Quote:
Originally Posted by Evil E
Can you tell more about your setup? Do you have a pretty fat machine that has multiples VM's? I was thinking about buying a really good server that could do that instead of having way too many boxes and monitors.
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In 99% of the cases virtualization is the way to go. I've been running it on servers for quite some time (XEN). Until recently I've been running VMware on my Linux desktop (Dell OptiPlex with 8 Gb RAM, dual 750 Gb drives. I use a <a href="http://www.drobo.com/">Drobo</a> box with 2 Tb of storage to keep stuff I don't use frequently. I highly recommend you check it out too. It's a very fresh approach to external storage.
Strangely enough the reason I consolidated my boxes into VMware wasn't cause I got tired of maintaining them or anything like that - they just generated too much heat in my home office. Once I went the desktop virtualization route I haven't looked back. It seems I gained a bunch of features that I got used to live without. Like instead of dicking around with KVM's, separate monitors, etc. I can get dual head Windows running on my dual 24" monitors as a separate desktop and switch to it with <Win Key>+<Right Arrow> and switch back with <Win Key>+<Left Arrow>. It's so smooth that sometimes I forget what I am using. But(!) it did take me forever to configure.
Oh, I also "stage" a lot of shit. For example I have copies of my "live" servers available as images so before I go fucking up a production server I deploy a package onto a VMware image and run some tests on it. How can you argue with ability to spawn a clone of your server in under a minute? I use <a href="http://www.cfengine.org/">CF Engine</a> to keep all my package inventory in sync.
I have to say that I only recently discovered Mac (got a Macbook Black) and I admit that I see light. Not only the OS X is as smooth as it can get, virtualization is even better! VMware has preconfigured settings where you can install an OS with like 3 clicks. There are some apps that don't run natively on OS X but you can drag their windows out of the guest OS onto your OS X desktop out of VMware Fusion. Copy and paste is fantastic. Drag and drop works. OS X folders are reachable from the guest OS and vice-versa. No Samba or NSF to configure. I am currently in the process of getting my desktop to run OS X, since I just recently invested a shitload of money into it that I could have gotten a Mac Pro with. If I don't succeed I will simply go and buy a Mac Pro. Now that I see the features I gain, 3-5K don't seem like all that much to invest into additional hardware.
The cliff notes:
* Virtualization is easy
* It's very convenient
* Keeps your office cooler
* Saves electricity, removes extra heat
* Removes the clutter (I gained like 1/2 an office back)