Virtual PC

[rodentcentre]

Have any of you used Virtual PC? I am planning on getting a copy to test out the Server 2003 SP1 RC2 and was wondering what everyone's experiences were with this product. Thanks.

 

[sab4you]

I like it. I have setup a couple computers inside the MS Virtual PC. I have heard the other brands are better tho.

But either way, its a good way to become familiar with the OS and you can even have a couple virtual pc's running and you can network them all together to create a virtual multiple computer network

 

[rodentcentre]

Thanks for that...can you tell me what other brands are out there besides the MS one?? Thanks.

 

[rodentcentre]

Ooops, and also what are the minimum specs on a machine that I should try to do this on (ie CPU, RAM, HDD, etc.) and should it be on its own machine? Thanks.

 

[rye8261]

I have both virtual pc and virtual server in use where i work. Both are really nice. I have also use VMWare before which is a very good product. I am quite impressed with both virtual pc and server and would suggest them to anyone.

For the 100 bucks or whatever virtual pc costs, it is really worth the money to have test os's and servers.

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http://www.hybridtown.com

http://www.ryesworld.com

 

[Castor66]

I haven't tested Virtual PC yet but I swear by VMWare (workstation and GSX). I've got VMWare workstation on my laptop and run 4 different OSes under it (98, Red Hat EL3.0, Win2K Server and Win2K3 server) and I have no problems. I don'r run them concurrently as I've only got 512Meg RAM.

I've got GSX server running on a server upstairs. On that box I have 2 Win2K Server, 1 Win2K3 Server and one RH EL3 server running concurrently. These are test and development boxes and work like a charm. Using VMWare I dropped from 4 2U servers to 1 1U server. The 2U servers then went on to become production servers. The cost saving from the server reuse paid twice over for the cost of VMWare. Factor in the snap-shotting capability and the ability to move VMs from GSX to my machine and back and it more than pays for itself.

VM's rule!

 

[rodentcentre]

Awesome, thanks guys for that feedback...My only other question is, and you'll have to forgive me because I am by no means an administrator, will it be legal for me to use my one purchased copy of Windows Server 2003 and my purchased copy of SQL Server 2000 in both a production environment and also in this Virtual PC/Server environment??

 

[Castor66]

Hmm - thin ice here. Legally, no. If you are using a product you should pay for it. I am running in a real gray area here. The 4 servers on the GSX server are all fully paid for. The ones I run on my VMWare workstation aren't. They don't show up on the network (as I only use local networking) and don't appear in the audit so to all intents and purposes they don't exist. But, I am illegally using them. If I get challenged on them I will remove them.

That's my PERSONAL position and I am not advising you to do the same.