Hello, I'm thinking about consolidating my servers. Currently I have a bunch of Slackware Linux servers, running a variety of software:
*PostgreSQL *Samba *Chandler (Cosmo) *Apache/PHP *Postfix/Dovecot/Postgrey *VirtualBox (currently hosting 5 guests) *Squid None of these servers are very busy. The Postfix/Dovecot server handles a measly 15k email per day, the Apache webserver is serving no more than 1-2GB per day and the Samba server is serving between 20 and 30 clients. All in all, there's not a single one of the above servers who are breaking a sweat. So naturally I've started thinking about consolidating them. I'm looking in two directions: 1. A server running VirtualBox, hosting a bunch of guests, each setup like my current environment. 2. OpenSolaris and Zones. I have some experience with VirtualBox, and feel confident that I could setup a very nice system. The downside is of course the rather steep hardware requirements, and the fact that I would still have to maintain and patch each guest as a separate OS. With Zones this would not be the case, as far as I understand Zones. I would build an OpenSolaris server, and run the necessary software in separate Zones. Patches to the main system would only have to be done in the Global Zone, and the hardware requirements would be significantly lower than the VirtualBox solution. The main reason for staying with the VirtualBox solution, and keeping all the individual guests running Slackware, is my current skill-set. I've worked with Slackware for many years, and I know it very well. It's a tried and tested environment, that just works. Also some of the software listed above is manually compiled to enable/disable features, specifically the web stuff (Apache/PHP). I can do this blindfolded on Linux, but I've no clue if it is as easy/simple on OpenSolaris. I don't have that same amount of experience with OpenSolaris - it's new territory. I am though able to read manuals and follow advice, so perhaps the benefits of Zones is worth the investment in time? Also, how about backup? With the VirtualBox solution I could backup the guests with ease, and even migrate them to newer hardware later on with ease. How would this be handled with Zones? What I'm looking for here is some advice. Is OpenSolaris as simple to admin and maintain as Slackware Linux? Is the mentioned software available for OpenSolaris? Do you think Zones is a good solution for my needs? On a final note, I've tried my hand at ZFS, and daaaaaamn it is nice. So I guess that's another point for OpenSolaris. :o) -- This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
