VMware Announces UVAC Winners 65
muff1253 writes to tell us VMware yesterday announced the winners of the Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge (UVAC). The contest, which started at the end of February, was designed to test teams on their ability to create a "pre-built, pre-configured, and ready-to-run" application that could be packaged with operating systems in virtual machines.
For the lazy (Score:1, Informative)
Re:For the lazy (Score:2)
Re:For the lazy (Score:1)
*Phew* (Score:3, Funny)
*Phew*
For the future (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:For the future (Score:3, Insightful)
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Anyway, posting as a logged-in user actually reduces the number of modpoints that are wasted if the post is modded up to +5!
Re: (Score:2)
Thereby helping to solve the mod-point inflation issue I've seen many complain about.
The idea is that posting the text is normally useless in terms of the current discussion, and therefore mod points are wasted on it anyway. For archival purposes, it'll still be there whether the final moderation total is +1 or +5, and a nifty subject line like "Full article text" makes it really ea
No, it's useful. (Score:4, Insightful)
If you go back and read Slashdot stories from more than a year or two ago (always amusing, I strongly recommend it), most of the links to articles are dead. The only threads where you can really read TFA are the ones where somebody pasted it in as a comment.
You do have a point though, it doesn't really deserve a +5 moderation; as long as the person puts "ARTICLE TEXT" in their subject line (which is also a good thing to do!) it's easy enough to find in the the thread if you want to read it, even if it's down at +1 or +2. The only reason to mod it up would be if somebody posted it AC and you wanted to make sure it was readable to people who browse at +1.
So in general, it's definitely karma-whorish, but on the other hand it's also rather useful...so who cares if people get some free points?
What a great idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What a great idea (Score:2)
Re:What a great idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Granted. Yet in the case of the host machine identifying a security tool as something that needs to be quarantined, the VM is a great way to go. I can still have my secured OS, and run all of my security tools without having to degrade the security of the host.
Data key (Score:2)
Yes, I know, awkward, systems aren't written that way. But we can change the rules, can't we?
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Umm... why? (Score:3, Insightful)
The idea behind the contest is that you build an application bundle that can be run "out of the box" inside of vmware, with no configuration or installation.
So the question is, if you are going to target your application to a virtual machine, why use vmware? Why wouldn't you use java or python, for example?
Re:Umm... why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Umm... why? (Score:3, Insightful)
But, even ther
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2, Interesting)
I want my base OS to stay clean and healthy. I want to test/run/use many different programs, some from sources that I can not trust/will not trust. But these days CPU power is getting cheap and memory is cheap. That is why a virtual machine is usefull. I load a VM with a certain program or set of programs, use it and throw it away when I'm done.
I don't even care that much about runnig two different OSes, most times the OS inside the VM is the same as the host OS.
Re: (Score:2)
If the software doesn't require root/admin, run it as a limited user, or in a Wine jail (and as a limited user). If it does require root, run it in a chroot jail -- I don't think Windows can do that, but Wine can. If it requires kernel modules/drivers, then you need to consider: UserModeLinux under a limited account? Or do you really need a virtual machine?
I guess at this point it's about convenience -- you're used to doing it the way yo
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2, Informative)
That may have been the case in the past, but now with VMotion, the advantage for servers is huge. It can simplify backups, isolate failure, and you can upgrade your hardware incrementally without ever having to move your OS/apps to a new box. Even if we didn't use bot
Re:Umm... why? (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe in your world but that is a small part of what using virtualization is about. You are looking at things from a desktop and software view, you need to think about virtualization big picture. I am not going to present a powerpoint presentation as I can not give the big picture view in a
In our organization, we swapped about 15 3-5years old servers that were no longer under warranty. We replaced them with 3 new physical servers and VMWare ESX. Without VMWare, we would have to either consolidate server processes onto less new machines, or buy 15 new servers (an assload faster then we needed even for a middle of the road server like a HP DL380 G4) and maintain status quo. This whole process of conversion was completed without having to reinstall a single OS or configure any new installs. We used the P2V tools (physical to virtual tools) to convert the existing install base to the virtual servers. We now have complete redundancy for all of our physical hardware which we did not have before AND we bought 12 less servers. The setup required more space on our SAN but less space in the physical servers which is the industry goal with "space consolidation" anyway. Of course we had some older servers that were not moved over to VMWare, they are very IO and memory intensive. They would work in VMWare but we do not want to drag down a whole VM server because of one virtual machines load requirements.
