Type 1 Hypervisor designed for desktop/notebook in mind?

jdancer

I am quite familiar with type 1 hypervisors for servers. But does anyone know of a type 1 hypervisor designed for use on a desktop or notebook?

I'm looking to get second notebook but I am really not interested in installing a host operating system then running a type 2 hypervisor.

Thanks for the info!

scott28tt

Citrix XenClient is the only kind of thing I'm familiar with that fits that description...

jibbajabba

Hyper-V , talking about the free version and not the role on 2008 ....

It is based on Windows Core but the new version brings a nice script to configure the essentials.

MrAgent

VMWare server? The free version works well for me.

scott28tt

MrAgent wrote: »

VMWare server? The free version works well for me.

VMware Server runs on top of an OS, something that the original poster is trying to avoid...

Akaricloud

I'm running esxi on a off the shelf dell desktop (with a SSD) and it does so perfectly. The only trouble I've encountered was finding a build that supported the onboard NIC.

I'm a little unsure why you would want a type 1 hypervisor on a laptop though. Are you planning on traveling with it and don't want to connect remotely or what?

MacGuffin

jdancer wrote: »

I am quite familiar with type 1 hypervisors for servers. But does anyone know of a type 1 hypervisor designed for use on a desktop or notebook?

I'm looking to get second notebook but I am really not interested in installing a host operating system then running a type 2 hypervisor.

Thanks for the info!

I'm not sure I understand the question, "designed" for use on a laptop? You're looking for something that very few would be willing to do. This makes for a small market, therefore a not very profitable market, and therefore an unlikely product a company would supply and support. I'm quite certain you can find a laptop and hypervisor combination that will be perfectly functional but I doubt that either will be "designed" with that in mind.

One issue I foresee is getting access to the console of the virtual machines. Hypervisors are typically intended to run on headless servers. The interface provided on the laptop running the hypervisor will likely be limited since access to the console of the virtual machines is rarely provided to the same computer that hosts them. If the intent is to carry along two laptops, one as the hypervisor host and the other as the management/viewer host, then this will not be an issue.

If you intend to use the same laptop as both the hypervisor host and console viewer host then you might have problems. It's been a while since I've played with the Microsoft Hyper-V server role so I may be mistaken but I believe this may be possible with the Windows Server products. I believe that with the pay version of Windows Server the client can be run on the console of the same computer that hosts the hypervisor. The free to download Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 has a very limited GUI. I was able to get quite a few programs to run on its crippled GUI but it was a lot of work. I do not recall if I got the hypervisor console to work.

I have found with my internet research, not first hand experience, that VMware ESXi will run on a wide variety of hardware. Some will work with no issues, some will need some work for full functionality (with network drivers being the primary issue, IIRC). VMware does post a supported hardware list, I doubt you will find a laptop on that list. It's free, try it, it just might work.

Outside of Microsoft's Hyper-V and VMware's ESXi I have no first hand experience. (And, the experience I do have is limited.) I only know of the existence of other hypervisors, I do not know what they are capable of.

I can see myself attempting something similar. Tell me jdancer, what is the intention here? What are you willing to spend to achieve this goal? What you want may not be free, or cheap.

powerfool

I understand why the OP wants this, as I want it myself. I would like a Type 1 hypervisor for my laptop, as well, but with the ability to use the console to connect to my guests. Essentially, what I have envisioned is like a Type 1 version of VMware Workstation. Really, the only option that I think you may have is running Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, and then you can start your guests and then RDP into them.

I am getting ready to build a Core i5 based system with 32GB of RAM for about $900. It will have a Mini case and a handle so I can take it on the go, if necessary. I will likely run Hyper-V, even though I would prefer VMware, just for this very reason.

MentholMoose

Besides enabling the Hyper-V role on Server 2008, you can also use pretty much any Linux distribution and enable Xen or KVM.

jibbajabba

MentholMoose wrote: »

Besides enabling the Hyper-V role on Server 2008, you can also use pretty much any Linux distribution and enable Xen or KVM.

