Topic: Virtual Machine Opinions

[haymann]

Hi all,

I am interested in getting some opinions about VMs and SME Server. I love the concept of virtualization, especially for small orgs that do not have the $$ for multiple servers. I am wondering specifically if anyone could offer some insight about if it is more advisable to run SME as a VM, or to run other VMs from the SME Server?

It seems to me like it would be nice to have SME running as a VM for backup purposes. It seems like would be pretty easy to save a copy of the machine and therefore have a fully functional backup if needed. I am also wondering if there are any security ramifications to running a gateway as a VM? I don't know if that makes the network more vulnerable... Can an attack be made on the "actual" machine that is hosting the VM?

As you can tell, I am new to the VM world, but I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Ryan

[Boris]

I've been using VMWare since version 1.
I've found extremely helpful to install SME as a guest VM for testing,  building custom ISO and development purposes. I would hesitate to run the production SME inside of VM as its stability will depend on the host OS.
Also most of today's new servers are overkill for the typical SME server requirements and I've installed number of VMWare Servers inside of SME. Those mostly used as a remote controlled MS Windows workstations or single application small servers instead of using one of the office computers.

[haymann]

Thanks Boris,

I understand what you mean, and that is what I was thinking about originally.   Then I got to thinking about how nice it would be to have my SME as a VM for disaster recovery...

Now I need to set some time aside to install VMWare on my SME...
Thanks again,
Ryan

[william_syd]

Now I need to set some time aside to install VMWare on my SME...
Thanks again,
Ryan

Try the how-to

[haymann]

Trust me I will! I wouldn't even be talking about it if I didn't know that there was a how-to out there! Just need to find the time...

[mbachmann]

I run an Ubuntu 6.06 LTS as the host and SME 7.0 as guest. Tricky part for me was the installation of VMware onto the Ubuntu machine. Backup is not so easy as it seems. I have seen the "take snapshot/revert to snapshot" feature of VMWare fail several times. So a backup of the *.vmdk and associated files is advised. Installing vmware tools into the SME VM had also produced unpredictable errors.