[K12OSN] Thinking about virtualization

[Les Mikesell]

Carl Keil wrote:
> Hi Group,
> 
> Does anyone know if K12LTSP can work as a virtual server along side other
> virtual servers?  It seems crazy, but I'd really like to consolidate all
> my servers onto one monster (for me) box.  I'd like to include my K12LTSP
> box in my migration plan, but something tells me I'm better off with
> dedicated hardware.  BTW - this is for my home network.  Around 5 clients.
>  Right now I'm serving off a Pentium D 1.8, gig of RAM ATA disk.  I'm
> thinking of going 4 cores, SCSI, (or SATA RAID) 2-4 gigs of RAM for the
> virtual server host box.  My other server functions are very light, mainly
> web stuff, so a lot of the time the K12LTSP will have all that power, if I
> can configure it that way.

The big reason for wanting to virtualize is you have to keep 
incompatible versions of things running at the same time.  On a small 
home network that's probably not the case and you might be able to run 
all your services on the same system - or run the things you use less 
often under vmware with the centos-based k12ltsp as the host.

> Also, what's the deal with VMWare server?  What's the license?  I can't
> find that info on their site.  Are they the only game in town?  If I use
> their free serial numbers are they going to cut me off down the line?  I
> love the idea of all the turnkey appliances they offer, but I think I want
> to stay squarely in the realm of FOSS if I can.

The beta releases of server had timeouts on the serial numbers but the 
current versions are supposed to be good forever.  Eventually xen may be 
better, especially on the newest 64-bit processors with hardware 
virtualization support but vmware is a safe bet now.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com