Re: [Devil-Linux-discuss] VMware questions

[Kari M. <kar...@tr...>]

Bruce Smith wrote:
>> 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)

Yes. Many don't need those, at least initially.

>>> 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.

Eh. Naming is weird here. All three edition are at version 3.5.0 now.
"Classic", 3i embedded, and 3i installable.
The last one being 3i, which you can install into HD.
enbedded will basically be a flash memory edition directly from server 
vendor.

Only one has Redhat Service Console. It is excellent because you can run 
Perl etc. there.

3i needed a new approach...

>>> 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).

Implicit, obvious, very good.

> 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.  

Except when you deploy DL firewall ;-)
We've been running DL firewall with 4 NICs since 1.2 RC something.
Works perfect.

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.

True..

>>> 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!  :-)

You are not wrong, but check this:

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Import_RCLI_Appliance.html

You are supposed to import a Debian based VM and execute it.
It work with any ESX 3.5 edition.

In that VM (RCLI, remote CLI) you can do management scripting etc.

There are even things you can only do with this appliance/VM, like 
storage Vmotion. So even Virtual Center Windows guys/gals need this.

>> 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.

Oh no. You can do anything with those APIs. They have at least Java and 
I think C#, too, as languages.

For high end, look for VI Perl Toolkit. With that you can even do full 
site disaster recovery programming. Been there...

But, it was daily management/monitoring I was meaning in my previous 
comment.

> 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.

With ESX 3.x I find actually very little need for Service Console. So 3i 
is very appealing.

It was different during pre-3.0 era. Very different.

>  - BS
> 
> 
> 
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