We have purchased a few copies of windows 2008 enterprise. i understand that we can run 2008 on the host, and then 4 2003 VM's underneath.

The question - can I run a 2003 Host, with four 2003 VM's, or does the host HAVE TO be running 2008 to take advantage of the VM's. Some of our servers only have 4GB ram, and 2008 with even 1 or 2 VM's is making it too slow to be functional.  

________________________

Thanks,
Andrew

Hard work often pays off over time, but procrastination pays off right now!

If the 2003 boxes are 2003 R2 enterprise edition then you can run 4 VMs.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensingr2/overview.mspx
 

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCSA 2003
MCITP Enterprise Administrator

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask?  Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams
 

Excellent...how is 2003R2 as compared to normal 2003  as far as memory usage?

Does microsoft have a place to download media for old versions of OSs? Unfortunately, we went straight from 2003 (pre-r2) to 2008.

________________________

Thanks,
Andrew

Hard work often pays off over time, but procrastination pays off right now!

Quote:

how is 2003R2 as compared to normal 2003  as far as memory usage?

There is no real difference, R2 contains some 'Feature Packs' such as ADAM, WDS, Windows RMS and some others, there are no real changes in the OS itself.

You would have to purchase an upgrade to 2003 R2 for your 2003 boxes, unless you have software assurance of course.  It is considered a separate product from 2003.
 

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCSA 2003
MCITP Enterprise Administrator

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask?  Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams
 

Right....but i could "downgrade" my 2008 licenses to 2003. R2. for free, correct?

________________________

Thanks,
Andrew

Hard work often pays off over time, but procrastination pays off right now!

Oh Yeah, good point.  I forgot about that.

YOu'd still have to source the media for yourself though, as far as I know MS don't make it available for download, unless you have a Technet or MSDN subscription.

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCSA 2003
MCITP Enterprise Administrator

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask?  Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams
 

You can download the media and keys for a down grade from eopen if you have the MS purchase agreement, i did anyway.

https://eopen.microsoft.com/EN/default.asp

 

RoadKi11

"This apparent fear reaction is typical, rather than try to solve technical problems technically, policy solutions are often chosen." - Fred Cohen