I do not work for a virtualization company so no plugs are intended here. I do realize the industry is going this route and not because everyone else is doing it or because it is the newest buzz word, it just makes good sense in many situations.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Reduction in costs is basically saying that some other reason you listed worked. Virtual machines by themselves increase costs by requiring more hardware -- they will never be as f
Re:Umm... why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Really? Where exacty did you get this little factoid? Out of your ass maybe?
I want to run VMWare with the same OS a lot.
Sometimes I want to keep the primary OS uncluttered.
Sometimes I'm installing stuff to try that I just want to test and don't want to install on my real machine until I know the software.
Sometimes I'm installing untrusted software (something off bittorrent perhaps).
Sometimes I'm visiting untrusted websites that require IE, and if my host machine is windows I don't want to open it up to possible IE expoits.
Sometimes I'm just trying to keep my individual server apps isolated so that I can move them to different hardware if any of the apps starts getting used more and consume more resources than available on the host computer.
Personally, although I use a number of different OS's, all my machines tend to run more copies of the same OS as the host OS than of a different OS.
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2)
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2)
Some of us do more than play with computers in our parent's basements.
I have used VMWare GSX routinely for years in data centers running multiple VMs of the same OS. Sometimes for redundancy, sometimes so developers can have a "sandbox" to easily revert to. Sometimes to make an easily-deployable app server that needs to go to many locations. Sometimes because old crusty apps don't play well with others, and its easier to get vendor support when their
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2)
Wow, really? Some of us also have the ability to recognize a joke when they see it.
I was actaully pointing out to the OP that his 99% mark may be a little low...
I know and understand all the uses for a VM environment, yes I am a big geek too. I have been playing around on computers myself since 1981 - it has been a long while since I have seen the basement of either of my parents...
That blast of air was the joke going over your head...
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2)
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2)
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"In theory the first for reasons could theoretically be solved with a chroot jail. Except windows doesn't do that".
So, when one of the points was specifically about running IE in windows, then this theory is rubbish. Scrath that.
And if your base system is Windows, scratch it for all of them
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If it's a server, I usually have a lot more choice, so moving config files is pretty much everything. Library hell does not exist when you use a good package manager, and mine (Gentoo's Portage) has a config file which says which packages I want installed. Thus, all I have to do is copy config files to the new box, run "emerge world", and all the sof
Re:Umm... why? (Score:1)
"VMware has announced that they will be supplying $200,000 in prizes for what they call The Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge [vmware.com]. Big industry names such as Tim O'Reilly and Mark Shuttleworth are among the judges."
From the article:
"Using open source or freely distributable components and/or your own code, create the most inventive and useful virtual appliance and win the $100,000 first prize! The Challenge is open to anyone worldwide and will be judged by a panel of in
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Ok, one possibility is disk images. Cheaper than a VM, use no resources while the site is up. Of course, rolling back means you need to boot.
I guess that's not instantly. Another possibility in pretty widespread use is to have redundancy, instead of rolling back. Mysql replication + DRBD + heartbeat, and you can have another server on hot standby, ready to do an IP takeover, and no one has to notice.
What kind of faults do you usually see -- crashes or deletion/corruption
Re:Umm... why? (Score:5, Insightful)
The contest was sponsored by VMware therefore it is only natural that they used their own platform. Look at the domain of TFA.
Re:Umm... why? (Score:1)
My 'other' guess:
PC-104 board + vmware + vmware appliance = hardware appliance
So... with a little modification I could take take one of these appliance and have a nice pretty looking piece of h
Re:Umm... why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Basically it gives you a Windows OS with the Firewall and Security power of a Linux based machine...
Kennieth Goodwin (kenny@skyfinet.com)
GUI availble for *real* LEAF/Shorewall? (Score:1)
Our company uses LEAF in a number of our customers' firewalls. Is your GUI code available for use with "real" LEAF/Shorewall configurations?
We've used Webconf in a *very* limited number of sites. As a rule, our philosophy is that any kind of remote access to a firewall is more risk than we want. However, I would be *very* interested in seeing how your scripts work, and what you have to have open on the LEAF box. If it's less risky than running an HTTP server, it would be something we would consider.
