[CentOS] Re: Rebuilding Raid 1

[Les Mikesell]

On Wed, 2006-05-03 at 11:13, albi wrote:

> > You might want to download the free Vmware server software and play
> > with senarios like this. You can create installs with 2 drives in
> > raid 1, and kill a drive and play with rebuilding. All virtual, so no
> > damage to working systems. This is how I learned some of the nuances
> > of linux software raid.
> 
> very interesting idea,
> 
> but.. vmware-server is free-of-charge ?!
> 
> qemu is open-source and free-of-charge and suits my emu-needs! :)

Yes, Vmware-server is free of charge.  It is currently a beta
version but is usable and will remain free after release:
http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
There is also a free vmplayer product that is in a released
version that you could use to run the machines after creating
them with the server version (vmplayer won't create new virtual
machines).  The player is intended for more workstation-like
use where you only run one guest per player instance and
it also handles the display.  The server version can run
multiple guests at once and doesn't require any local display
but instead has a separate console that can run remotely and
the guest continues whether any consoles are connected or not.

I'd be interested in a comparison by a currently-satisfied
qemu user.  One advantage of vmware is that you can run the
server/player under either either windows or linux and the
virtual machines are portable between them.  Likewise for
the console/server connection - you can run the display
console on a windows box connecting to a server host on
Linux or the reverse.

VMware is still selling the Workstation and ESX versions
of their software which offer some additional bells and
whistles (and performance in the ESX case).

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com