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Possible Duplicate:
Can you help me with my software licensing question?

I have a location w/ three servers:

Server 1: SBS2003, running Exchange, file sharing, DNS, DHCP for domain1 and the entire network.

Server 2: SBS2003, AD, file sharing for domain2.

Server 3: Server2008 x32, Terminal Services. Member server of domain1.

I need to move Server 3 to a virtual environment on Server 2's box (P2V conversion and move). Server 2 has to stay in place; I want to run a VM inside of Server 2's existing OS. This will probably be a 6-month "temporary" situation, and Server 3 will gradually be used less and less. The physical server (formerly Server 3) will then be wiped and have a new installation of Server 2008 R2 x64. Server3's current installation of Server 2008 is an OEM license (MS p/n: P73-04001). It was built on a custom box.

Specs: Server 1: Windows SBS 2003 SP2 AMD Opteron Quad-core 2.1GHz 4GB RAM C: 54GB/22GB free D: 696GB/601GB free

Server 2: Windows SBS 2003 SP2 Intel Pentium D 3.00GHz 2GB RAM (soon to be 4GB) C: 32GB/25GB free D: 109GB/62GB free

Server 3: Server 2008 x32 AMD Phenom 9750 Quad-Core CPU 4GB of RAM C: 100GB (50GB free) D: 600GB w/ nothing on it

1) Is this possible? What caveats?

2) What should I use for the conversion?

3) What should I use for the virtual environment? I was considering both VMware Server and VirtualBox, but I know Windows has something for this, as well.

4) Will I have licensing issues w/ either Windows Server 2008, or with Terminal Services?

Thanks in advance!

Community
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Jeff Layton
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2 Answers2

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It sounds like you are going to have to use a hosted solution for a little bit, meaning that you will be running a virtualization solution inside of the current Windows OS. While I don't like type 2 hypervisors for production environments I would go with, if I had to choose, VMware workstation to do this. I think you can still use the P2V converter and import the VM into Workstation.

Chadddada
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1st: Licensing questions should be directed to the product manufacturer, anything anyone tells you on here or on the internet is open for interpretation and could get your or your employer in trouble.

My suggestion for your whole setup:

Virtualize Everything and avoid a type 2 hypervisor for anything except testing.

If your Server 3 Box has decent hardware then you should probably look into using that for your host for everything, providing your exchange server isnt super busy.

Here's what I would do: Pickup a decently spec'd workstation and load a demo of Server 2008 r2 and the demo for scvmm. Perform a P2V on all 3 servers. Backup your VMs. Load up Server 3 with Hyper-V Server 2008 r2 and move all of your servers over to that.

ErnieTheGeek
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  • I would LOVE to do that, but we're implementing a new workflow program that wants the resources of that entire server (Server 3), and budgets/time do not permit a wait for a new server right now. In the future, we'll be considering that very thing. For now, I'm afraid, I need to use a type 2 hypervisor. – Jeff Layton Jun 17 '11 at 14:32
  • As Ernie says type 1 would be ideal. To bad you cannot use the P2V to convert all the machines to VMs then just use a type 1, import all 3 current machines as VMs. – Chadddada Jun 17 '11 at 14:44