Dell PowerEdge T610 + Virtualization

[IzaacJ]

Hello. New user, first post, but long time follower of LTT ;)

 

Got myself a Dell PowerEdge T610 from a friend yesterday that already has VMware installed, using his company's license. And I really like the way VMware works, buuuut, since this is my first dabble with some serious server hw I'll probably mess something up on my way, so I'd much more prefer some free software that works in a similar way.

 

Not really interested in installing a full blown os (Windows Server, Ubuntu Server etc etc) to manage my VMs. I'd love to see something like how VMware does it, a base on the server and no need to hookup keyboard/mouse to the physical server, and no need to ssh/rdp into the box to manage VMs.

 

My main purpose is to host 3 VMs to start with,

1. Plex Media Server running on Ubuntu Server

2. Web server for my development, running on Ubuntu Server

3. An Ark server for my friend, requirements for that are unknown to me, but it will most probably run on Windows 10 so that he can RDP in to the VM to manage his Ark server.

 

So, tips or ideas?

[BobVonBob]

What you're looking for is a type 1 hypervisor, a hypervisor that doesn't need a host OS, of which KVM is probably the best for home use since it's one of few that isn't a commercial product. You also don't need a separate vm for Plex and web dev given they will be using the same OS. There also might be issues with a Windows 10 VM on KVM, I can't find much info about it.

[IzaacJ]

2 hours ago, BobVonBob said:

What you're looking for is a type 1 hypervisor, a hypervisor that doesn't need a host OS, of which KVM is probably the best for home use since it's one of few that isn't a commercial product. You also don't need a separate vm for Plex and web dev given they will be using the same OS. There also might be issues with a Windows 10 VM on KVM, I can't find much info about it.

Okey. How does the management work för KVM, and is there possibly any kind of android app for management/monitoring, or is there some free monitoring software that has an android app? Away from home about 13hrs a day so could prove quite useful.

 

If W10 might have issues, would something like Xen Project or proxmox work? Read a bit about them, but they seem cumbersome to my inexperienced eyes My only real VM experience is with VirtualBox and HyperV for Windows Phone app development.

 

Edit: Regarding Plex and webdev on different VMs is so thats they're not affected by the other ones restarts and such. The web dev server is going to be "cleared" between projects.

[BobVonBob]

https://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Management_Tools

Looks like Android softwares are mist.io and vm-king.

 

I've honestly got no idea about Windows 10 virtualization, but this page probably does https://www.funtoo.org/Windows_10_Virtualization_with_KVM

[dalekphalm]

There's nothing wrong with using ESXi on that server at home - though I would do a fresh install and clear out the licensing from the company that you got it from (That was a major oversight on the company - it should have never left their premises without clearing out their licensing).