Best 64-bit linux host better than windows XP?

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

What is the best or recommended 64-bit linux distro for use as a host for vmware?

Do 64-bit linux VM's run better on 64-bit linux host or 32-bit windows xp host?

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

Note: only interested in better performance, so by "best" it means "best performing".

Someone recommended Ubuntu Server as the best performing host some time ago. Does this still hold?

[LucasAlbers]

You will get best the virtualization performance using esxi or esx host.

You will improve performance doing the various tweaks that exist for vmware server and vmware workstation.

An extreme example is you could compile linux from scratch, tweak the filesystem and kernel characteristics, and disable every additional service to theoretically eke the absolute maximum performance out of a system.

Or you could do a vanilla linux install for example and throw faster processor and hard drive at it.

If you are focusing purely on general performance improvement, you are missing the point of virtualization and performance optimization.

Performance improvement is too general a term, you first need to determine the bottleneck you wish to improve before you consider improving performance.

The pursuit of improving performance is reasonable, but consider the question.

What level of performance improvement is noticeable for the workload I am measuring?

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

The only reason for virtualization for me is security for internet facing software and testing dodgy software. So here we are not comparing virtualization performance with plain computing performance. We are only comparing different host options. So I think I am not missing the point of virtualization.

Unfortunately ESX/i is not an option here because only one computer is available.

Are there any benchmark tests of a 64bit VM under different hosts?  Ideally comparing 32bit winXP with 64bit linux?

[jschellhaass]

What are the specs of your host?  If your host has more then 4 gig of ram I would certainly use a 64-bit host.

I never liked the way windows uses ram and swap space so I would recommend Linux for the host.

Distro wise I can't really speak to Ubuntu since I don't use it other then the fact it's based on Debian which I do use.  With Debian I can install a stripped down server quickly and add to it from there.

jeff

[andreaplanet]

why do you think you are getting a higher security with a VM?

use a 64bit os if you have/need more than 4 gb of ram, else use 32 bit (even linux).

about performance i think it has much to do with the specific OS configuration and also driver support (a bad driver slows down).

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/37475

P.S.: i'm happy with linux

[continuum]

> why do you think you are getting a higher security with a VM?

because you can simply throw away the VM after use -  or set it up so that it resets itself on every reboot

VMs have a unique "antivirus  feature" that no Antivirus-software will ever be able to reproduce and thats the "100 % clean on reboot" button.

> I never liked the way windows uses ram and swap space so I would recommend Linux for the host.

You may not know that until WS 7 all previous WS-versions since 4.5  running on Windows had a significant advantage over Linux hosts : they did not need to back up the virtualRAM in a file stored on disk. All earlier Linux version and the current WS 7 Linux 32 bit version need to use that file and store it on disk..

Only WS 7 on 64 bit Linux is now even able to get anywhere near the effectivity of handling the virtual RAM in a way that is just normal in Windows.

In my experience a clean XP without Antivirus and other invasive software is one of the best performing 32 bit hosts possible.

I doubt that a 64 bit Linux host even has a chance to compete with a well-done setup of a XP-64 or 2003-64

[andreaplanet]

> because you can simply throw away the VM after use -  or set it up so that it resets itself on every reboot

VMs  have a unique "antivirus  feature" that no Antivirus-software will ever  be able to reproduce and thats the "100 % clean on reboot" button.

I thought he wanted to setup a web server or something like that ("internet facing software"), in that case you don't do a regular clean reboot (loosing all the changes made by visitors to the site).

Yes, the clean reboot/snapshot feature is very nice, I use it since ever for development. And its a nice improvment for security, still not 100% safe, while there is an infection it could spread out to other machines on the local network. When high security is requested the best option is to be disconnected from the internet.

> I doubt that a 64 bit Linux host even has a chance to compete with a well-done setup of a XP-64 or 2003-64

If you compare with a well done setup of XP then you should compare with a well done setup of linux too. You really think XP-64 would have a clear advantage?

[Drewdin]

From my experiance, using VMWare workstation7, Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit hosting a few windows and Linux VM's outperformed its couterpart. WIndows 7 Ultimate 64 bit ws sluggish and along with the antivirus software and updates made it kind of crappy.

I eneded up going with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64 bit and it works great and fast! theres my 2 cents

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

Was that just your user-interface experience that was better or you also ran benchmarks?

Anyone aware how a well set up 64-bit linux compares with a well set up 32-bit XP?  XP is the only windows option here at the moment. 64-bit linux is the only other host for workstation 7.1 that is reputedly performing about as fast or faster than XP-32.

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

Btw, by internet-facing I meant just browsers and p2p filesharing. The idea that the highest security is being disconnected from the internet I have been a strict follower of for some two years now: my host is completely disconnected from the internet. VM's get access through a usb cable connected to one VM at a time.

[Drewdin]

I was going for stability and speed, I am running photoshop and a few other programs on my windows vm. The funny thing is that windows ran much better on a linux host that linux did on a windows host.

I spent a good amount of time installing and un-instaling the other night...