It seems people are more interested in holy wars over virtualization
platforms rather than how virtualization could (or even should) fit into OF.
Those claiming OF is best run as a guest, if you are stating this, then you
are really stating "OF doesn't need virtualization host support, only guest
device drivers." let's leave the Coke vs Pepsi trolling for some other
forum ;)
Those claiming that the ability to run a low-impact guest on the OF platform
directly would be a value add (this is me) are claiming, er... just that.
So whatever virtualization camp you park your host in, it doesn't matter,
although each side has interesting anecdotes (Think I'll whip out my old
SoftPC ;)
More interesting to me are the thoughts of these two different sides of the
coin, host/guest support in OF.
So, I will weigh in my $2.0 * 10^-2...
Xen technology is open-source and currently supports paravirtualization for
unmodified guest OSes at near-hardware speeds when run on any VT-x or AMD-V
capable processor. To my knowledge, there is currently no other solution
that offers these 3 things, namely: open source, runs the most popular
unmodified guest OSes, does so in a cpu-efficient manner.
That said, I believe that if an SMB with limited infrastructure could
purchase a low-cost OF-based system that offered them both storage
management and the ability to run a backup Windows domain controller as
well, it would be quite a value-ad over storage alone. For that small
5-person company looking to up a small infrastructure using Windows Small
Business Server but also needs several TB of storage, getting their entire
infrastructure in just 2 boxes is compelling. Especially given the limited
amount of space/power/cooling available in the typical small wiring closet.
The ability to do asyncronous replication to a DR site over high-latency and
supporting iFolder for backup/sharing of critical files would make it a slam
dunk.
While these items move slightly away from the "Enteprise Storage" model, at
least as it has been defined in the past, the writing on the wall shows that
at least in the NAS space, a need for more value.
-=dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Les Mikesell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 6:44 PM
Subject: Re: [OF-users] anyone successful getting vmwareserver
1.0.1.29996installed on OF 2.1? - done
Chris wrote:
My $0.02 on virtualization products...
I haven't done scientific tests or ran all the products in production
for a long time, but I've been exploring the options. The free VMWare
server works and supports a hell of a lot of different guest OSs, but
I think it lacks one of the major selling points of going virtual:
live migration to another box. ESX has this, but it costs a ton.
VMware has a free basic version now:
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/. Or did you mean a live cutover
between running guests on different hosts?
--
Les Mikesell
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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