In an effort to move away from Microsoft based products, I'm building out a new enterprise infrastructure based on Linux. There are some Windows based servers that supply Application & DB services and I'll have to migrate them over to VMs, for now. There is no Windows domain. The desktops are Windows PCs. The Servers will most likely be Dell or HP.
What I am trying to accomplish:
1) Linux virtualization platform to support Linux and Windows based servers and a workstations (XP for a legacy App)
2) Linux based domain using Univention or other products for Domain, Active Directory, DNS, Print, File services.
3) Mail server, messaging and collaboration server (XMPP possibly).

XMPP covers the basics but I'm looking for a robust full featured messaging and collaboration software that supports screen sharing and whiteboard. Any mobility tie in would be a plus.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Can't say I'm a real expert on at least your last 2 questions, if nothing else, but;

For question;

1) You could look at something like Virtualbox or KVM.
2) Samba does AD and Windows domains and machines.
3) Most Linux distro's from what I've seen, generally come with mail server software installed by default (check your distro's website for details/or google it)

Sorry I can't really be more helpful for you there. But hopefully this helps point you in a direction anyway.

So you want to move Windows into VM-s? Or you want to use softwares written for linux as a replacement?
What kind of DB is that? I do not suggest you to put DB onto a VM, but it highly depends on the usage/size and other things too.

Which is easier to install and manage VB or KVM?

Pan64: I want to make VMs out of existing physical Windows servers (2003, 2008, 2012). Would PtoV work?

Both virtualbox and kvm in my opinion are the same amount of install and config for the most part.

Generally windows doesn't like being converted. VMware had a p2v that fixed hal and just made you validate I think. This would fail if the software was tied to the system. As in you bought the system from an OEM with the software installed. MS provided or full retail/builder should be able to be moved.

The one way that used to work also was a system backup with system state and then apply that back to new install.

OpenVZ v7 handles full virtualization using KVM, and kernel based containers for Linux guests with better performance. The commerical product is Virtuozzo. It has both command-line and GUI management that make life easier for the admin.

PS. I love Virtualbox for test and prototype work, but I find the overhead with it makes it unsuitable for most production server work IMOHO.

Best of breed solutions :
For creating an Active Directory domain without Windows go with any good version of Linux that either has (or a clone of one that has) commercial support. CentOS/RHEL comes to mind at once, but I recommend you avoid it as too conservative. Something with SAMBA 4 would be my minimum requirement. Possibly Ubuntu Server, or an enterprise ready office distribution, but research on Distrowatch will serve you better than any advice. SAMBA servers can be VM guests, but I recommend you have one physical at least and one VM at least for failover when one goes down.

All of the distributions mentioned above other than OpenVZ) have native email servers, and all of the major ones work well and will work as a VM guest. Decide exactly what features you want, and look for the mail service that provides what you need. That will reduce the options you need to examine.

XMPP is a great protocol, but you need to pick a server and clients that will provide the features you want. Nail those down FIRST, then go looking.

Consolidated solutions :
Seek on Distrowatch for distributions that provide small office or enterprise support. There are a few set up to be an ALL-IN_ONE solution to replace Windows server. One of those may serve many or all of these functions as a VM guest or a physical machine.

Once you start looking, feel free to come back here to ask questions about what you find.

As for your first question: have a look at this excellent report: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...510-virt&num=1

jlinkels

Good read. Thank you.

For #1 you should have a look at Proxmox - Debian-based KVM virtualization solution with a very good GUI and tons of enterprise-grade features (yeah it's open source too).