Subject: Re: [vserver] 3 basic questions
From: Herbert Poetzl <herbert@13thfloor.at>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2009 14:13:35 +0200

On Fri, Aug 07, 2009 at 03:25:49PM -0600, Terry wrote:
> Hello. VServer appears to be exactly what I need. It sounds really
> cool. I have a couple of questions:

> 1. Is the VServer project still active and going forward? 
> I certainly hope so!  

yes, the project is active since 2001 (or 2003, depending
on where you want to start counting)

> I ask because so much of what I have googled concerning VServer 
> appears to be several years old, 

indeed, we are providing this technology since many years
and while the patches surely evolved, the functionality
is basically complete (give and take a feature)

> and the stable patched kernels seem to be like 3 years behind the 
> event wave. 

huh? maybe you are looking in the wrong place ...

> And I would have expected a tremendous proliferation of this 
> brilliant idea and be seeing massive growth! Meaning all the major 
> distributions should have acquired patched kernels ready to go. 

they have at some point, and it usually led to outdated
and insecure/buggy results, and as we do not want to spend
our precious resources on distribution kernels, we always
focus on mainline kernels (and thus expect the administrator
to build their own, custom tailored kernels (which are a lot
better and more performant than the generic distro kernels,
which have to satisfy may needs)

> Am I missing something?
> I am really excited about this VServer project.

good! :)

> 2. It sounds like to me that I can have an older version of a 
> patched kernel for my host, and yet, still run newer versions 
> of linux distributions in my virtual private severs (and those 
> can be any mix of linux distributions) as long as both the host 
> is 2.6 and my VPS's are of the same beginning 2.6 version number?
> (Like I am presently running Ubuntu 2.6.28-14-generic on my 
> desktop.) Is this true?

there is actually almost no dependacy between a specific
kernel (distro or mainline) and userspace, because the kernel
API is very stable, and userspace profits from that

so yeah, you can run your ubuntu-bleeding-edge guest on a
quite outdated debian host and be fine, regardless whether you
use a 2.6.22 or 2.6.30 kernel

> 3. I am a novice concerning this whole area and really don't 
> have a clue about what should be enabled in compiling a kernel.

everybody has to start somewhere, now's the perfect time
to dive into kernel building (use make menuconfig or similar
and work your way through the help texts) ... it will take
a few tries to get you custom built kernel to boot properly,
and maybe a few more, till you ahve all required drivers, but
the result is (hopefully) an optimized custom tailored kernel
(btw, the config can be reused on every update)

> And I have noticed that some distributions have patched kernels 
> that I could use if I used their distribution for my host.

yes, and you can use them to get started quickly ... i.e.
to take a look at what Linux-VServer provides, but I'd
suggest to avoid them for professional usage (see above)

> Could you tell me which linux distributions have the most 
> modern linux release which also have a patched kernel for that 
> distribution available to be downloaded and ready to go using 
> their package managers?

no idea, probably gentoo or debian (not the stable versions)?

> (-And even allow me to automatically get updates...?)
> (i.e. I am willing to switch distributions to get my host 
> setup the easiest and simplest way possible, and hopefully 
> within my technical ability to get the job done...)

no need to switch distributions if you are already used to
one, just make sure that it 'works for you' and that it can
compile stuff properly ....

> -Or maybe there is a more modern stable patched kernel that 
> can be downloaded from some URL?

you can get a nice description how to patch and build a
kernel yourself here:
	http://linux-vserver.org/Installation_on_Linux_2.6

> I really need to implement this to continue with my project. 
> I really appreciate your expertise, your help, and suggestions.

you're welcome! note that if you need something or have some
Linux-VServer related issues, there is always the IRC channel
(#vserver @ irc.oftc.net) and of course the mailing list

best,
Herbert

> Thanks,
> 
> Terry
>