On 7/27/06, Nix, Robert P. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Not only would you have to shut down all the guests to introduce your maintenance (although not during the actual "apply"; you could allocate new disks, copy the old ones, and apply your maintenance there, then switch everybody over), you'd also have to find a way of tracking changes the maintenance made to the writable directory paths, such as /etc. These would be the changes that would bite you in the rear.This type of set-up was done initially, in order to share a common /usr filesystem (I'm not sure the others are really large enough to make a big difference, space and cache -wise). But maintaining the system, especially the parts and pieces outside the shared filesystem, becomes a nightmare, because you can't just use the tools supplied by the vendor to do the maintenance; you have to do something extra to catch all the extra fallout. I think, for this reason, most people have abandoned the shared /usr concept, and are just allocating the space and maintaining each system as if it was a stand-alone box. I could be wrong, though. But you are going through the same thought process that everyone else has at some point in this process, so you're in good company. -- .~. Robert P. Nix Mayo Foundation /V\ RO-OC-1-13 200 First Street SW /( )\ 507-284-0844 Rochester, MN 55905 ^^-^^ ----- "In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different." -----Original Message----- From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MOEUR TIM C Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 9:45 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Shared common Directories Hello List, I'm pursuing an architecture for multiple guests under VM and I'd like to know if anyone else has done the same, or if this is just an accident waiting to happen. I invite your thoughts, comments, and witty remarks. Here's what I'm considering: I'd like to create multiple VM Linux guests that each have read access to a set of common minidisks. On those common minidisks will be what I'm calling the shared Linux file systems, such as stuff in /sbin, /bin, /boot, /lib. Each VM Linux guest will also have an exclusive minidisk (WRITE) that will contain the file systems needed to update and operate (/etc, /proc, /sys, /tmp and so on). The assumption is that each Linux guest will use the same level of OS, patches, and add-on programs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
If you are not trying to save disk (we use about 1 Gb for all system files), why not use something simpler such as unison/rsync to keep all your files synchronized to a master. That way, if the disk takes a hit you won't see all your systems go down. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
