Linux Virtual Servers

[Scott Ruckh]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bruce" <bedouglas at earthlink.net>
To: "'Scott Ruckh'" <sruckh at gemneye.org>; "'General Red Hat Linux discussion 
list'" <redhat-list at redhat.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:20 AM
Subject: RE: Linux Virtual Servers


> Hi...
>
> not sure if this is germain to your timing issue with vmware...
>
> http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf
>
> we had an issue that was killing us regarding our virtual linux servers in
> vmware going way off course regarding timing.
>
> as i recall, there was a config parameter that we were able to set, based 
> on
> the above article...
>
> good luck!!

Yeah, I had tried the clock=pit kernel parameter and also re-compiled the 
kernel using slower interrupts.  Latest VMWare tools are installed in all 
guest OSes, and the synch clock is set to true in the .vmx file.  I have 
read others having some success with these techniques.  Unfortunately, I was 
not one of them.

I do find it somewhat odd that using the ntpd daemon in a guest OS under 
Virtualbox keeps the time perfectly in synch.  VMWare goes into great 
lengths to say how difficult time synchronization is in a VM and they never 
recommend the tools we use with our physical machines (ntpd, w32time, etc). 
Yet, with virtual box you get perfect time synchronization with the guest's 
OS time synch tools.

I am not saying Virtualbox is better then VMware, but it is free, and I do 
not have the time synch issues.  I don't think Virtualbox is enterprise 
ready, but it sure is useful for the home desktop environment.