Hypervisor question?

my3cents

After a recent server crash (very old hardware) I decided I'd try and virtualise my home server set up. The current set up is a server that runs 24/7 mainly as a firewall and file and print server.

The problem I think I have is that I use a lot of USB HDD for storage (films, apps, books and audio books) and plug them into my current file and print server as needed.

So question is my choice limited to VMware, given the lack of support for USB devices in Hyper-V?

Nothing mission critical and I can give anything thats free a try and might even pay for something that fills the bill. Anything on the MS side is already paid for (Action pack).

ED E

Maybe revisit your storage choices first.

my3cents

ED E wrote: »

Maybe revisit your storage choices first.

They work fine for me and aren't tied to any particular operating system. I don't see any point leaving TBs (10+) of storage spinning 365 when most of it is only needed occasionally and I don't need a fault tolerant backup of stuff I can download again if I loose it.

Just firing up ESXi 6.5 as we speak so will see how it works out.

I've been through this a few times before but ended up using the server I bought for virtulisation as my desktop

Praetorian

my3cents wrote: »

After a recent server crash (very old hardware) I decided I'd try and virtualise my home server set up. The current set up is a server that runs 24/7 mainly as a firewall and file and print server.

The problem I think I have is that I use a lot of USB HDD for storage (films, apps, books and audio books) and plug them into my current file and print server as needed.

So question is my choice limited to VMware, given the lack of support for USB devices in Hyper-V?

Nothing mission critical and I can give anything thats free a try and might even pay for something that fills the bill. Anything on the MS side is already paid for (Action pack).

I have 5 x 4 tb usb hard drives running through Hyper V. Host OS is Windows Sever 2016 running Hyper V and the 5 usb devices are connected to a Windows 10 VM. It all works perfectly

my3cents

Praetorian wrote: »

I have 5 x 4 tb usb hard drives running virtualised on Hyper V and they work perfectly. Host OS is Windows Sever 2016 running Hyper V and the 5 usb devices are connected to a Windows 10 VM.

I'll give it a go, but I just remember last time I was using Hyper-V (2016 core) the only way I could get USB access within a VM was via a share on another system?

I'm getting on fine with ESXi atm but if I can find a spare HDD I'll give Hyper-V another shot. I sort of had plan of running Windows Server 2016 with the full gui and using that for file and print sharing which would obviously work with the USB drives and also run a couple of VM's on it.

Praetorian

As ED E alluded to, be careful you cover yourself with backups on anything important on your usb drives.