Re: Niche for Hurd - discussion - lightweight virtualisation

[olafBuddenhagen]

Hi,

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 07:57:36PM +0100, Arne Babenhauserheide wrote:
> Am Samstag 08 November 2008 17:34:08 schrieb olafBuddenhagen@gmx.net:

> > A virtual appliance is similar, only that the operating
> > system+software is preinstalled in an image, and comes along with a
> > virtualization solution to run it -- you can use it inside an
> > existing host system, and don't have to install the actual software
> > at all. Only the virtualization solution interacts with the host
> > system, while the actual software is completely isolated.
> 
> In easy words: It's a off-the-rack system I can rent from someone. For
> example a webserver which just offers an online shop and looks like a
> dedicated server, but in truth is just a virtual OS on a shared
> server. 

No, that's a completely different story. I'm not talking about virtual
servers -- while these should be doable with some Hurd-based solution as
well of course, I don't see any obvious advantages over established
container solutions like Linux-vserver or Virtuozzo here.

Virtual appliances are about running software on your local machine --
only easing management by decoupling the software from the Host system,
using some kind of virtualization solution. Hurdish subenvironments
might allow for a more optimal approach here than the established
full-blown virtualization solutions I believe...

-antrik-