Meeting Report - Thr 16 Nov - VMware by Shawn O'Shea

[Ben Scott]

Hi all,

  MerriLUG (Nashua) held its regular meeting on Thr 16 Nov 2006.
Roughly 20 people attended.  The presentation was on VMware, by Shawn
O'Shea.  His slides have been uploaded to the GNLUG website in PDF
form:

http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/pub/Www/PastEvents/2006-11-16-vmware-presentation.pdf

  VMware is a machine virtualization tool which can run on Linux.  In
simple terms, this lets you create virtual computers (virtual
machines, VMs) which run as software on your real computer.  You can
load other Linux distributions, OpenBSD, Solaris, MS Windows, and even
some really weird stuff like OS/2 on a VM.  Applications for this
include testing, evaluation, learning, software development,
sandboxes, and more.

  VMware Player is a free (gratis) program which will let you boot and
run a pre-existing VM.  The idea is that one can create a VM,
distribute it to others, and they only need the Player to use it.
VMware Inc provides a website where people can share and even sell
their pre-packaged VMs.

  When started, a VM appears as a window like any other.  The first
thing you see is a "virtual BIOS", followed by a boot loader or OS
splash screen or whatever.  You can also switch to a full-screen mode.

  VMware Server is a free (gratis) program which will let you create
VMs.  It runs as a service, with a nice GUI front-end.  You can
connect and disconnect the VMs from the front-end, which is why it is
called "Server".  Shawn demo'ed creating VMs, configuring the virtual
hardware, booting the VM, and installing a couple of OSes.

  The GUI gives you a point-and-click UI for configuring the virtual
hardware.  You can attach host devices (e.g, CD-ROM, floppy) to VM
devices, or allocate host resources to them (e.g., RAM, virtual
disks).

  In practical terms, VMware Server is an ideal tool for someone who
wants to try out different Linux distributions.  Just create a VM and
install the distribution in the VM.  You can stop, start, suspend, or
delete VMs as you like.  It also lets you run an OS like Windows on
Linux, for those one or two legacy programs that you just can't live
without.

  Note that this is "free" as in "no charge", not "Free" as in
"Freedom".  VMware gives the program and license away, but it's still
closed-source.

  VMware also offers payware products, including VMware Workstation,
ESX Server, and Virtual Center.  Assuming you are willing to throw
enough money at it, you can get some really neat functionality.
Coolest of all has to be the ability to move a VM from one host to
another *while the VM is running*.  No longer does one need to
shutdown the system just because you're upgrading your hardware!

  Thanks to Shawn for an informative and engaging presentation.

  The next regular meeting of MerriLUG will be on Thr 21 Dec.  Due to
the holidays, no formal presentation has been scheduled.  Instead,
we're planning on having semi-formal, mini-presentations by members.
Spend 5 minutes talking about your favorite program, feature, website,
man page, system call, etc.  More on this as we make it up!  :)

-- Ben