[kwlug-disc] Virtualization technology

[unsolicited]

On 14-08-02 12:57 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 2, 2014 at 9:56 AM, unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca
> <mailto:unsolicited at swiz.ca>> wrote:
>
>     Let's also remember that it's likely Khalid's longer term intent
>     would be the ability to locally fire up / snapshot client drupal
>     installs to beat up / experiment / test on
>
> That is exactly it. Getting a LAMP stack with all the add-ons on a
> server, with configuration and tuning changes. This will be PHP and
> MySQL, all from SSH.
>
>     - so USB and video aren't germane, he wouldn't be locally accessing
>     the machines in that way.
>
> Yes, no USB at all for these.
>
>     e.g. any resolution determined would have to be (script?) duplicable
>     on a remote where no local video access (e.g. VNC) would be possible.
>
> The VNC part is necessary only until I get SSH up.

Hold on ... if you're doing gui-less servers, how does vnc help, pre-ssh 
or no? There's a text mode vnc?

 > ... I also found that
 > virt-viewer is enough to view the console. ...

Thanks for that. Answers the KVM /BIOS attach question. i.e. How do you 
get to the thing without a gui long enough to chew through the text mode 
install. But with that (virt-viewer), I would have thought VNC would not 
ever be needed at all.

>     Anyone know how well KVM, vmware, vbox, coexist with each other? I
>     can see vbox as happier casual user experience for learning, while
>     KVM for multiple local isolated web sites / vservers.
>
> I have VirtualBox and KVM on the same machine. ...

What I meant was, I would have thought these multiple vm solutions would 
get in each others way such that you can't have all of them at the same 
time. (Not that one would want to, unless learning / experimenting.)

Thanks for the comment though, sounds like they will coexist peacefully. 
If not optimally.

> So it is more disconnected (different tools for different tasks), but
> that is probably because of libvirt attempting to provide abstraction on
> top of as many technologies as possible.
>
>     I would guess, even on 'fast' local hardware (i.e. not too many
>     vmachines), sites will never be as snappy as providers, providers
>     presumably having multi-GB internet links that would be cost
>     prohibitive in a residence.
>
>
> Yeah, that is my guess too. SSD is the new trend as well.

Mind you ... for internal testing, your local response will be faster 
than the public will ever get. The pipes between buildings may be faster 
at a provider's, but they're not likely to give you the Gbps / 
full-duplex connect to your machine that you'll get within your home. 
Or, at least, that level of speed won't be exposed to their public.

I take your point on the SSD, though. Just goes back to the usefulness 
of eSata on the laptop, I suppose.

Was poking about not long ago and came across 'Mushkin Ventura Ultra USB 
3.0 240 GB' at 
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-5.html 
and thought "Hmmm..."

Was moving vm's between computers and looking around for some spare disk 
space instead of the hour plus per 32GB vm I was schlepping around the 
network at the time.

But without a faster interface to the laptop, not sure how much benefit 
an external SSD would be over an SD card. Especially since my laptop 
doesn't have USB 3. And sata is an option everywhere else, for me.

I suppose SSD's must be much faster than SD, or they'd be doing SD 
storage, not SSD storage.