Re: [sheflug] Free VMWare Server and Player

[(Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 14-Feb-06 Andrew J. Baker wrote:
> Marcus D. Hanwell wrote:
> [...]
> And let's not forget the open source offering, Xen:
> 
> http://www.xensource.com/
> 
> For those individuals interested in running Linux VMs on UltraSPARC 
> check out this article on The Register...
> 
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/13/sun_hyper_xen/
> 
> Cheers, Andy.

Be circumspect here. Xen may well be fine for running virtual
Linux machines as it stands. However, unless there have been
recent new developments, you cannot just install a Windows VM
as you can on VMWare.

This issue is glossed over in the www.xensource.com website,
but if you go to the Cambridge University Computer Lab XEN
website:

  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/

and see Q1.4 of the FAQ:

  1.4. Does Xen support Microsoft Windows?
  Unfortunately we do not currently support Windows;
  the paravirtualized approach we use to get such high
  performance has not been usable directly for Windows
  to date. However recently announced hardware support
  from Intel and AMD will allow us to transparently
  support Windows XP & 2003 Server in the near future.
  We are working on this and intend to have support
  available by the time the new processors are available.

I recall previously reading information to the effect that,
while they have indeed installed a Windows VM on Xen, this
was achieved using a "patched" version of Windows depending
on proprietary (M$) OS interface details which they were not
able to release.

Best wishes,
Ted.

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Date: 14-Feb-06                                       Time: 21:25:01
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