Requirements for Virtualization

[rond]

I would like to build a budget server/pc with the ability to run virtual machines.

Machines I would like to have enough resources for:

- 2x Kali Linux VMs for Pentesting

- 2x Windows VMs for smaller tasks

- 2x Windows VMs with decent performance

+ Some overhead.

 

I imagine I'd need at least 8 cores and 16-32gb ram (possibly 12gb at lowest). I don't know which cpus to look at, which enclosures, which motherboard etc.

 

So if anyone would like to help me out, I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

[Mephi00]

You can run software gpu in a virtualized environment, but the performance is meh and just don't ask me how . I'd go with more cores than 8, especially for the windows VMs with decent performance and I would go with at least 32 gig of ram, just so you're not limited, and windows requires at least 2 gigs per instance.

[rond]

Just now, Mephi00 said:

You can run software gpu in a virtualized environment, but the performance is meh and just don't ask me how . I'd go with more cores than 8, especially for the windows VMs with decent performance and I would go with at least 32 gig of ram, just so you're not limited, and windows requires at least 2 gigs per instance.

There are modified "light" versions of windows and you can debloat windows by removing Antivirus etc.

 

And software GPU, what do you mean?

[Mephi00]

1 minute ago, rond said:

There are modified "light" versions of windows and you can debloat windows by removing Antivirus etc.

 

And software GPU, what do you mean?

I'm working off of a VM at work and they have a virtualized display adapter, but I don't know how to set that up...

[WereCatf]

22 minutes ago, rond said:

Machines I would like to have enough resources for:

- 2x Kali Linux VMs for Pentesting

- 2x Windows VMs for smaller tasks

- 2x Windows VMs with decent performance

+ Some overhead.

 

I imagine I'd need at least 8 cores and 16-32gb ram (possibly 12gb at lowest). I don't know which cpus to look at, which enclosures, which motherboard etc.

 

You're not giving enough details on what, exactly, would you be doing in those VMs and whether you need GPU-passthrough for those two Windows VMs with "decent performance." If those two VMs need full hardware-accelerated GPUs, you need to buy two GPUs, so you can pass them through to the VMs.

 

As for the rest: Kali doesn't require much, 512MB - 1GB RAM per VMs is fine and pentesting in general isn't really a CPU-bound task, so 1-2 cores per VM should be fine. For the Windows VMs with "smaller tasks", 2GB - 4GB RAM per VM and 2-4 shared cores or 2 dedicated cores per VM should be good. For "decent performance" -- which you didn't clarify enough! -- I would imagine 4 dedicated cores or more and 4GB - 8GB RAM.

 

If you are willing to let the VMs share CPU-cores instead of using dedicated ones, you could get decent results with an 8-core CPU, but otherwise you're looking for a 12-16 core CPU and 24GB or more RAM. If the tasks running on the "decent performance" VMs use storage-media heavily, you should probably invest in two NVMe SSDs as well.

[WereCatf]

15 minutes ago, Mephi00 said:

I'm working off of a VM at work and they have a virtualized display adapter, but I don't know how to set that up...

A virtual GPU doesn't require any special setup, all modern virtualization-environments set one up by default. It's when you want to give a VM access to a real GPU via PCI-E passthrough that you have to jump through a bunch of hoops.

[rond]

23 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

You're not giving enough details on what, exactly, would you be doing in those VMs and whether you need GPU-passthrough for those two Windows VMs with "decent performance." If those two VMs need full hardware-accelerated GPUs, you need to buy two GPUs, so you can pass them through to the VMs.

 

As for the rest: Kali doesn't require much, 512MB - 1GB RAM per VMs is fine and pentesting in general isn't really a CPU-bound task, so 1-2 cores per VM should be fine. For the Windows VMs with "smaller tasks", 2GB - 4GB RAM per VM and 2-4 shared cores or 2 dedicated cores per VM should be good. For "decent performance" -- which you didn't clarify enough! -- I would imagine 4 dedicated cores or more and 4GB - 8GB RAM.

 

If you are willing to let the VMs share CPU-cores instead of using dedicated ones, you could get decent results with an 8-core CPU, but otherwise you're looking for a 12-16 core CPU and 24GB or more RAM. If the tasks running on the "decent performance" VMs use storage-media heavily, you should probably invest in two NVMe SSDs as well.

I'm not looking for any GPU or any video output except just regular RDP or similar. Decent performance as in browsing and running programs that only use like 2gb ram max.

[Stu_Bear]

I'd look for the earliest example of servers with an HDMI port......search fleabay for a used model with minimum RAM/CPU requirements.  That said I bought a server, HP DL380 Gen 7, with 12 cores (24 threads) & 144gb of ram...no HDMI...only VGA...for $450 shipped to my door 3 years ago.  You can of course install a GPU for better graphics if needed.  

 

Any generation 7 or newer HP will do virtualization...not sure what Dell generation that translates into.

 

With 144gb of ram you could create a big-a$$ ramdisk...install all your VMs on it...plenty of ram leftover...should run uber fast even on old hardware.  Create on your drive at least 8 partitions...one for the hypervisor or OS...one to store contents of the ramdisk when the system is shutdown...then six separate partitions each used as local storage for the six individual VMs.  Maybe this is something I should give a try.

[Windows7ge]

I would look at socket either LGA2011 or 2011-v3. The E5-2670v1 is cheap but you have to make sure you buy ones with a Stepping of C2 or higher to have full virtualization support.