I need to set up a system to load test our software. Each VM would have a minimal installation of XP or Windows 7, along with our client software, and a USB device. The VMs would require minimal memory (512k for the os and our software) and minimal CPU usage. I'd like to create as many VMs per server as possible (I have three servers available, one16 gb and two 32 gb).
I've been using Workstation for many years for software testing, but never attempted to run more than three or four VMs simultaneously. Is Workstation suitable for this purpose, or would some other VMWare product be more appropriate? I couldn't find any information as to the maximum number of USB ports that can be virtualized on a single machine.
The software running in the VMs is not what we will be load testing. The client software running in the VMs will transmit data to a service running on another (not virtualized) machine. The intent here is to create a load on our server software from a large number of client machines, without having to set up a large number of physical client machines.
Thanks for any advice or guidance.