Thread: Hyper-V Basics
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Unread 12-04-2009, 09:44 AM   #3
nagis
Cooling Neophyte
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: India
Posts: 1
Re: Hyper-V Basics

Hello Joe

I read your article regarding the Hyper-V test lab and thought you might be able to help me with my questions. I am trying to spec out a beefy server class machine that would be able to run windows server 2008 R2, Hyper-V and around 10 to 14 VMs concurrently. From what little I have read, here's what I am thinking would be a good configuration. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

My Configuration:
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1) Motherboard that supports TWO Intel Quad Core Xeon 5550 processors and supports Hyper-V.

2) Around 8 to 10 or may be 12 (not sure how many come in the new mobos) memory slots - since I plan to start with 16 GB RAM and later move to 32 GB or even 48 GB (a year or so later). Having lesser number slots would mean I would have to use 4 GB modules which are going to be costlier.

3) One 500 GB SATA Drives for the OS

4) Three to five 500 GB SATA Drives in a RAID 0 Array using an on-board RAID controller or an add-on RAID controller.

4A) I am not sure if RAID 0 is something I need to use, because this being a purely test machine (for learning stuff at home by playing around with various products in a VM environment) - super performance is NOT a requirement. I want it to perform well enough so as to not frustrate me and slow me down if I run around 14 VMs concurrently.

5) A good quality video card and two 1 GB NICs.

6) A Server class chassis with a 1000 Watt or 1300 Watt SMPS. Three fans on the chassis for cooling.

NOTE:
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I am from India and I spoke to a vendor here and he said going in for an AMD six core processor would be better and it would be CHEAPER. I am not sure if he was trying to push AMD or if he was speaking the truth. Your thoughts?

I am sorry about the length of this post and I would deeply appreciate it if you could recommend changes in the spec, and also the right MB model, RAM Model, etc. This is a low priority thing so please respond when you have some time.

Many thanks in advance.

Nagendra
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