Provisioning

Eucalyptus – is an open-source software infrastructure for implementing “cloud computing” on clusters. The current interface to Eucalyptus is compatible with Amazon’s EC2, S3, and EBS interfaces
SystemImager – automates Linux installs, software distribution, and production deployment
Cobber – is a Linux installation server that allows for rapid setup of network installation environment
LinMin – Unattended, Remote, [...]

I had written up a VMWare Server review for the beta release earlier. Given that VMWare Server 2.0 Beta is already available, here’s a rundown on the differences between VMWare Server 2.0 and VMWare Server 1.x.

Web based management – this beats having to Remote Desktop to the host operating system to manage virtual machines.

Virtual [...]

Just make sure your VMWare virtual hard disk is at least 2.5 Gb.
Ubuntu will not install properly from LiveCD (which is the default download) when the virtual hard disk is 2.0 Gb. Grub

It seems like 2007 is going to be year when web hosters move en-masse to virtualizating their shared-server. In the past, virtual hosting is simply the practice of hosting lots of websites on a single box, and a web hoster may run tens of boxes.
With clustered hosting, every website is served by every box, [...]

A Samba Primary Domain Controller is useful if you want to secure access for a small business network.

apt-get install samba
sudo vim /etc/samba/smb.conf
comment out
invalid users = root
… otherwise you can’t add machine account from a client computer
wins support = yes
security = user (i.e. no anonymous access)
domain logons = yes (otherwise it won’t be a domain [...]

Phil Windley revies Parallels and mentions that “Virtualization will become part of our everyday lives”. I tend to view virtualization on the desktop as a necessary evil rather than being a good thing on its own.
I had to use a colleagues desktop, running Linux with a Windows running in VMWare which then had a [...]

(Read my VMWare Server Review)
I’m not affliated with VMWare in any way. If you haven’t signed up for the VMWare e-mail newsletters, go do it now. It’s not spammy, and has plenty of meaty technical material.
The latest e-mail points to the VMWorld 2005 Conference Sessions. There are free audio downloads for you to listen [...]

VMWare’s web site boasts of a case study where AXA saved $550k in hardware through virtualization. With savings like that, one cannot ignore virtualization, especially given that VMWare Server Beta (download) is now free, as in beer. VMWare Player is still free, and this review aims to cover the differences between the Player and VMWare Server.