Slackware as a kvm host for server consolidation
 

Hey all,

A while ago I started the process of consolidating some of the servers in my business. Things are going well, and ever so slowly I'm getting rid of a lot of old hardware, replacing it with shiny new VM's powered by Slackware 13 and VirtualBox 3.1.2

I have no complaints about this combo. It just works.

But then two things happened:

1. I had a run-in with some Sun engineers over their VDI solution
2. Oracle was at the core of a license fee debacle here in Denmark
3. Oracle bought Sun

I had contacted Sun about their virtual desktop solution, and they willingly setup a test-environment at my offices. Sadly it couldn't really handle my requirements and, to be honest, the Sun VDI software suite was somewhat buggy. I can't afford solutions that don't behave well.

While I was testing Sun VDI, Oracle bought Sun. The Sun people couldn't answer any of my questions in regards to the future of their software (Sun VDI and VirtualBox) now that Oracle owned the IP's, and when I combined this knowledge with the fact that the Sun people more often than not was oblivious as to why their software failed, I started feeling a bit nervous about the future of VirtualBox, both in regards to license fees (Oracle! ARGH!) and technical prowess.

So I started looking around for other virtualization solutions, and naturally kvm (http://www.linux-kvm.org) came up as a possible choice.

I feel safe knowing that kvm is 100% FOSS. I like that it is closely coupled with the Linux kernel. I love that kvm is lean and mean (http://avikivity.blogspot.com/2008/0...code-size.html).

There's very little not to like about kvm.

So I guess the questions are:

• How do you think a Slackware/kvm combo would fare as the basis for a server consolidation project?
• Are there any issues I should be aware of in regards to Slackware and kvm?
• Should I wait for Slackware 13.1, or would 13 do just as well? I'm in no hurry.
• How is snapshots handled? It appears to be tightly coupled with LVM, with which I have very little experience. Are there other solutions?

All the VM's would run Slackware, if that matters.

Any and all suggestions/advice/ideas are more than welcome. :)
/Thomas

1) Slackware for both KVM hosts and guests works well as servers.

2) No KVM issues specific to Slackware I'm aware of.

3) Slackware stable and current 13 works well with KVM so no need to wait.

4) KVM snapshots are contained in separate files from the main guest containers and don't require LVM. LVM is a requirement for live migration of guests between hosts.

I think you'll find that both Slackware and KVM works well for both the hosts and guests. It helps to have multi-core CPUs, lots of RAM, large HDs and a fast network. Server consolidation brings its own set of challenges that go beyond the underlying hardware and OS. How to manage nearly every aspect of the physical and virtual machines is fair game for rethinking.

Thank you for your reply Chuck56.

It's good to hear that Slackware+kvm is a solid combo. That means I only have to learn one new technology. :)

I'm going very slow with this consolidation project. One server at a time, lots of testing and no rushing. Slow and steady.

In regards to network, I've already benefited from virtualizing my PostgreSQL server and one of my custom apps. In the old setup, the custom app pulled a decent amount of data over the network from the PostgreSQL server. This is no longer the case, as it now connects to the PostgreSQL server over a dedicated internal network. It is MUCH faster, and it keeps the load out of my "regular" network. Hopefully something similar can be achieved with kvm.

I look forward to playing around with kvm, and hopefully it can both live up to my requirements and remain FOSS.

/Thomas