Some advise on a virtual machine solution

madchaz

Hello all,
I just got myself a "new" home server that I am looking to build up. Right now, I finally got gentoo running on it. ( see https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-825216.html)

My next step is to see if I can't setup some virtual machines on it.

The goal is to have one of the VMs work as a router (most likely using linux) and another as a web server. This leaves the base OS relatively safe so I can use it as a file server.

On my old dual P2, I was using vmware to accomplish this. However, due to the fact that vmware-server 1 is no longer supported on recent kernels and that vmware-server2 as litle or no usable CLI, I am now looking to find another solution.

Requirements

1: Must have a fonctionnal CLI. I have no intention to install X on the machine and want to be able to automate some things, so I need a viable CLI.
2: Must not require the CPU to have support for virtualisation tech. These are old P3 @ 800Mhz.
3: If possible, I'd like to be able to take snapshots and revert to them. If required, I can always just copy the disk image back and forth.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Being able to remotely connect using a client would also be nice (say from my desktop)
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.
www.madchaz.com A small candle of a website. As my lab specs on it.

alunduil · Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:37 pm Post subject:

Have you looked into qemu or VirtualBox? Both seem like they would fit your solution although there are others out there. I forget which one Diego Petteno mentioned in his blog but that one may be worth a look as well.

Regards,

Alunduil

madchaz · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 5:16 pm Post subject:

virtual box won't do, as it requires X. (I would rather avoid having X on a headless machine)

I'm looking into qemu.
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.
www.madchaz.com A small candle of a website. As my lab specs on it.

alunduil · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 6:04 pm Post subject:

Just an FYI, virtualbox has a headless use flag and has a rich set of command line utilities. I wouldn't rule it out but qemu does sound like it fits your needs better.

Regards,

Alunduil

XQYZ · Apprentice Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 231 Location: Europe

I wouldn't use qemu personally. It's really slow in my experience. VirtualBox on the other hand works really well for me and afaik does not necessarily require visualization support.

madchaz · Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 10:33 pm Post subject:

I ended up having to settle for vmware-server2. All the other solutions are based around having the virtualisation extentions on the CPU. the old machine doesn't.
_________________
Someone asked me once if I suffered from mental illness. I told him I enjoyed every second of it.
www.madchaz.com A small candle of a website. As my lab specs on it.

videanuadrian · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 5:48 am Post subject: what about XEN

Hi , i`m using Xen Server 5.5 as a hypervisor, and i have a lot of machines on top of that. I manage to install gentoo on a server that doesn't have virtualization extension. This was a little tricky with gentoo but in the end worked.