Re: [TCLUG:8294] VMware filesystem

["John R. Sheets" <dusk@ravendusk.org>]

On Sep 15, 1999, Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom <carls@agritech.com> wrote:
>         I do not know how VMware represents itself on the disk; but I was
> wondering if it would be possible to transparently map directories on the
> VM, to directories on the Linux box it runs on?

I'm no expert, but I don't think you can.  VMWare uses a virtual file
system, which amounts to a single file on your normal file system (ext2).
However, it does seem that you can place your virtual machine on the
network (under a unique IP address, of course), so you should be able
to run file services, browse the internet, etc.

>         the thought I had, was that a single high-end Linux box could
> provide computing power for a small workgroup; each person using "Windows95"
> on their desktop, but actually running in a VM which automagically puts
> their data (from the "My Documents" directory or wherever) on a RAID array
> or SAN. 

I'm not sure how network-intensive a vm X session is over a LAN.  But
you may run into a RAM limitation, too.  You'll need to set aside a 
block of RAM for each virtual PC, on the host system.  I'm not sure 
how usable it'd be, either.  A couple days ago, I installed VMWare on
my 450MHz, 128 MB RAM system, running NT 4.0 with a 64 MB chunk of RAM, 
and it runs pretty well, all things considered.  But the pointer still
tracks a little slow.  Kinda choppy.  You can bet it'll be even worse
over a LAN.  But then again, maybe Win95 would run a little leaner.

But don't take my comments too seriously.  I'm only speaking from a 
couple days of experience.  (c:

John