Presentation on VMWare Server Development Environment

[Steve Mitchell]

Has anybody given a presentation to the group about how best to
leverage VMWare Server to build a development environment? I know I
would be interested in hearing something like that. Do we have a
speaker for July yet?

What is the best host operating system for VMWare Server? Sounds like
I should re-image my box with Fedora or Debian, install VMWare Server,
and then reinstall OpenSolaris as a guest.

[David Mitchell]

Yeah, Gary's post made me feel like I'm working with stone tools.

Hate it when he does that.

;-)

--David

[SteveM]

David,

Me too, David! I did learn this much:

VMWare only officially supports Windows and Linux as a VMWare Server
host OS. OpenSolaris doesn't get mentioned as a host. See
http://www.vmware.com/products/server/faqs.html

If you go to http://www.howtoforge.com and search "how to install
VMWare Server" you will find instructions for all the major Linux
distributions, like this one: http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-vmware-server-2-on-ubuntu-9.04

Tonight I will blow away the OpenSolaris image I installed last night
and replace it with Ubuntu and VMWare Server. I'll keep the host OS a
bare as possible, doing all "work" in a guest OS that is backed-up
somewhere. Next, I'll reinstall OpenSolaris as a guest and get
Netbeans working there.

Thank you Roger and Gary for steering me this direction.

Steve Mitchell
http://www.byteworksinc.com

On Jun 18, 10:29 am, David Mitchell <david.mitch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah, Gary's post made me feel like I'm working with stone tools.
>
> Hate it when he does that.
>
>  ;-)
>
> --David
>

[Roger O'Dell]

You are welcome.

Once you install Open Solaris and update it comepletely, you can take a snap
shot of it. This is good incase you have problems and need to reset the
image. You can also take a snapshot once you install in configure netbeans.
This way you have 2 snapshots that you can use for testing. I like vm ware
as a good way to test software and not have it compromise my computer. You
can make VM images for almost any OS. I only have an Open Solaris VM right
now, but I will be doing Windows server, Ubuntu, XP, Vista and some others
eventually. With Ubuntu, Apache, and MyQL running you can test Web and
database content before publishing live. I hope we do have a session on VM
ware with java at a meeting. I am not an expert, but there is a VM ware
group in KC and I think they event meet at the same building. Perhaps we
could talk to them and find out if they can assist us.


Roger O'Dell

[g...@hilbertinc.com]

I would be glad to share my VMware-based development environment at a future Java SIG meeting. I will have to check my schedule for July, but Wednesdays are typically available.

I agree that the host OS should be as bare as possible and all of the "real" work is done on VMs. That allows you to move them between physical machines when upgrading hardware or when you have a hardware failure as I did on my VMware server about six months ago.

Depending on the scope of work, I will sometimes create a VM that is specific to a customer. For example, one customer was using a 64-bit Windows machine for their server and thus I was using a 64-bit JNI library for development. They have their own VM, since I am not interested in a 64-bit Windows machine for general use. I was working with the vendor on the said JNI library and they couldn't recreate the problem I was having, so I just sent them the whole stinkin' VM. It was pretty handy.

Speaking of 64-bit guest OS's. You have to have a certain level of support in the BIOS for that to work - the name of which eludes me. If you are buying a new motherboard, you will want to ensure that it has it. Most new ones probably will, but my 2006 motherboard does not. (Sigh). The ThinkPad T61 laptop does, though.

I also take backups of the whole VM on to USB drives on a periodic basis. I can also share my incredibly paranoid backup strategy if there is interest.

--------------------------------------------------
On Jun-18-2009, SteveM <stevecm...@gmail.com> sent the following...

[Charles Sharp]

On Jun 18, 12:03 pm, SteveM <stevecmitch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> David,
>
> Me too, David! I did learn this much:
>
> VMWare only officially supports Windows and Linux as a VMWare Server
> host OS.  OpenSolaris doesn't get mentioned as a host. Seehttp://www.vmware.com/products/server/faqs.html

If you're interested in a Virtual Machine that treats [Open]Solaris as
a first-class citizen, you might take a look at VirtualBox (http://
www.virtualbox.org/).

I run Mac OS X 10.5.7 on a MacBook Pro and use virtual machines to run
XP for some work I do. I switched from Parallels to VBox about three
months ago. I have Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty), OpenSolaris (200906), Vista,
and XP running. I had some issues with Vista's networking, but that
was the only thing that required much time from a setup standpoint.

An additional plus of VirtualBox is that there are a couple of sites
that have virtual machine images already loaded. You just download
the linux you want, create a new image for it, import it, and you're
running. Very handy. Though hardcore linux folk might miss all the
fun of installation.

just a thought,
cas




>
> If you go tohttp://www.howtoforge.comand search "how to install

> VMWare Server" you will find instructions for all the major Linux
> distributions, like this one:http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-vmware-server-2-on-ubuntu-9.04
>
> Tonight I will blow away the OpenSolaris image I installed last night
> and replace it with Ubuntu and VMWare Server.  I'll keep the host OS a
> bare as possible, doing all "work" in a guest OS that is backed-up
> somewhere. Next, I'll reinstall OpenSolaris as a guest and get
> Netbeans working there.
>
> Thank you Roger and Gary for steering me this direction.
>

> Steve Mitchellhttp://www.byteworksinc.com

[Jon Brisbin]

I can vote for VirtualBox as well. I use it on my Mac and like it a little better than VMWare Fusion. I have to jump in there every once in a while to use WinXP to test in IE7 (uggh, I *hate* doing that) but I don't do any development in there. I don't have the patience for that. :)

Thanks!

Jon Brisbin

http://jbrisbin.com/