[mythtv-users] Virtualisation .. can it do this? (HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L)

[Raymond Wagner]

On 9/28/2012 17:07, Robert Rust wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 10:34 PM, Raymond Wagner <raymond at wagnerrp.com> wrote:
>> On 9/26/2012 20:34, Phill Edwards wrote:
>>>
>>> I have a virtual MythBuntu 12.04 running on Citrix XenServer with a
>>> HDHomerun. All going fine. One benefit of this approach I wanted to
>>> point out is that it's running alongside other VMs 24 hours per day.
>>> That means I'm not using extra electricity just to keep a backend
>>> running. So I'm very happy with having a virtualised backend.
>>
>>
>> Those other applications can't simply be run on the same Ubuntu system image
>> as your backend?
>>
>
> As someone who recently switched from a Mythbuntu system running other
> roles in addition to a backend, I can speak to a couple of benefits:
> 1. I don't have to worry about the various dependencies my different
> apps have breaking other apps.  I can update php, video drivers, etc.,
> without worry.
> 2. I don't have to worry about a configuration for one of my various
> web apps messing up MythWeb.

You can to this by installing those applications into their own chroot. 
Since the chroot environment will not have access to any files outside 
the chrooted directory, it will be completely unaffected by any changes 
made to them.

> 3. If I need to do something that requires a reboot of the backend, I
> can just do it without affecting other services.

The only thing you can do that would require a reboot of the backend is 
change to a different kernel. Applications can be restarted, kernel 
modules can be reloaded.

> p.s. I will confess that getting my tuner cards working in a
> virtualized backend was considerably less straight-forward than a
> non-virtualized environment, but I think it's worth it.

When your reasons for using a virtualized environment can be achieved 
without virtualization, and the hardware difficulty that results from 
virtualization, why complicate things by using it?