[ale] Virtualization question

[John Scott]

If you want easy with x86 compatibility and not have to change your base OS preference, check into VirtualBox.  You can get the host hypervisor via apt-get on ubuntu and there is good documentation available on virtualbox.org.

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Joshua Kite
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 11:02 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: [ale] Virtualization question

Hello all,

I am looking for advice on how to set up some virtual environments for use at home.

I have a server, and I want it to have two distinct functions.  One is network filtering, etc. using squid and some other applications.  The other is my basic web/file/print server.  I may want to play with something else in the future, so virtualization seems like the right choice.

The hardware that I have available is a dual xeon hyperthreaded 32 bit machine.  And that's the problem.  I would like to run a bare-metal hypervisor, but all of the current ones seem to be for 64-bit only.  That makes sense, but it doesn't work for me.  I actually installed the previous version of VMWare's ESXi only to find out that the free license will only allow me to make use of one of the processors once the trial period is up.

So the next option appears to be a light OS for a host system with a hypervisor running inside of it.  I have run Ubuntu for both desktop and server for the past 5 or so years, but I am willing to consider other distributions for both host and guest for the network filtering OS.  I'll probably use Ubuntu for the web/file/print functionality since I'm most familiar with it.

I have been fighting with my home server for weeks after a crash, and I'm kind of tired of playing with it, so I am looking for a very dumbed down, easy solution with step by step instructions for installation and automatic startup of guests.

Do any of you have recommendations?

Thank you very much,

Josh Kite
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