I am looking to build a lab install server, which will need to connect to an external Thunderbolt drive in RAID-1 config, and handle 12-16 concurrent connections to shared files. My preference is to do this with a VM, so I can have VM backups and a better chance of recovery in a problem scenario. But I am curious what the performance delta will be compared to Bootcamp? Is the Parallels Virtual NIC & drive access more like the CPU, where you really don't see much impact in the VM, or is it more like the virtual GPU which takes a massive hit? And is there any concurrent connection limit? On the high end I could see up to 24 machines being deployed at once, but not likely more. Any insights greatly appreciated, as I am doubtful I will get much chance to benchmark the concept before a live implementation. Thanks, Gordon
