Chapter 4. Running Servers in Virtual Machines
In This Chapter
Discovering what you can do with virtual machines
Choosing virtualization software
Considering hardware requirements
Installing a guest OS in a virtual machine
Running Snow Leopard Server on a Mac is a powerful addition to a network. Running two Snow Leopard Servers can be even more powerful. Common sense tells you that you need two Macs — but common sense might not know about virtualization.
Maybe you wish you could run a Windows or Linux server on a Mac. While you're wishing, how about running Windows, Linux, and Snow Leopard Server all at the same time, all on the same Mac? You can with virtualization, which enables you to run multiple operating systems on one computer. Each operating system is completely separate from the others, running in its own virtual machine.
Virtualization has great benefits, including easy and flexible testing of server setups before rolling them out for your users. For production servers, virtualization can save you money in hardware, add flexibility, and make for quicker disaster recovery. Virtualization has limitations as well, and for production servers, you'll want the higher-end Macs — a Mac Pro or an Xserve — with lots of RAM.
The Reality of Virtualization
Macs are the only computers that allow you to run Mac OS X along with Windows and Linux. Virtual machines on non-Apple PCs can't run Mac OS X. Apple doesn't permit running Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware in its user license agreement, so the ...
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