[GLLUG] xen vs vmware server (resend)

[Richard Houser]

I never got a copy of this message back, so I assume the list might be
eating it....

Caleb Cushing wrote:
> I'm looking at running some *nix systems in virtual machines at work.
> qemu is out because it requries version 3 of gcc and gentoo switched
> to 4 over 6 months ago. I've installed vmware-server. but I'm thinking
> about trying xen or another virtual machine that I haven't thought of.
> I also thought I may use it to build images for the penguicon gaming
> machines.

I hear Xen is the way to go, but I've not had a need to virtualize a
server yet myself.  I have used VMWare on single-processor machines for
desktop use and the latency can get kinda bad.  I set one up for my Dad
on an X2, and it performed almost as well as Windows does natively for
normal office type applications.

If the hardware is not already purchased, you might be able to take
advantage of hardware instructions on the newer processors.  For AMD, I
think all the Athlon X2 AM2 socket chips supported the feature, but I'm
not sure where the Opteron or Intel versions came into play.  This is
also VERY important if you were going to need to run Windows (I agree,
ICK!, but I don't know your business requirements).