[ale] almost OT: Hardware for virtualization

[Jim Lynch]

On 08/17/2011 01:25 PM, JD wrote:
> On 08/17/2011 12:09 PM, Boris Borisov wrote:
>> I never done any installation of virtual servers and I want to start experimenting with the technology. Whats is the minimum CPU+MB that I can buy in Microcenter ( I work nearby ) for my needs. Bear in mind is going to be only for tests learning purpose not for production :)
>>
>> Thank you for all suggestions !
> Key things are:
>
> * Lots of RAM - You need enough RAM for the host OS AND all the
> clientOSes that will run at the same time. This may be 1GB if you are
> cheap, but you'll be much happier with 6-16GB of RAM. I have 6GB and 8GB
> machines with
>
> * Virtualization support built into the CPU.  Intel called it "VT-x".
> Unfortunately about half the CPUs Intel makes do not support this still.
> The only way to be certain is to look up a specific CPU model and
> submodel number on the Intel web site.  AMD calls this something
> different. For awhile, AMD shipped 90% of their CPUs with this built-in.
> Something happened and they don't anymore. Check the AMD website.
>
> * CPUs with 2 or more Cores.  I get good results from fast C2D CPUs, but
> the Core i5-2500K seems like the sweet spot on capabilities and price.
> I'm extremely impressed with a 3 yr old Core i5-750 still.  AMD systems
> with 4-6 cores probably work really well too.  More cores probably means
> more power required.
>
> * You may want a CPU/motherboard with VT-d support. Look up what that
> means, then get out your wallet.
>
> * Disk storage for each VM.  MS-Windows seems to need 20-30GB per VM.
> Ultimate wants 45GB.  Linux distros use much less, from 50MB for
> TinyCore to 10GB for a full Ubuntu desktop install with every bell and
> whistle possible.  I usually give each server VM 4GB of storage and my
> desktop VM just outgrew a 10GB allocation after 3 yrs of daily use.
>
> There are different types of virtualization - desktop and servers.
> Server virtualization hardware can be extremely picky, so if that's
> really what you want to learn, you would be well served by using the
> VMware ESX Hardware Compatibility List http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl to
> select hardware. I haven't looked in a while, but there was a time when
> none of my systems could load ESXi due to the disk controller and
> networking chipsets. It is THAT picky.
>
> For server-based virtualization, forget about the graphics card. It
> doesn't matter beyond being able to show an 80x25 text console.
>
> Desktop virtualization is a little more forgiving, but don't expect to
> play Windows games under a VM and be happy.  Don't expect hardware
> passthru to work very well.  Graphics performance is fine for office
> productivity apps, not so good for gaming or video editing.
>
> I'll be at the ALE-central meeting tomorrow night. Find me if you'd like
> to discuss more.
>
> \
OpenVZ doesn't dedicate any ram to a container.  I currently have 10 
containers running on a 2 Gb system quite happily.  Granted they aren't 
too busy but they are all up and most of them are serving web pages, 
some doing compiles some are running mysql, etc.  Htop shows it's only 
using 1 Gb.  If you need a lot of guests and want them to run as 
efficiently as possible. OpenVZ is your best choice.  I suspect lxc will 
give you similar results but I've not had any experience.  The 
documentation is a bit lacking as far as I can tell.

Jim