Drive hacks (Was:Re: [Pc_Support] Re: VMware pre-made virtual guests)

[Carter Manucy]

Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> First off, you don't have to bind TCP/IP on the host so the guest can
> use it?  If that is the case, great!  I guess that makes sense --
> just never put it together.
>
> Secondly, even if TCP/IP isn't bound, the Ethernet link is up.  That
> still bothers me, but I guess since Linux doesn't do bridging by
> default, it's tolerable.
>   

I agree.  That still 'keeps me up at night' a bit as well.

With a Windows host, the only thing you need bound to the card is the 
"VMWare Bridge Protocol" - all other items (TCP/IP, File & Printer 
Sharing, etc) can be (and SHOULD be) unbound.

With Linux, all you need is to be able to 'turn up' the interface - as 
you say, get the Ethernet link up.

> I'm going to be running CentOS, so I'll get updates for a long time. 
> The guest OSes can be Fedora Core or something more fast-moving.
>   

I use that for my base OS at home for VMWare Server, as well as for a 
few other locations for GSX Server.  Works very well.

> VLANs?  Is that the proper term?  I don't think so.  ;->
>
> With that said, what mode should the NIC be in?  Bridged to host I
> assume so it has full layer-2 control?
>   

Yes, VLANs.  If you have a managed switch, you can VLAN a few ports off 
to further contain the connections.  With ESX (as I'm sure you know), it 
natively supports VLANs so you can just use tagged ports (or trunked, 
depending on which mfg you're used to listening to) and ESX will take 
care of the traffic in its own internal 'switch'.

You really don't have to worry about placing the NIC in a certain mode 
with VMWare GSX/Server.  With Windows, it adds a binding protocol... 
with Linux, I don't remember how it interfaces directly... I know it 
makes its own interfaces (VMNet) and the hosts bind to those.

> I was hoping there was a way to directly use hardware -- kinda like
> VMWare does allow a hard disk slice -- but I guess that's still not
> the same.
>   
No, because VMWare still uses its own drivers to bind to the VMNet 
interface (used to be VMLance and another AMD driver, now with VMWare 
Server you don't get a choice).  In thinking about it, I could imagine 
folks could get themselves in a lot of 'trouble' if you gave them direct 
access to the NIC... for some of us it'd be a great thing, but for 
others it'd be a nightmare.

> Right, because the host OS is VMWare's Linux-based OS.
> Yes, I know, I've deployed it.
>
> Just not too familiar with VMWare Server until it became free.
>   

It is, ya know!  Go get yourself a serial # or two (heck, get 100 - they 
give you the option on their site). 

The thing that still irks me about VMWare is getting kernel updates and 
having to re-compile the whole bloody thing after using the new kernel.  
But other than that minor issue, I love it.  And so does my power bill!

-Carter