Any Hypervisor Recommendations for VM and Storage?

[tech3475]

Hi.

 

I currently have a HP Gen 8 microserver running Windows Server 2016 but due to some recent issues with the OS I'm considering reinstalling the OS while also considering whether to instead switch to using a Hypervisor.

 

My current setup is:

Windows Server 2016

Intel E3-1230 v2

16GB RAM

GPU- iLO remote management

 

My current storage configuration is as follows:

Intel controller:

1x 256GB SSD

1x 4TB HDD

3x 4TB HDD (Storage spaces with parity)

ASM1061 controller:

2x 4TB HDD (Storage space simple)

 

Ideally, if I were to switch, these drives (with exception to the SSD) would all be consolidated into one drive pool with parity and the host would run storage management and separate VMs.

 

So far I've tried unraid in a VM using VMWare workstation but I can't get any VMs to boot without crashing the client and I don't have a spare system to test with, as well as ESXi which doesn't support file management at the hypervisor level and I don't like the idea of having to run another OS for file management (something I've previously done).

 

Unraid if not for the issues with VMs would be something along the lines I am looking for.

 

Can anyone please recommend any alternatives which may suit my needs? 

 

Thank you.

[leadeater]

What's the issues you are having with Server 2016? You can add all the disks in to a single pool btw and configure a multi resilient virtual disk that has a mirror tier and a parity tier giving you good performance and good storage capacity.

[Jarno.]

hi @tech3475

 

You can use whatever you like but i prefer proxmox with LVM so you can add storage easy along the road https://www.proxmox.com/en/

 

Ofcours you also can use esxi https://www.vmware.com/products/esxi-and-esx.html too but adding storage might be harder.

 

Last but not least you can use Hyper-v but i dont recommend it as there is so much overhead involved () and you need a license of windows server where proxnox and esxi are free for standard features.

[tech3475]

24 minutes ago, leadeater said:

What's the issues you are having with Server 2016? You can add all the disks in to a single pool btw and configure a multi resilient virtual disk that has a mirror tier and a parity tier giving you good performance and good storage capacity.

The issues I've had are unrelated to storage, storage wise I'm looking at alternatives because some of the options I've seen seem better capacity wise and/or would be better suited for a hypervisor.

 

I have an alternative backup so parity + mirror shouldn't necessary. 

 

14 minutes ago, Jarno. said:

hi @tech3475

 

You can use whatever you like but i prefer proxmox with LVM so you can add storage easy along the road https://www.proxmox.com/en/

 

Ofcours you also can use esxi https://www.vmware.com/products/esxi-and-esx.html too but adding storage might be harder.

 

Last but not least you can use Hyper-v but i dont recommend it as there is so much overhead involved () and you need a license of windows server where proxnox and esxi are free for standard features.

Thanks, I'll look at proxmox.

[leadeater]

17 minutes ago, Jarno. said:

Last but not least you can use Hyper-v but i dont recommend it as there is so much overhead involved () and you need a license of windows server where proxnox and esxi are free for standard features.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server is actually free .

[Jarno.]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Microsoft Hyper-V Server is actually free .

Hmm, i didnt know can you send me a link? i only can find a evaluation version. Maybe you mean that hyper-v is free when you got either windows server or windows 10 already?

 

Thanks in advance

[leadeater]

4 minutes ago, tech3475 said:

Thanks, I'll look at proxmox.

Heard a lot of good things about Proxmox as well.

[leadeater]

6 minutes ago, Jarno. said:

Hmm, i didnt know can you send me a link? i only can find a evaluation version. 

 

Thanks in advance

The download link is a bit of a weird one, it says evaluation with a length of unlimited. Can always trust Microsoft to make it confusing but it is free.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-hyper-v-server-2016

 

Edit:

Just be aware it's core only so no GUI.

[Razor Blade]

7 minutes ago, Jarno. said:

Hmm, i didnt know can you send me a link? i only can find a evaluation version. Maybe you mean that hyper-v is free when you got either windows server or windows 10 already?

 

Thanks in advance

 

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

The download link is a bit of a weird one, it says evaluation with a length of unlimited. Can always trust Microsoft to make it confusing.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-hyper-v-server-2016

My guess would be Microsoft just putting it with the rest of their products to find it easier...under description it says it is a free product and the pre-install guidelines say this

 

"Upon installation you will be prompted to activate. A product key is not required."

[tech3475]

22 minutes ago, Jarno. said:

Hmm, i didnt know can you send me a link? i only can find a evaluation version. Maybe you mean that hyper-v is free when you got either windows server or windows 10 already?

 

Thanks in advance

 

I thought you just installed Hyper-V by going into 'turn windows features on or off' and selecting Hyper-v.

 

At least that's how it appears on my W10 desktop.

[Sir Asvald]

29 minutes ago, tech3475 said:

 

I thought you just installed Hyper-V by going into 'turn windows features on or off' and selecting Hyper-v.

 

At least that's how it appears on my W10 desktop.

It's a role on the Windows Server OSes.  

[tech3475]

5 hours ago, Abdul201588 said:

It's a role on the Windows Server OSes.  

Yes it is, on Windows server that part is the equivalent of 'turn features on or off' IIRC.