Virtualization and consolidation of machines

[The Stigenator]

Hey guys,

I have several Dell T-110-II (Xeon E3-1240 V2) servers at home running various aspects of my startup company for daily use, however, I recently realized I can probably consolidate the entire 4 servers into 1 server. Most of the servers are running Linux, except for one machine that is running Windows 7 Pro, and only because it runs a piece of software that I need.. thats the only time it runs, however its always on, and eating up precious electricity while idling.

The Windows 7 license is tied to that machine, I haven't been able to upgrade to Windows 10 because the onboard video card (Matrox G200eW) does not have windows 10 drivers at last check. I probably will get a cheap video card (ATi or nVidia) so I can run windows 10 drivers for video and upgrade to windows 10.

The issue is that how does virtualization work with Windows 7/10 keeping track of CPU/HDD or whatever to tie the key to it? I want to use that windows machine as the VM machine, for which I'll have to reinstall any case (to put the hypervisor - ESXi or Proxmox or something else. The machine config will change to 64gb ram and another hard drive (SSD) will power the linux / Windows partitions. The primary hard drives currently will be used for data storage.

So the question is.
1. Do I upgrade to windows 10 (with added video card) and then re-install hypervisor and reinstall Win 10
2. Leave the machine as is and virtualize the linux boxes on another box, leaving this windows as is.
3. Make that windows box a desktop and forget about using it as a server for now - it pretty much is a desktop but it only runs one piece of software, and its got quite a bit of computing power that I could use as a desktop.

4... something else...

 

[sdifox]

You are running win7 on a xeon E3? Any particular reason that software cannot run in a vm?

https://www.howtogeek.com/213145/how-to convert-a-physical-windows-or-linux-pc-to-a-virtual-machine/

 

[The Stigenator]

You are running win7 on a xeon E3? Any particular reason that software cannot run in a vm?

https://www.howtogeek.com/213145/how-to convert-a-physical-windows-or-linux-pc-to-a-virtual-machine/

Oh the software can run in a VM, the license of the software is limited to Windows 7 / 8 / 10, you cant run it on the Windows server OS's.. i know kinda weird.. but it will run in a VM no problem. Infact it doesnt take advantage of the multiple cores as it is a single threaded app...
Its speed is depending on the CPU speed and amount of cache on the chip, I got those dells < 300 a piece, hence xeon's, but they are closely related to the Core i7 4770

 

[sdifox]

Oh the software can run in a VM, the license of the software is limited to Windows 7 / 8 / 10, you cant run it on the Windows server OS's.. i know kinda weird.. but it will run in a VM no problem. Infact it doesnt take advantage of the multiple cores as it is a single threaded app...
Its speed is depending on the CPU speed and amount of cache on the chip, I got those dells < 300 a piece, hence xeon's, but they are closely related to the Core i7 4770

So just virtualise it and run it as a vm.

 

[Ketchup]

One you create a virtual machine, Windows 7 (or any OS you choose as the guest) won't see the hardware/OS beyond it. So you shouldn't have any problem turning your Windows 7 install to a VM unless it came bundled with a Dell/HP/ whathaveyou.