Wez Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hey All, Just wondering if anyone here has run ESX server, if so how do you rate it. I am looking to build a test server that has a tiny OS footprint so more system resources are available to the virtual machines. The test machine is a Dell GX260, 4GB ram with a P4 3+ CPU. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheekymonkey Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 It's the industry standard for virtualization, not much more can be said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitesupraboy2 Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 yep agreed, surprisingly reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Balls, just typed up something and hit the wrong key... VMWare ESX is a dedicated virtualization software, the requirements for it are fairly high however the benefits for using ESX are good, but only if you require a heavily managed virtual environment with features such as VMotion or iSCSI booting. ESX is damn expensive though, I will be honest, and it really does depends on what your usage is, ESX also has support costs. What do you want to know And it might not work on the GX260 by the way due to hardware not being man enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 For a test server don't bother with ESX (now Virtual Infrastructure Server), use the free VMWare Server (formally GSX server) instead http://vmware.com/products/server/. I'd install it under Linux on the box rather than windows as you're concerned about resources. I'd only use ESX in a production environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 For a test server don't bother with ESX (now Virtual Infrastructure Server), use the free VMWare Server (formally GSX server) instead http://vmware.com/products/server/. I'd install it under Linux on the box rather than windows as you're concerned about resources. I'd only use ESX in a production environment. I'm just about to set this scenario up for a client. They have one box with an ESX server and want to mirror the servers on that to another vm machine just in case of emergency. They didn't want to pay the extra for the related Infratructure products to do this automatically so we're having to go the Linux / VMWare server route Not sure even how to get SSH to ESX server at this point. I'll work it out in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Not sure even how to get SSH to ESX server at this point. I'll work it out in the end. root logins over ssh are disabled by default on ESX now, it's not that is it? You can either add another user account and use that or modify the sshd.conf (I think) file to allow root access. We run ~40 ESX servers here plus a few of the free servers, plus virtual centre etc. etc. give me a shout if you need any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 Which linux distro would you recommend for VM server then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Which linux distro would you recommend for VM server then? I'm a Debian fan so any server based distro based on that. Ubuntu server edition would be a good bet http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/serveredition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Thorin, depends how big Dev is We run two dev server rooms and have 20hosts w/ 300+ VM servers on them, I'd rather that than physicals (As we have another 300 of them!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 How about CentOs 5.1 x86_64? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Thorin, depends how big Dev is We run two dev server rooms and have 20hosts w/ 300+ VM servers on them, I'd rather that than physicals (As we have another 300 of them!) Indeed it does, we have probably around the same (~20 hosts) in the dev environments, all running VI3. But they're all proper servers, 4 CPU and 10GB memory (or better). We have a few of the free server ones for test boxes that aren't usually going to be in use for long. It's certainly pointless installing ESX/VI3 on an old Dell Desktop machine though. All IMO of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 How about CentOs 5.1 x86_64? Another good choice, essentially identical to Red Hat enterprise server but with the branding removed.... I just prefer debian's package management to Red Hat. All you need is a dedicated server based distro and don't bother installing a desktop/windows manager on there, doesn't matter which distro really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 It's certainly pointless installing ESX/VI3 on an old Dell Desktop machine though. All IMO of course Oh god yeah - we have a few DL585's, IBM x366's and Lots of Dell 6850's...unfortunately we're still ESX2.5.4 as the idiot decision makers made the wrong choice to not upgrade...we believe we'll go ESX 3.5 this year (/goes off to pray). For Wez's situ, GSX/Server or even Workstation6 should suffice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 I am guessing an x86_64 distro would be better suited over an i686 install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 ...actually I'm not sure there's an x64 build of the VMWare Server. There may be, but we only use 32bit x86. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 unfortunately we're still ESX2.5.4 as the idiot decision makers made the wrong choice to not upgrade...we believe we'll go ESX 3.5 this year (/goes off to pray). 2.5 *shudders* VI3 + Virtual Centre is a godsend! Will be upgrading a few to 3.5 soon I should imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 ...actually I'm not sure there's an x64 build of the VMWare Server. There may be, but we only use 32bit x86. Doing some reading it looks like it does Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 root logins over ssh are disabled by default on ESX now, it's not that is it? You can either add another user account and use that or modify the sshd.conf (I think) file to allow root access. We run ~40 ESX servers here plus a few of the free servers, plus virtual centre etc. etc. give me a shout if you need any help. That's very kind of you thanks, I may well be doing that. The Dell has just arrived. I'll check out the root disabled - I've not looked yet, just left it to one of the lads. I'm a Debian fan so any server based distro based on that. Ubuntu server edition would be a good bet http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/serveredition I'm planning on using Debian, I'd prefer to use FreeBSD but never mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 I installed ESX server 3.0.2 ok but since it doesnt support VMFS on IDE I cannot create any virtual machines, shame as it looks pretty slick. My download of Ubuntu server edition has just finished so I guess I will try that with the linux server running on top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted November 1, 2008 Author Share Posted November 1, 2008 Dragging this back up but thought I would post that I got ESX 3.5 working on the GX260 using a single internal HDD and onboard IDE controller. To create a VMFS I had to modify ESX so that it exports a local file system as NFS which I can then mount through the console to create a filestore. So far so good, just need to create some virtual servers now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edd_t Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 its good stuff isnt it! i dont know much about the setup. But at work we use it for DR purposes. we use doubletake to copy all info to esx at a different site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Have you tried esx 3i? It is the free hypervisor. That said, I've been using microsoft's Hyper-V as well which is a nice bare metal system, it appears to have slightly more hardware support than ESX. HOWEVER there is a catch, linux systems don't install cleanly and require the use of the legacy network adapter which means there is a slight performance impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted November 1, 2008 Author Share Posted November 1, 2008 Have you tried esx 3i? It is the free hypervisor. Nope, will take a look now. Whats the difference between ESX 3.5 and 3i, I am still new to all this virtual stuff. I got NT4 working with vmplayer last week, I used easyvmx to create a set of vm files. It seems to work ok once you get it upgraded to sp6a with vmtools installed. Next thing to try is OS2 which from reading can be a pig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Nope, will take a look now. Whats the difference between ESX 3.5 and 3i, I am still new to all this virtual stuff. I got NT4 working with vmplayer last week, I used easyvmx to create a set of vm files. It seems to work ok once you get it upgraded to sp6a with vmtools installed. Next thing to try is OS2 which from reading can be a pig. If you are just playing, I don't think the choice of hypervisor really makes much of difference, not at this level anyway. I'd highly suggest you have a look at win2k8 (*shudder*, I know....), but it will give you the GUI as well as incorporating Hyper-V and the management console. you can download a 60 day iso from MS which can be rearmed to give you a total of 240 days. My NAS is currently (well for the next 2 hours anyway) running on a win2k8 machine. (Which I'll admit to liking, but not paying for hence the reason I'm going to linux) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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