The virtues of virtualization

TalkBack 4 of 5:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Question(s)

Virtualization appears to be a solution to a longstanding problem I deal with. I would appreciate some advice from anyone who has real world, everyday experience using it.

I currently maintain two physical machines for Windows and a 3rd for Linux plus a Mac. One Windows system is used for everyday work using proven applications, Web access and email.

The second Windows machine I use exclusively for testing new hardware / software. I frequently have to reload this system from a ghost (or too often from scratch when hardware changes) due to Windows the registry getting corrupted or suspect without a clear restore point I can trust.

The Linux and Mac boxes seem far less susceptible to getting 'garbaged up' (also I use them far less) so I haven't been as annoyed with them as Windows.

With the coming Vista release to the public I can see needing yet another physical machine for testing.

My questions are:

1. Can I trust software evaluation done on a virtual machine running Windows XP or Vista?

2. Can I trust virtualization to allow me to 'destroy' one VM without forcing a situation where I can't trust other VMs running on the same physical hardware?

3. Can hardware devices be 'assigned' to only one VM and tested without endangering the other VMs? (It wouldn't appear to be a good idea since I assume the actual drivers would be installed in the underlying virtualization software.)

As you can tell, any knowledge I have of virtualization comes from reading about it and some VERY limited playing with it.

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Posted by: akcoyote   Posted on: 12/08/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Key Strategies for Federal Agencies - Safe and Cost Effective Migration for Legacy Hardware GovConnection The federal government has mandated that federal agencies reduce energy ... Download Now
• Virtualization: Architectural Considerations And Other Evaluation Criteria VMware Of the many approaches to x86 systems virtualization available in the ... Download Now
• Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Iinfrastructure VMware VMware virtualization software has been adopted by over 120,000 enterprise ... Download Now