Vista - Can I run web server in Virtual PC?

I was interested in setting up a home based web server for my domain.
This might be a dumb question but can you do that from a Virtual
machine?

"Trixie" <trixiedixie8@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:c6fdcf47-9bc4-4465-97b0-37bafc50e16a@xxxxxx
Yes you can. The answer to this question, as with 99% of VPC questions, is
"can I / how would I do this with a physical PC?" There's no difference...


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net

On Nov 27, 10:08*pm, "Mark Rae [MVP]" <m...@xxxxxx> wrote:Okay. Thanks. Now can you tell me this: I want to host my own website
at home from my desk top I use now because the only extra computer I
have hanging around are windows 98 and I read on the apache.org site
that they really don't recommend running it on 98. I don't want to buy
a computer at this time just to host a site so I thought maybe I'd use
my regular computer until I read some security articles and got scared
off! So then I thought, well maybe it could be made safer if I
partitioned my hard drive on this XP, and installed a virtual machine
on there and run the server from there. Would that increase security
at all? Or would this computer still be exposed to additional attack
risks? I have cable connection with a router.

Thanx,
Trixie

You do not need to partition your disk to run a vm. The "hard disk" of
the vm is a virtual disk and is just another file on your hard drive.

You create a virtual machine and virtual hard disk then install an OS in
the virtual machine. You would then install you web server on this machine.
You would forward HTTP traffic from the router to the vm, just as you would
to any other machine on your private LAN.

"Trixie" <trixiedixie8@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9a75b656-5907-498e-8b76-699e9244c3ef@xxxxxx
Two things:

1) You don't partition your existing drive(s) to use Microsoft Virtual PC
(or any other virtualisation software e.g. VMWare, VirtualBox etc). Virtual
PC is just an application in the same way as e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe
Acrobat and Corel Paint Shop Pro are just applications. You simply install
Virtual PC, create your virtual machines, install operating systems on them
and then install application software on them. This means that your virtual
machines run at the same time as your host machine runs. If you partitioned
your drive, only one partition can boot at any given time.

2) As regards security, this falls into the 99% of VPC questions mentioned
above. As far as the software (both operating system and applications) is
concerned, a virtual machine is exactly the same as a physical machine - the
software doesn't know that it's running in a virtual machine as opposed to a
physical machine because it doesn't need to know this - it makes no
difference. So a virtual machine is no more or less secure than a physical
machine - the host won't protect it:
http://vpc.visualwin.com/ngfaq.aspx#17


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net

On Nov 28, 6:28*am, "Mark Rae [MVP]" <m...@xxxxxx> wrote:Okay, I follow that re: the security of the VM. But what of my
physical machine? Will it be open to the same threats of the VM?

Trixie

"Trixie" <trixiedixie8@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:943ecdd8-f13e-427a-84c1-b18e3ec01389@xxxxxx
The host machine and any virtual machines running on it are *COMPLETELY
SEPARATE MACHINES*.

Other than taking up some hard disk space, creating virtual machines will
have *NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER* on the host machine. When a virtual machine is
running, it uses up some of the host's hardware resources just like any
other application software does...

Installing anti-malware software on the host will help to protect the host,
but it will have no effect whatsoever on the security of any virtual
machines.

Installing anti-malware software on a virtual machine will help to protect
that virtual machine, but it will have no effect whatsoever on the security
of the host or that of any other virtual machines.

The most important thing to remember is that a virtual machine is a *real*
machine! The fact that it's made of software instead of hardware is
completely and utterly irrelevant.

Apologies if this still isn't clear to you, but I really don't know how to
phrase it any differently...


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net

On Nov 28, 10:10*am, "Mark Rae [MVP]" <m...@xxxxxx> wrote:No, its still not clear in one respect. I understand it is like two
separate computers. But my other computer shares my cable *through my
router*. In this case, the VM, even though it is *like* a separate
machine, is not physically connected to my *router* which provides the
extra level of security to our real machines. My concern is a doorway
into my host machine because of this separate level of security being
absent. Someone hacking into either of our 3 hard computers, which all
have their own separate port, would have to get around that firewall
to enter a second hard machine. If they got into my host machine,
there is no router protection between the host machine and the VM is
there? Wouldn't that be different than a second *real* machine in that
respect and thereby *less secure*?

Trixie

"Trixie" <trixiedixie8@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7a720551-f791-4e13-9d64-3789258a6383@xxxxxx
Once again, it is not *LIKE* two separate computers - it *IS* two separate
computers. We're really not going to get any further here until / unless you
understand that.
That makes no difference. Your physical machines are connected to your
router through physical network interfaces - your virtual machines are
connected to your router through virtual network interfaces. As far as the
router is concerned, there is no difference.
There is no separate level of security.
Hacking into the host would not give them access to any virtual machines
running on it other than the file system on which the virtual machine's
files are stored.
No it wouldn't! Your router's firewall will afford the same level of
protection to any virtual machines connected to it as physical machines
connected to it. It won't even be able to tell the difference.


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net

My concern is not someone "hacking into the host" to get to the VM,
but hacking into the VM and then getting into my host!

So you say I lose nothing by not having another *wired* port. (I don't
have a wireless router system)

Trixie