Tech note: Debian Lenny can haz virtualization management

[dsrtao]

The tools provided for managing virtual machines in Debian Lenny are fully up to the standards that I expect for first-class software in Debian.

Specifically, kvm, qemu, and the libvirt series of tools including virt-manager, virsh and virt-viewer are all good. If an AMD CPU supports virtualization extensions, it's easy to add kernel support; if an Intel CPU supports them *and the motherboard BIOS does too* then that is similarly easy. No cookie for whoever at Intel decided to require special motherboard support for on-chip instructions.

Now I need to work out some odd networking issues and I may be fairly happy.

Comments

[robertdfeinman.livejournal.com]

Interesting now that we no longer have to type on a teletype keyboard programs are still named to minimize keystrokes: kvm, qemu, virt...

Yes I did use a teletype at one time, as well as punch cards and paper tape.

It is amusing that even in the days of punch cards Fortran and Cobol were both very English like and verbose.

I don't like obscure-syntax command line programs, but I dislike point and shoot GUI's even less. We need some "do what I want", not what I say interfaces.

Perhaps the Iphone and its kin will lead the way.

[dsrtao]

I think it was Neal Stephenson who wrote that this stems from RSI being the black lung disease of keyboard workers.