Server Setup/VM Advice

[beauuu]

My company recently purchased two maxed out R520 (Dual Xeon processors w/8cores each, 32GB total ram) servers running Server 2012 to replace existing equipment that was lost in a fire. I'm here looking for some opinions..

One of the servers will be used for our active directory, print server, DHCP, Quickbooks file hosting, and then for accessing our phone and security systems. From a planning standpoint we had originally looked at creating 3-4 VMs on this machine (active directory, print, quickbooks, and remaining items) to split it up.. but now that I think about it.. would it be best just to keep this as 1 machine? Wouldn't splitting it up into multiple VMs decrease the overall performance of each Win2012 install that will be on the VM? We were looking at giving 2 cores and about 4GB of ram to each VM that will be created. I'm pretty new to configuring/setting up servers and VMs. I've pretty much stuck to only desktop PCs or pre-existing servers for most of my IT career.

Any thoughts, opinions, or suggestions are appreciated! Thanks.

Ps. The 2nd server we purchased will be running JDE E1 9.1 with 4-5VMs. So, splitting what I've mentioned above to this machine is not an option.

 

[jkupski]

Yes, technically each VM will run slightly slower than if they were running on the bare metal. That said, your workloads appear to be really, really small. The hardware you've specified will not break a sweat running half a dozen low impact VMs (you bought a lot more CPU than you needed for the first box, and could probably have saved a grand in CPUs--and bought more RAM). Your biggest concern is going to be licensing... your Win2k12 standard license (I'm assuming you bought an OEM license with the box, and that it's not datacenter) gives you the right to run a pair of Win Server VMs, and you're looking at at least three.

 

[beauuu]

Ah, yes.. As far as being able to run just two VMs on the standard, I'm aware. We purchased both boxes with standard and were planning to add the licensing from the 2nd to the first to increase its VM availability. We have a copy of Datacenter from our technet subscription that will be installed on the E1 machine, as it is a non-production, demo environment.

 

[beauuu]

Ps. We were basically give a hunk of money to spend on replacing our old equipment from insurance, so going overboard on the CPUs with their cost wasn't a bother to us. Should we need additional ram in the future, we still have the space in the system for that.

Thanks!

 

[jkupski]

If you got OEM licenses with the R520s, you cannot move the license from box A to box B--each license is tied to the machine it shipped on. Please note that I am assuming you are in the US, so if your local laws allow you to do this, please ignore.

Your use of the technet license may also not be kosher--typically, the product use rights are limited to "evaluation" only. MSDN is almost always a better choice (since it allows for development and testing). Not suggesting that you shouldn't proceed, just suggesting you CYA if possible.

 

[beauuu]

Ahh, good to know. Thanks. Since our 2nd box will need MS Visual studio it might be best to upgrade to the MSDN that comes with that. I'll have to have a to look into getting that approved.