That is pretty much the best option (apart from Hyper-V as a role) but that would get against the original request of being a Type 1 .. unless you have the means to connect remotely to the laptop you will be stuck with a Type 2 really ..

undomiel

Can't speak for KVM but Xen is a Type 1 hypervisor. Dom0 does not make it a Type 2, otherwise you'd have to say the same about Hyper-V with its parent partition.

ozi83

It would be nice to have a hypervisor with console access where you could use a hot key combination to switch between the vm's and the hypervisor console/management interface like a virtual KVM switch.

MentholMoose

undomiel wrote: »

Can't speak for KVM but Xen is a Type 1 hypervisor. Dom0 does not make it a Type 2, otherwise you'd have to say the same about Hyper-V with its parent partition.

From my understanding, KVM seems to be in between a type 1 and a type 2 hypervisor. With a true type 1 hypervisor (Xen/Hyper-V), the hypervisor is "above" the parent partition, and with a true type 2 hypervisor (VMware Workstation) the hypervisor is below the parent partition (whatever OS is installed), but with KVM the hypervisor and parent partition are at the same level. This seems like a technicality to me since in practice (end-user perspective) KVM operates like type 1 hypervisors (Xen/Hyper-V).

MacGuffin

ozi83 wrote: »

It would be nice to have a hypervisor with console access where you could use a hot key combination to switch between the vm's and the hypervisor console/management interface like a virtual KVM switch.

I recall seeing software that did just what you described. I believe it was based on VNC but I'm not sure. This would be useful for a lot of things outside of the specific situation at hand. I did a quick internet search and I did not see anything that matched my recollections exactly. There's plenty of remote console programs out there that will manage multiple sessions, I just did not find one that would switch with a key combination.

Thinking about this some more I'd probably go with Microsoft Hyper-V in some form. That is only because of familiarity, not because the other options mentioned are less capable. The "best" choice (if one even exists) will depend quite a bit on user preference (are you more comfortable with Linux or Windows?), the capability of the specific hardware, and what the guest operating systems will be.

jdancer

Thanks for the different viewpoints. I did find another hybrid type 1 hypervisor called BareMetal. Reviews suggest it's a hardened Linux kernel using a type 2 hypervisor for non-Linux guest operating systems.

So, it would seem my best best is use Linux KVM solution which I have no problem with. Time for Arch Linux on the laptop!

powerfool

After re-evaluating my needs, I am likely to install Windows 7 or Sever 2008 R2 and then just use VMware Workstation, as I need the ability to install ESX as a virtual machine, as well. I am not sure if it is possible with other hypervisors (it may be), especially those where I could use the console. I am getting fairly heavy into PowerShell and I will definitely be looking into the PowerCLI for VMware, so a need I will have.

kasuj

Hi,

Any new thoughts to this thread?

Now i'm in similar situation. I want to move my company laptop with Windows 7 to a configuration with hypervizor and virtual win7. The cheapest option would be to install for example debian or ubuntu with virtualbox. But I'm a little concerned with any hardware that in the future I will want to connect. As I understand if i want to plug in a let's say printer that has only drivers for windows first of all linux has to see the hardware, recognize it etc. and then I’m able to use it under virtualbox?

MacGuffin

kasuj wrote: »

As I understand if i want to plug in a let's say printer that has only drivers for windows first of all linux has to see the hardware, recognize it etc. and then I’m able to use it under virtualbox?

If you have a USB device that you want to use on a virtual Windows machine then you should be able to use USB passthrough that is available on every VM software that I've seen. As I recall the open source (free as in speech) VirtualBox does not have this feature but the personal use licensed (free as in beer) VirtualBox does. I mention this distinction because I found that the VirtualBox that is in the Ubuntu "app store" (or whatever it is called) had the open sourced version. To get the slightly more capable free-as-in-beer version I had to go to the source.

From my experience getting a USB device to work in a VM has been nearly trivial. The host does not need drivers, it only needs to pass it through to the VM. Any networked device (which includes most every currently produced printer) should be just as trivial, just get the network up and point the virtual machine to it.

I've seen that VirtualBox on a Linux host supports PCI passthrough. I can see many situations where that would be useful. I can also see many ways that such a feature could cause headaches if one is not careful. PCI passthrough should allow all kinds of hardware to work in a VM even if it is not supported by the host.

