Re: Win7, Linux, Virtualization

[Jim Oberholtzer <midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I use VmWare Workstation extensively.  (i7 box with 32GB RAM, 2TB disk) 
and routinely have five or six clients running at one time, each with a 
separate VPN into other networks.   (Fusion on the MAC workstation as 
well, that actually works better than the Win7 version does) Both 
Workstation and Fusion cost some money but it's worth it in the end.

It would be very simple to create the environment your describing.  In 
my case the base OS is Win7 with workstation loaded on top.

You might also consider that ESX is free for use on a system with 32GB 
of memory or less.  Use ESX as the base OS and load the VMs as needed.  
I have that running on a more beefy machine and it does Active 
Directory, Exchange, several copies of Linux, and soon SharePoint.

Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects


On 11/29/2012 8:04 PM, Sam_L wrote:
> I have an Intel i5 PC with a bare hard drive and lots of memory.  I have
> an OEM version of Win 7 that is uninstalled.  For experimentation, I
> would like to run Win 7, Linux and eventually Win 8 and who knows what
> else, maybe Chrome on this machine.
>
> Seems like the Virtual Box or VMware Player are the choices for virtual
> machines.  Any experience with either?
>
> Would it be better to install Win 7 as the host OS or Linux as the host
> OS?  I'm leaning towards Win 7 because of the licensing issues (and I
> already have XP and Vista machines and software.)
>
> Any input or experience appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sam
> --