HI there!
I've got a much deeper question regarding VM architecture, but need to ask this first. For cost-saving as well as power-saving, I am thinking of having 3 VMs (1 Trixbox CE, 1 Windows 2008 R2, 1 Ubuntu server) run off a machine that will also be used as a workstation and storage center - I guess by now, eyebrows are raised and heads are shaking, but hear me out...
The use of the above will not be simultaneous. The machine is intended to be on for no more than 14 hours a day. For 10 hours in the day I envisage running the 3 VMs. Thereafter the 3 VMs will be shut down, and the machine will be used as a workstation for the remaining 4 hours.
The host OS will be a Linux derivative - please advise on this in conjunction with Virtualization...I only have experience with Ubuntu Server, and do know my way around the console. I would also like to make my +/-3TB of disk space (RAID 10) available in a sort of "NAS" fashion to all Operating systems (incl. VMs) and to all devices across the local network.
Firstly, what reservations do you have about this setup? And if it is possible/feasible, how should I setup (not looking for details here, just a nudge in the right direction) the Virtual Machines.
I would imagine that a lot of people ask similar questions to cut corners, but if its not possible, or unfeasible then I would have to look at an alternative setup. Looking back on my question, I realise that it is a bit silly to ask, but I cannot find any other way to ask this. I greatly appreciate your response.
Seems reasonable if you're strapped for cash. If possible, though, I'd highly suggest looking into whether or not you'd be able to run ESXi (which is free) instead of VMware Server. You'll need to look into whether or not your hardware is on the ESXi HCL. If it is, you'll find that ESXi gives vastly superior performance to VMware Server.
For your storage/NAS needs, just spin up another VM with a large disk allocation and share it out however you need, whether via SMB, iSCSI, NFS, etc.
Also, as long as you watch your RAM and CPU utilization, there's really no reason all three of your proposed VMs can't be running 24x7. As long as things are performing well, then have at it!
Storage performance and RAM are your biggest concerns here. Make sure that hardware includes at least a quad core CPU as well. Without knowing what kinds of workloads you're likely to be doing on those VMs it's hard to make a real recommendation for storage; you may be able to get away with a simple RAID1 pair, or you may need six disks in a RAID10 setup. Maximizing your RAM is a very good idea as it'll give you flexibility in your workstation and VM workloads, as well as enough headroom to deal with the occasional test-VM.
This is quite doable, but I would not consider it production.