[COLUG] Linux on VMware

[Mike Warfe]

I realize that I am late to the discussion but I wanted to share my $.02.

At work we have been using Virtual Iron  (http://www.virtualiron.com) 
over the last three months for server consolidation and it seems to be 
handling our requirements well. So far I have 12 virtual machines 
comprising of Centos 2,3,4,5 and a few Windows Server 2003 and Window XP 
operating systems.  This is maintained on dual core 64bit Dell hardware 
with iSCSI (Linux IETD soon to be Solaris ZFS)  attached storage. 
Everything just works out of the box with a few minor configuration 
changes to drivers on the virtual machine and a few settings on the 
management console. I have the capability to live migrate and add QOS to 
Centos 3,4 and Windows machines with Centos 5 coming shortly.  My only 
issue was migrating physical servers to virtual ones because Virtual 
Iron uses a product called Platespin which was over kill for my needs. 
Instead I opted to use VMWare's converter product with an open source 
utility to convert the images into a format that could be imported.

Overall I would highly recommend the product.
--Mike

Duane wrote:
> Jim Wildman wrote:
>
>   
>> Right, if I get a new kernel.  Existing apps may not like that.  ie, I
>> can run rhel2.1 on a vmware guest.  Not on Xen.
>>     
>
> Xen uses it's own kernels/initrd for guests, so yes you could, just not
> with the rhel2.1 kernel, so yes you could.
>
>   
>> Only if I'm doing hardware virt, not paravirt on Xen.
>>     
>
> One has to ask why, but I guess if you like pain and suffering.
>
>   
>> and this leads back to the level of knowledge available and the level of
>> managment comfort.  VMWare gives you a single stop that 'just works'
>> (for some subset of "works").
>>     
>
> Only if you choose to walk that path, XenSource/Citrix is offering the
> VMware type solution.
>
>   
>> On the open source side there is a lot of stitching together, and
>> rebaking of stuff.
>>     
>
> See above.
>
> Xen gives you options VMware doesn't, but you also have the option of
> deferring to Citrix etc.
>
>