Windows Server 2012 R2 on the Surface Pro 2 or 3?

[vanhalo]

Anyone considering doing this?

I am thinking about using the SP2 as my mini mail server because of the low energy usage.

Anyone else tried this yet? On the 2 or 3?

I am talking about a full OS replacement. Not the Client Hyper-V that comes with 8.1.

 

[jnjroach]

How big and active is the Exchange DB going to be? My concerns would be SSD Life and on the SP3 being built around a Connected Standby System....

 

[bkydcmpr]

so you are saying to use it at a fixed location? maybe you need an external hard drive. I wouldn't do that for my mobile one, it'll make the already complicated power management worse.

 

[TheCudder]

Wouldn't recommend it personally, just buy a cheap tower server instead. I just replaced my old "server" with a Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 (no HDD) for $285

 

[tuchas]

Anyone considering doing this?

I am thinking about using the SP2 as my mini mail server because of the low energy usage.

Anyone else tried this yet? On the 2 or 3?

I am talking about a full OS replacement. Not the Client Hyper-V that comes with 8.1.

Why not create a VM that runs Server 2012 and allocate half of your RAM to it? It should run pretty fast particularly with an 8GB Surface Pro (set for 4GB for the VM) along with the SSD. I am running a VM with Server 2008 and SQL 2012 on my SP3 and it runs quite well.

 

[unruledboy]

@tuchas

nice.... I am planning to do so... including visual studio 2014:starstruck:

 

[vanhalo]

Why not create a VM that runs Server 2012 and allocate half of your RAM to it? It should run pretty fast particularly with an 8GB Surface Pro (set for 4GB for the VM) along with the SSD. I am running a VM with Server 2008 and SQL 2012 on my SP3 and it runs quite well.

I use Mdaemon Pro from ALTN. I have been using it for 12 years to support me and my wife. It does not require the resources that Exchange does. Now my goal is to run a Mac Mini server type solution that has a low energy consumption foot print.

I would use a Thecus Pro 5200 (RAID appliance) and iSCS for storing the email. I dont think you can do Hyper-v migrations from the client Hyper-v that ships with 8.1

The idear is to run the core verion of 2012 R2 on the SP2 and ship over settings and email to my SP3 every night. I would have the mail server installed in a VM on the SP3 ready to go if needed.

This would be for a DR situtation. Plus I like having the idea of picking up my datacenter and leaving the house with it if I needed to.

I have been running a Dell Power Edge 2500 for 12 years (Windows 2000 and 2003). It costs me around 3-$500/ year in electricity.

 

[ewoodrick]

There are many cheaper ways to run Exchange.
Running Windows Server 2012 R2 on a Surface isn't going to give you as much energy savings as running Windows 8. The product isn't designed for it. You really don't want your Exchange server going to sleep, do you?
Sure, it can be done. Sure, it may be a good use of an old computer. But it's hard to believe that it would be a good use of a device as expensive as the Surface.

 

[vanhalo]

There are many cheaper ways to run Exchange.
Running Windows Server 2012 R2 on a Surface isn't going to give you as much energy savings as running Windows 8. The product isn't designed for it. You really don't want your Exchange server going to sleep, do you?
Sure, it can be done. Sure, it may be a good use of an old computer. But it's hard to believe that it would be a good use of a device as expensive as the Surface.

I am not running Exchange. The primary requirement is low energy usage.