Virtualization Questions

If you are looking to do virtualization of servers it is normally used to consolidate and use more of a servers processing power. VMware is what we use and you can download and try ESX/ESXi for free.

Thanks,

Steve VanTil
System Admin
OnlineTech.com

2 good specified servers (2 decent processors min 64Gb RAM)and a large iSCSI array (if your current one no good)

Get some Vmware ESX or VSphere software and the live migration tool.

Migrate your machines.

For a better solution try to separate your data from your virtual machine images, Makes then easier to manage.

When finished retire your 5 x dell servers or use them for some DR / testing / backup solutions.

before you actually deploy.

While server hardware might be under utilized, you just don't know what performance impact running a VM along side a non VM server on the same box will have.

The why the need for VM is that with the additional 4 new servers, you've got 10 boxes. With VM you might get that down to zero new boxes if you deploy 1 VM server on each existing box. But again, that depends on how much utilization there is on the existing server and whether adding a VM will over tax the resources or simply humm along merrily.

the cart is before the horse.

Virtualization looks to extract utilization that is normally wasted in the old model of one workload per physical server.

Before virtualization is performed there are many items that must be analyzed. For instance, how consumed are my current servers, what level of redundancy/resiliancy do I need, what are my future growth plans, etc.

Virtualization can provide significant savings but requires a certain scale. From the sounds of your environment, I would recommend 2 Dell R710s and an MD3000i. This might suffice for your hardware needs.

Really be carefull with those old 1650s. That is dated hardware...

is that I don't have a budget to really buy any more equipment. I am stuck with what I have. The four "new" servers are used and were picked up from a liquidation site. Two of them are going to be used as proxy servers.

Server #1 - Domain Controller
PE1650/512MB Ram/P3 1.13GHz
Server #2 - DB/File Share
HP ProLiant ML530/2GB Ram/Xeon 2.8GHz
Server #3 - File Share
PE2850/1GB Ram/Xeon 2.8GHz
Server #4 - Exchange
PE1750/1.5GB Ram/Xeon 2.8GHz
Server #5 - Intra/Internet Sites
PE1650/512MB Ram/P3 1.26GHz
Server #6 - File Share/Antivirus host
PE1650/1.5GB Ram/P3 1.39GHz
Server #7 - DHCP
PE1750/1GB Ram/Xeon 2.4GHz

Supposedly one of these is an SUS server as well but I have not been able to determine which one. The MIS Manager wants to start the process within a month. I told him I needed test machines to play around with but again, it is not really in the budget.

Does that cloud the picture any more?