I've never played with Windows Essentials, and have very little experience with Hyper-V, so I'll need to do some more reading.
Let me parrot back to you, to make sure I understood what you said. I can set up the new machine with Windows Essentials as a Hyper-V host, and use that, with the same media and license, to run a VM that will be the DC. Is that correct? If it is, could I also stand up a Win10 VM (with its own license, of course), and use that to run their property management software? How many VMs does a license for Windows Essentials support? I don't see a need for more than two at this point, and the hardware will certainly support their needs, but I want to get myself educated before I go in there and make a mess. Kurt On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 7:57 AM, Susan Bradley <[email protected]> wrote: > In SMB space I don't see VMware as the virtualization platform of choice. I > see HyperV, not to mention in a single host, you either go with what we used > to do: Host is not domain joined, hanging off the dhcp/dns of the firewall > with static entries. Or what you can do what we do now in the 2012 R2 and > later era which is domain join the host to the DC-VM and it doesn't freak > out and boots just fine without DCHP/DNS. > > I wouldn't use VMware. I would do HyperV, and I would make these VMs. You > never know even in SMB when you have a need for a virtual machine to stand > up and test something, or a need for another server to put the application > on. > > > On 1/25/2018 8:29 PM, Kurt Buff wrote: > > VMware really wants a DNS server at boot time. If your DNS server is a > VM on that host, it isn't there for VMware. > > This is a problem, to say the least. > > It's really the only reason why I have a DC on it's own physical host > in my server room. > > Kurt > > On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 7:36 PM, Susan Bradley <[email protected]> wrote: > > Why two hosts? > > > > > On 1/25/2018 7:09 PM, Kurt Buff wrote: > > I had further discussion with them today. > > The LOB is Timberline property management software, and they're > adamant about keeping it in-house. They were also set on Dell, so we > finally settled on a Dell T430, with an H330 RAID card, and two 1tb > NLSAS drives, and 16gb RAM. The Windows Essentials will come from > Amazon for a lot less than what Dell was charging - and they weren't > bundling Essentials with this machine anyway. > > They have moved their email to gmail (which was news to me - last I > had heard from them they were still using their SBS 2003 Exchange). > > They also wanted to keep their RD1000 unit for backups, which seemed > pretty reasonable - actually, they'll be getting a new RD1000 bundled > into the new machine, and probably keep the old one for an emergency > spare. > > I'm going to turn that server into a combined AD/DNS/DHCP and file > server, and I think I can convince them to keep their Timberline > software on a domain-joined Win10 machine - I just gives me the > shivers to install third party software on a DC. > > I didn't save them much on pricing (maybe $100-200), but I think I got > them a much better machine. > > And, as a followup, once they have ordered it and it's in house, I'll > be waling through their guy on setting it all up. > > If I could, I'd virtualize it all, but doing that right would involve > two hosts, and more servers than they need, I think that it's pretty > good the way we went. > > Kurt > > On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 9:11 AM, Susan E Bradley, CPA/CITP/CFF, GSEC > <[email protected]> wrote: > > What LOB needs do they have? What storage? > > Premise peeps: The Gen 10 Microserver doesn't have the fans it once had, > my > peeps are recommending HP ML110e > > Cloud peeps: Do they really need a server or a rethinking of what they > do > needs to be done and office 365/mapped drive to Sharefile or Google drive > would be a better plan going forward. What LOB is keeping the need for > the > on premise server? > > These days, check that chip to see if it will get a spectre/meltdown > patch. > > > On 1/25/2018 8:18 AM, Rick Berry wrote: > > I'd suggest the consideration of something aftermarket as an option for > them > (since you said the words 'property management company' and having > supported > a few of those in the past I'll make crass generalizations about budget > limitations/thriftiness) > > www.buysellservers.com ... you can go build a 1U dell for instance with > what you want in it (like a real RAID card) and also still get a > drac/warranty/etc at aftermarket prices. > > We normally do new ourselves, but I'm also not against getting the > occasional 1U 'a few years old but with a fresh warranty' dell for > swiss-army-knife server basic stuff like a dc/dns/ad/dhcp box. > > So sometimes we'll grab something like an R420 poweredge and put a RAID > card > in it/drac it and even ESXi it to internal USB bootable for a few grand > less > than new (but still with new hd's) > > Just throwing it out there, I know folks sometimes cringe at the 'used' > market but in certain situations it works. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Kurt Buff > Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 6:46 PM > To: ntsysadm <[email protected]> > Subject: [NTSysADM] Server build recommendation > > The owner of a small 5-6 person property management company has > approached > me to help acquire a new server. They're currently running a 10+yo > machine > with SBS 2003, and wish to replace it. > > They've migrated their email to gmail, so don't need exchange, but do > want a > DC for account management, DHCP/DNS, etc., so they're looking to go with > Server Essentials. > > The fellow he's nominated at his firm to be their sysadmin is quite > green, > and got a quote from Dell for a tower box with a software RAID card, and > I > told them to hold off on that purchase, while I look at alternatives. > > I was leaning toward an HP Microserver, but haven't played with one in > years, and it looks like the current generation is using an AMD > processor, > and doesn't come with a RAID card to support RAID1. > > Anyone have a recommendation they can make regarding hardware? > > Kurt > > > > > > > > >
