Hyper-v installation and Server 2008 or SBS 2008

Is it time for an upgrade or a new server and looking at the new small business server 2008 and getting  a little confused?  Want to give virtualization a try?

SBS 2008 Premium is a licensing steal by Microsoft.  It provides your with physical and virtual licesenses for SBS 2008 and Server Standard 2008 32/64 bit.  As well as a full SQL 2008 license.

That is 5 licenses for the price of one and a modest price at that.

Ok, so you are sold on the license but what hardware to buy?

Things to consider when buying hardware for a virtualized environment:

1. Buy Mainstream – (Dell, HP, Major Brands) Why?  No not a sales pitch per se but this is new for Microsoft so they go to Dell and HP for driver support first not the stuff you can buy from random build our own sites.  Sorry.
2. Get the right processor – make sure you are buying a virtualization ready or newer processor.  This is an Intel Processor most likely made in the last 2 years at least
3. RAM – the more the better.  If you use server core installation of windows server 2008 and hyper-v the non GUI install still has a RAM overhead so 12GB of RAM total will really probably give you about 10.5GB of RAM for your virtual machines.  I would say 12GB is a minimum for running 2 64bit servers.  That will give each about 6GB of RAM.
4. RAID – pay attention to the RAID card make sure it is from a major manufacturer and has some way of indicating failure since the virtual machines will not be able to detect it.
5. SAN – (Storage Area Network) is an array of disks in a separate box.  While the new Hyper-V beta is the only starting to support live migration.  I just want to make sure we always let clients know between v=Vmware or future Microsoft a shared storage device is required for live migration ( for this discussion lets ignore this for now)

Install Considerations

Read the Microsoft Options Here: http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/09/15/sbs-2008-and-virtualization.aspx

If you read these and look confused your not alone.

The translated version is we reccomend the following 2 options:

1-  Install SBS 2008 with the physical key then on top of that virtualize SBS 2008 for your domain and the Standard Server

• PLUS: You have a GUI for setting up the hyper-v, have some USB support on the base SBS 2008 system
• MINUS: You have to run three “full” servers, need to keep that Server patched and protected

2- Install Server Core Hyper-V and run both SBS 2008 and Standard Server directly on it

• PLUS: Lower cost of overhead on core OS and more stable base
• MINUS: No GUI for server core NO USB SUPPORT

Hiring the right consultants to help with your hyper v or SBS 2008 installation is important.  A company who can advise you on the advantages and disadvantages of each option and installation type, backing up your hyper v servers etc.

Go ahead ask us questions and get the latest technology at Small Business Price.  Call us Today for your next virtualization project:  877-539-7274

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