Windows Server 2016 setup [closed]

Question

I have physical server with the following configuration: HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 v2, E3-1231v3, 32 GB, 2x1 TB

I plan to install MS Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and create multiple virtual machines for following purpose:

1x VM (2GB RAM) to be used as RD Gateway for secure access through RDP to other servers 1x VM (12GB RAM) SQL Server - will host MS SQL and MySQL (no heavy use) 1x VM (6GB RAM) App / Web Server 2x VM (4GB RAM each) for development purpose additional 2-3 VMs may be added as required

Can you please confirm:

1. is the above split / configuration of VMs OK?
2. The physical box has two HDDs (each 1 TB). How would you use the HDDs? Shall I use SW RAID, or just install Windows on 1st HDD, use the second HDD for VMs and do the backups to external drives?
3. I have only one public IP v4 address. I was planning to use this IPv4 for RD gateway to allow access from internet. For communication between servers I wanted to use IPv6 only - is it possible to do it this way? Do you recommend it?
4. Anything else I should consider for such setup?

Thanks, Pavel

Answer 1

1. It really depends on your useage and app loads, no one but you can say if this is a good setup or not without a proper analysis.
2. I'd go with a hardware RAID 1 using the HP smart array raid configuration, but again, this depends if you need high availability vs performance.
3. In theory, yes. I'd only recommend to go with whatever your clients are able to use, and whatever you feel more comfortable with.
4. There is a lot to consider, backup? restore times? security and server hardening? user access? delegation of permissions? documentation? again only you can determine how much you want to invest into making this a good setup or go cheap.

Answer 2

is the above split / configuration of VMs OK?

Sure, whatever you need. Personally I'd use ESXi on this, but windows will probably do the job, too.

The physical box has two HDDs (each 1 TB)

That will be slow. Really, really slow.

How would you use the HDDs? Shall I use SW RAID, or just install Windows on 1st HDD, use the second HDD for VMs and do the backups to external drives?

I would recommend a (Hard-)RAID0/1 on this for better performance and availability. But this configuration will be slow anyway - get all the cache and BB you can find on the controller (nearly all DL3xx are capable of BBWC/BBFC).

I have only one public IP v4 address. I was planning to use this IPv4 for RD gateway to allow access from internet.

Yes.

For communication between servers I wanted to use IPv6 only - is it possible to do it this way? Do you recommend it?

Possible: Yes. Recommend: No. You could use private v4 adresses as needed. Or does the whole setting need to go public completely?

Anything else I should consider for such setup?

A RAID controller with lots of cache. This would speed up your machines.