virtual machines as servers

[Cortical]

Hi All,

can anyone offer advice/opinion on the following proposal:

The requirement is is to install FM 9 Server (or in the short term, FMP 9 sharing over the LAN)

The proposed configuration, is to have a single box, running two "VMWARE server" virtual machines on debian linux.

One virtual machine will run XP Pro with MS SQL Server 2006 Express Edition installed and running FileMaker (FMP initially, then FMS9).

The other virtual machine will run Win2003 standard server R2 with user sessions running in Terminal server.

The FM GUI will run on the Win2003 TS machine connecting to the XPpro machine over the (virtual) LAN.

This is a LAN only set-up.

There is no File Sharing on the XP pro virtual machine running MSSQL and FM.

There is file sharing on the Win2003 standard sever TS virtual machine.

The Win2003 TS VM user MSSQL applications will connect to the SQL Server running on the XP pro VM via TCP/IP.

The question is will this work, or do we need another virtual machine running XPpro just for FM?

Are there any issues running FMP on Win2003 Terminal server?

regards

Chris

[Vaughan]

It's very sub-optimal running MS SQL Server and FileMaker Server together. FMS should have it's own "box" even if it's virtual.

Though I haven't had any direct experience with virtual server, a large client of mine has several virtual FM Servers (FMS 5 and FMS 8) set up, and it all just works. I'd suggest that FMS 9 would work at least as well as earlier versions, if not better.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

May work, but neither supported nor optimal. including that FMS should run on Windows Server 2003.

A detailed cost analysis might also reveal that it's more expensive to do it this way.

Steven

[Cortical]

Thanks for the replies, we have decided to set up a dedicated box

C

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Very excellent.

The Server White Paper, found here, may prove useful to you.

Steven

[Søren Dyhr]

Unfortunately, doens't your linking provide as much as it might seems to, since the whitepapers are positioned elsewhere:

http://www.filemaker.com/support/whitepapers.html

Couldn't you pinpoint which of the papers, that specificly dissuade the use of virtualization???

--sd

[Steven H. Blackwell]

The link provided goes to here:

http://www.filemaker.com/products/upgrade/techbriefs.html where all the papers are located. The specific one is How to Take Advantage of New Server Model and Capabilities.

I recommended a review of the Server White Paper, not for virtualization, but for general information on best practices for Server use and set-up.

HTH

Steven

[Søren Dyhr]

So we need to search high and low, of no avail? Where is the exact difference, number of psu's ...there is not much art in having several raids each handling it's own purposes??

There are several fears, the NRA'ish kind, the one elderly women sometimes exhibit after watching the news. Which one is this?

"The one who dies with most toys - wins"

Realize that dissuations, better not be based on hearsays, they might create circular kind of conclusions. Say like the ones spindoctors are hired to make, even if the goal is questionable.

I heard at Devcon some years ago, that FMI's engineers prefered windows servers over a pile of mac lunchboxes, this was never really questioned by the audience nor me in public at least. But the problem here is that it's creed!

--sd

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I have no idea what you're talking about here.

The original poster seemed to need more information about Server; hence I referred him to the tech brief.

Steven

[Søren Dyhr]

I'm talking about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse

...where you rush down to:

"The social conception of discourse" - This means that both you and Wim supports each others point of views, not quite knowing who said it first and by it perhaps elevates it into pseudo knowlege or at least a common sense, not making it quite the same thing as a mathematical proof, since whats seems to be goin on is cross-referencing to others in the same "discourse"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theorem

--sd