Virtualization for dummies

[Sam Varshavchik]

I'm planning on taking a plunge into virtualization. I need to retire an 
ancient server, and I'm about to order a new kit to replace it. Given that 
it's new hardware, I expect to get something that supports hardware 
virtualization (it's going to be a real server, and not some 
consumer-oriented kit from OEMs that bastardize the BIOS into disabling 
hardware virualization), so rather than setting aside a separate partition 
for Windows, I think I want to try to run it in a virtual instance.

Hopefully, nobody will tell me that for some reason or another there would 
be some compatibility problem loading the original CD of Win XP Home, then 
updating it to the current SP3+all patches. Also, can someone clarify for me 
how the virtual display works -- would the virtual machine run in an 
ordinary window, or does it take the entire display, with a hotkey to flip 
between the virtual machine and the host OS.

Also, how does networking work. I'm guessing that the virtual machine would 
have an IP address on a separate netblock that the host OS sees as a virtual 
network interface, so the Fedora host will need to have IP forwarding 
enabled, and other machines on the real LAN segment will need an appropriate 
routing table entry.

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