I'm not much of a network guy, or a windows 2008 server admin, and I'd really appreciate any impressions those of you with more experience might offer.
I expect to build an ESXi box soon to help with my learning curve. I don't have a domain at my home office now, but need to set one up (also learning curve. It would be ideal if I didn't need to keep a windows 2008 dc running all the time, like they are in most workplaces. I was wondering if I install both the dc and the windows 7 domain members as vms on ESXi, will the dc be functional at boot time fast enough to be available to the domain's windows 7 vms? I do expect to turn off the machine when I'm not going to be using it for say 3 hours. With my standalone pc I put it into sleep mode a lot to save juice.
But without expertise in windows 2008 as a dc, or with ESXi, it's hard for me to project if this kind of scheme is going to work, or if it will fall flat on it's face. Am I going to have problems with the windows 7 vms if the dc is hosted on the same ESXi instance?
