I need to install linux from existing VMware VMDK on EC2. For first time I can do this manually, later I will need to do this in automated way.
Could you please help me with link to relevant documentation. Also any tips and experiences are welcome.
Why do I need this?
At my company developers and QA are running our PHP apps on a virtual machine hosted on local machine. We want to move these virtual machines to the cloud, so each developer can easily set up a sandbox in simple web interface.
Amazon does not officially support importing Linux. However, an article from 2008 claims it can be done. If you try this, note this URL as well.
Finally, an AWS employee posted this too:
You can use ec2-import-volume to turn a local disk in a RAW, VMDK or VHD file format into an EBS volume in EC2. This turns a full disk, with MBR, into an EBS disk. If the guest is PV, with the Xen PV drivers installed, you could take a snapshot and create an AMI from that snapshot, inserting the correct AKI.
Follow the instructions of creating your own AMI. Also check out the following articles on EBS volumes: article1, article2. Here's some steps on how to create EBS-backed AMI instance.
You will have to manually create your own images. The ec2 api tools do not support linux/esxi 5 images. I just found out after spending 2 hours on a vmware linux to amazon port.
Related
I've been reading about it, and I don't know if there is anyway of doing it.
I want to create a Virtualbox virtual machine inside another virtual machine I created in azure, and I don't have Hyper-V activated.
My virtual machine doesn't have a BIOS to access and enable it, and I read that not all virtual machines in azure allow nested virtualization.
The virtual machine I have right now is a B1ms standard and what I read is that I need a V3 machine to virtualize a virtual machine inside the azure one. Is that true? I don't want to spend money just creating it and then not beeing able to do it.
Thanks :)
This can be done using Nested virtualization in Azure. And yes you heard it right that not all Azure Virtual Machines in Azure allow this and you would need V3 VMs. Make sure to choose a VM size large enough to support the demands of a guest virtual machine.
For costing, you can either create a trial Azure account that would give you a credit of $200. Or if you have got a Visual studio Pro or Enterprise license, you are eligible for free monthly credits that you can use for exploring Azure.
Although you can use Nested Virtualization it might be better to just convert your VirtualBox images to Azure VHDs. This is relatively straightforward:
vboxmanage clonehd SOMETHING.vdi SOMETHING.vhd --format VHD
Afterwards you can use Azure Storage Explorer (or the CLI) to upload the VHD and use this to deploy a Native Virtual Machine on Azure.
I want a Windows 10 x64 Professional hosted on AWS, is that possible? And if so, how might one go about it?
To expound.
I just want a real windows 10 environment hosted remotely with static IP address so i can use it like a personal computer + server for some dev stuffs.
This is likely what you are looking for:
https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/
Amazon WorkSpaces is a managed, secure cloud desktop service. You can
use Amazon WorkSpaces to provision either Windows or Linux desktops in
just a few minutes and quickly scale to provide thousands of desktops
to workers across the globe. You can pay either monthly or hourly,
just for the WorkSpaces you launch, which helps you save money when
compared to traditional desktops and on-premises VDI solutions. Amazon
WorkSpaces helps you eliminate the complexity in managing hardware
inventory, OS versions and patches, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
(VDI), which helps simplify your desktop delivery strategy. With
Amazon WorkSpaces, your users get a fast, responsive desktop of their
choice that they can access anywhere, anytime, from any supported
device.
and this is how you can give it a static ip:
https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/associate-elastic-ip-workspace/
Edit:
Amazon WorkSpaces now offers bundles that come with a Windows 10
desktop experience, powered by Windows Server 2016. Amazon WorkSpaces
Windows 10 bundles provides you an easy way to move users to a modern
operating system, while also simplifying licensing. Amazon WorkSpaces
continues to offer bundles that come with a Windows 7 desktop
experience, provided by Windows Server 2008 R2. You can also run
Windows 7 and Windows 10 Enterprise operating systems with Amazon
WorkSpaces if your organization meets the licensing requirements set
by Microsoft.
