Open Dental Forum

Hello,
I need to get a new server.
Is open dental support running window server 2022 standard?
Also VMware ESXi ? My IT guy proposed the following setup and he wants to know if open dental will support window server 2022 standard and VMware ESXi.


Option #1 - VMware
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1) Install VMware ESXi directly on the R720 (No Windows needed for this step)
2) Configure VMware
3) Create VMware VM (Virtual Machine)
4) Install Windows Server 2022 on the VM (Windows Server 2022 license required)

Option #2 - Windows Hyper-V
---------------------------

1) Install Windows Server 2022 directly on the R720
2) Confiure Windows Role for Hyper-V
3) Create VM (Windows Virtual Machine)
4) Install Windows Server 2022 on the VM (No additional Windows license required)

Thanks.

I'm running Open Dental on a Windows Server 2022 without issue. I can't speak to the remainder of your setup.

I'm going to make a slightly controversial and perhaps not perfectly accurate statement: A modern server-based business application that runs natively on a modern Windows Server without virtualization, should work on the same Windows Server version under virtualization (using hardware that supports virtualization and with any necessary host virtualization add-ons from the hypervisor). Any application that cannot is either badly designed, poorly implemented/architected or is not following Microsoft guidelines for development. There, I said it.

That said, there are sometimes issues with passthru external devices that must physically plug into the server; when virtualized, they are being plugged into the hypervisor host, and must be virtually mapped to the virtual server you are running. Dongles, external drives, external USB devices etc *might* have some issues, or require a little extra effort to set up.

Some companies however won't support their product on a VM (hello Patterson Imaging), because they are either: ignorant, lazy, technically weak, or have taken inappropriate liberties as mentioned in my first paragraph. These are companies you should avoid for important technical solutions.