From: "JohnS" Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 12:34 PM >> I haven't updated my WinXP install source to SP3, yet. I have been >> running a WinXP guest on a Dell PowerEdge 2900/CentOS/Xen host for about >> a >> month and a half. After I installed WinXP-SP2, I installed SP3, IE7 and >> subsequent updates. > <snip> > How funy this may sound I was told at a VM Ware conference to > c:\slipstream the SP3. I google'd slipstream. It is interesting. There are MS suggested methods, as well, for the SPs anyway. Creating an updated WinXP install source and an automated install method are definitely on the list. > Not trying to be sarcastic but Wall Mart is 400.00 - 600.00. I have to > say I have gotten several from there for smaller businesses. I'm enamoured of Dell's 3 year, next business day, on-site repair. Included as a minimum on their Optiplex's; extendable to 5 or more years. I get a pretty low failure rate, too. Sometimes if you buy 50 of an item, you might get 3 different revisions requiring completely different drivers. I've been bitten by this type of thing before. If you buy in low quantities and you have time to support the equipment, by all means, get whatever costs less. I've had the staff in my dept reduced by 66% (there were 3, now there's me). Whatever work I can avoid helps make it possible to sleep and visit my family... ;) > You need to have a look at VMWare ESX and check the memory overcommit > features of it. I be willing to bet you could run maybe 20 VMs. Memory overcommit is very interesting. I'd be willing to try it on VMs that aren't active all of the time or as a way to give each VM access to more memory, in case they happen to run a memory intensive app occasionally. I wouldn't want to have 20 people complain about speed because I don't have enough physical RAM and have management kill the project because they've decided the concept isn't feasible. Maybe once the concept/system is accepted I could push the envelope a bit more. > JohnStanley
