Hey All, It's been awhile since I've put out any new Koha Virtual Appliances. And I was hoping to get some input on what types would be most useful. There are so many combinations, so I was hoping to narrow down the list. First off, we have 3 software options to choose from: 1) VirtualBox 2) Xen 3) VMWare I've switched from using VMWare to VirtualBox for my local vm's, and switched from VMWare to Xen for our big iron virtualization. I like the fact that VirtualBox is has a completely Free version. Not need to get serial numbers from anyone, plus I despise VMWare Server 2, I don't like the direction it has taken. So I would say VirtualBox images are a given. I could also roll Xen appliances. However, I'm not sure if anyone would actually use them. If you can set up Xen, then setting up a Koha demo is trivial in comparison. I would also be willing to continue making VMWare images if there most people would still use them. Second is the issue of configuration. In the past, I've been rolling 2 types of vm's for each Koha version: 1) Fully configured up to but not including the web-based setup. This allows someone to still choose Zebra or NoZebra, and decide what if any example data is imported. 2) Fully configured up to and including the web-based setup, with all example data included. I think this is a good combination, but I'm interested in hearing opinions from others. Is number 2 really useful when it can be created from number 1 trivially? I'm just wondering of the web-based config would be enough to scare off any potential Koha converts. Third, which versions of Koha should be rolled, and how often? Koha changes to fast to make one for every version, but I'd be willing to try doing monthly/bi-monthly updates. Should I bother with main releases, such as 3.01? These days, it seems like the latest version is always pretty stable, and I think the manual tends to follow the latest version. Are there frozen versions of the manual for releases such as 3.01? Any other input is welcome. Thanks, Kyle http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org )
Hi, On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
So I would say VirtualBox images are a given.
Cool.
I could also roll Xen appliances. However, I'm not sure if anyone would actually use them. If you can set up Xen, then setting up a Koha demo is trivial in comparison.
Agreed.
I would also be willing to continue making VMWare images if there most people would still use them.
I suspect that there would be some demand because VMWare is kind of a default choice for virtualization and is gratis to use for personal use to run images, but it seems reasonable to only do VirtualBox images if it becomes too much trouble to maintain the VMWare images as well.
Second is the issue of configuration. In the past, I've been rolling 2 types of vm's for each Koha version: 1) Fully configured up to but not including the web-based setup. This allows someone to still choose Zebra or NoZebra, and decide what if any example data is imported. 2) Fully configured up to and including the web-based setup, with all example data included.
I think having both options is useful as long as you're willing to do them. Even though it is simple to run through the installer, having an image that let's you start using Koha *right away* let's a potential user focus on whether Koha is the right choice for them.
Third, which versions of Koha should be rolled, and how often? Koha changes to fast to make one for every version, but I'd be willing to try doing monthly/bi-monthly updates. Should I bother with main releases, such as 3.01? These days, it seems like the latest version is always pretty stable, and I think the manual tends to follow the latest version. Are there frozen versions of the manual for releases such as 3.01?
My preference would be to have images for the current 3.0.x released version and periodic images of HEAD. Regards, Galen -- Galen Charlton VP, Research & Development, LibLime galen.charlton@liblime.com p: 1-888-564-2457 x709 skype: gmcharlt
Is there any technical reason that there are no example items to import from the web interface? I think that would be a nice addition to the rest of the sample data. I imagine the zebra indexing would be the biggest issue. Kyle http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Galen Charlton <galen.charlton@liblime.com> wrote:
Hi,
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 8:32 AM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
So I would say VirtualBox images are a given.
Cool.
I could also roll Xen appliances. However, I'm not sure if anyone would actually use them. If you can set up Xen, then setting up a Koha demo is trivial in comparison.
Agreed.
I would also be willing to continue making VMWare images if there most people would still use them.
I suspect that there would be some demand because VMWare is kind of a default choice for virtualization and is gratis to use for personal use to run images, but it seems reasonable to only do VirtualBox images if it becomes too much trouble to maintain the VMWare images as well.
