>I have a scenario where by I need to build three machines with the
> following OS's.. Windows Server 200x, Linux (RHSE2) and Solaris
> 10(Intel will do)
>
> However, I don't have three bits of hardware to satisfy this
> requirement, so I'm thinking virtualisation..
>
> Do I...
>
> 1. Go for a host windows system, and virualise Linux and Solaris on it.
> or
>
> 2. Go for Linux host, and Solaris and Windows Virtual machines?
>
> Ideally I'd like all three hosts to be as fast as each other, as
> they'll be running a few cpu intensive apps, but with Low disk IO.
> (Propreitary sw)
>
> Anyone got any ideas what I should go fo?
> I have the following VM apps on my radar..
>
> VM Ware and Parallels, running on a dual core or quad processor box
> with >2gb ram if possible. Has anyone done this with much success or
> have any pointers which is the best by experience?

>
> "Dan Cave" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>I have a scenario where by I need to build three machines with the
>> following OS's.. Windows Server 200x, Linux (RHSE2) and Solaris
>> 10(Intel will do)
>>
>> However, I don't have three bits of hardware to satisfy this
>> requirement, so I'm thinking virtualisation..
>>
>> Do I...
>>
>> 1. Go for a host windows system, and virualise Linux and Solaris on it.
>> or
>>
>> 2. Go for Linux host, and Solaris and Windows Virtual machines?
>>
>> Ideally I'd like all three hosts to be as fast as each other, as
>> they'll be running a few cpu intensive apps, but with Low disk IO.
>> (Propreitary sw)
>>
>> Anyone got any ideas what I should go fo?
>
> I suggest you to have a host OS which just run virtual machines and
> virtualize all of the three systems you need.
>
>> I have the following VM apps on my radar..
>>
>> VM Ware and Parallels, running on a dual core or quad processor box
>> with >2gb ram if possible. Has anyone done this with much success or
>> have any pointers which is the best by experience?
>
> Go for VMWare Server of Micrsoft Virtual Server. They support resource
> allocation and reservation to the virtual machines, while consumer
> solutions don't support that. They can also take advantage of big amount
> of memory.
>
> Processing power should be belanced to your workload. Memory must be the
> sum of the memory needed by the three virtualized systems plus 256 MB/512
> MB for the host. Using physical disks instead of VHD should offer higher
> performance. VHD would be easier to backup, but RAID would probably be a
> faster and more reliable solution. If I/O operations are frequent, go for
> SCSI. Anyway, it all depends on the kind of software you will run,
> workload and storage requirements.
>
> --
> Andrea Sansottera
>

> "Using physical disks instead of VHD should offer higher performance."
>
> How can use use Physical disks ? I was under the impression that you could
> only use virtual disks ?
>
> Thanks
>
> Maurice

> You are correct, linked disks are only there to copy physical disks to
> virtual disks -- a VM can only use a virtual disk.