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Crath

Weaksauce
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Dec 6, 2008
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So I'm planning on building a new computer to run xp on and vmware with a virtual server and maybe linux or two, and i wanted to ask a few things

firstly, heres what im thinking of

quad core 2.2'ish ghz
2x 500gb sata

etc.

and I plan on running 64bit xp, then vmware with 32bit server, and not sure about the linux installs yet, but how much

but what system resources do virtual machines use the most? ram or cpu?

and if any other tips could be give, that'd be great, thanks!
 
RAM, so depending on how many VMs you plan on running, I would start with at least 2x2GB with the ability to move to 8GB if you use more VMs.
 
general rule of thumb I have been using is 2GB of RAM per VM, for server VMs. Virtualized desktop OS's get 512MB-1GB, depending on their task. CPU usage is generally low on ESX(i) boxes (on a per VM basis).
 
... and don't stick everything on a single hard drive (I assume those two drives you mentioned are in RAID 1 which effectively makes them a single drive as most controllers don't spread reads across both disks).
 
agreed. more than 2 vm's ona single drive=poor performance. I'd recommend a boot drive for the server, and a single drive per VM, if possible. If not possible, do not run more than 2 VM's on a single drive, concurrently.
 
sabregen said:
If not possible, do not run more than 2 VM's on a single drive, concurrently.
Click to expand...

While generally good advice, I do think that it needs to be taken as just that; sweeping generalization.

It totally depends on what the VMs are doing, for example, a linux based NAT router "virtual appliance" VM will require like 32MB of RAM and basically no disk resources.

Considering that the OP is running XP as host I would imagine this to be just a box to monkey around with, and performance not really being an issue either which way.
 
yes, it is a generalization. However, running multiple concurrent VMs is one thing. Actually using them, is an entirely different story. Try updating two VM's that live on the same spindle, and you'll know what I mean. If you can load all of your apps into memory, and have no disk I/O, then sure, go for it. However, that would not be a normal usage scenario.
 
Does RAM and HD space have to been handed over to the VM at setup and taken away from the Host for good, or does the host have access to it when you're not running the VM?
 
sabregen said:
yes, it is a generalization. However, running multiple concurrent VMs is one thing. Actually using them, is an entirely different story. Try updating two VM's that live on the same spindle, and you'll know what I mean. If you can load all of your apps into memory, and have no disk I/O, then sure, go for it. However, that would not be a normal usage scenario.
Click to expand...

For server or workstation sure, but that's not as much a worry with esx on decent hardware, especially on a good San or controller with a decent cache. Virii scans are the worst. You have to remember that esx is not guaranteed to be realtime processing
 
Phantoms said:
Does RAM and HD space have to been handed over to the VM at setup and taken away from the Host for good, or does the host have access to it when you're not running the VM?
Click to expand...

ram is handed over on the fly as needed or allocated permanently depending on what you set. Hd space is permanently allocated
 
I think I remember deciding if I wanted it to take all of the hdd space then, or give it over as it needed it.
 
Crath said:
I think I remember deciding if I wanted it to take all of the hdd space then, or give it over as it needed it.
Click to expand...

for server/workstation yes, esx by default does not let you do thin provisioning from the GUI. Too many issues with SCSI reservations.
 
litkaj said:
... and don't stick everything on a single hard drive (I assume those two drives you mentioned are in RAID 1 which effectively makes them a single drive as most controllers don't spread reads across both disks).
Click to expand...

Is a single HD fine with a single VM?

Also, which VM and setup would be best for my situation.
Host is Vista 64bit with 4GB, planned guest is a XP Pro Retail 32bit and speculate I'll assign about 100GB (currently 256GB free).. Guest needs USB2.0 for some of it's applications. Would also like wireless access using the same wireless from the host. Am I asking too much,or is this something easily accomplished with current VM software.
 
single HD is ok with a single VM
With a Vista64bit host, youll be looking for VMWare workstation, XP32bit will run fine on that.
The vmware networking can bridge the VM to the wireless card, so that should connect OK.

I dont knwo about the USB 2.0...I havent used much USB items in vmware
 
vmware player (free) passes USB fine and wireless networking...

server 2 does networking, but i havent tried the USB passthrough
 
I was under the impression that Player could only run a VM that had been created and saved by another VM program. How would get the initial VM with player?
 
There are free apps that can create the VM config files.
Just on Vista64bit, you need signed drivers, Im not sure if vmware server 2.0 has signed vista 64bit drivers, I know Server 1.08 does not
 
So I'll try Server 2.0, if everything sets up fine and get everything working fine, I can then uninstall Server and use VMPlayer to run the single VM. Is this correct?


This is for my laptop. I have XP Pro Retail ready to install. I could dual boot, but then I'd have to find drivers for everything (this is a brand new Vista 64bit laptop) and loose a lot of the abilities of sharing files back and forth with the 2 OSes. This laptop will be used to run automotive diagnostic software and scanners such as Ford IDS (must have 32bit XP Pro only), Picoscope Automotive (currently 32bit only), etc. Some programs will work fine under Vista 64bit and I can migrate the ones that don't as they change.
 
Success!

Here's XP SP3 completing on XP Pro 32bit running in a VMware Server2.0 virtual machine on Vista 64bit.

success.jpg



The network and everything works. Just can't figure out how to drag and drop files between
the hist and guest as VMware said you could. That's alright though, as I can just transfer
them through the network.

I'm just contemplating whether to keep Server or get Player and uninstall Server now.
 
Here's another with it running Pico Scope Automotive, one of the reason I need a 32bit machine (well, a simulated 32 bit machine)..

Vista64-XP32-PICO.jpg
 
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