virtualbox.org

Dear virtual box forum members

Firstly I have never used virtual box or VM ware in general so apologies in advance for this question - however I couldn't find a straightforward answer by searching and, as someone who knows little about the subject I am not sure which information to trust.

We have a slightly messy system which needs sorting out. Currently dev and test are on separate machines to prod. However, dev and test are both running out of space, and it has been suggested that we migrate them all onto the same physical machine by creating VM machines on the server which currently holds the live software (this server has a lot more space).

I would value the opinions on someone more informed than myself as to whether this sounds a reasonable idea (given we are able to somehow solve the obviously dangerous situation of having all the data in one place by backing up in another location somehow)

Your thoughts very much appreciated...

VMs are effectively like getting a bunch of different PCs, configuring each one to suit a particular need - except a lot cheaper, and takes up a lot less space. Think of them as disposable PCs.

One tip: avoid snapshots, use clones instead. Like the Sirens of legend, snapshots may look attractive, but those who approach them usually regret it.

mpack: thanks for the information. I think I understand the concept behind virtual machines - my question really was regarding possible issues with adding new virual machines to a server that is already running live software. I am assuming you are saying there wouldn't be any issues?

You would have to give me some idea of the kind of issues you had in mind. Obviously, if a server is running a VM then the server has that much less CPU and disk space available for other things. Whether you will notice any slowdown on the host or not is very application and demand dependant - impossible to answer from here. However it will not cost you much to run a test.

Difficult to say what the issues might be as I've never used the software - but I suppose I just want to verify that this isn't bad practice for any reason. As far as I can gather the machines don't interfere with each other or the existing os installation, we should be able to configure each with separate ip, we can version control across the different installations etc. - I couldn't think of any problem myself - but I thought it wise to ask an expert before embarking on something which will be difficult to turn back from! Thanks - your confirmation is appreciated!