#BrownChiLD
You can create your own AMI on AWS. Steps are below:
1. create the machine on your system by using vmware wokrstation or hyper-v
2. Export the VM
3. Upload it to S3 bucket
once your vm is uploaded to S3, follow the steps on the below link
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vm-import/latest/userguide/vmimport-image-import.html#import-vm-image
At present time the only way to achieve what you want is by spinning your own Win10 instance assigning the static internal IP while creating it or by adding an Elastic IP if it's in an Internet Gateway enabled subnet.
It's not that convenient, you'll need to set up the environment yourself, including Security Groups, ACLs, etc to allow a bit of security and connecting using RDP will be a bit of a pain (beside doing so over internet isn't exactly advisable). You might start thinking about Chrome Remote Desktop or even Teamviewer.. and will be very pricey running it. First things first, apparently there's no Win10 available as AMI, so you'll need to deploy it yourself. Once running you'll need to license it. A type suitable for this could cost around 80$ per month.. unreserved.
Using AWS Workspaces isn't really an option: besides it is not "Windows 10" but Windows server 2016 (I needed WSL, which has been introduced with Server 2019 so, no joy), the only way to have a proper Win10 is using BYOL but... (cit from FAQ) :
You need to commit to running 200 Amazon WorkSpaces in a region per month on hardware that is dedicated to you. If you want to bring your own Windows desktop licenses for graphics use cases, you need to commit to at least 4 monthly or 20 hourly GPU-enabled WorkSpaces.
:-/
Amazon WorkSpaces is a virtual desktop that runs on AWS but you connect through an Amazon client software that acts a lot like virtualbox, except the OS that you're using is not on your local machine. So it's more like a Thin Client environment over the internet. I believe the OS through Workspaces is managed by AWS as far as patching and updates through a software called A.C.M.E. (Amazon Client Management Engine).
https://youtu.be/jsqI7KU3S8I
Amazon EC2 instances also provide Windows instances that you would connect through an RDP connection. You'll have to manage the patching and updates yourself though.
Here's a link for your reading pleasure
https://aws.amazon.com/windows/resources/licensing/
Is there a way to play an EC2 AMI snapshot locally on a laptop? For example, export the AMI snapshot to VMWare? We have a sales team that need this ability when on the road with no internet connectivity (we currently use VMWare player for this). Thanks.
I believe it is still not possible for an AMI to be exported direct to VMware:
VMWare - Import Amazon EC2 AMI?
However, it is possible to mount the EBS that contains the AMI of interest to a fresh, running instance and then use VMware tools to image it and distribute that to your mobile people: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/188775
We are looking to move all of our systems to a virtualized env.
We will be going with EC2 and it appears that if we can install something like vmware or KVM on EC2 then create VMs as needed it would be the most cost effective solution for us.
Is this possible?
thanks!
EC2 is already a virtualized environment; it uses the Xen virtualization manager, which is an open source equivalent to VMWare server. You can create VMs with EC2, customize them and save them as Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).
See the Amazon documentation for a more comprehensive introduction.
If you are handling all your own licensing(working under a BizSpark license), is it possible run Windows on an EC2 instance marked for Linux/Unix?
I am considering migrating a dedicated server I have to EC2 but was not able to find guidance on this. I have been told that you get complete control over the instance to install whatever you like, but wanted to know if anyone else has tried this. Thanks for the info!
Update:
Replacing a dedicated virtual with 512MB memory and 10GB storage. Hosting mostly one-off sites and blog or three.
I remember that this was possible before Amazon supported Windows instances natively. You may want to check the links below to follow the discussions on the topic from the 2006-2008 era.
However you have to take into consideration that you will lose performance and you will complicate your setup significantly. The small Windows instance costs only about $18-$22 more per month compared to a small Linux instance, so I believe you have to evaluate if this gain will be of more value than the performance loss and setup complexity.
Related Links:
How To Forge: Running Windows on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud with Qemu and Linux
AWS Forums: QEMU / Windows Server 2003 / Fedora Core 6 Public AMI
AWS Resources: Windows Server 2003 on Fedora Core 6 [Qemu] V.1.1
It was possible before to bring your own License of Windows to Amazon under the Windows License Mobility Pilot but it seems to have been killed off... the API still exists though, so maybe its something they will bring later... I dont know the details, but i think you got the instance at the same price as you would a Linux instance, and no loss in performance either...