Virtual Machine

[billmckinstry]

Hi All, In my ignorance... Would a Virtual Linux Server on a Windows xp machine help to solve some hardware issues??? or am I on another planet.
Trust this question should not be in the coffee lounge.

Regards,
Bill

[glaston]

What kind of hardware issues?
Are you asking if having Linux in a virtual machine can help you solve some system wide hardware issues you're having across the entire system?
If that's what you mean, then, no...it won't.

Just having Linux installed isn't itself gonna solve any existing issues at all.

Or are you asking if installing linux in a VM as opposed to on a physical machine will solve installation issues you're having with getting Linux installed on a physical machine?
If that's what you mean, then, maybe.
It won't solve the issues, but it will allow you to run Linux without having to commit to it being your main system or dual boot.

And how do you mean to use the virtual server?
For testing?
That's pretty much the only use of a virtual machine in this context.
You can't really implement the server in any real capacity running in a host XP system under traditional virtualization.

I suppose you could do it, but you'd need a very capable machine.
Windows has alot of overhead and doesn't use system resources very efficiently.
That will slow Linux down alot.
If you were running Linux as a basic workstation, all these performance problems wouldn't be as critical.
Are you planning on serving data through the VM to other computers?
Virtual machine applications use very specific virtual hardware devices.
Which means that if you were planning to transfer the system configuration to an actual machine in the future once you're more familiar with Linux, obviously, the hardware configurations will be much different between the VM and the physical machine.
So once you set out to install Linux on the physical machine you might still have problems with the new(or old) hardware that you didn't have in the virtual machine.
Once you get some experience with Linux through the virtual machine, you'd be well served to then install it on an older physical machine or setup a dual boot temporarily.
This will allow you to get familiar with having the machine physically on your network and serving data.

I know that "theoretically" you can run a server inside desktop virtualization software, but that's really meant for testing purposes or software development.
Not implementation on a real network intended for use by people who will need access to that data.

In the future you might want to be much more specific than this.
Just saying:: "Would a Virtual Linux Server on a Windows xp machine help to solve some hardware issues???" is as vague as it gets.
Nothing about computers is that vague.

You must be new to computers in general to ask such a vague question.

For a real solution, you'll need to tell us-
a)what are the hardware issues?
b)what Linux distro are you working with?
c)what are you using for virtualization?
d)what do you mean by virtual server?
e)what is your level of skill with Linux and virtualization?
f)why do you want to run a "server"?

[billmckinstry]

Thanks Glaston for the advice.
We run a ClarkConnect 4.1 file, mail, proxy & hylafax server with 6 xp pc’s.
This has served us well for 8 years but the issue of replacing hardware causes some frustration and cost.
We operate in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. While most of our needs are available older computer parts are not. A 120gb Hdd in our server is failing and we can not purchase below 200gb to replace same. ClarkConnect does not recognise a 200gb plus Hdd, for us anyway.
We purchased a new pc to test ClarkConnect 4.3 but it would not load on the ASUS P5KPL-CM with 250gb sata hdd. Fedora 8 also refused to load yet Mandriva 2008 Spring and windows xp sp2 did load. I did not check if Mandriva picked up the network card but no problems with the 250gb hdd.
In PNG we do not have many linux experts. When the 120gb hdd played up recently it cost us USD800 and three days of downtime only to find that 40mins of fsck solved the problem in the end.
I am a learner with linux.
This is why I wondered if “virtual” may be an avenue to check.
Appreciate your advice and you may well see some postings on the forum from me soon.
Regards,
Bill