Seeking recommendations for the most reliable server

[Mike]

Since we're talking virtualization, does any one know of a ESX alternative that will boot a node from USB/Flash? ProxMox will install to USB but since it writes / swaps to local storage it'll kill the stick in no time.

Swap is not required for KVM or vz, although they will 'park' memory that has been untouched for a while from what i believe.

 

[BThunderW]

There's a lot more local io than just swap. Things like logging, date stamping etc.

 

[Mike]

There's a lot more local io than just swap. Things like logging, date stamping etc.

Remote logging, async logging, no logging.
Usb or SD bootable medias have their place in a huge cluster maybe. Unlike Vmware though you can actually do something useful with your host so why not do away with the throwaway media.