lightest distro for vmware
 

Hey guys! I have been away a while, but now im back on board to join the team.
and first off I have decided to see if i can make this work. I use vmware esx server at work and its great!

so at home i want to setup a server (powerful workstation) with vmware workstation (for linux) installed and then try to run to virtual machines on it with m0n0wall (for my firewall) and another for win2k3 (my sql and other stuff).

I guess what i am getting at is, what would be the lightest distro i could install, which is able to have vmware installed onto it? (I've been a slackware fan for years, and used it religously - not sure if its time for a change?)

cheers
Jurgen

G'day mate :)

Well, it still doesn't come much lighter than Slack,
but there's a flaw in the concept of having the FIREWALL
on a virtual machine ;)


Cheers,
Tink

I just learned that one of the versions of VMWare is a complete server... (Thought it was GSX, or was it ESX?)
Anyway, this one runs on a small linuxkernel as sort of a native OS, on which you can install other OSses.. The management of this server can be done from one of the "child-clients"

long story short:
No need to install an OS in which VM runs, VM will be the OS. (kinda like VM/ESA mainframe MVS thingie)

Don't kill the messenger if i got the message wrong, but it sounded to me as too good to be true... Had to let you know!

Thanks tink! ummm what exactly is the flaw with virtualizing the firewall? (that was going to be the fun part!)

also Santr... as to your quote thats esx server and its great to work with! you can move one virtual server from one physical server to another on the fly, and back again! and more..

Well ... to get to the firewall all traffic will have to pass through
the physical host-system first... ? How wil that protect the other
machines?

haha.. I never thought of that! thats sucks.. so your connection is only as secure as your host (ie: esx server) I was going to have heaps of fun with vmachines!

hmmm... now I have to think up something funky to do again...

Sorry to have burst your bubble mate ;}


You can still have fun!!



Cheers,
Tink

Sweet as, I thought it was a great idea... considering the firewall is so lightweight, consolodating 2 machines into one was a brilliant idea :)

/me suggests that NAJM buys an IBM OpenPower box that uses hardware virtualisation :)

Saves the trouble of using VMWare ;) and is ultimately
penguin friendly.


Cheers,
Tink

Tink,

Your comment about traffic going through the host OS is true for VMware GSX & Workstation, but not for ESX.

Within ESX NICs for the Console OS (where you manage the server) and the the guest OSes are completely separated. You could attack the VMkernel at the physical layer, but TCP/IP is solely within the VM.

In any case, VMware is not an inexpensive solution :-).

Thanks Paul, and I'm aware of the differences between
ESX and Workstation, but NAJM said he's going to install
workstation at home (which is what I responded to).



Cheers,
Tink