[FM Discuss] Virtualization book?

[Edward Cherlin]

I'm doing a lot with virtualization these days, and I find the
documentation on qemu and Xen seriously deficient. I'm not impressed
with the commercial books on the subject, either, outside the
enterprise market. (Annotated list below) I think we have a niche
here. The idea would be to explain first _why_ virtualization is good
for non-techies, and then how to do it with the minimum of fuss. I
would suggest that we start with a selection of available images, and
demonstrate cool and useful things that users can do with them.

My own use case is creating and capturing lessons in Sugar, which does
not cooperate in the normal way with the Linux filesystem, and cannot
be made to run natively on Windows. At the moment, Sugar on Ubuntu is
broken, and we have no date for a fix of the upstream problems with
Xephyr. Running the SoaS beta in qemu lets me create and run
non-standard Sugar images without interfering with my regular Ubuntu
settings.

Other use cases include

o Trying out Linux on a Windows or Mac system, where coLinux is too
complicated to set up, and Cygwin useful but limited in available
applications.

o Trying out multiple Linux distros without having to install each one
on your hardware, and being able to try them out side by side.

o When Wine fails to run an app you need, and you have a spare Windows
license that you would prefer to use in a much more secure
environment.

o Testing the Sugar port for ARM on your x86 system.

o Running in a completely different locale, for translators or
language students.

None of these cases should require geek programmer or Linux wizard skills.

I have made a start on the subject at

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Qemu
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Image_files

Virtualization at Amazon:

1. VMWare, Xen, XenExpress
Virtualization For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) by Bernard
Golden (Paperback - Dec 5, 2007)
Buy new: $29.99 $19.79
4.8 out of 5 stars (20)

2. Too much oriented to VMWare and Windows
Virtualization, A Beginners Guide (Beginner's Guide) by Nelson Ruest
and Danielle Ruest (Paperback - Feb 17, 2009)
Buy new: $39.99 $26.39

3. Ch. 1 fails to effectively address the needs of stakeholders, due
to unnecessary accumulation of verbiage. ^_^ Ch. 2 starts well with a
downloaded example.
Product Details
Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization by Jeanna
N. Matthews, Eli M. Dow, Todd Deshane, and Wenjin Hu (Paperback -
April 16, 2008)
Buy new: $49.99 $31.49
4.4 out of 5 stars (7)

4. For professionals who want to use VMWare, not bad. Not our audience.
Virtualization: From the Desktop to the Enterprise (Books for
Professionals by Professionals) by Chris Wolf and Erick M. Halter
(Hardcover - May 25, 2005)
Buy new: $79.99
19 Used & new from $29.75
4.6 out of 5 stars (16)

Excerpt - page 1: "... you might take for granted, that contribute to
the successful virtualization of a physical computer. By taking a
fresh look at ...

5. Encyclopedic. For IT and Management.
Virtualization: The Complete Cornerstone Guide to Virtualization Best
Practices: Concepts, Terms, and Techniques for Successfully Planning,
Implementing ... Enterprise IT Virtualization Technology by Ivanka
Menken and Gerard Blokdijk (Paperback - Oct 20, 2008)
Buy new: $29.95 $26.95

6. VMWare only
VMware Infrastructure 3 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) by
William Lowe (Paperback - Sep 29, 2008)
Buy new: $29.99 $19.79

7. VMWare only
Product Details
Mastering VMware Infrastructure 3 by Chris McCain (Paperback - May 19, 2008)
4.5 out of 5 stars (17)

8. VMWare only; bafflegab
Product Details
VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing
Virtualization Servers by Edward L. Haletky (Paperback - Jan 8, 2008)
Buy new: $49.99 $40.98
43 Used & new from $35.04
Get it by Monday, May 4 if you order in the next 21 hours and choose
one-day shipping.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
4.2 out of 5 stars (5)

Excerpt - page 1: "... understanding of potential hardware use will
increase the chance of virtualization success. The architecture
potentially derived from this understanding will benefit ..."

9. Enterprise audience
Network Virtualization (Networking Technology) by Victor Moreno and
Kumar Reddy (Hardcover - Jul 29, 2006)
Buy new: $65.00 $52.00
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)

10. VMWare only
VMware Infrastructure 3: Advanced Technical Design Guide and Advanced
Operations Guide (No. 3) by Scott Herold, Ron Oglesby, and Mike
Laverick (Paperback - Aug 1, 2008)
Buy new: $59.95 $37.77
4.5 out of 5 stars (11)

11. No
The Best Damn Server Virtualization Book Period: Including Vmware,
Xen, and Microsoft Virtual Server (Best Damn) by Rogier Dittner and
David Rule (Paperback - Nov 23, 2007)
Buy new: $59.95 $53.95
2.5 out of 5 stars (2)

12. Only Xen
Professional Xen Virtualization by William von Hagen (Paperback - Jan 29, 2008)
Buy new: $49.99 $31.49
3.7 out of 5 stars (3)

13. Same as #2, but for Kindle
Virtualization, A Beginners Guide by Nelson Ruest and Danielle Ruest
(Kindle Edition - Feb 17, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $23.75

14. Irrelevant
Storage Virtualization: Technologies for Simplifying Data Storage and
Management by Tom Clark (Paperback - Mar 24, 2005)
Buy new: $39.99 $33.23
4.6 out of 5 stars (7)

15. Windows only
Product Details
MCTS: Windows Server Virtualization Configuration Study Guide: (Exam
70-652) by William Panek (Paperback - Jun 2, 2009)
Buy new: $49.99 $31.49
Available for Pre-order

16. VMWare only
Product Details
VMware Fusion 2 by Smith Micro Software Inc. (CD-ROM - Oct 5, 2008)
(Mac OS X Intel)
Buy new: $79.99 $59.99
4.4 out of 5 stars (114)

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And Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
http://earthtreasury.org/worknet (Edward Mokurai Cherlin)