1,885
edits
Changes
no edit summary
* Removable disk pack with Fedora installed (see [[OPS235 Lab 2|Lab 2]]).
== Introduction ==
A ''virtual machine'' is a software simulation of a computer which can be used as though it were actual hardware. It's possible to run multiple virtual machines on one computer, reducing hardware requirements and introducing flexibility. Some common uses of virtualization include:
* Software testing -- Using multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single computer for testing and experimentation.
* Network simulation -- Testing network services, protocols, and security scenarios with a small number of computers.
* Isolation -- Protecting multiple sets of data by storing them on multiple virtual machines.
* Server consolidation -- Reducing the number of physical servers in a network by moving physical machines to virtual machines. This saves hardware, administration, cooling, and electricity costs, and it can increase the utilization of hardware (by ensuring that the hardware is not under-loaded).
* Load-balancing and disaster recovery -- It is possible to migrate virtual machines between different physical machines, to ensure that a workload is balanced across multiple computers, to allow routine hardware maintenance and upgrading, and to compensate for hardware failure or other disasters.
In this lab, you will create three virtual machines. This also gives you an opportunity to experiment with different ways of installing Fedora. Later in this course you will install another operating system distribution in a virtual machines.
You have already used a Fedora live disc and an installation disc. In both cases, the boot media (which you used to load the installation software) and the installation source (where the software that got installed came from) were the same: they CD/DVD provided both. However, the Fedora (and most other Linux distributions) permits you to use any combination of boot media and installation media:
* Boot Media
** CD or DVD
** Hard disk
** USB flash drive
** Network boot
* Installation source
** CD or DVD
** Hard disk
** USB flash drive
** Network HTTP or NFS software repository
When you installed Fedora in [[OPS235 Lab 2|Lab 2]], you did it interactively -- you manually specified all of the installation options, and then the installation process was started. This is fairly convenient for single-machine installations, but is time-consuming and possibly error-prone when repeated for dozens, hundreds, or thousands of machines.
For large installations, it's possible to specify the installation options in a file so that no user intervention is required. This is called a ''kickstart'' installation.
== Instructions ==
{{Admon/Tip|Update your Fedora Installation|It's a good idea to ensure that your Fedora installation is fully updated before proceeding. You can update your system with the graphical tool located on the menu at >System>Administration>Software Update (or type the command <code>gpk-update-view</code>), or by typing either of these commands: <code>pkcon update</code> or <code>yum update</code>}}
# Install the Fedora virtualization software: <code>yum groupinstall "Virtualization"</code>
#
== Preparing for the Quizzes ==
