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Asked: 2011-08-17 07:03:42 +0800 CST

Minimal system or minimal virtual machine on install?

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I've been thinking a lot about this lately and haven't been able to find any good documentation online that explains this:

When installing Ubuntu Server, I can choose between Minimal system and Minimal virtual machine by hitting the F4 button at the install screen.

Why should I choose one over the other?

server

3 Answers

    1. Default server = Server kernel + "Basic Ubuntu server" task packages
    2. Minimal system = Server kernel + no additional packages
    3. Virtual machine = Virtual kernel + no additional packages

    Virtual kernel is a more lightweight version of the kernel with several modules like audio and SATA left out. In VirtualBox you need to modify the guest VM settings first if you want to use a "minimal virtual machine" (otherwise the Ubuntu guest will crash):

    • Enable PAE/NX
    • Delete the SATA Controller and use SCSI Controller to add the hard disk. Enable host I/O cache.
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  2. Best Answer

    You choose virtual machine if you want to install this server inside a virtual machine (ie. Virtualbox, VMware Player) and that install is optimised for usage within a virtual machine.

    Otherwise you are installing on a system itself and should choose for minimal system

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  3. Using 'minimal VM install', I found that it has a vm-related modules loaded by default:

    $ modinfo vmw_balloon
filename:       /lib/modules/3.2.0-29-virtual/kernel/drivers/misc/vmw_balloon.ko
license:        GPL
alias:          vmware_vmmemctl
alias:          dmi:*:svnVMware*:*
version:        1.2.1.3-k
description:    VMware Memory Control (Balloon) Driver
author:         VMware, Inc.
srcversion:     D9F701E37D1BF118F0537DE
depends:        
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.2.0-29-virtual SMP mod_unload modversions 686

    so it looks like such install option is more suitable to work under VM environment.

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