Arch Linux

moonlies

Member

Registered: 2016-01-09

Posts: 32

Using archlinux as hypervisor

Hey arch-people,

i have been using CentOS+KVM as a hypervisor (remote root-server somewhere in an unknown datacenter far far away) and i am quite happy with it.
However i have been thinking about using arch for virtualization as there might be some advantages to that:
- lower resource consumption (not really an issue for me)
- i would not have to reinstall the whole system after the expiry of long term support
- i could run arch in LxC containers, which would allow me to run more applications
- less software i do not know about running on my hypervisor

But i also have some concerns:
- automatic updates in arch are risky, but somehow essential to keep the system secure
- i have to actually know what i am doing (this might become a problem during setup (RAID, network configuration...))

Do you have any other advantages, concerns or tips?

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: Using archlinux as hypervisor

But i also have some concerns:
- automatic updates in arch are risky, but somehow essential to keep the system secure

Automatic updates on Arch aren't risky, they are outright stupid. You can't expect to keep an Arch Linux system running through automatic updates. Better option is to run updates manually less frequently, say weekly or twice a month.

- i have to actually know what i am doing (this might become a problem during setup (RAID, network configuration...))

I don't even know what you mean by this... Yes, you have to know what you are doing, irrespective of the distribution that you are running. Of course, Arch does a lot less hand-holding as compared to CentOS, but any sysadmin worth his/her salt should know what they are doing.