Running Windows Server SBS 2008 on ESXi?

Hi,

just probing, but hoping to receive some usefull comments :

- does anyone have experience running Windows Server 2008 SBS on a VMware
ESXi hypervisor?
- will server 2008 SBS run on ESXi (or are there some strange limitation
which would prevent SBS 2008 from running on ESXi or ESX ?)
- for those who have experience with running SBS 2008 on ESX(i) : are these
good or bad experiences ?

(the possible other virtual machines on the same hardware server would be
e.g. a light linux server, light linux vpn server, netmon vm appliance ... )

the intended hardware would be something like :
- 2x dual core Xeon CPU (at least 2.53Ghz)
- 8 or 16 GB RAM
- at least 500 GB diskspace provided by a raid 5 of 10000rpm SATA or SAS
disks


L.

in one aspect I agree with Cris, SBS08 is supported (and familiar to MS,
both support and dev) under Hyper-V, and as MSHVS is available free there
would seem little benefit to bucking this.

I do not have resources available to test but expect operation of SBS08
under ESXi to work fine. (matter of fact, when the order comes through I'm
probably going to do it, for a client. Dell rcvd payment a couple of days
ago and the hardware is ESX certified, waiting)

--
SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
"Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]" <> wrote in
message news:...
There may be some running on ESXi but many are running on Microsoft HyperV
which is free and fully supported
You would be better asking in the SBS 200 NG
go to www.sbs2008.com for instructions on accessing that NG (not my site)


--
Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]
Co-Contributor, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Small-...7269967&sr=8-1
Owner, CPU Services, Belleville, IL
A Microsoft Registered Partner
------------------------------------
MVPs do not work for Microsoft
Please do not submit questions directly to me.


"Lightningbit" <lightningbit$nospam$@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:O$...
Hi,

just probing, but hoping to receive some usefull comments :

- does anyone have experience running Windows Server 2008 SBS on a VMware
ESXi hypervisor?
- will server 2008 SBS run on ESXi (or are there some strange limitation
which would prevent SBS 2008 from running on ESXi or ESX ?)
- for those who have experience with running SBS 2008 on ESX(i) : are
these
good or bad experiences ?

(the possible other virtual machines on the same hardware server would be
e.g. a light linux server, light linux vpn server, netmon vm appliance
.... )

the intended hardware would be something like :
- 2x dual core Xeon CPU (at least 2.53Ghz)
- 8 or 16 GB RAM
- at least 500 GB diskspace provided by a raid 5 of 10000rpm SATA or SAS
disks


L.

Hi

thanks already for the comments... let me add a few :

- ESXi 3.5 is completely free. The Hyper-V role is completely free. The
major difference is Hyper-V requires a Windows Server 2008 host to run and
ESXi 3.5 does not. Since you need Windows Server 2008 in order to run
Hyper-V this means you have to go out and pay for the cost of a Windows
server license just to get Hyper-V.
- the support for Linux distributions on Hyper-V is limited (only 1 virtual
CPU, only SUSE officially supported)
- also, in my testing experience, ESXi allows higher performance on the same
hardware then Hyper-V

L.


"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:#8ZND$...
> in one aspect I agree with Cris, SBS08 is supported (and familiar to MS,
> both support and dev) under Hyper-V, and as MSHVS is available free there
> would seem little benefit to bucking this.
>
> I do not have resources available to test but expect operation of SBS08
> under ESXi to work fine. (matter of fact, when the order comes through I'm
> probably going to do it, for a client. Dell rcvd payment a couple of days
> ago and the hardware is ESX certified, waiting)
>
> --
> SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
> mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
> "Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]" <> wrote in
> message news:...
> There may be some running on ESXi but many are running on Microsoft HyperV
> which is free and fully supported
> You would be better asking in the SBS 200 NG
> go to www.sbs2008.com for instructions on accessing that NG (not my site)
>
>
> --
> Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]
> Co-Contributor, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed
> http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Small-...7269967&sr=8-1
> Owner, CPU Services, Belleville, IL
> A Microsoft Registered Partner
> ------------------------------------
> MVPs do not work for Microsoft
> Please do not submit questions directly to me.
>
>
> "Lightningbit" <lightningbit$nospam$@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:O$...
> Hi,
>
> just probing, but hoping to receive some usefull comments :
>
> - does anyone have experience running Windows Server 2008 SBS on a VMware
> ESXi hypervisor?
> - will server 2008 SBS run on ESXi (or are there some strange limitation
> which would prevent SBS 2008 from running on ESXi or ESX ?)
> - for those who have experience with running SBS 2008 on ESX(i) : are
> these
> good or bad experiences ?
>
> (the possible other virtual machines on the same hardware server would be
> e.g. a light linux server, light linux vpn server, netmon vm appliance
> ... )
>
> the intended hardware would be something like :
> - 2x dual core Xeon CPU (at least 2.53Ghz)
> - 8 or 16 GB RAM
> - at least 500 GB diskspace provided by a raid 5 of 10000rpm SATA or SAS
> disks
>
>
> L.
>

