I bought VMWare a while back, and it makes doing a lot of this stuff easy.
Their install script even configures samba or NFS between the host machine
and the virtual machine(s). You can make a pretty cool test bed with a couple
virtual machines running different OSes.
The downside is that VMWare is very pricey, and being closed source, it
doesn't keep up very well with the open source upgrade cycle. I'm having a
hard time getting my VMWare running on the 2.6 kernel, though I hear that the
new one ($120 upgrade) runs fine.
Even though you can play with a lot of things using VMWare, I would recommend
buying three or four old machines and playing with them. Dealing with old
hardware is a learning experience in and of itself, and you could by 15
machines for the price of one educational discounted copy of VMWare. As
someone who has tried both routes, I must admit that I regret my purchase of
VMWare--it was too much money for the amount I use it.
Good luck,
Richard Esplin
On Thursday 08 April 2004 23:17, Andrew Hunter wrote:
> Hi to all. I have been toying with an idea, and I would like to know if
> anyone has actually done this. I would like to set up a virtual learning
> network. Specifically, by use of a virtual machine system such as VMWare,
> I would like to be able to set up various types of machines such as
> workstations, Samba servers, domain controllers, and maybe even a 2-to-4
> node Beowulf cluster. If I want to add machines to a domain, I just
> replicate an image, load the machine and add it. I could replicate a
> baseline server, install Apache and plug it into the "network". The point
> is simply to be able to study the different systems and their
> interconnection in a not-quite-live environment. Naturally, this would
> require a fairly competent workstation, but I think mine might be
> sufficient.
>
>
>
> Has any ever done something like this? I would appreciate any comments
> regarding feasibility and how much such a system could be made to resemble
> the real world. Thanks-
>
>
>
> Andrew Hunter
<snip>
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