[BozemanLUG] Question..

[Scott Dowdle]

Mike,

----- "Mike Stone" <mstone0802 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm looking for a specific method of virtualization. Is there
> something that is a low level host system that runs somewhat like ESX,
> but is designed for workstations? Something that would allow switching
> between virtual OSs like switching between servers on a KVM. I like
> the idea of VMWare Workstation, or VirtualBox, but I don't want to
> have all the overhead of another OS running underneith the OS that I'm
> using.
> 
> Did that make any sense to anybody other than me? Does anybody know of
> anything that does that?

You didn't really say what you wanted to virtualize.  If you want to do Linux on Linux then I'd recommend OpenVZ.  I'm very involved in the OpenVZ community and could answer any follow up questions you might have on it.

If you are wanting to be able to virtualize any arbitrary Intel OS then I'd recommend:

1) KVM - Native to the Linux kernel (GPL) starting with the 2.6.20 kernel and ships with a few distros including Fedora and Ubuntu - requires hardware support for virtualization in the CPU

2) An alternative to #1 assuming you still have VT in your CPU would be Xen.  Xen can support paravirtualized guests or fully virtualized guests.

3) Then there is VirtualBox.  Doesn't require VT but can use it if it is there... and they have an Open Source Edition available.

4) VMware Server.  It's free and works well.  There was a major upgrade to the software a while ago and I think many people like the previous version better.

None of the virt methods are as easy as using a KVM switch hooked up to multiple computers but they all work well.

TYL,
-- 
Scott Dowdle
704 Church Street
Belgrade, MT 59714
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