FreeBSD as a virtual server

B

brisonic

I am interested in FreeBSD as the virtual server, not as the guest OS, but it doesn't seem there are as many options for that? It seems most people use Linux, doze, or something else?
 
virtual servers

That is what I am hoping for, I am much more familiar with bsd than with Linux, so I would prefer to use that as the VM server OS. I saw elsewhere someone recommended NetBSD.
 
There's Jails. It's one of the best options available in my opinion, but it's limited to FreeBSD guests.

There's also VirtualBox and QEMU, but the performance isn't that good.
 
brisonic said:
I am interested in FreeBSD as the virtual server, not as the guest OS, but it doesn't seem there are as many options for that? It seems most people use Linux, doze, or something else?
Click to expand...

I am a Linux user and now using FreeBSD. Their "jail" system for virtualization is pretty damn impressive compared to my experience with Xen, QEMU, and VirtualBox under a Linux environment.

There is also a port of VirtualBox for FreeBSD which will be handy if you want to virtualize something other than FreeBSD.
 
I really miss vmware server on Freebsd. Older version used to run but they dropped the support after version 4. Virtualbox is good choice. XEN will run in dom0 under FreeBSD 8.0.
 
Many I know recommend xen on Linux as the server, I'll have to re-evaluate this some, thanx for the feedback all.
 
FreeBSD as Host System

Well under FreeBSD, you are a bit limited and as other people here are saying to you, you might want to just use jail. If you do, try using ezjail-admin it makes management somewhat easier.

I have tried vmware server under ubuntu but when running XP the keyboard/mouse is a true nitemare. It would be nice if vmware would run natively in FreeBSD.
 
brisonic said:
Many I know recommend xen on Linux as the server, I'll have to re-evaluate this some, thanx for the feedback all.
Click to expand...

My recommendation, after having used Xen 3.0-3.2 and KVM 7x-8x (before it became known as kvm-kmod/qemu-kvm) on multiple host systems running 32-bit and 64-bit guests (Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003):
  • use AMD Opteron systems for the host, as every single Opteron out there supports hardware virtualisation, whereas trying to figure out exactly which Intel CPUs support which virtualisation extensions can be a royal pain
  • use a Linux distro for the host OS, with support for current versions of Linux-VServer/OpenVZ and KVM. That gives you support for lightweight jail-like setups using the host kernel, and the ability to run any other guest OS in a full-fledged VM. KVM is a lot easier to manage, understand, and use than Xen.
  • pick a management framework early, as it's hard to shoehorn running VMs into one later on. If you like RedHat systems, have a look at oVirt. If you like Debian systems, have a look at Proxmox VE.

If you just need to run the odd VM here and there, VirtualBox 3.1 is shaping up quite nicely. Especially if you have an AMD CPU (or an Intel one that supports hardware virt).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top