sa journey and will prepare for the 70-642 first and then the rest (70-640 > 70-646).

Thanks for reading.

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cyberguypr

The key word here is 'recommended'. Specs say the minimum is 32GB which is not much different.

What virtualization technology are you using? Most have the capability of thin-provisioning disk.

Everyone

32 GB is the bare minimum for R2, see: Installing Windows Server 2008 R2

You can get away with 32 GB in a lab easy, but in production environments, you'll eventually run out of space and won't be able to install updates with anything less than 40 GB.

You can do thin provisioning on your VMs so it doesn't eat up all that space at once.

T.Abbasi

Ah yes, sorry about the not providing full info. I'm using VM Player for this study/lab purposes. And used the single disk option at the beginning of the install (instead of the split disk).

cyberguypr

I haven't used VMware Player in ages but I believe the default is to thin provision unless you click "Allocate all disk space now". Have you checked the vmdk files for actual size?

instant000

EDIT: I was wrong, Everyone posted a better link, it shows 32 GB up there. Anyway, you can still download a 10 GB Hyper-V image, so just use that one. .... Oh wait, Hyper-V won't necessarily be what you're looking for, you want the regular OS ... just disregard my post entirely

Download: Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation VHD Images for Hyper-V (180 Days) - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

Hope this helps.

ptilsen

Thin provision 40GB. In terms of lab use, I have yet to have any of my R2 VMs go above 15GB used space on the host's physical disk.

instant000

cyberguypr wrote: »

I haven't used VMware Player in ages but I believe the default is to thin provision unless you click "Allocate all disk space now". Have you checked the vmdk files for actual size?

No kidding, I run Virtual Box at home.

if it was vSphere, I would say thin provision, and make sure to use "quick format" not "full format". If you choose "full format" it will allocate all the space.

sherrill

I'm using VMWare Player now for my labs. It does thin provision, and on "light" servers (like DC's and even DNS) I've had no issues with dropping down to 20G.

However, for SQL, Cert servers, etc, I left it at the default of 40G.

Slowhand

I've been running my VMs with either 16GB or 20GB of virtual hard drive space to keep from running out of actual hard drive space when I need four or five lab-machines running at once, depending on if they need something extra installed or not. So far, I haven't run into any trouble, but there's always the option of increasing the disk-size in your hypervisor of choice if you've run out of space, then use diskpart to extend your logical drive on to the unallocated space.