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

Damian myth at surr.co.uk
Tue Sep 25 11:10:47 UTC 2012


Hello all,

I have just bought a HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L and will be setting it 
up as my MythTV backend soon as I get a USB Tuner for it.

I have noticed, from forums etc, that almost everyone who owns one of 
these things uses some sort of technology to run different virtual OS's 
on it. I couldn't really see the point of this unless you are either a 
developer or an uber-geek (a term I use with the greatest respect .. I 
am a merely a semi-geek). It just sounds to me like there's more that 
can go wrong than if I was just running the machine with a standard OS. 
And I had heard that USB tuners could be a headache to get working in a 
virtual machine.

I hate things that don't just work these days and can't bare the 
headache when things go wrong (I must be getting old!)

However, I did have a thought this morning.

One thing that constantly trips my up with Mythbuntu is 
upgrading/updating it. I know a lot of you would say, if it's not broke, 
don't fix it. But I like to have the latest stable version of MythTV.

So, my question is, could virtualisation help with this?

When it's time for a big update, could I clone the working virtual 
machine and keep it safe. Then update the 'copy' until I get that 
working great. Then just delete the original version?

Is that one of the points of having multiple virtual machines on the 
server? Or is there another good reason to have it that I'm missing?

If it is a good idea, how much harder am I making life for myself? 
Baring in mind that I'm one of the dumb ones (meaning that I like a GUI 
for everything! I can use the terminal minimally, but I'm always scared 
of breaking something and have to cut and paste other peoples 
instructions exactly).

And if it's still sounding like a good idea, which virtualisation system 
should I used? I have used Virtualbox from within Ubuntu and Windows, 
but have never even heard of some of the virtualisation systems that 
people are installing onto these HP ProLiant MicroServer's. It's a whole 
new world to me.

I hope this isn't too far off of topic. My reason for asking about all 
of this is purely to get my new MythTV system up and running as well as 
possible.

Looking forward to your thoughts,
Damian


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