Virtual Admin :FM

Kffcj]fidXeX^`e^m`iklXc\em`ifed\ekj M@IKL8C8;D@E This month we examine techniques for deploying and managing virtual systems. BY JOE CASAD

iven the rapid pace of IT evolu- virtual appliances: VMware Studio and the experiments and you want to get on tion, virtualization is already SUSE Studio. with the real business of deploying vir- >yesterday’s news. IT managers The next article in our virtualization tual systems on a massive scale, you’ll around the world are working out strate- set shows how to set up your own vir- find lots of useful information up ahead gies for how to meet the virtualization tual cluster using the Rocks distro. on virtualization in Linux environments. challenge. You’ve tried all the leading As you’ll learn, NASA and other leading And even if you’re just getting started tools – , VMware, KVM, VirtualBox – scientific institutions use Rocks clusters with your experiments, this issue high- and now you’re ready to take the next to perform complex calculations, but lights some handy apps you might want step. This month we examine some tech- Rocks is simple enough even for casual to integrate into your toolkit. We hope niques for deploying, configuring, and users. And if you’re still looking for more you enjoy this month’s Virtual Admin managing virtual environments. information on the art of deploying and cover story. ® We start with a study of MLN (Manage managing virtual environments, turn to Large Networks), a powerful open our Know-How section, where you’ll source virtual machine management tool find an article on auto- that lets you “build sophisticated, dy- mated installation with namic virtual infrastructures using freely the Cobbler provi- available virtualization platforms.” We’ll sioning system. show you how to use MLN to deploy If you’re fin- and manage Xen, VMware, and User ished with Mode Linux virtual environments. Next we examine the world of virtual appliances. You’ll learn what a is and why more admins are turning to the virtual appliance as a sim- ple, efficient solution for running net- work services in Linux. We’ll also show you two easy tools for creating your own

COVER STORY

MLN ...... 22

Building Virtual Appliances ...... 32

Rocks Clustering ...... 38

JANUARY 2009 ISSUE 98 21

021-021_coverintro.indd 21 13.11.2008 18:04:37 Uhr