See my prior post on KVM if you want to get started with KVM setup. Assuming you have KVM working on your system, it takes just 3 easy steps to get started using Windows Server 2008 on Linux in KVM. Before starting, you must have a copy of Windows Server 2008 of course. If you don’t have one handy, you can download and burn an eval DVD ISO from here.

Once you have your DVD ready, just execute the following in a terminal:

1. # qemu-img create win2008EE.img -f qcow 10G
2. # kvm -m 750 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -boot d win2008EE.img
3. # kvm -m 500 win2008EE.img

That’s it. Windows Server 2008 seems to require ACPI so the -no-acpi option gave me an error. I will also note that I could not get the 64-bit Enterprise version working and instead opted for the 32-bit Standard (I suspect the issue is the 64-bits and has nothing to do with the edition).

First impression: Windows Server 2008 will feel just like Server 2003 and in some ways feel different. It does seem to startup/shutdown faster than before but there are so many variables it’s hard to tell. 2008 is actually quite visually appealing… can’t point to one thing, but the polish is nice for a server version (I’d call it a Vista minimalist look). Server 2008 of course has all the Microsoft GUI config screens newbie Linux admins dream to find… you have to give Microsoft credit for making it very simple to access and setup server services out of the box.

Microsoft has made quite a few changes (I haven’t explored them all) and I have not used the Core version yet. One noticeable change is (sit down for this)… IIS 7.0 has gone modular - yes, it’s true. Setting up IIS 7.0 will actually look like you’re installing packages using a Yum or Apt-Get GUI. You will be asked to confirm “features” which are akin to dependencies. Whoever redesigned IIS used Apache and Linux - the influence is notable.

I’m barely scratching (or seeing) the surface here so I’ll end with a promise to post more as I play around with the eval over the next few weeks.

Oh, I guess I did also skip the fourth step:

4. Install Windows Server anti-virus, anti-everything security software :-)

And here are some screenshots for those who are interested or require visual confirmation:

(Initial install screen)

(Installing …)

(Login screen)

(Initial configuration screen)

(IIS 7.0 Install with dependency confirmation)

IIS 7.0 setup - I dare anyone to create an informative intro for newbies to Apache like this)

(IIS 7.0 add features/modules)

(IIS 7.0 management GUI)