What is the goal here? Why run Windows 7 in a virtual environment? Do you want to run Linux concurrently with Windows? Why not run Windows as the host OS and virtualize what ever else you want to run on top?

kasuj

Hi MacGuffin,

Case started with slowly running company computer. You know how it is in corporations, even if you are right and you wont you cannot change some things (rights, procedures etc.). So I have computer for security and auditing purposes filled with software that reeealy slows it down. It's a company computer so I have to stick strictly to licencing and I won't be given additional W7 licences (computers were bought with XP) so that's why I'm thinking about linux for host machine.

So i'm thinking of linux host with bridged lan/wifi no ip address and on top of it my company image with win7 and a personal machine with knoppix or debian.

The printer above it's just an example. I'm thinking generally about additional hardware. For example I'm now using usb 3g modem to access Internet. Will it work in VM with USB Pass? According to my findings (https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=35792) it should.

MacGuffin

kasuj wrote: »

Hi MacGuffin,

Case started with slowly running company computer. You know how it is in corporations, even if you are right and you wont you cannot change some things (rights, procedures etc.). So I have computer for security and auditing purposes filled with software that reeealy slows it down. It's a company computer so I have to stick strictly to licencing and I won't be given additional W7 licences (computers were bought with XP) so that's why I'm thinking about linux for host machine.

I see. If it's a company computer then someone in the company might not appreciate you adding software. That's outside the realm of this forum and between you and your employer.

kasuj wrote: »

So i'm thinking of linux host with bridged lan/wifi no ip address and on top of it my company image with win7 and a personal machine with knoppix or debian.

Personally I've had some issues with Wi-Fi and virtual machines. NAT will typically work but other modes do not. What I've done to get around this issue is use USB network adapters and use the USB passthrough feature so the host machine network settings become irrelevant, the guest has direct access to the network interface.

kasuj wrote: »

The printer above it's just an example. I'm thinking generally about additional hardware. For example I'm now using usb 3g modem to access Internet. Will it work in VM with USB Pass? According to my findings (https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=35792) it should.

As noted above USB passthrough has worked well for me. In my experience every USB device has worked if the guest had drivers for it. Once USB passthrough is turned on for the specific device it is essentially invisible to the host.

As you intend to use this on a company computer, one you do not own and use for work, I feel I must warn you that Oracle two different versions of VirtualBox with a different license for each. The Open Source Edition (OSE) is licensed under the GPL. The more capable version is licensed under either a free "personal use and evaluation" license (PUEL) or under a paid license. I'm not sure what features are missing on the OSE version as I have only really used the PUEL version. Again this is something that is probably outside the realm of this forum and something between you and the owner of the laptop.

When it comes to Linux hosts I have only used VirtualBox PUEL and from what I can tell it will do as you desire. Since you are going to be running this on a computer that you do not own then I would suggest you tread carefully because of license issues. I'd suggest taking a look at VMWare Player as it is free for all uses. Not having used VMWare Player myself I do not know how it compares to VirtualBox.

I understand your frustration with Windows in an enterprise environment. I just spent half my day staring at hourglasses, stalled progress bars, and spinning beach balls. It feels good to get away from my desk at work and use a computer set up as I like with an operating system I like.

Some day I'm going to have to download VMWare Player just to see how it compares with VirtualBox. If this thread is still getting comments at that time then I'll provide more feedback on how the two compare.

TechE.123

JDancer, Like you I am researching T1HV for my laptop. I see several advantages. If you don't mind, would you please post your experiences, what worked, what didn't work. Maybe problems and solutions you discovered along the way. Thanks.

jdancer wrote: »

Thanks for the different viewpoints. I did find another hybrid type 1 hypervisor called BareMetal. Reviews suggest it's a hardened Linux kernel using a type 2 hypervisor for non-Linux guest operating systems.

So, it would seem my best best is use Linux KVM solution which I have no problem with. Time for Arch Linux on the laptop!

kasuj

I've found somethind interesting - Citrix XenClient. It's Type-1 hypervisor for desktops/laptops. Express edition is free and pointed at IT Pros/developers etc. Looks interesting. Anyone used it?