Virtualization on M11x

I recently installed Virtualbox and Ubuntu 10.04 on my R1 and think it's really great to be able to do this. I have never used Linux before and I believe running it in a virtual environment on my Windows 7 Alienware is the way to go... It reminds me when I was using my Macbook Pro and running Windows through Parallels. Anyway, my question is now that I have it installed on my M11x, what benefits will I gain from having it besides playing around with a new OS? I was thinking that I could do more browsing the web with Ubuntu because it should a "safer" experience versus Windows?

 

Your only real benefit is being able to play around with a new OS without having to reboot.

In theory, you can protect yourself against SOME threats by browsing in a virtualized container. In particular, you protect against exploits that try to execute code on your machine or install nastiness like a trojan or keylogger. You are also somewhat safer against exploits that try and read saved form information from your browser (like name, address, saved credit cards, etc). But I would argue that you are equally safe on a Windows 7 machine with User Accessibility Controls turned on, and a decent antivirus suite active.

You are still vulnerable to social engineering attacks (e.g. phishing), and instances where hackers will steal a vendor's customer list instead of trying to get that info by attacking individual customers. You protect against this by browsing smart, and never saving your CC info when you buy from a vendor's website.

 

It depends on what you're doing really. I'm a Linux Engineer for an Investment Bank (I know, everyone hates us) in the UK. I run several Linux VM's, mostly RHEL5. I can work on scripts, drivers, build and test new packages and even replicate our build infrastructure to carry on working and testing when not in the office. Huge benefits, for me.

Running it as a VM you don't have to worry about things like wireless drivers, etc, etc. Just about every Linux distribution supports the major hypervisors out of the box.

Once in the office I'd say 90% of our work is done in a virtual environment, things like h/w monitoring agents obviously have to be done on physical hardware.

Virtualisation is a great way to get to know a new OS and see what it can do and if you like it. You could install Linux, set-up a web server and play around with that.

You could also have a Windows VM to browse with increased security, if your hypervisor supports snapshots. At the end of every session, roll the VM back to where it started. Snapshot capability is brilliant, have been using it all week to test a kernel upgrade script we need to roll out.

- Colin

 

Thanks! I'll play around a little tonight and see if I like the OS! I know that I had tremendous benefits using Parallels w/Windows on my MBP because I never had to bootcamp to access my Citrix desktop and windows applications I needed for work. I am just not sure about any benefit using Ubuntu virtualized for personal use.