I decided to build a Linux server for the purposes of running VM images of various servers. My hope is that with Linux as the host operating system, I can keep the base footprint to a minimum. Right now, most of my VM images are Windows based but for all of my server software that will run on Linux, I plan to use Linux VM images.
All of this started when I was talking to Carl Tyler about his Lotusphere 2007 presentation of using VMWare. He used virtual machines extensively at Instant Technologies and I’ve been taking the hint. The problem for me has been that my images (in conjunction with the host OS of my server) uses just too darn much memory and the virtual servers start to swap like crazy and screech to a halt. Carl has given some hints on keeping the virtual serves optimized but I know switching to Linux will help.

So, today I installed my very first Linux server. I am using SUSE 10. Here are a few observations and suggestions I will make to anyone following my lead …

1. if the machine is going to be dedicated as a server or as a VM host, don’t bother with dual boot - wipe the disk and install Linux
2. partition the disk with four primary partitions as follows:
1. “/” - this is the boot partition - 3GB
2. “SWAP” - this will be the swap memory - for machines with 1GB of RAM or less, make the swap 2x the physical memory and for machines with more than 1GB of RAM make the swap equal to the physical memory
• hint: ; don’t try to name the partition, just select “swap” for type of format for this partition and the rest of the properties are set for you
3. “/usr” - this will be where most software gets installed to - 5GB
4. “/home” - this is where all of the data will reside - all remaining space on the disk
3. for security, I chose MD5 mostly because a “how-to” guide told me to
4. when it comes to the initial configuration of the network, only try to get the wired Ethernet working; deal with any wireless stuff later; also, and this is important, use the NetManager when that option comes up
5. initially disable the network firewall; it may not be necessary but the network stuff is detailed enough as it is and this can just confuse any troubleshooting you may encounter.

I accepted the default for most everything else. The server was up and running in about 30 minutes. The next time it should be less because I got stuck on the networking thing.

I’m now ready to install VMWare Workstation for Linux. One thing you should be aware, if you have a VMWare Workstation license for Windows, it is not transferable to Linux. You need a separate license.

Related tangests ...   Big bird is back !   My kingdom for a *real* TAR for Windows   Please oh please - give me a *good* virtual desktop for Windows !

Posted in Instant Technologies, Linux, Lotusphere, VMWare |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.