Creating a virtual machine (vm) on ESXi 5.5 for Windows Server 2012 (Part 2)

Creating a virtual machine (vm) on ESXi 5.5 for Windows Server 2012 (Part 2)

Provisioning the resources for our VM.

If you were born around the 80s you probably remember playing Oregon Trail where you're going out on your own and need to make sure you bring enough supplies for you to survive.  Those were called your provisions and it's the same thing here.  You need to assign resources for everything your server needs to have to be able to run on its own. Just a reminder on how to get to the VM properties: Right click the vm and goto Edit Settings.  ESXi agrees with me and also puts the most important resource to worry about first.

Choosing a version of Windows Server 2012 for my virtual machine on ESXi 5.5

Choosing a version of Windows Server 2012 for my virtual machine on ESXi 5.5

This started out as provisioning a vm until I saw all the different versions of Windows Server 2012 and ended up writing enough to make this it's own post so here it is.

 So I have 1 vm of window 10 running, and I figured I'd do a write-up of making my next vm. Windows Server 2012 R2 evaluation which can be downloaded here.  Upon going here you get a ton of options and realize that there are more than just Windows Server Standard and Enterprise edition.  There are now in 2012:

• Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
• Windows Server 2012 Standard
• Windows Server 2012 Essentials
• Windows Server 2012 Foundation

The Windows_Server_2012_R2_Licensing_Datasheet.pdf can be found at this location to give you a more robust idea of the differences between the editions.  Microsoft's quick take on this is the following.