# Hyper-V or VMware on Windows 2011 SBS



## dbarry722 (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi Folks..

I've built a test Windows 2011 SBS server (Standard) which works great and serves 3 workstations. I don't have another suitable workstation in my own room to install something like Windows 7 (or XP SP3) to test out various configurations.

I know that I can install Hyper-V to create Virtual Machine and use these as test configurations but can I install VMware as I am more familiar with it and it seems to offer better facilities that Hyper-V.

Many thanks

Declan


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## lfcgeorge (Jun 6, 2010)

Are you planning to do this on the Server?

I would install VMWare Workstation and install your Windows 7 or XPSP3 machine from there..

Or why not use one of the Client machines to install Win7 or if it's XP uprade the Service Pack?


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## dbarry722 (Apr 9, 2009)

lfcgeorge said:


> Are you planning to do this on the Server?
> 
> I would install VMWare Workstation and install your Windows 7 or XPSP3 machine from there..
> 
> Or why not use one of the Client machines to install Win7 or if it's XP uprade the Service Pack?


Hi lfcgeorge

Yes, I was planning to install VMWare on the SBS server then create virtual machines.

I have a Windows 2003 SBS server and wanted to test out a Windows 2011 SBS Server. The only machine I have powerful enough for Windows 2011 SBS server (At the moment ) is a workstation that I linked to the 2003 SBS server.

I had spare HD's so disconnected the 2003 SBS server from the network (Only me using it at moment) built the 2011 SBS server then connected a couple of workstation to it to test it. Unfortunately, the only workstation in my room is now the 2011 SBS server hence why I was looking to virtualise a couple of workstation on the 2011 SBS server. I wasn't sure whether to use Microsoft's Hyper-V or Install VMWare.

Declan


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## lfcgeorge (Jun 6, 2010)

Ok, thanks. I find VMWare easy to use and have never had any problems with it, it's a good product, and is becoming a lot more popular in real life situations so it would be beneficial to familiarize yourself with it


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## dbarry722 (Apr 9, 2009)

Cheers..

Just on virtulization. Which is the best OS to host vwmare on?

Is it better to build a physical server or Windows 7 workstation as the host then build virtual servers and workstations from the host.

Declan


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## dbarry722 (Apr 9, 2009)

Sorry, should have worded that a bit better.

What I meant was, which is the best initial platform to start off from to build virtual workstations/servers

Should the Host Operating system be a Server OS or a Workstation OS.

At the moment, I've a system set up with a Server OS system ( Windows 2011 SBS Standard). I've another 6GB of memory on way to take the Host system to 12GB

I have in the past used Windows XP as the initial Host OS and built virtual Servers and Workstation. 

Declan


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## loda117 (Aug 6, 2010)

VMware is a standalone OS 
You just throw that on the machine it will be like a new OS installation 
paritioning the disks if you like etc 


VMware hypervisor runs on your machine as the host OS 
Then once you have it loaded you can go into configuration and assign the IP address, setup root passwords etc 
Then you go to your computer type in the address for the server 
and download the VMware vpshere client 

With this client you then control the whole HOST machine including ur guest machine creation and installation 
it works greats only requires 400mb of RAM to run and even can be installed on a 4GB flash drive 

You can get free license up to 16 cores from vmware's website when you register 
if you are going to run older hardware (3-5 year old servers workstations etc) then i would recommend registering for Vmware 4.1.0 hypervisor it supports both 32bit host machines as well as 64bit host machines 

but before you do make sure that your current hardware is compatible with 4.1.0 or 5.0 
you can check the known working hardware at the below website 
Ultimate VMWare ESX Whitebox

At initial start it is bit more work to start with ESXI but believe me it pays off at the end because it is far better and stable product then hyper-v


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## dbarry722 (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi loda117 

Sorry, maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick here. 

Are you saying that VMware is actually an operating system and that I should install it as an operating system on a blank HD then create all my VM from there?

The way I thought vmware worked was you installed it on a hardware that already had an operating system installed on it such as Windows XP/7/Linux etc. Basically installing it on top of an operating system

Declan


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## lfcgeorge (Jun 6, 2010)

dbarry722

What loda is talking about is a different VMWare product and a very good one in that. 

The product you want is VMWare Workstation (Google it) which you install as an application on to your Server 2008 OS. You say what is the best platform? I doubt it will make a difference whether you use Windows 7 or Server 2008 as long as you have enough hardware to support extra Operating Systems which you do. 

So yeah, go ahead and obtain VMWare Workstation for your testing :smile:


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## loda117 (Aug 6, 2010)

no 
it is stand alone OS unlike other virtual products like oracle sandbox 
You install that on your blank HDD or flash drive etc


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## dbarry722 (Apr 9, 2009)

Cheers Guys..

Off to do a bit of experimenting and hunting down documentation to see what way industry/education is using virtulisation. 

Had a bit of a hunt about for additional hardware and have just commandeered one of the Physcial Education Departments computers to trial it all out on. Hopefully they won't notice for a while that it is missing :whistling:

Our managed service network here in the school is changing to a cloud system and from what I gather, they will be using virtual servers so it will be interesting to see how it is all put together.


Declan


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