We are continuously having issues with Linux (SLES) as a guest in our VM environment. The issues are mostly with time drift, and "losing" NIC's,

The Question:

Which of the Enterprise class Linux Distributions are working best for you as a VMware guest and why?

Thank you

Mike

SLES should work fine...I would call Novell for support...

FWIW I like using RHEL

That is just it Custangro, SLES *should* work just fine, however it does not in our VM. As I have an aversion towards funneling gobs of cash to Novell for support (or any large company FTM), I am asking the forum readers for anecdotal evidence as to which Enterprise Linux Distribution is working best in their respective Virtual Infrastructure.

Thanks again
Mike

what vmware are you running?

Is the version of SLES supported by the version of VMWare? I would call VMWare support...unless you are not paying VMWare support...

Here is some advice...

If you absolutely need it to work...pay for support.

If you'd like it to work...don't pay for support.

You should know what you are getting yourself into when deciding not to pay for support

Adam thank you for a good question,
We are running a small ESX 3.5 set up here with 15 host servers, and multiple SANs.
As far guests OS's go, we are running several Linux distributions including RHEL and SLES, and every flavor of windows too.

For Custango, We have support agreements with VMware, Novell, SUN, MS, and all of the hardware manufacturers.
The reason we are asking is to minimize the amount of time spent on the phone with support when there may be a better flavor of linux already in use.

Back to the original question:

Which of the Enterprise class Linux Distributions are working best for you as a VMware guest and why?

Perhas I should have phrased it "Which of the Enterprise class Linux Distributions are working best for you in a virtualized environment, and why?"

Maybe OT to you but if you could spare the time, and if you have read and tried everything the LKML, VMware and the VMware Community have to offer in terms of time problems and solutions, I would be interested in a short account of the time drift and NIC's gone AWOL part.

Hi -

The combination of SLES and VMWare ESX should be a "winner". There are other good alternatives, but your time is much better spent trying to focus on the specific problems you're having in your specific configuration, than shooting in the dark hoping for some "better Linux".

Here are some notes on the "time drift" issue:
http://www.fjc.net/linux/linux-and-v...k-drift-issues
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf
http://space.itpub.net/312079/viewspace-245832
http://www.novell.com/support/viewCo...8673&sliceId=1

The latter link suggests:
'Hope that helps .. PSM

We are using CentOS 5.3 and it works perfectly fine.

On top of that, quite often, when appliances are provided in a VMDK format, it comes either with CentOS or Debian.

Hey mike try RHEL5,it's working well as guest on my vmware.