Virtualization

tristian · 2011-09-28 21:26:03

I need to run Windows so I don't have to keep restarting etc... under Arch. I have VirtualBox installed but I wouldn't mind running Xen so that I can get more power out of it. My CPU has Virtual extensions so I doubt there would be any problems. What do you guys think???

karol · 2011-09-28 21:28:20

You want to run Windows as a Xen guest?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xen#Micros … _as_guests says it's possible for Xen 3, so Xen 4 should work too.

Last edited by karol (2011-09-28 21:30:18)

cybertorture · 2011-09-28 21:33:44

What do we think .... well both solutions are good... but well you did not mention what is the purpose, what did you really need from windowsland ? Also avaiable memory ( at least ) for this.. and so on and on

nogoma · 2011-09-28 22:15:54

I run Windows 7 & Windows XP instances on Xen 4 (on Debian) no problem. I used to run these on VMWare, but for a variety of reasons needed to move my VMs to my dedicated server, at which point I gave Xen a shot. It wasn't what I'd call straightforward, but it's doable. As other posters say, it sort of depends on your needs; I don't have experience w/ VirtualBox, but I'd certainly give VMWare another shot if it was just for something minor (or, of course, Wine).

tristian · 2011-09-29 06:16:12

The purpose is to run Windows for various reasons (for my studies).
One reason is to run Windows 2008 R2 with IIS so I can learn ASP.
Reason two would be because I need to run (Probably XP or W7) software that I need and Wine cannot run.

I know VirtualBox is nice and easy but does Xen have better performance?

R00KIE · 2011-09-29 09:37:35

While you are at it and still trying to decide you may want to take a look at KVM too.

tristian · 2011-09-29 15:54:51

Well I am going to stick with VirtualBox because guest-additions make life easier.

If it was going to be a "over-the-netowork-thing" I would use XEN and configure that...

alphaniner · 2011-09-29 16:32:37

In my experience running a W2k8R2 VM with a type two hypervisor is pretty painful. I have VMware Server 2 installed on Ubuntu Server in a box with with 2 dual core processors and 12GB RAM. With 8GB RAM and one virtual processor it can still be annoyingly unresponsive.

I tried it in VBox once but could only give it 1GB RAM. No point mentioning how that went.

fukawi2 · 2011-09-30 00:19:04

IMHO, for "playing" and learning (ie, non-critical) on your desktop, I would go with VirtualBox. If I was putting it into a production environment, I'd make the effort for Xen.

tristian · 2011-09-30 10:43:58

Well its non-critical, mainly testing ASP web programs, visual studio etc... and maybe a little bit of Photoshop... that's all really. It saves me having to duel boot into Windows for stuff I can happily do in Linux with the right tools.

If I was doing critical stuff I would highly consider XEN as a top option. I would love to set up XEN with a few Virtual Workstations running...

retry · 2011-10-07 12:10:15

tristian wrote:

Well its non-critical, mainly testing ASP web programs, visual studio etc... and maybe a little bit of Photoshop... that's all really. It saves me having to duel boot into Windows for stuff I can happily do in Linux with the right tools.
If I was doing critical stuff I would highly consider XEN as a top option. I would love to set up XEN with a few Virtual Workstations running...

So do it What is stopping you?

If you have 64bits systems you already have XEN dom0 support in kernel. If you use 32bit system you will have to recompile kernel with XEN_PRIVIREGED_GUEST and HIGHMEM options enabled (XEN supports only PAE dom0's).

Then you grab xen package from aur and compile and install it. Make grub.cfg entry, reboot and you should have xen dom0 running
If you want easy user interface for xen you should think about libvirt with virt-manager (of course to use that sollution you need to recompile libvirt with xen support enabled).

In the end - few modules loaded, few daemons started and you have xen virtualization

P.S this morning I finished configuring XEN on my computer and got first domU's running

Edit: If you will try to get Windows working in virtualization environment check that if your processor supports HVM instructions.t

Last edited by retry (2011-10-07 12:12:04)

tristian · 2011-10-08 12:39:14

Could it be at all possible to run XEN under another instance of X? Such as alternate between Linux and Windows just by switching terminals (CRTL + ALT + F7-F8)?

I do have HVM instructions on my CPU...

At the moment I run Virtual Box because its easy to switch between the Guest and Host because of mouse integration.

fukawi2 · 2011-10-09 06:18:39

I've never done it myself, but I believe you can start a second X session that runs VNC (rather than a login manager/de) to localhost on the port that your domU is at.

EDIT: I would be interested to hear back how you go if you try this.

Last edited by fukawi2 (2011-10-09 06:19:03)

tristian · 2011-10-09 12:29:56

If I get any time I will try it out if I do get it working I might document my findings so any one else could do it.

In my case it just improves productivity because I mainly use my Windows partition for games and of course Linux for productivity and everything else.

The reason for running Windows (In a virtual machine) is so I don't have to reboot into Windows install servers and applications I don't really want. Also I have to use MS Office...

Arch Linux

#1 2011-09-28 21:26:03

Virtualization

#2 2011-09-28 21:28:20

Re: Virtualization

#3 2011-09-28 21:33:44

Re: Virtualization

#4 2011-09-28 22:15:54

Re: Virtualization

#5 2011-09-29 06:16:12

Re: Virtualization

#6 2011-09-29 09:37:35

Re: Virtualization

#7 2011-09-29 15:54:51

Re: Virtualization

#8 2011-09-29 16:32:37

Re: Virtualization

#9 2011-09-30 00:19:04

Re: Virtualization

#10 2011-09-30 10:43:58

Re: Virtualization

#11 2011-10-07 12:10:15

Re: Virtualization

#12 2011-10-08 12:39:14

Re: Virtualization

#13 2011-10-09 06:18:39

Re: Virtualization

#14 2011-10-09 12:29:56

Re: Virtualization

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