<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal>Hi All,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Forgive me if this was discussed last week I’m new...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I currently run two servers, one for mail, one for web + db,
but will be expanding<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>In future so a virtual architecture seems a good idea,
especially if I can run the VM’s<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>on any of the physical machines on the fly as load /
failures dictate. Ideally this would<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>all be automatic and the VM’s would share processor /
storage transparently amongst<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>available machines, and I would also like to add extra
storage as necessary without having<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>to rebuild arrays or reinstall stuff. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’d like to replace the os on both physical machines with
minimal fedora 8 + xen and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>run the mail / web / db services inside VM’s.
I’ve got a F9 system running inside a VM<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>on the mailserver now but don’t know how to get it
running on both machines as I’m <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>not sure what’s possible with exporting / sharing VM
settings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>For now, What I need is to be able to run the image of the
F9 system on my web box<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>when the mail server crashes so that the mail server is
still available should the physical <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>mail server break.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>My thinking was if both machines just run a minimal system +
the VM’s then the <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>other disks in the machines can be running a raided gfs
across both machines to <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>provide a redundant storage system that can survive a
machine failure. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Hopefully then should a box pack up I can still run all my
services in VM’s on a single<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>machine since the VM images will be available to both
machines on the shared filesystem.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I don’t even know which parts of this are possible or
whether its a bad strategy, perhaps <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>there’s a better approach to all of this, ideas welcome,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Jack<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>