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FreeBSD Gets Official Support As VMware ESX Guest

Posted by timothy on from the be-their-guest dept.

An anonymous reader writes "FreeBSD 4.9 has become the first non-commercial open-source operating system to be supported as a VMware ESX guest. This allows enterprise users to benefit from a powerful open-source OS with the benefit of subscription free binary updates. This also solves a number of enterprise support issues around lack of hardware vendor support and issues around using non-commercial operating systems on SAN fabrics as the SAN access is abstracted through VMware, which the SAN supplier is more likely to have certified."

31 comments

  1. How about VMWare host? by TheLink · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just wondering if they'd ever support FreeBSD as a host O/S (for more recent versions of vmware).

    I suppose Linux will have to do for the meantime. The trouble is which linux distro? Looks like I'd have to try CentOS.

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    1. Re:How about VMWare host? by Subjective · · Score: 1

      The VMWare binaries run on all distros, no?
      (I've never had trouble compiling their modules)

      --
      My other .sig is also this bad
    2. Re:How about VMWare host? by Spoing · · Score: 1
      1. I suppose Linux will have to do for the meantime. The trouble is which linux distro? Looks like I'd have to try CentOS.

      If you can afford ESX, getting RHEL just for the support and/or the approval of the big boss is the way to go.

      That said, the host OS will be stripped down to the bare minimum for both performance and security issues by anyone who is capable of managing ESX properly.

      I agree on a technical level, one of the *BSDs would be better, though not by much. It's not like deciding between Linux and Windows as the host.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    3. Re:How about VMWare host? by Mr.Ned · · Score: 3, Informative

      VMWare ESX server, the subject of this article, is a complete operating system for running multiple virtual machines through VMWare. It's based on a 2.4 version of the Linux kernel.

    4. Re:How about VMWare host? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      VMware ESX uses a Linux 2.4 kernel as a 'console' although this is actually a special virtual machine, that can see the physical hardware for monitoring and managment. All the virtual machines,including the console, run on top of VMwares own (non-linux, non-gpl)microkernel. This is completly diferent to the Workstation and GSX products.

  2. Speaking of virtual machines... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Is there any hosting company that provides FreeBSD virtual servers with control-panel functionality similar to those provided by linode.com?

    By control-panel functionality, I don't mean something like plex or ensim or hsphere. I mean something that'll let me create, resize, copy disk images which can be made available to the OS as a virtual hd which can be mounted. And the ability to reinstall the OS from scratch. And the ability to access the console during boot, even before sshd is up. And...

    I know UML is slower than Xen, Virtuozzo or FreeBSD's jail, but I think we need something similar to UML in order to provide these features. I'm currently using Debian and I may never return to FreeBSD until something like this is available. Sad really, given I've been a FreeBSD fan since 2.x.

    1. Re:Speaking of virtual machines... by setagllib · · Score: 1

      Why not speak out on the mailing lists and explain why it's all good functionality? Given some of the other things they've been doing lately, it's hardly unreasonable. Provide a good case and it could be done.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
  3. Multi-image *BSD is dying by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1, Funny
    You don't need to be a Sollog to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: multiple concurrent images of *BSD face a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for single-server *BSD farms because *BSD-as-a-guest-OS is dying...

    Awww, hell with it. How do the trolls make this stuff up so quickly?

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  4. How was that a troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It was a blatantly satire of the "*BSD* is dying troll and I thought it was pretty funny. It even included "SOLLOG" from yesterday's article about Wikipedia.

    1. Re:How was that a troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget CommanderTaco is a mac man... so the BSD trolls are all the more humorous, a Canadian bone that is proximal to the radius and ulna. The BSD trolls have been a royal pain and are coming from bones that are much closer to the pelvus and are more closely associated with the Internetis Californicus Americana!

  5. NetCraft still uses FreeBSD by ToasterTester · · Score: 0, Redundant

    NetCraft who you love to refer to just did and interview on WHY THEY USE FreeBSD and CONTINUE TO USE FreeBSD.

