As the title reads; is it possible to virtualize a Sun server running the sparc processor? I know VMWare can do SunOS with the x86 processor, but we have several Sun Servers with the Sparc processor and I would like to move it to a virtual environment.
I believe you're stuck with Solaris Zones if using a SPARC system.
QEMU (git repositories) or Simics (https://www.simics.net/\) are two multi-OS simulators that support SPARC.
and on the coolthreads server you can use LDOMs.
What's the purpose of virtualization in your case? Is it to get more performance, etc. for production and scale - or are you wanting a less expensive lab?
Zones (Containers) are a very efficient way to virtualize Solaris.
We have a DR site and I want to protect our applications running on SunOS. So in the unfortunate event of a disaster, I can failover our SunOS apps to the DR site.
SunOS is customarily used to refer to Solaris V1.x ,i.e. SunOS V4.1.4 which was for Sparc processor only and could not be virtualised using Zones.
So, what Sun operating system are you using at your main/production site, what version and on what processor?
If you're using a fully patched Solaris 10 then Zones are portable and can be cloned although the process is not as smooth and quick as VMWare's billion-dollar way of doing it (or so I'm told).
Live / DR failover, assumes shared storage, mutual SAN, or some sort of replication. Storage to oneside, zones will allow you to move the application, as would RSF / SunCluster clustering software. So, clustering would cater for your needs too.
Centralised storage might be a bigger problem, as the live and dr systems will be in different physical locations ? Different IP addresses ??
Containers / zones - containers has some sort of resource control i.e. number of cpus / memory, zones are like containers but a more fluid set of resource controls.
Im currently do the same thing as you, looking at creating a DR of my live server, using zones / RSF.
SBK
Same as everybody said, Zones and LDOMs on coolthreads systems.
Also, take a look at this:
Optimizing the Desktop Using Sun xVM VirtualBox - Blueprints - wikis.sun.com
I didn't use it though.
xVM Virtual Box, like VMWare, is only available for the x86 architecture.