Specifications

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Principled Technologies, Inc.: Virtualized Exchange workload performance comparison of end-to-end
solutions with iSCSI storage connections: Dell PowerEdge 2950 with Dell EqualLogic PS5000 vs. HP
ProLiant DL385 with HP Stora
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7. Click Close to close the Properties window.
8. On the Networking configuration tab, click Add Networking.
9. Select Virtual Machine for the connection type, and click Next.
10. Under Create a virtual switch, select vmnic1, and click Next.
11. Change the Network Label to Mail Network, and click Next.
12. At the summary page, click Finish.
Creating a virtual machine
The steps below describe how we created a base virtual machine. We performed the following basic steps to
create each of the VMs the test required. We list the exact parameters we specified for each VM in the section
below on installing and configuring that VM.
1. In Virtual Infrastructure Client, highlight the VMware ESX Server (localhost.localdomain).
2. Select FileÆNewÆVirtual Machine.
3. Select Custom on the Select the Appropriate Configuration screen, and click Next.
4. Enter the Virtual Machine Name, and click Next.
5. Select the Storage that will hold the VM, and click Next.
6. Select the Operating System for the VM, and click Next.
7. Use the drop-down box to select the number of virtual processors for the VM, and click Next.
8. Select the amount of memory for the VM, and click Next.
9. Select the Network Connection for the VM, and click Next.
10. Accept the default option for the SCSI Adapter, and click Next.
11. Leave the default option to create a new virtual disk on the Select a Disk screen, and click Next.
12. Enter the virtual disk size, and click Next.
13. Leave the default options for the Specify Advanced Options, and click Next.
14. Review the virtual machine summary, and click Finish to create the virtual machine.
Installing and configuring the mail server
To set up this server, you must install several software components. The following subsections detail the
necessary installation processes. Before following these instructions, make sure to statically assign an IP address
for the server under test, and then plug that port into another system or router. This allows the server to correctly
add the domain server function. We recommend making the IP address 192.168.x.250, where x is the VM
number. For example, the first mail server would have an IP address 192.168.1.250.
1. Follow the steps in the earlier Creating a virtual machine section using the following VM specifications:
a. Name: MailServer
b. Virtual processors: 1
c. Virtual memory: 2048 MB
d. Virtual Disk Size: 40 GB
e. Virtual Network: Mail Network (keep the default Windows Network DHCP settings)
2. Install Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise x64 Edition in the VM.
3. When asked to choose a partition to install the OS to, click New.
4. Enter 24,576 for the size of the partition and click Create.
5. Highlight the newly created partition, and click Format.
6. When formatting completes, click New.
7. Enter 8,192 for the size of the partition and click Create.
8. Highlight the newly created partition, and click Format.
9. When formatting completes, click New.
10. Enter 8,190 for the size of the partition and click Create.
11. Highlight the newly created partition, and click Format.
12. When formatting completes, highlight the 24 GB partition and click Install.
13. Finish the installation procedure using default settings.
14. Right-click the VM in the Virtual Infrastructure Client window, and select Install VMware tools.
15. Reboot the VM.
16. Right-click the desktop, and select Personalize.
17. Click the Screen Saver link.
18. Click the Screen saver drop-down menu, and select (None).