June 3, 2008 at An example of simple information protection on VMWare
By the nature of my work in various my own projects, I have to deal simultaneously with win / web programming, design, 3d animation, and administering my servers. And also use webmasters, surf, download keys from dangerous sites, install and test various questionable software, etc. Very often I connect all kinds of new devices to my computer.
If all this is done in one installation of Windows, sooner or later it will become dumb and will have to reinstall everything again. You can also inaccurately pick up a Trojan or virus (although in my case it is unlikely).
Against the background of general paranoia on it-security, I found an excellent solution for myself - the use of different virtual machines for each specific range of tasks.
How is it done with me:
1. I installed XP on VMWare, rolled up SP3, installed Far and Office - this is a necessary minimum for almost every task
2. For the first machine I made linked-clones (the new machine refers to the first as the base) for surfing (and testing sites in different browsers in a “minimum” configuration, “with standard plugins” ...) and for testing new programs. After each shutdown of the machine, they return to their original state - thus, even if some unintelligence gets into the system, it will disappear just as quickly. In addition, the speed of the machines is always about the same.
3. Also, on the basis of the base machine, I made a Design version where Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, DW, Apache, PHP, etc. are installed. I use this machine as a base for virtual machines created for certain projects that require design skills. Thus, my projects are distributed across different virtual machines and their settings do not overlap. All sites are located at 127.0.0.1, all have the same database settings. Similarly for programming - each project on its own clone machine. Everywhere there are MSVC, Delphi, Eclipse, Python, PHP, the necessary servers with basic settings. Cars with openings do not turn off, but go into sleep-mode - this way you can easily remember where you ended up.
4. For e-money, I created a clone on a small flash drive, on which there is nothing else. It does not take much and does not work without a foundation. There is a snapshot for a quick start. After turning off the machine, it returns to the past state (no history, trojans, etc.). Lies in the wallet :)
5. And on the main machine is installed antivirus, firewall, office, mail and winamp. And also 3DMax (all the same, rendering is a rather stressful procedure). All.
This model has its own problems:
1. Increased consumption of disk space - VMWare does not delete files on the disk, but marks them deleted on its virtual disk. If it weren’t for linked-clones, it would be possible to clean the machines, but then each clone weighed a minimum of 3-4 GB. It is treated by replacing the screw with a huge one.
2. The inability to run more than 2 cars - not enough RAM. To work with Photoshop, you need at least half a gig per car. And if at the same time any other software is launched - gig. Therefore, only 1 machine is actually running.
3. Updates have to be rolled on each machine separately.
4. It takes time to start the virtual machine (memory allocation, loading of Windows if not in the slipmod)
Among the advantages I especially want to highlight the lack of binding to certain physical media and the ability to quickly copy virtual machines to other computers without the need to install software (except VMWare). Recently reinstalled Windows "with all software" in an hour. Or for example, you had to stir up network rendering in the lab. Instead of installing 3DMax, Vray, configuring and copying all the files to each computer, they simply cloned an already configured machine from the network drive and go.
And of course the main thing is safety. Which of you stores the keys to the client bank or webmoney in the folder C: \ E-Money \
PS: Another very significant plus is the ability to collect the archive of projects in the exact state in which you finished them. I took a DVD, copied it to a disc, opened it - nothing needs to be installed.
If all this is done in one installation of Windows, sooner or later it will become dumb and will have to reinstall everything again. You can also inaccurately pick up a Trojan or virus (although in my case it is unlikely).
Against the background of general paranoia on it-security, I found an excellent solution for myself - the use of different virtual machines for each specific range of tasks.
How is it done with me:
1. I installed XP on VMWare, rolled up SP3, installed Far and Office - this is a necessary minimum for almost every task
2. For the first machine I made linked-clones (the new machine refers to the first as the base) for surfing (and testing sites in different browsers in a “minimum” configuration, “with standard plugins” ...) and for testing new programs. After each shutdown of the machine, they return to their original state - thus, even if some unintelligence gets into the system, it will disappear just as quickly. In addition, the speed of the machines is always about the same.
3. Also, on the basis of the base machine, I made a Design version where Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, DW, Apache, PHP, etc. are installed. I use this machine as a base for virtual machines created for certain projects that require design skills. Thus, my projects are distributed across different virtual machines and their settings do not overlap. All sites are located at 127.0.0.1, all have the same database settings. Similarly for programming - each project on its own clone machine. Everywhere there are MSVC, Delphi, Eclipse, Python, PHP, the necessary servers with basic settings. Cars with openings do not turn off, but go into sleep-mode - this way you can easily remember where you ended up.
4. For e-money, I created a clone on a small flash drive, on which there is nothing else. It does not take much and does not work without a foundation. There is a snapshot for a quick start. After turning off the machine, it returns to the past state (no history, trojans, etc.). Lies in the wallet :)
5. And on the main machine is installed antivirus, firewall, office, mail and winamp. And also 3DMax (all the same, rendering is a rather stressful procedure). All.
This model has its own problems:
1. Increased consumption of disk space - VMWare does not delete files on the disk, but marks them deleted on its virtual disk. If it weren’t for linked-clones, it would be possible to clean the machines, but then each clone weighed a minimum of 3-4 GB. It is treated by replacing the screw with a huge one.
2. The inability to run more than 2 cars - not enough RAM. To work with Photoshop, you need at least half a gig per car. And if at the same time any other software is launched - gig. Therefore, only 1 machine is actually running.
3. Updates have to be rolled on each machine separately.
4. It takes time to start the virtual machine (memory allocation, loading of Windows if not in the slipmod)
Among the advantages I especially want to highlight the lack of binding to certain physical media and the ability to quickly copy virtual machines to other computers without the need to install software (except VMWare). Recently reinstalled Windows "with all software" in an hour. Or for example, you had to stir up network rendering in the lab. Instead of installing 3DMax, Vray, configuring and copying all the files to each computer, they simply cloned an already configured machine from the network drive and go.
And of course the main thing is safety. Which of you stores the keys to the client bank or webmoney in the folder C: \ E-Money \
PS: Another very significant plus is the ability to collect the archive of projects in the exact state in which you finished them. I took a DVD, copied it to a disc, opened it - nothing needs to be installed.