Re: Developing software from within a virtual machine

Jeff, I routinely set up virtual environments (using Microsoft Virtual PC on 64-bit Windows XP, the VMWare experience would be the same). For me, it has been a much better environment for testing and working with different versions of software.

One thing you may want to, as soon as you have your base VMWare machine set up (operating system installed, fixes applied), but before you install additional software (e.g., RDi, System i Access, etc.), make a backup copy of the base VMWare machine. That way, you can easily clone the base machine and create another VM as needed, without needing to go through the OS install again. Only drawback is, you'll need more disk space. I usually configure a Virtual PC with a maximum disk size of 60GB. After the initial OS install, the VPC file is usually 6-8GB in size, it can grow to the maximum 60GB as needed. Also, you need to be aware of OS licensing, etc.

As mentioned, I install on a base of WinXP 64-bit, primarily so I can have more than 4GB RAM on the PC. The PC I'm running on has 8GB, newer PCs can go higher than that. When I define a VPC, I usually assign 1.5-2GB to it. So I can usually have 3 VPCs active at once.

Hopefully you can get this running without too much interference from corporate IT. Many shops seem to be surprisingly resistant to letting their developers have unfettered access to their PC. But you're still expected to keep up with everything that is new and current.

Craig Pelkie


----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Berman" <spamact@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <WDSCI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 12:12 PM
Subject: [WDSCI-L] Developing software from within a virtual machine

I just received a new Windows PC at work and am in the process of installing RDi, iSeries Navigator, and some other apps. It occurred to me that it might be nice to install VMWare and then install the entire development environment inside of the virtual machine. I can't completely articulate to myself exactly *why* this is a good idea (other than it being kind of neat), but it somehow seems "cleaner". I like the thought of creating a clean environment free from our corporate IT dept's control. For example, due to a particular web app that we run, we are held back from upgrading past Internet Explorer 6. Inside of VMWare, however, I could run IE 8 as well as Firefox.

Is anyone else doing this? I'd be interested in hearing of your experiences and advice.




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