Re: VM Ware for Recovery or Migration

To the OP, I agree in large part with this reply that I've inlined,
but all the previous posters make excellent points. For starters,
what O/S do you feel most comfortable working in today? Windows XP or
Vista? Server 2003? One of the various *nix's? I have a point.
Most of your great sysadmins are at home on any system, as the tools
all work about the same. What does it matter what O/S I'm on if I can
use SMB protocol to pass files (in Windows, just typing \\servername
etc) or if I can PING a server? TCP/IP always works the same, and for
the most part, most devices do as well (if we're not talking about
game boxes). The same goes for a VM. All the tools are there, it's
the middle part that's a little different.

I ask if you play with other O/S's, as it sometimes help to get your
feet wet on a new project by doing something out of the ordinary, then
tying what you've learned from a throwaway environment to what you do
on a daily basis.

For getting into VM, if you haven't already done so, download and
install VMWare Server (or Microsoft VS, but I'm a linux boy at heart)
onto your own box. Don't broadcast this info, as you're not a
server. Do it for yourself, and install an O/S onto a VM. Maybe
install a new Windows Server 2003 instance (don't activate it or
attempt to use it in production if you can't license it, etc) but the
install is as smooth as butter. And fast too! This will let you see
what it takes to actually install and stand up a VS.

Now, as far as production equipment. You need a good foundation for
your server, as with everything, so you've got to look at hardware. I
have personally just stood up my SBS onto VMWare Server 1.05 this
weekend, and it runs as smooth as silk. **Bear in mind that I don't
have Premium installed, as I use a hardware firewall, so no lost time
due to no ISA. That's my determination for my organization.** My old
hardware (don't laugh, I inherited this setup) was a Dell Dimension
2400 with a 2.4 GHz Intel P4 and 512 MB RAM (which I promptly upgraded
to 1GB when I came onboard) with a 40GB HDD but it has taken me 15
months to talk them into putting in a second server. My new equipment
is loosely laid out like so: SuperMicro 2 Xeon board, dual Xeon
E5410's, 16GB FB ECC RAM, 2x 75GB SATA Raptors in a RAID1, 4x250GB
WD's in a RAID5 on Debian "Etch" with VMWare Server installed. That's
about all you'll need (bear in mind I don't mention the basics like
I've got it connected to a KVM, and I had to get a cheap video PCI
card, or that obviously there is a case and PSU and DVD drive
involved). The total HW package set me back $3500 with shipping, but
not counting my time to install it all. I also didn't shop around, so
you might can make a good case for the same equipment at a lower
cost. I like my vendors. Anyways ...

Then, once I had my base (or HOST) O/S setup, I installed VMWare
converter on my SBS, ran it so that it copied the machine (live mind
you) over to my SMB share on my Debian box, then I chgd permissions,
verified my hardware was setup for the basics to match the old box,
and powered down the old SBS, and powered up the new SBS. Voila, it
booted. But wait, my old hardware was woefully underpowered, so I
shut down the VM, altered my RAM and CPU, then brought the machine
back up. Hey, it works! :D (I knew it would, this wasn't my first
conversion) The only caveat is, you have to re-activate the software
because you are changing the
a) chipset
b) CPU
c) network card
d) RAM
e) HD ID
which naturally puts you above the minimum allowed upgrades without
reactivation. So beware of that caveat.

But let me assure you that I have had no problems with the transition
so far (none expected) and everything is now smoking fast.

I am happy to answer any more questions, and I'm sure I've left
something off here, so lemme know! Cheers!


On May 26, 11:04 am, "SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <n...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
VMWare Server does not act as an OS, nor does VMWare's ESX (or is it GSX?
Not worried about specifics).

Virtualisation systems (VMWare, on Win or *nix, or 'without' OS, Hyper-V
(MS), Parallels, BOCHS, Vituosso, list is not endless but goes on) emulate
the 'hardware layer', appearing to the created environment to be a PC. No
OS, it is the 'hardware' that is emulated.

I _TRY_ to avoid this argument most of the time but it appears I am 'in a
mood'. 'Hypervisors' (the things that run virtualisation systems) are
nothing more than Applications sitting on top of OS's. NOTE: Windows is a
GUI, not an OS.

Your 'general idea' is reasonable. It is perfectly possible (ie. I've done
it) to 'import' your existing SBS  (OS, Programs, DATA, whole 'kit and
kaboodle') into a virtual environment. With SBS virtualised and assuming
that you are able to copy the files from the virtualisation system while SBS
runs and (more importantly) get a proper 'snapshot' of it which can be
mounted on another system it is a reasonable 'disaster recovery'
methodology.

You need to play with virtualisation a bit before you further explore these
benefits.

It is _quite likely_  that any SBS2008 system I deploy will be done as a
'virtual machine'.

"Liam" <L...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:AF630242-2F85-41BA-9FB5-B1BD4D1BA279@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Greetings,

I am hoping the communinty will respond to this inquiry.

My undersatnding of VMWare is that it acts as an OS the we could install
SBS
"on top of" allowing us to migrate our SBS installation to any machine
running VMWare regardless of the hardware (of course min req's).

This seems like a really great idea since if my hardware actually died, I
could find new HW, install VMware and use my imaging software to place the
image of my most recent SBS install onto the disk and voila! We are up in
running as fast as it takes to find a new machine.

This sounds really good to me.

What is the communities thoughts, experience or comments?

Thanks in advance.

liam- Hide quoted text -

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