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wwvierg
Contributor
Contributor

3 quick questions from a potential newbie

hi all:

i am an ex long-time 0S/2 and current windoze user contemplating doing linux on a new thinkpad and running windoze as a guest

i've also been coding SAS since the early 70's and if i move to linux, will be running both a linux & windoze versions of SAS on the new laptop

but some of my production SAS code populates Excel worksheets via DDE, so question #1 is:

1) is DDE supported in a windoze (guest) VM?

figure i'll do any heavy SAS data lifting under linux, but would have to have final SAS datasets available to the windoze version of SAS to run the DDE jobs, as such, question #2 is:

2) how does windoze see linux files; i.e., how do "shared" folders work?

note: if all goes well on the new thinkpad, am also serioulsy contemplating coverting my current desktop/workstation to a similar linux/vmware/windoze setup. this box is running two dual-core opteron 2220's /w 16gb of ram, single ati x1950 pro, 4 SAS (serial scsi) Cheetah drives, one 750gb SATA, and 6 U320 Cheetah's ... running XP x64

in that environment, SAS (software) runs best w/ multiple spindles (i.e., os on one drive, read SAS data from one drive, write to another, temp space on a thrid, etc., etc.) so my last question is:

3) can a windoze VM (guest) be configured to use multiple hard drives?

thanks in advance for any replies/help/suggestions

later

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ejward
Expert
Expert

hi all:

1) is DDE supported in a windoze (guest) VM?

Windows itself does not know it is running as a virtual machine. I've yet to find anything that won't run as a virtual machine as long as there is no special need for external perifials (Scanners, dongles, etc). Even then, there are ways around that.

2) how does windoze see linux files; i.e., how do "shared" folders work?

I assume you'll be running VM Ware workstation on Linux? I know in the Windows version, there is an option to share folders directly between the host and guest OS. I have not used the Linux version of Workstation though. I didn't know there was one.

3) can a windoze VM (guest) be configured to use multiple hard drives?

Yes. However, each drive is just a file on the host machine. I guess if the host machine had seperate spindles (I don't think you can do that with a Thinkpad), you could put one of the virtual HD's on each spindle.

wwvierg
Contributor
Contributor

howdy ej:

thanks for the quick reply

pretty much what i wanted to hear

looks like i'll give it a go

again,

thanks

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AWo
Immortal
Immortal

hi all:

2) how does windoze see linux files; i.e., how do "shared" folders work?

Yes you can use shared folders, but this is not the best (=fastest) option. Better use a samba client and a Windows share. If you do not have a physical link all the time, configure host and guest to use a private network (VMnet1) in addition to your bridged NIC in the guest (I guess you have one...)

Then, of course, the samba conversion of NTFS rights apply.

3) can a windoze VM (guest) be configured to use multiple hard drives?

Virtual ones? Yes.

AWo

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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ejward
Expert
Expert

hi all:

2) how does windoze see linux files; i.e., how do "shared" folders work?

Yes you can use shared folders, but this is not the best (=fastest) option. Better use a samba client and a Windows share. If you do not have a physical link all the time, configure host and guest to use a private network (VMnet1) in addition to your bridged NIC in the guest (I guess you have one...)

Then, of course, the samba conversion of NTFS rights apply.

Maybe I don't understand what is being asked. Isn't this all going to be running on a laptop? Wouldn't a Samba client and a Windows share cause anything you want to share to go out the network and come back in? Where the shared folder's option in Vmware Workstation gives the client direct access to a folder on the host machine's hard drive.

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wwvierg
Contributor
Contributor

hi andreas:

thanks for the reply

yes, i'd want the fastest option of exchanging files between host and guest

thus i'll look into samba and making some linux folders available to

the windows guest; thanks

was thinking that, somehow, the "shared folders" approach would be

leaner/faster than samba's "file server" approach

re. "samba conversion of NTFS rights", is that messy or pretty

straight forward?

as for my multiple hard drives query, what i was/am curious about is

whether i can config my windows guest to see, e.g., a G:, H:, J:, ...

etc., within it's virtual world, where G:, H:, and J: are actually

physically on different hard drives?

my understanding is the VM is nothing more that a single "file" on

the host, so i guess what i'm asking is ...

can you have multiple VM "files" on multiple hard drives, yet

comprise just a single VM?

thanks again

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ejward
Expert
Expert

can you have multiple VM "files" on multiple hard drives, yet

comprise just a single VM?

thanks again

yes. Once you start using this stuff, it'll become obvious.

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AWo
Immortal
Immortal

hi andreas:

thanks for the reply

No problem Smiley Happy

yes, i'd want the fastest option of exchanging files between host and guest

I'll bet.

thus i'll look into samba and making some linux folders available to

the windows guest; thanks

If you need help, come back to me via private message

was thinking that, somehow, the "shared folders" approach would be

leaner/faster than samba's "file server" approach

No.

re. "samba conversion of NTFS rights", is that messy or pretty

straight forward?

Windows ACE File Attribute Flag

Full Control ( # )

Traverse Folder/Execute File ( x )

List Folder/Read Data ( r )

Read Attributes ( r )

Read Extended Attribures ( r )

Create Files/Write Data ( w )

Create Folders/Append Data ( w )

Write Attributes ( w )

Write Extended Attributes ( w )

Delete Subfolders and Files ( w )

Delete ( # )

Read Permissions ( all )

Change Permissions ( # )

Take Ownership ( # )

For the complete picture look here: http://de4.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Samba-HOWTO-Collection/AccessControls.html#id375667

as for my multiple hard drives query, what i was/am curious about is

whether i can config my windows guest to see, e.g., a G:, H:, J:, ...

etc., within it's virtual world, where G:, H:, and J: are actually

physically on different hard drives?

If you put evere partition on its own virtual disk (and these are plain files), you can put them where you want. But using an USB 1.0 disk makes really no sense, even if this will work.

my understanding is the VM is nothing more that a single "file" on

the host, so i guess what i'm asking is ...

Not a single file per guest but a set of files (or take it as a single file as they belong together) per virtual disk (and there are some more files which complete the guest: config, bios, etc.)

AWo

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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