Re: [Devil-Linux-discuss] VMware questions

[Bruce S. <bw...@ar...>]

> > After ESX installed, I saw more Linux kernel messages during the boot,
> > and I logged into the console as root and confirmed I was running Linux
> > with a 2.4 kernel, and VMware services were running.
> 
> I thought it was an older 2.6 kernel....

2.4.21.  I don't have it installed right now, so I just looked at the CD
to double check.

-r--r--r-- 1 root root 42316296 2008-02-16 05:59 kernel-source-2.4.21-47.0.1.EL.64607.i386.rpm
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  7639785 2008-02-16 05:59 kernel-vmnix-2.4.21-47.0.1.EL.64607.i686.rpm

> > ESX 3i is different, as all traces of Linux, or any underlying OS, are
> > gone (or hidden).  It claims to be much smaller and it appears like the
> > hypervisor is running directly on the hardware without the Linux layer.
> 
> Yeah I'm not familiar with 3i.

Quote from http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/esx3i.html

"ESX Server 3i is the only hypervisor that does not incorporate or rely
on a general-purpose operating system (OS), eliminating many common
reliability issues and security vulnerabilities. The slim 32MB footprint
of ESX Server 3i is a fraction of the size of a general-purpose
operating system, resulting in a smaller attack surface while minimizing
the effort required for tasks such as security hardening, user access
control, anti-virus and backup. ......."

I am impressed with 3i (except for the Windows-only client requirement).
It's also cheaper than ESX 3.5.

> > Some of the fancy (expensive) VMware features aren't supported with 3i,
> > but IMO it's more secure and less overhead.  I'm leaning toward buying
> > 3i for work after evaluating both.
> >
> > My major complaint with both versions of ESX is the client (required to
> > manage the hypervisor and the guest OS's) is Windows only.  Yuck!
> 
> Doesn't the webinterface have a java version?

With ESX 3.5 you can do some things from a browser, but not everything.
IIRC, you can manage most of the guest OS stuff from a browser but you
can't config the server itself.  And I'm not sure it is java because I
had to install a Linux Firefox plugin from VMware to make it work.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a Mac version of the FF plugin.

With ESX 3i, almost nothing that can be done from a browser.

For both, you need the client to do some things, more so with 3i.

 - BS