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I've spent some time looking, and haven't been able to find a decent HCL for the current and past versions of XenServer.

I have 3 HP Proliant DL360 G3's that I want to use for virtualization. They all have dual Xeon processors @ 3.06 Ghz, 2 GB of RAM (I'm getting much more for them though), integrated 5i controllers, etc.

I've tried to install few versions of ESXi and ESX, some with the DL360 G# on the HCL, and some without. I've had limited success with every version. I did get ESX 3.5 running, but I'm a little bit disappointed with it's feature set and want something a little more modern. I've heard that XenServer has a much broader range of supported hardware.

Does anyone know what versions of XenServer officially support the DL360 G3, or where I could find an HCL that includes all versions of XenServer?

Libbux
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I'd really like to say that you should avoid using any G3 ProLiant in 2013... especially for virtualization... Anywho, the XenServer HCL does not include the G3 ProLiants. You need a 64-bit CPU per the XenServer software requirements.

One or more 64-bit x86 CPU(s), 1.5 GHz minimum, 2 GHz or faster multicore CPU recommended

The HP ProLiant DL360 G3 systems were introduced in 2003 and went end-of-life around 2005. These are Pentium 4 Xeon processors. There are only two parallel SCSI drives. They're 32-bit only. At this juncture ANY modern computer will perform better (even a desktop).

ewwhite
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  • If you try to boot XenServer on a 32bit platform it will crash. As I recall the G4s were the first to make it to the HCL, but @ewwhite is right. Even a low end desktop would do better and have more supported HW. – Jacob Apr 14 '13 at 17:22
  • Thanks for your speedy reply. I know that these machines are old, but in the interest of time (I need a temporary hypervisor up soon), this is what I've got to work with. But how can the system support 8GB of RAM if it is only 32-bit? Or is the system 64-bit and the processors 32-bit? Thanks again. – Libbux Apr 14 '13 at 17:24
  • @ewwwhite Is there any way to tell that these CPUs aren't Cranford or Potomac Xeons? – Libbux Apr 14 '13 at 17:37
  • The processors in that series of server were codenamed [Foster and Prestonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon#Netburst-based_Xeon). The Cranford and Potomac were introduced with the HP ProLiant G4-series servers (*which I also don't recommend for virtualization use*). Those can run virtualization software in a limited capacity (but they lack VT extensions required by current virtualization suites). – ewwhite Apr 14 '13 at 17:53
  • @ewwhite Thanks. So, just to get this straight: Are these machines classified as 32-bit or 64-bit (even though these CPUs are clearly 31-bit)? – Libbux Apr 17 '13 at 20:22