In the near future I will finally be retiring my old personal computer and replacing it with a wholly new machine. This presents a great opportunity to start on creating a small virtual server configuration. It’s not much, but it’ll be a perfect way to get into virtualization.
The Plan
My goal is to set up a basic virtual server capable of simultaneously running multiple servers on various operating systems. The types of servers would include a Plex media server, a storage server, and some testing environments. Ultimately, I’d like to set up a RAID array for data and run the hypervisor off of an SSD. I’m still limited by budget so it’ll be a while before I can get a full scale RAID array. For now, I may just have to go with a simple drive configuration.
Hypervisors
Right now, the decision for which hypervisor to use is split between VMWare ESXi or Microsoft HyperV. Both of these see widespread use in the IT industry – so it’d be great to work with them more outside of the office so I can truly explore their capabilities without risking harm to a money-making enterprise.
Right now, I am leaning towards HyperV as I already have a background in Microsoft products like Microsoft Server, so the learning curve will be less steep. This decision will be finalized once I have finished decommissioning my current computer.
