VMware

[Dave Grundgeiger]

Patton Echols wrote:
> I assume that using Linux to autoload vmware and then a windows image at
> boot time would result in much lower maintinance.  If the windows
> "install" were broken, a reboot fixes it.

Yes, and you don't even need to reboot. VMware can revert to a snapshot at 
any time.

> Since the students would
> presumably have no access to the OS, the linux installs would require
> less maintenance too.  Is that right?

Sure, the students can do anything they want inside the virtual machine and 
it won't affect the host machine at all.

> Since the windows image would load on top of vmware, the windows image
> would not be hardware specific, if we ended up with several different
> system configurations, they would all work with the master XP image.  Is
> that right too?

Yes, that's true.

There are two things that I would be concerned about. The first is 
performance--you do pay a price for the virtualization layer, and you say 
these are old boxes. Second is licensing--you'll still need a Windows 
license for each virtual machine.

Dave

Dave Grundgeiger
CodeNouveau, LLC
Develop .NET Software with Open-Source Tools
http://www.codenouveau.com