Is there a Linux distro specific for running as a host OS for Virtualization?

Question

as I understand running VMware or other virtualizations requires a "host os". Normally this is one of your main os-es, that you really use.

What I would like is a mini-linux and virtualization software pre-wrapped into a specialized bootalble, installable mini-os. So the linux would not have a webserver, nor X, just the minimum to run as a host OS and of course optimized for that, like some partitioning tools and such.

Answer 1

you can take a look at proxmox ve. which is compilation of open source software packaged as easier to use platform for kvm / openvz virtualization.

Answer 2

Depending on the flavor of VMWare and/or Microsoft's virtualization products, this isn't necessarily true: a hypervisor runs "next to the metal" and itself is a purpose-built "OS" if you will that is responsible for hosting the guest VMs (this is a much simplified explanation).

VMWare ESXi is a true hypervisor and is free; it's (I believe) based on a highly-modified RHEL, but I'm not certain on this.

For a host-based virtualization system, the system requirements of the virtualization product you're using will dictate what host OS you can/should use.

You might also want to look into XenServer and/or VirtualBox as they are strongly tied to Linux and there may be a set of procedures for compiling the kernel and adding only the components and services required for virtualization.

Answer 3

Broadly speaking there are two types of virtual machines. The ones that sit on the base metal (type 1 hypervisors) like VMWare ESXi, Hyper-V and Xen, and the others (type 2 hypervisors) that run as regular processes on a host OS, e.g. VirtualBox, VMWare server, qemu and KVM.

For the first type there is no host OS, since everything runs from the hypervisor. For the case of Xen, the "host" (dom-0) is a special guest that can interact directly with the hypervisor, so it can e.g. start and stop other guest VMs.

For the second type you need to have a full host OS, like Linux of Windows, to run the virtual machines. For this purpose you can install any server oriented Linux distribution. Ubuntu has a server distribution that can fit the bill (it even provides a cloud distribution, i.e. a distribution to create your own cloud infrastructure using KVM virtual machine and Eucalyptus cloud management software, but I have no experience with it.)

Answer 4

With KVM being in the Linux kernel, IMO it's a good choice for a Linux-based purpose-built VM host.

Answer 5

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor (RHEV-H) The Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor (RHEV-H) is a variant of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that is dedicated for the purpose of running virtual machines. RHEV-H is delivered as a single run-time image that is deployed on hosts dedicated to running virtual machines. http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/rhev/

This is based on http://ovirt.org/about.html and is managed by RHEV Manager: http://www.linux-kvm.com/content/redhat-rhev-m-virtualization-management-tool-demo

Answer 6

XenServer is an out-of-the-box solution. Just install it, to get a minimal environment/tools and you are ready to go. There is a free version that you can download and evaluate.

Answer 7

VMware's ESXi is a small hypervisor that is made to be able to be put onto a bootable thumbdrive, leaving the internal harddrive for storing VM images. It is free and it comes with reasonable tools for basic VM creation and management.

Answer 8

Just to add to the choice. Microsoft HYPER-V is type 1 bare metal hypervisor, comes with Windows Server 2008R2 as host OS and is free in Core (without GUI) version.
But the answer absolutely depends on guest OS and other details.

Answer 9

My personal choice here is to use a minimal Debian installation as a host OS for virtualization. It is small (<1GB installed) and will run in as little as 64MB of RAM (YMMV) and many of the popular virtualization systems are well supported and some are directly installable from the Debian software repos.

Answer 10

O yes XENserver ! I can tell a story ! The only virtualization solution that works for me is XEN LIve CD with prebuilt linux kernel for debian, centos and suse that work astonishing well even from cd ! Unfortunaly there is no installer included and i wonder why ! I have tried out to instal xenserver but installer stalls in the midlle of proces ! You install and you go, right ! There is no easy way to install bare metal virtual solution that is open source ! You will find a parts, but you must build it by your own ! If you do not have the knowledge and howtos, you are stuck ! If im wrong then i espect that someone post a valid links to so called easy open sorce ISO install solution with some install guide instruction ! Every thing is easy with linux, right ! Either you are from Mars or you do not know what are you talking abaut ! O another thing, you can find open source enterprise class server solution that runs on multicore server hardware, but for common desktop workstation bare metal hypervisor (ISO install solution) what ever it is - where to find ... ????