At a lot of our offices we use Win2K3 Terminal Server. However, because there are lot of Realtors sharing the same machine the rate of system rot is quite high. If we don’t routinely check up on a machine it can quickly succumb to viruses, spy ware, and other malware.
Since an entire office may share a single Terminal Server (TS) malware has a very big impact on business especially if the accountants and office staff can’t get transactions processed. So we’ve been exploring using virtualization to run multiple W2K3 TS instances on a Linux server to segregate the users. One TS for the Realtors, one for the office staff and one as the Active Directory server. Since Microsoft changed their Windows Server licensing last October we can use one license for all three VMs:
Lastly, we recognize customers are using virtualization to consolidate servers. Therefore, we now have a policy for Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition that allows customers to run up to four running virtual instances on one server at no additional cost. And we’ll go further with the Datacenter Edition of Windows Server “Longhorn,” the code name for the next version of Windows Server, by allowing customers to run unlimited virtual instances on one server at no additional charge.
So far, I’ve only tried out RHEL4 + Parallels. My co-worker uses Parallels on his MacBookPro and it works quite well so I decided to try it out first. After the installation it worked surprisingly well. I did the majority of the install using VNC through an SSH tunnel over the Internet. After playing with it a bit I’ve concluded that it’s not right for running servers (it also wasn’t designed for that). The biggest drawback is that Parallels starts per user and you can’t manage it unless you are that user.
That means if there are multiple administrators managing a group of servers they all have to use the same user account to access the virtual machines. Many people sharing the same user account, that’s just a big no no. What is required is each sysadmin logs in with their account and if they have the privileges, they can manage and maintain the virtual machines. Essentially the usability and performance is good but management would be a nightmare.
The next setup I’m going to try out is RHEL4 + Xen. Xen has a lot of buzz around it and it seems to be the top open source VM solution. The biggest disadvantage is that Xen’s paravirtualization requires an Intel CPU with the VT extensions to run an unmodified guest OS. If you don’t have a CPU with the VT extensions it likely won’t work. Hopefully the dual 3Ghz Xeon (64 bit) guinea pig I’m using works out. *crosses fingers* Otherwise I’ll have to wait for my shiny Core 2 Duo Dell server to show up before I can play with anything. *drools*
I’ll post more when I’ve done some testing. After Xen, I’ll evaluate the free VMWare Server to see how it stacks up in performance and manageability with Xen.
