Specialized OS for running virtual machines and nothing more?
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Specialized OS for running virtual machines and nothing more?
I am wondering whether there is a specialized distribution out there that does nothing beyond serving as a platform for running virtual machines (and therefore consumes no more than the necessary minimum system resources).
What I want is a machine for running several VMware or VirtualBox desktop OSs. I can, of course, start with any distribution (such as Ubuntu, which I use most of the time) and remove software I don't need. However, I am not a highly knowledgeable user and don't always know whether something is necessary or not, so a specialized distribution could make things easier for me.
I'd be surprised if nobody ever thought of making a desktop-oriented distribution that does just that, but I couldn't find any. Is there really no such distribution?
There would be very little demand for a desktop-oriented distro like this + there are minimal desktop distros so you can start with them and simply add virtualization.
(Speaking as someone who colocates half rack worth of servers running Proxmox)
Who said the phrase desktop oriented was a requirement? The OP asked for a VM only distro.
"What I want is a machine for running several VMware or VirtualBox desktop OSs. I can, of course, start with any distribution (such as Ubuntu, which I use most of the time) and remove software I don't need."
Proxmox and many others would suit the need I feel.
My intention in asking about a "desktop oriented" distribution was simply that I was looking for something I can run on a desktop computer. Perhaps it was not a good choice of words, as the (rather vague) term "desktop oriented" is often used, I think, to describe distributions that come loaded with applications for common desktop uses (office suites, media players etc.), as differentiated from ones that come with more specialized configurations.
What I have in mind is just an operating system which won't do more than what is necessary to run well VMware or VirtualBox virtual machines. Whatever does that efficiently (that is, I suppose, without running or installing on the HD all sorts of applications that aren't necessary if I don't use the host OS for nothing but as a means to run VMs) will do.
I fully understood your question but thanks for the extra clarification.
My guess is VMware's esxi server is about the most basic but it has only a very limited range of servers it can run on.
You could build a pretty small distro yourself at SuseStudio.com.
You may also be interested in other ways such as netboot.me or boot.kernel.org which are examples of gpxe/ipxe booting. Similar could be made at home or from iscsi server.
I would think that it might be possible to make a bartspe disk with qemu on it too.
In a real example you could use gentoo or linux from scratch to compile a one of a kind kernel just for your computer that only had the drivers you need and then add in only the files needed to support a vm.
About half the vm apps don't offer direct gui support. They leave that to a server to display usually on a web page.
There is also JPC. http://jpc.sourceforge.net/home_home.html Try it. So a distro that only had a browser would do. Not sure there is a stand alone browser like mplayer is.
Although it is not a Linux solution, NetBSD makes for an excellent lightweight Xen virtualization platform. Another option is to choose the Basic installation option in Salix, which is Slackware-based, and go with KVM.
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