KB9KST wrote:I would like to run Server 2008 as my primary OS and then have Windows 7 run under VMware. I want Window 7 to autostart on boot up and also have Server 2008 assign Win7 a static IP addresses within my domain. Is this possible? From what I have found out VMware assigns its own IP and if you try to assign it one, it won't work.
Jason
Are you set on using VMware?
You mentioned that you want to install Server 2008 as your base OS and then use VMware to run windows7.
Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter along with the same R2 versions come with the Hyper-v equivalent of VMware Server. You can install your server 2008 version and then enable the Hyper-v role and add as many virtual machines as you want to. You will certainly want to read up on how to configure it all, but once you understand the basics, it a snap to set em up.
You will however need to install the 64bit version of Server 2008 / 2008 R2 of your choice and then make sure that your CPU supports (Hyper-V has specific requirements. Hyper-V requires an x64-based processor, hardware-assisted virtualization, and hardware data execution prevention (DEP).
If you boot into your bios and you do not see a setting to enable virtualization then your CPU does not support it. It may support the 64bit architecture, but that's different from virtualization support. What this bios setting does is allow you to install a 64bit virtual machine under Hyper-v. The easiest way to find out if your CPU supports the 64bit virtualization is to try and add the Hyper-v role. It will tell you right away if your CPU supports it. If it installs, then the option in bios is already turned on. If it gives you a warning, then you'll need to boot into your bios and look for the setting to enable it.
Here is a link to Hyper-v in all its glory if your interested.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 10%29.aspx
These link will give you some software tools to check your CPU.
Intel
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_ ... iid=dc_rss
AMD
http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_Tec ... ity_V2.zip
Now with esx < they are phasing this one out >
or
esxi < this one I would choose >
You can install that as your base OS and assign it whatever IP address you want. Then you build your VM from the vcenter client app that you install on a separate machine.
esx and esxi are stand alone operating systems, one comes with a management level and the other does not, you have to install the management level as a vm inside the esx server unlike esxi, its built in. Since you are installing esx or esxi as your base OS, it does not really care if your CPU supports visualization or not until you try to install a 64bit vm, then it will bark at you. You can build 32bit vm's all day long and it wont care, even if esx/esxi was installed as a 64bit OS.
So, your first step would be to find out if your CPU supports x64bit nativity and then if it supports virtualization.
Also...pack as much RAM as you can into a box running any sort of vm's you'll thank me later.
As for the auto start up, both hyper-v and vmware provide a setting to specify which vm's get booted at what time.
You mentioned domain, are you running your own domain controller? Is this DC running DNS / DHCP for the same network you want to install this windows 7 OS on? If so, then you can configure the virtual nic card to be static or dynamic just like any real box.
Both vmware and hyper-v create virtual switches that are tied to your real hardware nic card, so depending on how you set up that virtual switch and then subsequently a virtual nic card, you can do pretty much the same as if it was not virtual.
Hope that helps.