Re:Umm... why? + IP Stack Differences (Score:1)
First off, kudos for a very interesting entry & your 3rd place win.. I'm sure it was very well deserved.
I was wondering about the challenges of designing a hybrid OS packet filtering system due to the differences in the IP stack implementation between these 2 OS's. I'm not overly familiar with the ins & outs of the XP IP stack, but with older win32 systems, the differences between the MS stack & the Linux/BSD stacks were significant.
I understand that you basically created a win32
Re:Umm... why? + IP Stack Differences (Score:1, Interesting)
So, in short, everything is based on what the stack of the packet filtering OS (*NIX) and the standards that it adheres to!
To answer you question about any problems, we are still looking for feedback from the community as far as bugs and what-not go. Also looking for developers. It's been released as Open Source and can be downloaded either from VMware.com or http://sievefir [sievefirew...eforge.com]
Re:Umm... why? (Score:2)
Lets say you wanted an instant-on LDAP with Apache and mysql and this and that. To do it in java you would have to recreate all of those in your application.
The idea is a virtual physical machine, not the abstracted machine which java uses.
acronyms (Score:1, Funny)
Take your app + VMware = winner? (Score:3, Interesting)
That's great and all, but wouldnt it work EXACTLY the same if you did an "install with defaults" on your normal system?
Just saying, you might save 500MB, or even 900MB of download in some cases. One is only 3MB, wow!
Re:Take your app + VMware = winner? (Score:2)
That 3MB is gonna take all day
Re:Take your app + VMware = winner? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you want to do one of the tasks that one of the VMs perform, and nothing else, downloading and launching a VM is probably a lot easier than downloading a piece of software and installing it. Plus, it doesn't leave crap all over your system or risk compromising your security (as much -- obviously you're still running code, but a VMWare image can be run as a user process, I think).
Plus when you're done, you just shut the VM down and either delete the image or save it for next time.
In effect, what they do could easily be replaced with a bootable CD or DVD image (in fact, I'd be surprised if someone didn't have a VM-to-BootCD converter), with the advantage as a VM that you don't need to take down a running system in order to run them.
Plus, adding a minimalist OS like LEAF only adds 3MB or so to the program binaries, apparently -- and I don't think that the VM image format overhead is that much more than a comparable disk-image format (ISO). The downsides are less than you're making them out to be, and the convenience factors are definitely in their favor.
Does it make sense for every application to come with an entire default-install of CentOS? Certainly not; but might it be worth the overhead for some specialized, configuration-intensive application to come with its own preconfigured OS? Definitely. There are a lot of people who are capable of running a VM, who don't have the ability or the interest to set up something like Apache2/modPHP/Perl, Smoothwall, or Squid themselves. (All of which I've seen or heard talked about as VMs.) To be able to just download and run something, and have it act like a distinct server on their network? That's pretty slick.
Re: (Score:2)
LiveCD Virtual Appliance
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/28 4 [vmware.com]
That's pretty slick; that basically goes the other way, from a LiveCD to a Virtual Machine. I wonder if there's an easy way to save the disk image plus the state of the running machine to a file, so that you can insert a BootCD, start it in a VM, and then save that VM to a file and have it, even after the CD is ejected.
Anyway, it's a lot of stuff like that, which really makes me think that virt
Why virtual machines make sense (Score:3, Informative)
The vmware image is about 72 MB bzip2-compressed which includes a stripped-down Ubuntu, X11 etc. And it runs on Windows, any random Linux distro that might have an old pygtk/cairo/whatnot that doesn't work with our code, OS X (with OS X vmware) out of the box. Nice even if you do lose some performance and run into issues inherent to virtualization (accurate timestamps and promiscuous mode inside the virtual machine are tricky and do have limitations!).
We mostly run and develop it natively ourselves (on FC5 and OS X), yet we run into "AAARGH! How do I get
a new enough Y for OS X to run this" discussions every week or so.
I want one with Firefox and Mplayer (WMV) (Score:1)
VMware corporate communication: Clueless. (Score:4, Interesting)
If I didn't already know that VMware is a reputable company, I would never buy anything from a company with such a clueless web site. Obviously someone at VMware thinks that non-technical people have something valuable to contribute to a technical company, even though they cannot understand what they are doing.
Winner: HowNetWorks [vmware.com]
Second Place: Trellis NAS Bridge Appliance [vmware.com].
Third Place: Sieve Firewall [vmware.com]