[ubuntu-za] Running VMs

[Andre Rossouw]

Hi Lee

On 11/25/10, Lee Sharp <leesharp at hal-pc.org> wrote:
> I need to set up a psudo ctrix server.  I need to run a handful of
> various desktops (XP, Vista, W7, Hackentosh, FreeBSD) in VMs that
> various people can remotely connect to.  Up to know, I have mainly used
> QEMU, as it was totally portable, but it does not work as a "desktop
> server" very well.

What you're trying to do here is a typical VDI solution. There are
many products out there that can do this from VMware, Oracle,
Microsoft, etc. But I presume that you wouldn't be interested in these
;)

> I am thinking KVM with the virtual nics in bridge mode, but I have heard
> it is not a good "desktop" solution.  Has anyone done anything like
> this?  Any ideas?

Regarding KVM being a poor desktop solution - that is true for
personal desktop. But there should be no reason why it can't provide
VDI functionality provided the server has enough resources. The worst
thing about KVM is the terrible GPU performance. I haven't played with
it as much as I would have liked to (the job keeps me busy with the
paid-for products), but it should be fine.
If KVM isn't doing the job, you can also use VirtualBox in headless or
VRDP mode. But check the license - only the Open Source edition is
totally free in a production environment. If you're going to use the
full version (which I seriously recommend), you're going to need to
buy a license from Oracle.

Alternatively, you can try OVM (Oracle Virtual Machine). It does all
the cool stuff that VMware, etc do, and is free to use (don't know
about free as in speech though).

Regards,
Andre Rossouw