I am an IT manager in large insurance company, and we are preparing to adopt Windows Server 2008 R2.
As per recommended best practices, here is what I would be doing:
1. Build a 50GB fixed size VHD with Windows Server 2008 R2 installed inside. Let’s assume I have 45GB free space left. I declare this to be a master VM and check it into System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (SCVMM) and I have a 50GB file copy.
2. I check out the master VM and get another 50GB file copy. I wait for the file copy to complete, including presumably 45Gbs worth of zeros. Then I install Exchange and overwrite say 15GBs worth of zeros. Once I have Exchange properly installed and configured, I declare this to be an Exchange Master VM and check I in. Another 50GB file copy.
3. I checkout the OS Master VM from step 1 one more time. Again I wait for the file copy to finish including the 45Gbs of zeros. I install SQL and overwrite say 20GBs worth of these zeros. I declare this to be my SQL Master VM and now I have another 50GB file copy to check this into SCVMM.
I need to be able to build a series of master VMs while consuming least resources and I see myself dragging around 10s of GBs of file space that I will immediately overwrite Is there any way to avoid copying the GBs of zeros that will be immediately overwritten? Is there any way to optimize the SCVMM file check in and checkout induced file copies?