    Kind of makes all your cut and paste assults on FreeBSD a big waste of time.

  6. Some actual facts by AgainstFUD · · Score: 1

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=131228&cid =10982290

  7. Requiem for the FUD by AgainstFUD · · Score: 4, Informative
    ... facts are facts. ;)

    FreeBSD:
    FreeBSD, Stealth-Growth Open Source Project (Jun 2004)
    "FreeBSD has dramatically increased its market penetration over the last year."
    Nearly 2.5 Million Active Sites running FreeBSD (Jun 2004)
    "[FreeBSD] has a secured a strong foothold with the hosting community and continues to grow, gaining over a million hostnames and half a million active sites since July 2003."
    What's New in the FreeBSD Network Stack (Sep 2004)
    "FreeBSD can now route 1Mpps on a 2.8GHz Xeon whilst Linux can't do much more than 100kpps."

    NetBSD:
    NetBSD sets Internet2 Land Speed World Record (May 2004)
    NetBSD again sets Internet2 Land Speed World Record (30 Sep 2004)

    OpenBSD:
    OpenBSD Widens Its Scope (Nov 2004)
    Review: OpenBSD 3.6 shows steady improvement (Nov 2004)

    *BSD in general:
    Deep study: The world's safest computing environment (Nov 2004)
    "The world's safest and most secure 24/7 online computing environment - operating system plus applications - is proving to be the Open Source platform of BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) and the Mac OS X based on Darwin."
    ..and last but not least, we have the cutest mascot as well - undisputedly. ;)

    --
    Being able to read *other people's* source code is a nice thing, not a 'fundamental freedom'.

    1. Re:Requiem for the FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *Linux is dying....

    2. Re:Requiem for the FUD by AgainstFUD · · Score: 1
      *Linux is dying....

      No, no, come on... As far as I can understand, FUD doesn't really fit the BSD style.
      And this makes BSD more beautiful, and more fun. :)
      --
      Being able to read *other people's* source code is a nice thing, not a 'fundamental freedom'.

    3. Re:Requiem for the FUD by mirabilos · · Score: 1

      MirBSD: being out for >2 years, continuous improvements
      in quality, actuality, smallity(?) and number of
      both users and developers.

      http://mirbsd.de/ for you. The new 4th BSD.

      (I like that mascot, w00t)

      --
      My Karma isn't excellent, damn it! (And /. still does not get UTF-8 right in 2012. Wow.)
  8. Some actual facts by AgainstFUD · · Score: 0, Redundant

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=131228&cid =10982290

  9. Some actual facts by AgainstFUD · · Score: 0, Redundant

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=131228&cid =10982290

  10. Some actual facts by AgainstFUD · · Score: 1

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=131228&cid =10982290

  11. Some actual facts by AgainstFUD · · Score: 0, Redundant

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=131228&cid =10982290

  12. Some actual facts by AgainstFUD · · Score: 0, Redundant

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=131228&cid =10982290

  13. Please post more of these..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're only managing 4 or 5 in each story at the moment. I'd like to see it increase to at least 20 or 30. You're doing the BSD community a real service by showing them up to be the arrogant spamming fucktards that we all know them to be.

    I assume this is your aim?

  14. Re:Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Well.. I can understand that GNU/Linux advocates were accustomed to *spread FUD* over BSD undisturbed - behaving just like the corporations they hate so much...

    But, you know.. sometimes it's good to put an end to bad habits. :)

  15. Binaries on linux, yes.. BSD, no by nurb432 · · Score: 1


    If you watch kernel/gcc versions yes, they will host on linux just fine.

    However, Having BSD as a host option for GSX or workstation would be really nice. ( ESX comes with its own paired down/customized linux kernel as its host, so thats sort of moot point ).

    While support older versions of workstation are in the ports tree, ive never got it to work.. and GSX never has had a port..

    but.. it appears QEMU works pretty well under BSD.. now if we can just get some good graphical tools to manage Vmachines with..

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    ---- Booth was a patriot ----