"Replacing" Workstation with Server and Remote Access Methods

[seani]

Hi,

I have a number of development / server VMs running on an old noisy desktop, Mint Linux, Workstation 6.5

I want to consign the desktop somewhere quiet and access a few running VMs from a nice quiet laptop, and leave a few VMs (FreeNAS, MediaWiki appliance) running unattended.

I'd also like several of the VMs to startup automatically when the old desktop starts unattended, say in the case of a power cut.

Q1: Am I right in saying that free Server will allow be to host VMs and auto-start them in this way? Should I be able just to copy / import my existing VMs into a newly installed instance of Server?

Some of the VMs I only want to use relatively infrequently, but they need a bit more memory than my laptop has, so I'd like to startup, access and closedown a particular VM from my laptop.

Q2: What is the recommended method for achieving this? They are mostly development environments - no need for multimedia etc.

I've tried using NoMachine to take control of Workstation directly, but there seem to be compatibilty issues, and it doesn't seem like the "right" way to do things (although for other remote tasks, it seems to have exceptionally snappy performance over and above the likes of VNC)

TIA

Sean

[robertortel]

Ok, the machine to run your VMs on which you want to run unattended should run either VMWare Server (on top of a windows/linux) or VMWare ESXi (standalone). For both cases you get software for complete remote management of all virtualisation aspects, including automatic poweron on start of your physical host and poweron on request.

ESXi provides you with more performance and a lot more configuration/maintenance possibilities, but it definetly does not run on all hardware. See HCL here:

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35u2_3i_i.html

VMWare Server is easy to use and install on top of a linux/windows, which you can use for any other things if you like. If you have hardware where linux/windows runs on, VMWare Server will run too. And VMWare Server is much more like Workstation then ESXi.

To move your VMs from old Workstation to Server or ESXi you shoud consider VMWare Converter. I am sure it can be done manually as I did when switching from Server to ESXi, but at first you should try Converter.

If you have further questions, I will see if I can help you.

Robert

[seani]

Thanks Robert, I'm currently backing up all my VMs and having a quick test to make sure I can still work (if a little more slowly) if I have any issues.

The only remaining question is the how to access the desktop of development VMs I want to run on the server and interact with (2003 Server , VS2003 / 2005 builds and the like).

ISTR that each machine can expose itself via VNC, but I found myself disappointed with the performance when accessing the Linux desktop using standard VNC previously: straightforward remote X seemed faster, and NoMachine / FreeNX faster again. Anyhow, I'll give it a spin.

[robertortel · Accepted solution]

There is an integrated remote display (as it would be the physical display) access within VMWare Server and ESXi. If the performance is better than with VNC or X I do not know. I only access my VMs via ssh, which works good. X Windows or the whole graphical desktop I do only need very seldom. If your network is slow I fear you will not improve the situation with the VMWare integrated remote access.

But try ...

Robert

[seani]

Aside from a few inconsistencies in the way the web client works, switching to Server has been almost completely painless.

The standard remote access method is more than good enough, and this is over a 14Mbps homeplug network, so ~5Mbps IRL. I'll be upgrading this to a 200Mbps version soon, but that's really just a cheap refinement, not a requirement.