Topic: Virtualisation setup, multi OS

[smeghead]

Hi Brainstrust

A mate has asked me to see if I can build a small box to run OSX, Win7 & SME in some kinda combination.

Had a look at a Mac Mini (only 1 NIC, maybe add a Thunderbolt NIC if Win7 & SME can use it) & an ITX box based on a Jetway NF9J-Q87 that has 2 NIC's bult in.

So what structure would be best: Win7 base with OSX & SME as VM's, Hackintosh base ... you get the picture.

I can d/l images for most of this stuff so what would be best appraoch?

Any other suggestions?

TIA

[smeghead]

Anyone with some knowledge of this kinda VM stuff?

[guest22]

First thing is to make a choice om main OS and virtualization technique. Second thing is to find hardware that supports your choices.

From your info it appears that small form factor of the hardware is some sort of requirement? (MAc mini, Jetway). So what other practical and technical requirements do you have?

[smeghead]

.. they're in the first post.

Your question is my question reformulated.  At the risk of repeating myself I need to know if there is a better/best/optimal way to do this with the arrangement of the different OS's.  If anyone has any experience with this type of setup I'm all ears.

At the moment the Jetway based system is prob the hardware choice as it has the 2nd NIC for SME & should be supported by all the OS's, but what order to load them?

[guest22]

Well, you can start by loading SME Server as the base and use phpvirtualbox
You can also load proxmox and virtualize all of the OS's
You can also use SmartOS and virtualize all of the OS's
You can also use QEMU and KVM from scratch
You can also use VMWare products

[smeghead]

.. thanks HF, that's a start.

Have you used any combo yourself, any best way?

[guest22]

I myself ( and I know a few others) have proxmox as a base OS and the rest of OS's as VM guests. Running SME Server stable for a loooong time.


To me, using proxmox is an "install and forget" experience. I only work with the GUI to create or delete (messed up) VM's, the rest is SSH in to the VM's. But that's me. If the big boys get a hold of this thread, you will be flooded with advises

[smeghead]

Cool, that gives me a starting config to test.

Cheers

[nicolatiana]

Proxmox or Esxi are Your choiche as hypevisor.
Hardware: depends on Your budget. You can start with entry level Hp Microserver (at this stage proxmox with software raid is yor only choice).
Growing budget you can point to Hp Gen8 servers (from Microserver and up) or some Dell "relatives" with integrated raid controller supporting natively ESXi too.

Nicola