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Tami Farrelly

SBS 2011 Virtualization on Server 2016

Hi there...I am looking for some assistance for the hardware to run a virtualized SBS with sharepoint, exchange and file sharing on a new hardware 2016 server.

I am also wondering about the licensing...with the 2016 server will I need user cals as well?

we desperately need to replace the hardware for our current SBS 2011 Premium....then we plan to migrate the SQL to a standalone and the exchange to 365 and  eventually the AD to the new version 2016 or what ever is best in 2020.

I am unsure of the setup for virtualization as so far I have only used virtual desktops...

How many physical and virtual drives would I need.

our current set up is mirrored system...stripped data drives (exchange data and sharepoint data and file sharing) on SAS 15K ...we have excellent performance from this current set up...alas the hardware is aged and should be replaced.

Mariette has suggested nice beefy hardware....such as SSDs.

We currently have dual xeon processors...and 32 gb of RAM....are there any other suggestions for hardware?? We plan on 2 NICs also.

any advise on the best setup for this is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Tami

asked02/12/2019 16:32
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Mariette Knap

Microsoft MVP

Hello Tami,

I am also wondering about the licensing...with the 2016 server will I need user cals as well?

If that 2016 server is the Hyper-V host you don't need user Cals.

How many physical and virtual drives would I need.

On the Hyper-V Host I would create a Raid 10 or Raid 6 array of at least 6 drives or SSD's. When you install the Hyper-V host I would assign 256 GB as the boot partition and once the OS has been installed I would create one big partition that holds all VHDX files (the virtual disks). Those VHDX files are created as soon as choose to create a new VM and attach virtual harddisks.

If you use the tool to virtualize the SBS as in Virtualize your SBS 2008 or 2011 and run it as a virtual machine on Hyper-V server it will create one VHD file that holds everything inside the SBS. This means that if you have several partitions or drives they will all show up in the VHD as partitions. You can also exclude or explicitly include drives or partitions:

Disk2vhd includes command-line options that enable you to script the creation of VHDs. Specify the volumes you want included in a snapshot by drive letter (e.g. c:) or use "*" to include all volumes.

Usage: disk2vhd  
Example: disk2vhd * c:\vhd\snapshot.vhd

 

Tami Farrelly

Thank you for the licensing information

I have ordered a system with 2  480 GB GB SSD mirrored for the System and 3 1.92 TB SSD Stripped for the virtual...dual xeons and 32 gigs of RAM..the SBS will be in use until 2020...when I can then migrate

I really do appreciate your help!!!

best regards

Tami

replied 02/19/2019 19:54
Mariette Knap

Thanks Tami!

replied 02/22/2019 11:38
Tami Farrelly

Got a nice beefy server with 2016 installed..

Does this server need to be a member of the existing 2011 SBS domain? or can I just virtualize the SBS on it as is? 

I figure I should add to the domain for the future migration??...we have a SQL member server on our SBS domain that runs our inventory management database.....this will need to be re licensed...may as well upgrade to latest greatest stable version. Eventually in the future we will migrate the Exchange, Sharepoint and file storage\sharing. 

Anyway...would like to test the SBS virtual migration before going to production.

Does the host server need to be in the domain...or can it sit independently and host the SBS 2011 ??

Any advices is greatly appreciated.

 

Tami 

replied 03/26/2019 15:48
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Last Activity 03/26/2019 15:48

1 Answer(s)

  • Chris Currell

    Hi Tami,

    You left out a few major detail - How many users are you supporting? What is your projected read/write ration?

    When it comes to virtualization IOPS are king. You need enough Input/Output per second from your data stores to support your users demands. Usually this accomplished by using more smaller drives in a RAID 6 or 10. This way your spread the read/write across more drives which increases performance.

    What ever your dive configuration you create one data store and install your virtual machines to that data store.

    We have found that your hardware requirements in a visualized environment are greatly reduced. If you needed to give a physical server 8GB of ram then you can expect to use about 2GB on the same server ritualized.  We run dual Xeons in our three hosts and never run out of CPU with over 32 virtual servers running. Each host as 64GB and we don't have any issues so far. We are using vmware essentials plus with v-motion for the past 10 years. 

    Good luck

    answered 03/14/2019 18:00
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