[Debian-User] Xen and LVM
I'm getting a lot of email on Xen which is nice so I am skipping names
and just addressing issues.
Activating and installing LVM on SuSE is made very easy because of
SuSE's YACC user interface. A year ago LVM was becoming very popular and
apparently touted the ability to unify diverse and different network
partitions into a single cohesive volume management system. There was
then and still is a lot of excitement over LVM. Unfortunately, that's
all I know about LVM (the dust of excietement) but several people on
this Debian list have recommended it's implementation with the Xen -
Debian virtual system I will be implementing as soon as my fast wireless
ISP connection becomes a reality.
Until recently the cold weather here in Alberta, Canada was almost too
much to bear. My heating bill is hughmongous. With the more moderate
weather (even though stilll very cold) the wireless tower may see some
progress towards completion and then the ISP can get me hooked up --
Bye, Bye, Telus dial up but up goes the cost of using the internet.
But what does this weather have to do with LVM you ask. Well there is a
kind of connection between LVM and our cold weather. First it's just
too cold to think clearly. I go out to walk the dog and after about 2
minutes the cold is coming through my Eskimo type Parka, my gloves, my
pants, and everything else you can imagine. Cold gets it's definition
out here in the Northern half of Alberta, Canada. It's Arctic Cold,
ruthless and windy. The second connection is a bit more solid. Once my
high speed interconnection to the Internet is active I will be in a
better situation to host users coming from the Internet into my LAN to
access some of the virtual servers I will be setting up. In this
respect LVM might have tremendous advantages and maybe some of you can
explain those advantages to me -- that is, lets say the value of LVM
when used with a database server used for educational purposes, or the
value of LVM when used with a binary and source server with CGI perl
interface handling the package calls and providing supportive
information, or an Apache web server hosting my web site, or a PDF
server providing technical papers on mathematics and physics, or a
telnet and/or login to a server allowing users with permission to run
Maxima, Maple, TI 89 simulation, Electronic Circuit design, and other
packages. Those were 4 examples of many more I hope to eventually get
up and running. Also, some of these packages require different CPU
architectures. For example the TI 89 emulation and development uses the
M68k architectures. Imbedded microprocessors like the ARM series
designed with special I/O test, and other functions involve a computer
desk top GUI interface for example in the field of ROBOTICS. General
Information for the database server might involve languages and language
translation, and so on. So there is an obvious need for data
management, data bases, etc., but my question to all reading this email
is: "Why LVM????"
So I am not arguing aginst LVM. Those that use it and recommend it keep
telling me I should plan on using it. I will do that if these same
people start explaining the features in way that makes sense to the
kinds of things I have been talking about. It's of little value to just
do something because someone who knows more says it's the right thing to
do. That's kind of like inheriting a jet plane but not knowing how to
fly it. I need good hard facts and examples or you will have to wait
until my knowledge base catches up to you guys who know all about LVM.
Keep the comments coming and maybe we will increase the Xen enthusiasm
and show just how well Xen fits or does not fit with these other
technologies.
Snip out what you are not interested in and comment on what you know or
want to know. Watch out for typos and spelling.
Thanks, Ted
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