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View Full Version : Multiboot vs VMware for Testing Purposes


Odieone
06-09-2009, 08:00 PM
Hey Guys,

I have decided to turn my old PIII into my test machine. I plan to replace the 40 GB HDD with a 160 GB and partition it to run XP, Solaris and Linux on it. But I am not sure how to proceed. Do I opt for Multibooting (apparently a going out of style) or VMware?

What I want to do is the following:
1. Mess around with Bootloader - Experiment with multiboot.
2. Get my hands dirty with Solaris and Linux
3. Experiment with Backing Up
4. Experiment with creating a share across different OSs - mostly Samba.
5. Experiment with repartitioning.
6. Start building up an arsenal of tools to be an effective Systems Administrator.
7. Experiment with Virtualization.

But I want to try to keep the cost down -
1. Software to purchase -
- Norton Ghost 14.0 - (Apparently this version is not very good - some recommended XXClone instead - Since Scott and all always used Ghost, I wanted to know what is your take on this - good investment or a waste of money)

- Partition Magic
- Kaspersky Antivirus ( If I decide to play around with Webservers - Or is there a good Antivirus that I can used with both Windows and Apache Webservers ).

2. Software (Freeware)
- Solaris ( I think its free, I just need to download the image)
- Linux ( Fedora and maybe even SUSE Linux looks interesting)
- VMware ESXi ( to try - I might buy a copy if it seems good)

Can anyone recommend a decent software firewall? I looked at a few but the reviews are both good and bad.

Appreciate any input. I am also doing my own homework but it would good to get another point of view. Especially from the instructors.

Odieone