I know the answer could be obvoius, and that this could be a newbie
question, but I have a server running Fedora Core 8 x86_64 and was
asked me to install the Zimbra suite, and looking at the distro supported
I see that 64 bit Fedora is not supported, so I am looking for a
para virtualized version. Is possible to run a 32 bit guest ubuntu
linux (for example) on a 64 bit host?

Running 32-bits OS is perfectly possible on a 64-bits system. I use VirtualBox on a 64-bit system running Windows 2000. Any 32-bits OS should be running.

On many distributions it is possible to install 32-bit applications on 64-bit systems. Not sure about FC, but it might be worth checking it.

jlinkels

para-virtualizing is different from virtual box, I believe..

There are contradictive statements about this. One article calls Virtualbox a paravirtualization (http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3656503933.html)

Virtualbox itself calls it a full virtualization (http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Virtualization) as opposed to, say, Xen which is said to be a paravirtualizer.

However, in the same Virtualbox article, this statement is made:

However, I can assure you that I write this post on a 64-bit Intel Core Duo T7500 laptop, running Debian Lenny AMD-64 with Virtualbox installed and running Win2000. W2k for certain was never released in a 64-bits version.

I haven't tried 32-bit Ubuntu on my 64-bit VB though.

If it is true that Xen is a paravirtualizer, you might have to patch you guest OS or host OS or both.

Have you looked at the option to install 32-bits software right onto your 64-bit FC using the 32 bit libraries?

jlinkels

Zimbra seems to be a complex task. Install the 32 bits version and
working with 32 bits libraries could be harder than trying to compile
it from scratch (perhaps), so I choose virtualization.. The server
in which I have to install it is already running, so I have to work
without many reboots and trying to let things as I found before
start installation. For now, I am trying a test installation. If
I could do this in a virtual machine, I have the option to export it.
But is a drama :-)

It was just a question, but you considered that already.

Are you trying to install Xen or so as a real para virtual environment? Both VirtualBox and VMware do not need a single reboot while they are being installed.

BTW if you are FC oriented, why did you mention to install Ubuntu? Ubuntu is a Debian derivative, and nothing bad about FC, but it is pretty different from the Debian branches. Besided, Ubuntu is not the first distro which comes to my mind when talking servers. The silly sudo thingy and the very much GUI oriented approach seem to be targeted to a different audience.

jlinkels

Just FYI. Yesterday I installed 32-bits Kubuntu in Virtualbox running on a 64-bits host.

I don't like the Kubuntu policy with the sudo etc. but I have to admit the installaton procedure was flawless and I was impressed. I am just having a problem with getting the screen to window size.

jlinkels

I have already xen on that server that runs 3 windows xp virtual machines. What I would like
to do is install Zimbra on a virtual machine in a lightweight distro (ubuntu server is an example, it could be any distro for which exist Zimbra packages).