Linux Centos 5 Distribution and VMWare

At my job we recently installed a new 19" server on which Linux (the Centos 5 distribution) is installed. We needed a new server for the software developers, because the other server was also being used by our consultants, management and administration.

On the new Linux server we installed VMWare, under which Windows 2003 server is running as a virtual server. Virtualization under VMWare is great, because it's very easy to backup a certain state of the server. It's like freezing the state of the server and in case of calamities it's very easy to get this virtual server running again in the state it was by just using the backup of the virtual state of the server.

Another advantage of virtualization is that it's very easy to have multiple virtual servers running at the same time on one physical server. Also when we want to test our software against a certain state of a virtual machine, it's very convenient to return each time to a certain state of this virtual machine and start the same test-procedure all over again.

On the old server is Windows 2003 is running. We develop software in Codegear's (former Borland) Delphi 7 and are considering a new environment like Microsoft .Net or Delphi 2007. The software we develop is intended for usage under the Windows platform.

Since some months we experienced frequent out of memory errors under Delphi 7, however after installing the latest version 7.1 update from Codegear the problem seems to be solved.

We had some trouble getting VMWare running on the Centos 5 Linux distribution. Whenever we wanted to start our virtual Windows 2003 server, the Linux server was crashing. This problem was ultimately solved by utilizing a different Linux kernel (the core part of the Linux operating system).

When you want to experiment with virtualization, virtual machines and virtual servers, you can also take a look at Microsoft's virtualization technology. Microsoft Virtual PC can be downloaded for free at the following site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

For example, it's possible to run Windows 98 as a virtual machine under Virtual PC on your Windows Vista or XP computer. You can even run a virtual Linux server with Virtual PC. On Wikipedia you can read more about Virtual PC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_PC

Currently, we think that VMWare is more stable, that's why we installed it on our new development server. However, Microsoft Virtual PC is great when you want to learn about virtualization. More information about VMWare can be found at VMWare's site:

http://www.vmware.com/