Linux "micro-cloud"

[markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org (markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org)]

> From: Richard Pieri <richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
> Subject: Re: Linux "micro-cloud"
> To: "Boston Lunix User's Group" <discuss-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
> Message-ID: <385FD15A-4E21-4A07-AA9F-7E1732AB5CDE-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
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>
> On Nov 5, 2009, at 9:54 AM, markw-FJ05HQ0HCKaWd6l5hS35sQ at public.gmane.org wrote:
>> which I'll run a one or more virtual machines doing the web and
>> service
>> hosting. (If there is enough bandwidth, I may run VMs on the database
>> machine as well)
>
> Not a silly question: why?  On the face of it this doesn't seem like
> virtualization is a good solution.  If your database engine scales
> with cores then virtualizing that is a losing proposition, and web
> farms are usually better handled as 1U rack mounts than virtualized on
> large hardware.
>
> Just food for thought.
>
> --Rich P.

Actually, I held that opinion not so long ago, but I have re-evaluated
much of it.

For a database system, absolutely, as close as possible to the hardware is
the absolute for performance, I have no argument. Second, for merely
performance reasons, one should never choose a VM because it does, in
fact, add an amount of overhead to normal functionality.


My current system is slower than it should be. Not to say it is
overloaded, just some functions take to long because of raw CPU
bottleneck. So faster+more CPU is a better solution. Faster CPU for single
thread performance, more CPUs for multiple processors. Once upgraded I
will have CPU and RAM to spare.

Now, I currently have over 40 web sites hosted on the machine, all small
little sites. I don't make much on them. With virtualization, I will be
able to sell whole "machines" much like Amazon AWS.

I will be able to construct/deploy different "machines" "on the fly" for
various purposes. I will be able to map them to their own IP address,
their own config, their own OS. I could even run a Windows VM on my Linux
system if I needed a Windows only service!

The possibilities are very cool.