What is Virtualization Technology---and Why do I want it????

[johnrr6]

OK---topic speaks for itself....

Done a tad of googling but not sure I understand exactly what Intel's Virtualization Technology is-----or why I'd even want such a thing.....

I do see a BIOS swith to support it in my new Asus P6T Deluxe X58 board.

Can you guys explain it to me in layman's terms???

[CrowdAds]

[chrisd]

Short description: a virtual machine allows you to run various versions of other operating systems on your PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) only limited by the amount of physical memory and drive space. Also, no partitioning of your harddrive or dual booting. The virtual machines exist only as a set of files on your harddrive.

definitions:
Host - your PC.. the main operating system on your machine initially
Guest - the virtual machines (a guest operating system)

Are you familiar with applications such as Microsoft Virtual PC (free) or VMWare ($)?

Edit: ...or Virtual Box (free)?

Microsoft and VMWare have a variety of applications (server or desktop based) that allow you to run multiple operating systems at the same time virtually (they exist in memory and as a large file).

Intel's virtualization technology helps to support the operation of virtual software (which isn't necessarily limited to virtual machines).

Why would you want this? If you aren't in need of running other operating systems, you wouldn't want it.

But, if you want to run some old games... get the free copy of Microsoft's Virtual PC and install Windows 98 in a virtual machine, install the old game. Of course you aren't limited to playing games... if you have old 16 bit applications that simply won't work with Vista, install a Windows XP VM and go to work.

Why do I use it? At work, I use virtual machines (VM's) to install applications that run well in other operating systems. Or if I need to test software.. I have various flavors of Linux in VM's. That allows me to have Linux installed and run anything I need and I didn't have to partition my harddrive or dual boot!

These virtual machines have different features like keeping different versions of the installed operating system and allowing you to make changes, if you don't like them, you can roll back to a point in time like the thing you messed up never happened!

Resources: Virtual PC Guy - great info on using Microsoft's Virtual PC

[yamawho]

I started using VMware 6.5 workstation on Vista 64bit to run linux distro's.

I find this much easier then installing on the hdd and does a better test than running the distro on live cd.

You can even run OSX as a VM however I've hear that the sound doesn't work.

Some also run servers as VM's and you can run serveral VM's at the same time provided you have enough system memory. Each VM uses 512mg of ram ...

Still learning to use VMware but I think it's very useful.

I don't think VT is required to run VMware however ...

[johnrr6]

Great Posts----thank you both.....

The reason I'm interested is I'm building a brand new x58 rig that has the capability of two separate RAID arrays-----and has 12 Gigs of RAM and I was debating the possibilities of......

1. Some type of dual boot machine where one of the arrays is Vista Ultimate64-----and the other boot array is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 (I have a Beta of it)

or

2. Using Virtualization Technology to do basically the same thing----Use the two different operating systems....

Can you guys comment on using either way above to accomplish that???

Plusses and minuses????

Speed???

Stability??

[ctal]

Hi John,

SSZ and some others have had generally good experiences with VirtualBox:

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f108/v...-a-113909.html

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f108/v...ed-113115.html

Wikipedia has a pretty good top-level overview of what Intel Virtualization Technology itself consists of and does:

x86 virtualization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wouldn't read too much into this, but fwiw it makes the following statement:

Intel and AMD have independently developed virtualization extensions to the x86 architecture. They are not directly compatible with each other, but serve largely the same functions. Either will allow a virtual machine hypervisor to run an unmodified guest operating system without incurring significant emulation performance penalties.

Best for the holidays & 2009!

-- Al

[yamawho]

One thing I didn't mention was how much better it is to use VM's over dual booting since you can run two or more OS's at once without the need to reboot.

Can be a little tricky to share files between them however. I was able to get it working between Vista and Ubuntu using VMware tools and a script I found.

[johnrr6]

You guys have been GREAT!!! Thanks!!! Happy Holidays to all.

I just took my two sons shooting skeet with their new Browning Over and Unders I got them for Christmas....(they shot the pants off the old man----score wise)....

Life has been good to me and I hope to you all as well!!

Anyway-----Is there a performance hit when doing two systems at once???

Can I choost NOT to run the virtual system if all I needed on that particular day was just a normal machine.....???

What I'm really looking for is a way to run/test/learn Windows 7....

Without another machine set up soley for that purpose.....

And without a bunch of "issues"....

And without a big performance hit on either OS.....

Am I dreaming of something impossible???-----or is it doable???

[Acid8000]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

Can I choost NOT to run the virtual system if all I needed on that particular day was just a normal machine.....???

Of course. You run the virtualization software just as you do any other application. Don't need it - don't run it.

[johnrr6]

Originally Posted by Acid8000

Of course. You run the virtualization software just as you do any other application. Don't need it - don't run it.

thank you....

This gets more promising the more I look into it.....

[Gr8Golf]

You'll never look back after you've run it for a while. I run my main XP workstation in a VM and have most of the servers I support running as VM's. Backups are easy and machine snapshots rule. Have fun!

[Acid8000]

I run Windows 98 in a VM from time to time for nostalgia.

[Sir Skully]

Well thanks johnrr6 for asking the right question, and starting this thread. And thanks to all the other contributers. Ya'll stoked my embers of interest in VM, into a flame. I down loaded SunXvm virtualBox and installed. I'm now loading Ubunto into virtualBox. This looks like funya to me..... Ubunto restart time see ya later.....

[Sir Skully]

I'm posting from virtualBox with Ubuntu... But what I'd like to know is there a way to make this a full screen, as its just a small window thingie....Any info appreciated....

[Sir Skully]

Here's a what a I a mean a ya'll a......

[yamawho]

Never used virtualBox but in VMware you hit atl + enter to get full screen I think.

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