On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 02:19:26PM -0700, Roderick A. Anderson wrote: > 1. Is it possible to build a non-Gentoo based guest template? I take it you run a Gentoo host toi ask that question? I run Debian hosts and I used Debian, SuSE, Fedora and CentOS guests so far. I see no reason why you should be restricted on Gentoo. > Say I have a CentOS or Ubuntu guest on one system and want _VERY_ > similar bunches of guests on other systems. Can I build a template > of a guest to put somewhere (CD/DVD, USB thumb, network) and use as > needed? Sure. If you run i386 host kernels, you can run i386 guests, if you run amd64 kernels, you can run i386 or amd64 guests. > 2. If so, how do I create the template? > Is it as simple as building a tarball of a (non-running) guest? That's a possibility, however, I suggest you check out method 'rsync' for vserver build and just have a suitable resynced tree around on your flash drive. If you point /etc/vservers/NAME/vdir at the right location you could even run your guest on different hosts, taking it with you. You should make sure to set the barrier-flag correctly. > 3. And if I'm heading down a good path what would you say is the > most stripped down distribution that could be used for the host? Sorry, no useful opinion here, I just happen to run an 'approx' vserver for my debian based guests. And while vserver setup deletes startup links for hardware-centric services, they happen and reappear on updates. I suggest setting them to 'K' links instead. At least the ones that don't try and modify hardware on shutdown. Regards, _are_ -- LiHAS - Adrian Reyer - Hessenwiesenstraße 10 - D-70565 Stuttgart Fon: +49 (7 11) 78 28 50 90 - Fax: +49 (7 11) 78 28 50 91 Mail: lihas@lihas.de - Web: http://lihas.de Linux, Netzwerke, Consulting & Support - USt-ID: DE 227 816 626 Stuttgart