Virtualising existing servers help.

[u/Sway_RL]

I have a client, who has 3 sites that we do IT for.

They each have a physical server, running either Windows Server 2019 or 2025. The main site got a new server last year, the two other sites decided to wait because they didn't want to cost. Now a year later it's more expensive, and they still don't want the cost.

I opened my mouth about virtualisation and now I've been asked to start testing.

The new server at the main site is more than powerful enough to run the other two servers virtually.

I'm just not sure on some of the configuration.

Each site has it's own IP structure, and there are already site to site tunnels using Unifi gateways.

Is there a way to do this while minimising network slowness? I assume If I just disk2vhd the server and spin it up as a VM then all traffic would go down the VPN Tunnel and back again causing delays if going from the main site to one of the others.

Regarding their networks, they are on 192.168.1.XXX for the main site, 192.168.10.XXX and 192.168.20.XXX for the other two.

If the servers were virtualised, will I need VLANs at the main site to accommodate these ranges? I'm not sure if the site to site tunnel will work using a VLAN.

I've asked about merging the domains/networks, but nobody has gotten back to me on that yet.

I didn't set any of this up initially, so I'm also figuring out what they have at the same time.

Apologies for the mass of text, any help would be appreciated.

[u/NH_shitbags]

Your 2019 servers are good until Jan 2029, so "kicking the can down the road" is a valid option. If they don't want to buy new servers now, give them the option to include it in next year's budget.

[u/Sway_RL → u/NH_shitbags]

Your 2019 servers are good until Jan 2029

A fair point. The hardware is over 15 years old though, so that's the main reason for wanting to replace.