Second is the issue of configuration. In the past, I've been rolling 2 types of vm's for each Koha version: 1) Fully configured up to but not including the web-based setup. This allows someone to still choose Zebra or NoZebra, and decide what if any example data is imported. 2) Fully configured up to and including the web-based setup, with all example data included.
I think having both options is useful as long as you're willing to do them. Even though it is simple to run through the installer, having an image that let's you start using Koha *right away* let's a potential user focus on whether Koha is the right choice for them.
Third, which versions of Koha should be rolled, and how often? Koha changes to fast to make one for every version, but I'd be willing to try doing monthly/bi-monthly updates. Should I bother with main releases, such as 3.01? These days, it seems like the latest version is always pretty stable, and I think the manual tends to follow the latest version. Are there frozen versions of the manual for releases such as 3.01?
My preference would be to have images for the current 3.0.x released version and periodic images of HEAD.
Regards,
Galen -- Galen Charlton VP, Research & Development, LibLime galen.charlton@liblime.com p: 1-888-564-2457 x709 skype: gmcharlt
Hi, On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
Is there any technical reason that there are no example items to import from the web interface? I think that would be a nice addition to the rest of the sample data. I imagine the zebra indexing would be the biggest issue.
There's no technical reason not to do this. It would probably be simplest to supply a MARC file and have bulkmarcimport import it, rather than try to generate and maintain SQL to populate bibioitems, biblio, and biblioitems. Indexing wouldn't be that big of a deal, since if you're running Zebra, you have to run rebuild_zebra.pl at some point anyway. Regards, Galen -- Galen Charlton VP, Research & Development, LibLime galen.charlton@liblime.com p: 1-888-564-2457 x709 skype: gmcharlt
Hello Kyle, Does the Koha Virtual Appliance include linux? What would the file size be? Small download size and ease of installation of the image (compared to the regular koha installation) could be very useful here in India. Thanks, Savitra Sirohi Nucsoft OSS labs http://www.osslabs.biz On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Kyle Hall <kyle.m.hall@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey All, It's been awhile since I've put out any new Koha Virtual Appliances. And I was hoping to get some input on what types would be most useful. There are so many combinations, so I was hoping to narrow down the list.
First off, we have 3 software options to choose from: 1) VirtualBox 2) Xen 3) VMWare
I've switched from using VMWare to VirtualBox for my local vm's, and switched from VMWare to Xen for our big iron virtualization. I like the fact that VirtualBox is has a completely Free version. Not need to get serial numbers from anyone, plus I despise VMWare Server 2, I don't like the direction it has taken.
So I would say VirtualBox images are a given.
I could also roll Xen appliances. However, I'm not sure if anyone would actually use them. If you can set up Xen, then setting up a Koha demo is trivial in comparison.
I would also be willing to continue making VMWare images if there most people would still use them.
Second is the issue of configuration. In the past, I've been rolling 2 types of vm's for each Koha version: 1) Fully configured up to but not including the web-based setup. This allows someone to still choose Zebra or NoZebra, and decide what if any example data is imported. 2) Fully configured up to and including the web-based setup, with all example data included.
I think this is a good combination, but I'm interested in hearing opinions from others. Is number 2 really useful when it can be created from number 1 trivially? I'm just wondering of the web-based config would be enough to scare off any potential Koha converts.
Third, which versions of Koha should be rolled, and how often? Koha changes to fast to make one for every version, but I'd be willing to try doing monthly/bi-monthly updates. Should I bother with main releases, such as 3.01? These days, it seems like the latest version is always pretty stable, and I think the manual tends to follow the latest version. Are there frozen versions of the manual for releases such as 3.01?
Any other input is welcome.
Thanks, Kyle
http://www.kylehall.info Information Technology Crawford County Federated Library System ( http://www.ccfls.org ) _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
participants (3)
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Galen Charlton -
Kyle Hall -
savitra sirohi