[Fwd: Re: What VM technology to use?]

[Karl Bowden]

I guess I'm going to pipe in on this too. I'd been a die hard fan of
VMware since I was a windows only guy (admittedly 9 years ago). But
since testing out Xen and KVM I have found place for virtualisation in
business use. VMware is a very nice polished product, but I have
always found installing VMware tools in linux guests a headache, and
their support for new linux kernels to be reasonably slow. I have not
been able to faulter their windows support on the other hand. But
windows is not what I want to use virtualisation for.

I have been using Xen for the last year or so on the servers at work
(5 x 32 and 64 bit, 2 - 4 core servers). And while I have found it
invaluable, I have started lately migrating to KVM for nvidia support
and stability. The main issue holding me back was vm migration between
hosts, but since putting KVM through it paces lately I have not been
able to fault it. Dont get me wrong. I still think Xen is the best
solution for businesses, but with it's flakey 32bit support in ubuntu
and lack of out-of-the-box support for nvidia gpus, although it runs
ok on some of the servers, desktop testing use have been frustrating.
KVM on the other hand has never crashed on me once and has been
working out-of-the-box with ubuntu for the last couple of releases. I
have almost finished migrating the last of my vm's to kvm. ATM I use
it both for testing of win xp thru 2003 to linux on desktop and
server. Using mostly libvirt and virt-manager. I still 'revert' to
vmware every now and then for it good usb support on being able to
flash a phone's firmware from a xp vm under linux (I so wish I could
fo it all from linux but).

So I guess my conclusions on the subject would be:
virtualbox is my preference for 'free' desktop gui vm  solutions for end users.
vmware is a necessity for communicating with nokia phones in a windows
vm under linux.
kvm is now where my money is for business vm solutions.
xen is a great product that lacks in kernel support (my nvidia probs
were neither the kernels or xen fault, but ther still existed), but it
just dosnt seem to be the 'future' for linux based vm support.

- Uncle Karlos

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 9:34 PM, Cary Bielenberg <cary at bielenberg.id.au> wrote:
>
>
> Daniel Mons wrote:
>
> Cary Bielenberg wrote:
>
>
> I guess the main problem from my perspective is documentation & "spit &
> polish" of Xen & KVM makes it hard if you only administer 10 odd
> machines, It's ok if you eat sleep & breath these apps but to the
> sysadmins who have to multi skill it is almost prohibitive to setup.
> What I'm trying to say is Vmware is bundled so that it is easy to
> implement! I want to use open source solutions & am sceptical of
> commercial companies who have "free" & commercial offerings. I want to
> try the alternatives but to say the least KVM is a pig to implement
> considering *buntu has made this the default. I googled for how to's but
> there was a fair bit of ambiguity & confusion in the implementation.
>
>
>
> I'm struggling to understand why you consider it "a pig" to use these
> things.
>
> Virt-install and virt-manager make installing VMs about as easy as
> falling off a log.  And if you insist on pretty pictures, OVirt is for you:
> http://www.ovirt.org/
>
> If you only need desktop virtualisation (not server side stuff), then
> use something more purpose-fit like VirtualBox (also free):
> http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Screenshots
>
> Honestly, if the only thing holding you to VMWare is a pretty GUI, get
> out there and check out the competition.  VMWare is fast becoming
> redundant due to their technology rapidly becoming commoditised.
>
> ArsTechnica have a marvellous write up on the situation:
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080711-a-victim-of-its-own-success-troubled-times-ahead-for-vmware.html
>
> VMWare's glory days are long gone, and they face stiff competition from
> a rising number of free competitors.  Even if you live and breathe
> VMWare, my suggestion to you is to at least learn an alternative before
> VMWare vanish for good.  :)
>
> -Dan
>
>
>
> My references to it being a pig to install is borne out of frustration, I
> didn't articulate my feelings well! What I was trying to say is that unless
> you are dedicated to learning the intricacies of the software it is a
> struggle to grasp & install. I have about 25 servers to install & maintain &
> because virtualization is not my core duties it is easy to install a more
> intuitive app like Vmware. That does not mean that I think it is better, but
> because I can get it to work it triumphs on my network :-(  I will use a
> open source alternative an day of the week If I can get it to work & get
> comfortable with the app.
>
>
>
> Cary
>
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>
>