Sun boots Solaris x86 on Xen

news.com ^ | 2005-08-01 | Stephen Shankland

[N3WBI3]

Sun boots Solaris x86 on Xen

Sun Microsystems programmers have successfully booted more than one instance of the company's Solaris operating system on a server using the Xen virtualization software, which makes it possible to run multiple operating systems on the same computer. Sun engineer Tim Marsland said in his blog on Thursday that Sun accomplished the feat using Solaris on a server with dual Opteron processors from Advanced Micro Devices.

"We still emit loads of debugging noise," Marsland said, "but it all works pretty well."

Xen is most widely used with Linux, but it also works with the open-source NetBSD version of Unix, and founder Ian Pratt projects Windows will come as well--though Microsoft is working competing hypervisor software of its own.

Xen, by letting administrators run multiple or different operating systems on the same machine, makes it possible to use servers more efficiently. Companies such as Intel eventually envision such hypervisor software as useful for personal computers as well, for example as a way to keep work and personal tasks in separate compartments.

[N3WBI3]

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[E. Pluribus Unum]

Hasn't VMWare been doing this for years?

[ShadowAce]

I'm still not convinced that Xen is the way to go in terms of allowing multiple OSes on a single machine. When I researched it a while ago (a few months), the client OS needed to be compiled specifically FOR Xen, thus you couldn't go out a DL or buy an OS you may be interested in just to check it out.

Also, at this time, the clients seem limited to *nixes. Have things improved since I looked at it last?

[N3WBI3]

Actually no VMWare has not ever supported Solaris as a client Operatingsystem, only windows and Linux. But strictly speaking the best out there is IBM's vitalization on the PV processor..

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Actually no VMWare has not ever supported Solaris as a client. I meant the concept.

Sun is getting so behind the curve.

[N3WBI3]

I meant the concept.

The concept goes back to mainframes in the 60's..

Sun is getting so behind the curve.

Well their existing technology is very limited and they could start from scratch, pay vmware to build for the x86 processor,give up, or see what they can do with Xen... everyone has its ups and downs..

[Jack Black]

I've used these before but why bother. I don't need or want two OS's on my machine. One that works is plenty. The applications are where the action is, and the web. The thin client idea was more interesting. I could almost survive with just a browser.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It's useful for server application development work on a notebood so you can be editing code on your desktop environment and execute it on the server.

That's the main use I have for it. I think multiple virtual machines on production servers is more a whiz-bang thing than anything else.

[Prime Choice]

I used to run Solaris on Intel exclusively in my personal server farm. But after Sun screwed the pooch on supporting Solaris x86, I lost my zeal for the OS. I've since switched to Linux and found it ran a lot faster and the general Linux Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) was an order of magnitude larger than Solaris x86's.

Mind you, I still run Solaris on SPARC, but my Solaris x86 days are history.

[N3WBI3]

For $user whos computing needs are limited youre right. But for a developer, or system engineer that might want to build / test software virtual OS's rule. There are also people who work on Linux and like to game, a windows VM and youre all set. Their server level products (ESX) helped us get down to about a half dozen big servers rather than a fleet of smaller ones..

[antiRepublicrat]

Hasn't VMWare been doing this for years?

Xen is a bit different. For one, you install Xen and then all virtualized OSs on top. You don't have one host OS and then other virtualized OSs. With its architecture, Xen also tends to give pretty good performance. Another cool feature is that you can move a virtualized OS to another server live (not even having to shut it down), with a sub-second pause being the only disruption in service.

Imagine that on a hosting service, live shuffling of virtual machines around depending on load. Imagine you are running a web app using virtualized database and app servers on the same machine. It starts getting too high a load, so you ship the DB server off to another box with almost no interruption in service.

[antiRepublicrat]

Scratch the running alone thing, I was confusing it.

[Golden Eagle]

Actually no VMWare has not ever supported Solaris as a client Operatingsystem, only windows and Linux.

Actually as usual you are completely wrong. I run Solaris x86 within a VMWARE both at work and at home.

[ShadowAce]

GE is right on this one. Docs and supported guest OSes are here

[N3WBI3]

Is it supported.. Could I say call vmware and ask hey Im having trouble with this driver on my solaris guest os?

[N3WBI3]

eh, broken clock... seems VMware updates their support martix in the time between my last meeting with them and today..

[N3WBI3]

BTW, you could have cmoe on and just corrected me, said "they added solaris10 x86".. but instead like always you try to add semthing for "as usual you are completely wrong" pathetic troll..

[RightOnline]

..and Virtual Iron. Great stuff.

[N3WBI3]

s/x86/sparc/