VMWARE Server HOST OS

[lcdguy]

A friend of mine is having trouble with deciding on an HOST OS for running vmware server. He want's to stick with windows since that is what he knows so no saying install linux he won't do it. he has come down to either Server 2003 or XP 64. I personally have recommended Server 2003 but he want's to know what you guys think.

Hardware Specs are

AMD 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition
8GB DDR II Ram
Gigabyte Based Mobo

It's currently running a trial of vmware ESXi but unfortunately ESXi USB support is somewhat limited.

[CMetaphor]

Only reason to use a server OS is for > 2 sockets and less "fluff" than a regular OS (in this case XP). In his case, if he's running a standard PC and knows what he's doing in XP I see no reason to use Server 2k3.

[JD]

Windows 7 x64?

Though to be honest, I think a dual-core AMD is kind of lacking for running ESX, I'd want at least a quad-core.

[lcdguy]

no windows 7 he wants either server 2003 or xp.

[3.0charlie]

Server 2003 is based on Vista - and is a load of problems. You want either Xp 64bit or Server 2003R2 (W7-based).

[JD]

Originally Posted by 3.0charlie

Server 2003 is based on Vista - and is a load of problems. You want either Xp 64bit or Server 2003R2 (W7-based).

AFAIK Server 2003 has no relation to Vista/7. It's all XP based if you want to relate it to a home OS.

Server 2008 is based on Vista and Server 2008 R2 is based on Windows 7 though.

And Server 2008 had issues running on my s939 AMD rig. It would lock up within 24h and be totally inaccessible until a hard reset. So yeah, definitely pass on Server 2k8.

[3.0charlie]

Yes, indeed. Typo error.

[Zero82z]

What does he plan on doing with this system other than VMWare? For VMWare itself, the host OS doesn't make a difference. And XP x64 is based on Server 2003, so from a stability perspective they'd both be identical. What he has to consider is whether he wants the consumer UI of XP, or the extra server features that Server 2003 has to offer.

[kingnubian]

My question is, if I read this correctly, he wants to run vmware only on top of an OS. Why not just go for a bare metal hypervisor??

From personal experience I can highly recommend Proxmox or Xenserver 5.5, both of which are free. I'm sure Esxi is good as well but I haven't used it in production as the two I already mentioned do everything I ask of them & more.

The beauty of going with a bare metal hypervisor is that he can have whatever windows OS installed, multiple times if he wants, in addition to Linux, bsd , ect. His going AMD is also a good choice as even the lower end processors like the AM2 based 5000+ have AMD-V extensions which will help vm performance and is actually required, or Intel's Vt-X, to install modern Bare Metal Hypervisors.

From my personal experience if he plans to do basic things like experimenting, file serving, web serving, ect a quad isn't necessary. My present Xenserver box specs are:

Asus 760G based AM2+ Motherboard
AMD X2 550 CPU
4gig G.skill PC2-8000
2x Samsung 1Tb F1 SATA2 Hard Drives
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 420W Power Supply
Coolermaster Elite 360 Case

I run a web server (Turnkey Appliancy "http://www.turnkeylinux.org/")
File Server (Testing various Windows based Os's as well as Freenas)
Qmail Server
Various test installs


Pretty much 95% of the time the cpu is just idling.

[Jack Rabbit]

I voted for the server OS but it depends a lot on what he wants to do with the VMs.