This is pretty much how I work (local VMs, one per client/project, or remote VM supplied by the client that I rdp into). Code is checked in frequently and VMs are backed up to external drives so in the event of hardware failure I can be back up and running quickly. On 3 Oct 2013 10:43, "Greg Harris" <g...@harrisconsultinggroup.com> wrote:
> Hi People, > > I am about to setup a new development machine for a new development > project and I was after some suggestions… > > I want to be able to run multiple separate environments at the same time > so that I can test software in these environments and just trash the > environment as needed when done. Also, the same idea sounds valid for my > visual studio development environment. This would give me the advantage of > being able to wind back to a prior known, good stable environment as > needed. > > This would also give some additional benefits: > > - Disaster recovery when on the road: If I am seeing a client on the > other side of the world and my laptop dies, I can go into the local store, > buy a new machine and start up a VM on the machine and I have all of my > environments back again at reduced stress. > - Quickly move to new physical machine as needed to get additional > resources. > - Separate environment for each project. > - Ability to build a VM and send it to the cloud for production use. > > I am thinking that at any one time, I would be running VM’s for: > > - Stable stuff like office, file system and database > - Development (Visual Studio) > - Test environments (typically only one, but maybe more) > > I realise that I am going to need to give the physical machine a LOT MORE > memory and disk (but disk is cheap, probably use an SSD, OK not cheap). > The other resources should share well. > > My guest VPC’s will all be some form of Windows OS (both 32 and 64 bit) > hosted on Win 7 Pro 64 bit. > > The initial concerns I have are around the user interface > > - UI responsiveness, I have seen on some VPC’s the mouse jitter around > and it be unclear where you are pointing, this can be very disconcerting. > - I tend to use two or three monitors at a time, the VPC must support > this. > > I am thinking that I will keep as little as possible running on the host > OS, so that I (almost) never need to reboot it. > > I have already found some useful references on the web: > > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/633774/optimize-development-virtual-machine > > http://www.andrewconnell.com/HOWTO-Squeeze-Every-Last-Drop-of-Performance-Out-of-Your-Virtual-PCs > > Before I go and burn a lot of time on this, I wanted to review this with > the list… > > Questions: > > - Do any of you do this? > - Does it work well? > - What should I lookout for? > - What tools should I use? > > I assume that the best options available for hosting my VM’s are one of: > > - VMWare http://www.vmware.com > - Oracle Virtual Box http://www.virtualbox.org > - MS Virtual PC > http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3702 > > MS Virtual PC is 2011, does that mean it is stable or they have moved on > to something else? > > Thanks in advance for your help :-). > > Regards > Greg Harris >