Microsoft Hyper-V Server is a free download. It is also closer to Server08
'core only'+Hyper-V than it is to any other.

Both ESX and Hyper-V are 'native hypervisors', each has dis/advantages and I
do not have enough experience of either to really say but performance is
similar from all accounts.

VMWare have been in the game a long time and have a good product (actually,
several of them).

In the context of SBS08 the main differentiator is the 'support' angle. If
you prefer one system over the other, and are prepared to support it with
the possibility of no backing from MS, use it.
--
SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
"Lightningbit" <lightningbit$nospam$@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hi
>
> thanks already for the comments... let me add a few :
>
> - ESXi 3.5 is completely free. The Hyper-V role is completely free. The
> major difference is Hyper-V requires a Windows Server 2008 host to run and
> ESXi 3.5 does not. Since you need Windows Server 2008 in order to run
> Hyper-V this means you have to go out and pay for the cost of a Windows
> server license just to get Hyper-V.
> - the support for Linux distributions on Hyper-V is limited (only 1
> virtual
> CPU, only SUSE officially supported)
> - also, in my testing experience, ESXi allows higher performance on the
> same
> hardware then Hyper-V
>
> L.
>
>
> "SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <> wrote in message
> news:#8ZND$...
>> in one aspect I agree with Cris, SBS08 is supported (and familiar to MS,
>> both support and dev) under Hyper-V, and as MSHVS is available free there
>> would seem little benefit to bucking this.
>>
>> I do not have resources available to test but expect operation of SBS08
>> under ESXi to work fine. (matter of fact, when the order comes through
>> I'm
>> probably going to do it, for a client. Dell rcvd payment a couple of days
>> ago and the hardware is ESX certified, waiting)
>>
>> --
>> SBS remote support services. (Fees apply)
>> mickm at mickmalloy dot dyndns dot org
>> "Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]" <> wrote in
>> message news:...
>> There may be some running on ESXi but many are running on Microsoft
>> HyperV
>> which is free and fully supported
>> You would be better asking in the SBS 200 NG
>> go to www.sbs2008.com for instructions on accessing that NG (not my site)
>>
>>
>> --
>> Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]
>> Co-Contributor, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed
>> http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Small-...7269967&sr=8-1
>> Owner, CPU Services, Belleville, IL
>> A Microsoft Registered Partner
>> ------------------------------------
>> MVPs do not work for Microsoft
>> Please do not submit questions directly to me.
>>
>>
>> "Lightningbit" <lightningbit$nospam$@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:O$...
>> Hi,
>>
>> just probing, but hoping to receive some usefull comments :
>>
>> - does anyone have experience running Windows Server 2008 SBS on a
>> VMware
>> ESXi hypervisor?
>> - will server 2008 SBS run on ESXi (or are there some strange limitation
>> which would prevent SBS 2008 from running on ESXi or ESX ?)
>> - for those who have experience with running SBS 2008 on ESX(i) : are
>> these
>> good or bad experiences ?
>>
>> (the possible other virtual machines on the same hardware server would
>> be
>> e.g. a light linux server, light linux vpn server, netmon vm appliance
>> ... )
>>
>> the intended hardware would be something like :
>> - 2x dual core Xeon CPU (at least 2.53Ghz)
>> - 8 or 16 GB RAM
>> - at least 500 GB diskspace provided by a raid 5 of 10000rpm SATA or SAS
>> disks
>>
>>
>> L.
>>