XenServer get started pack example (for a SME).

The most common question we get in regard to virtualisation is “How much will it cost me?” which is a fair question to ask. In this post we shall give a example cost for a small to medium sized company. The sort of company that uses Microsoft Windows 2003 SBS for their server(s).

In this example we are giving an indicative costing for a virtualisation host server, using commodity hardware and XenServer Stadard Edition. It is a rough costing only but will hopefully give people new to virtualisation and indication of how little it can cost to get started. This example build would provide a virtualisation host server and also a 2003 SBS server running as a virtual machine along with a Windows XP/Vista virttual machine for testing purposes.

Hardware:

To utilise virtualisation you will want a server with hardware support for virtualisation, in out example we are going with a Intel server so look for VT in the specifications for the CPU(s). This server will have two CPUs, both quad core. RAM is important too, the more the merrier, it is a big constraint so we would recommend buying as much RAM as you can fit in the box. In this example we are budget constrained so we are putting in a bare minimum; 8GB. We have 2X500gb SATA drives (mirrored) and a 250GB SATA drive as well.

Software:

On the software side we are installing XenServer stadard edition with including the subcription advantage and license. We also want a copy of Windows 2003 SBS and WIndows XP/Vista.

Installation:

Installation of Xen is famously quick, but to get everything “just so” take longer. We are being neither optimistic or pessimistic and budgetting three days to install XenServer, WIndows 2003 SBS and XP. This includes configuring all three and taking it to the point where all three systems are usable and we could walk away leaving a working, useful system. It also includes a minimal amount of education and documentation, just enough so that you would feel you could use the system and do the basics.

Cost / Price:

£  3,000 GBP.
This is a example costing, not accurate, so please use it for educational purposes only, not budgeting.

Benefits:

People ask us why we would suggest virtualising Windows Server 2003 SBS, why would you bother using virtualisation for one SBS server?
The reason we give usually is “flexibility“.

By virtualising from the beginning, you help ensure your infrastructure will be able to adapt to changes in your business. Something small businesses (especially in this recession) must be able to do. As a smaller organisation, the small performance decrease due to virtualisation is often not noticeable and the benefits of virtualisation outweigh the negatives easily.

For example, we can now snapshot or even clone our 2003 SBS server with ease. So perhaps before you push those Windows updates onto the server on “Patch Tuesday”, you take a quick (seconds) snapshot of the server first. If the patches kill something, you can roll back to that snapshot with ease, in moments.

With the XP/Vista virtual machine, you have a “desktop” machine to test things on before rolling them out to staff. Again you can clone or snapshot it with ease. Patch testing is a breeze, testing of new software easy! You are also not using a actual physical desk to hold that test workstation, so if like many organisations you are short on space this can be a big plus. Especially if you are doing lots of projects that might need different test machines.

Of course there are other benefits to a virtualised environment, if as you grow the server starts to struggle with the load, migrating to a new server is much easier than if dealing with a physical server. Your Windows server is just files on the physical host, so can be moved pretty easily. If a slightly more advanced installation than the one above was used you would be able to build up a second host server and then share the laod between the two without having to shut down a server at all.

Again, with a the more advanced setup (using shared storage/disk) you can eadsily move virtual servers from host to host without disturbing the users at all. So if you need to do hardware maintenance or upgrades it is easier and can be done inside office hours rather than paying someone overtime to do it after hours.

Of course these are just a  few of the benefits, there are plenty more which we will cover in later posts adn of course we are happy to discuss with you over the phone.

We hope this example is useful and gives you an idea of what a really basic implementation would cost. Obviously you can go higher and lower, using for example the open source version of Xen to lower the costs. You could also go higher and get XenServer Enterprise and better hardware. It is, as always, a case of finding a balance between what you need and what there is a business case for spending.

p.s. This example installation is of course available to purchase, just drop us an email or telephone on 020 7193 8987.