new desktop - virtualization this time - help

[moosepucky]

I am going to be swapping out the internals in my desktop and this time I would like to go virtualization for windows and linux off of the same machine.

Hardware:
Supermicro X8DAH+-F
Two 6 core xeon L5640 (12 cores total)
64 gig ecc ram
adaptec 8405 SAS3/SATA3 raid controller
4 - 120GB SSD (samsung 843T sata/3) - 240gb @ raid 10
4 - 1TB 3.5" drives (ST1000NM0011 sata/3) - 2tb @ raid 10

Software:
Windows 2012 R2 5 cal (retail box)
Windows 7 (retail box)
Windows XP (retail box)
CentOS Linux
Paragon VM

I have not done a virtualization system before so no idea where to start.

Not sure what how to do the drive hardware set up (which drives on the adaptec controller which on the MB controller want raid 10 on both)

What OS to run as the main OS? Paragon does not support server 2012 or CentOS so should I 86 that for another VM manager?

Has anyone used server 2012 and hyper V ?

 

[Alabalcho]

You have to answer for yourself what you want from this box as a primary function.
If you are going to run extensively both Windows and Linux server, go with bare-metal hypervisor, and put everything else on top of it.
Otherwise - install the primary OS you will be using as a sole OS, then put VMs inside it.

<scratching-head-1>It seems Paragon are no longer in the VM business (so no support for 2012), then what you need it for?</>

<scratching-head-2>What you need XP for?</>