Re: [Devil-Linux-discuss] VMware questions

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

> Bruce,
> start with 
> http://www.vmware.com/technology/virtual-networking/networking-basics.html
> continue with 
> http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/virtual_networking_concepts.pdf

Thanks, I will ... tomorrow.  :-)

> >> I'm not too familiar with the ESX server, 
> >
> > Me neither, except for the couple days I spent playing with the eval.
> 
> If you end up working with ESX/VI3, you'll end up knowing it well :-)

I have a lot of experience with VMware Workstation and the free VMware
server, so ESX isn't that much of a learning curve.  Just some different
ways of doing the same thing.  (not counting stuff like VI3, motion,
etc. which we're not going to purchase anyway)

> > During the ESX 3.5 install, I saw Linux kernel messages run by, and the
> > install screens looked a whole lot like the standard Redhat install
> > screens, with the Redhat logo replaced by the VMware logo.
> 
> As documented by VMware, it is RHEL3. (Previous ESX 2.x was RHAS2.1)

That surprised me because I had heard (can't remember where) that ESX
was more efficient because it eliminated the OS layer.  They must have
been talking about 3i, because Linux is still there in 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.
> 
> How are you going to manage 3i? 

With the Windows VMware console program - running in XP, which is
running in VMware Workstation on my Linux desktop!  :-)

> "Full ESX 3.5" works standalone, too...

Yes, I noticed.

I really like 3i because of how small it is and the higher security
(less to hack).

I only have one server to install this on, so I need to connect one NIC
on this server to our internal network and another NIC to our DMZ.  I
will only allow management from the internal network, and the guest OS's
will only have access to one NIC or the other - never both.  Because of
that I want the most secure hypervisor possible.  The possibility of a
Linux kernel exploit someday allowing the DMZ to hack into ESX and get
at our internal network concerns me.  I know it's unlikely, but IMO it's
even less likely that 3i will get hacked from the DMZ.

> > 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!
> 
> For daily tasks, you get, with the full ESX, WebUI, which includes VM 
> console, too.  It reduces Windows requirement. At least somewhat.

Except 3i doesn't support a WebUI, except for browsing the VM
filesystem.  Please correct me if I'm wrong!  I'd love to be wrong!  :-)

> In my mind VMware made a mistake by going to .net-only management for 
> ESX3. Sad mistake.

They have a PERL API and a few PERL program to do some limited things.
Personally I only find the ability to copy files over the network to
VMware useful.  i.e.  I used it to copy my DL bootcd.iso to the VMware
server and connect it as the CD drive to some DL guest OS's.

 - BS