New to virtualization, how should I choose host/guest OS?

[subferno]

I am a Windows 10 user. I have interests in setting up two environments: 1 that is Windows for development with no network access, the other for general internet usage. Security is the focus of this configuration.

 

Should I use Windows as both the host and guest? Since I do media development, should my host be running Windows natively and virtualize the other OS with Ubuntu for internet access? Or run Ubuntu natively and virutalize Windows with disabled network? I have limited Ubuntu knowledge but I think I can manage. How is data recovery with the vm if something goes wrong? Can I share files between the two environments and still be secure?

 

Thanks

[sc302 Veteran]

host should be whatever you choose/are comfortable with.  guest should be whatever your use case is going to be. 

 

If it were me, I would have a dedicated host to house all of my VM's on.  I would probably use vmware as it is very/highly documented and if there are issues I can search kbs and other internet sites for answers...someone probably has run into the same issue before and typed it up nicely for me to follow along.  The guest would be whatever my use case is...maybe a microsoft sql server, so I would get the sql server requirements, bump them up a bit, and then startup the guest os build process followed by the role/software installs on said guest.