Hi,

I would like to install Windows Server, VMware Server and Linux on the same box so I can study the operating systems and VMware and apply it to production systems. I'd like to easily switch between systems instead of dual-boot.

Which OS should be the base?
If I choose Windows Server.. where can find find free anti-virus?
Do I need anti-virus for all OS's?

What version of VM should I use? Server or Player?

What version of Linux should I use? Currently I have SUSE, openSUSE and UNBUNTU. However, I do not feel the previous 2 are "production" linuxes. Is Red Hat free?

How do I go about installing?

Currently, I have Windows as the base with VM Server running.
I have booted and installed from the Linux's and created a VM machine.
However, when I start the VM machine, it wants to load from CD and not the installed version. Any ideas?

Please try to address all of my questions... I'm not sure I took the right path...

Thanks for your help,

I'd suggest one you're already comfortable with. VMware is going to take a little fiddling to install, and that will go easier if you know the host reasonably well already. Of course other factors you haven't discussed (like security, support, etc.) could affect that decision

I'd say you need security for all OS's. Antivirus is simply one form of security. I would suggest a trip to the LQ Security forum, there is a stick there with lots of information on Linux security.

I don't think you can create new VMs with Player. You definitely can with Server.

Pretty much any of those would suffice. Suse is definitely "production" with openSuse as its testing environment. Red Hat does the same thing with RHES (production) and Fedora (testing). CentOS is a clone of RHES that is freely available. Ubuntu has a massive community that could be of help and some versions of it are Long Term Support, which is their way of saying production.

That is a pretty big topic, but basically you create a Virtual Machine in VMWare and when you first boot it, you have it boot from the installation CD/DVD you want to use.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "the installed version". It sounds to me like VMware is doing the right thing.

Can't add much to the above,

But if you want VMWare server to mount your existing Windows partition, you can do that: I wouldn't recommend it.

When you setup the VM, it'll ask about setting up the harddisk and will give you an option for mounting a partition "partition access". You can go ahead and do that if you want, though you should setup a separte "Hardware Profile" under Windows because VMWare will install different disk and video drivers than the physical install. Then you'll need to reactivate your licence.

However, you're probably better off reinstalling Windows in a VM, though you will need to have a separate licence.

If you want to run Linux both off the physical partition and in a VM under Windows, the same applies, except without the "Hardware Profile" or licence issues. Bit of a headache really, and you're better off with a separate install too.

I'd recommend Linux as the server, but that's just my preference because I like the OS better.