We are currently running 8.03 and have about 15 users on an older server and are looking to buy new hardware and clone our current prod server to the new server. At some point we would like to update to 10.2 but for now we are just looking to move our 8.03 environment off the old hardware and onto new hardware for several reasons. Can anyone give us any guidance on the hardware we need to look at to run our 8.03 environment for now on the new server but also be able to support the possibility of going virtual for E10 for SQL and the appserver? Can we use the Epicor hardware guides for this? Anyone have any experience with cloning 8.03 and running it on new hardware? Could we use the hardware specs for 50 users from Epicors guide for the physical server? We aren’t sure if anything special is needed hardware wise to use virtual down the road on the server other than the program to do it like VMWare.
I would consider buying a virtual host and performing a P2V of your current server. That would be the fast track to getting up and going, leaving you the most scale and flexibility. The hardware guide will give you exactly what you need for specs.
As I understand it though the hardware specs from Epicor are for a server that is optimized to run E10. Can we use the hardware specs for say up to 50 users for the physical server, and then buy VMware to setup the virtuals down the road if we goto version 10?
I would buy a host that can support multiple VMs (why limit yourself). Install Hyper-V and save yourself the costs of VMWare. Virtual your V8 server. Then later standup your E10 server on the same box.
As far as specs on the host you really need to determine if you are only ever going to run Epicor on it (which would be silly, if you go virtual go all virtual) then get what you need and call it good. If you want to run more on it you basically just add up everything you have for RAM and get that much RAM +25% and get something like 2-8core procs of latest flavor.
That’s a very very very very rough approach. Only you can spec out how many resources you need. It’s a bit of science and a bit of art. No one here could tell you what exactly you need. The only way any one of us could get close is if we knew everything in your environment as it is today, how long you want to keep the hardware (buying or leasing), what the budget is, and what your company growth plan is. Way too many factors for a simple answer of use the sizing guide for 50 users. That could be too little or way overkill, personally I have no idea. You might consider a VAR to determine your hardware needs as a company.