I have spent the last month virtualizing 4 servers. At this time, I am using VMware Server on Windows Server 2003 but I am monitoring this setup. So far I have not seen a pressing need to spend $4-6K per physical server for VMware Infrastructure.
To virtualize the first server I used VMware Converter to perform a P2V conversion. So far that server is working very well and I have had no problems with it, related to virtualization. Since that time I have created 3 new virtual servers that are now in production. Those servers are an Altiris Deployment Solution server (manages our HP Thin Clients), one running Service Desk Plus (Helpdesk Tickets), and one running Ricoh/Savin ScanRouter Software (Copier scanner to email). All of these servers perform as well virtualized as they did when installed on a physical box!
I am in the process of virtualizing our Main Campus print server, our Shelby/SQL server, and Windows SUS server. The printer server and WSUS servers should go into production next week. I am a bit worried about the performance of the Shelby/SQL server in a virtualized environment on a Windows VMware Server Host. I will be testing its performance extensively before deploying into the production environment. If SQL performs well and I can get my hands on another HP DL360 or DL380 server I will start evaluating Exchange 2007 with SP1. If the performance is not close to a physical server then I may look to VMware Infrastructure much sooner than planned.
I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Don't overlook Virtual Infrastructure Starter Edition. (about $2K).
If you don't need shared storage like iscsi or fibre channel, its a great option with the same performance as the more expensive versions. You will find very significant performance gains by taking the windows host O/S out of the way, especially on the SQL server.
Posted by: Jim | July 12, 2007 at 09:46 AM
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Posted by: ElbaMICHAEL27 | September 11, 2011 at 03:31 PM
Why would it take FOUR hours on the phone with Microsoft. Why does it always take so long???
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