Virtual-machine running from DVD ?

Question

Greetings all,

I have this application which uses Tomcat and PostgreSQL (only involve database reads, no writes). I need to make this application runnable from a DVD.(target platform is Windows).

So I was thinking to do these:

1) In a VirtualMachine (i prefer virtualbox) install lightweight linux distro.

2) Install Tomcat and Postgre,

3) Write virtualmachine into DVD which loads above virtualmachine image automatically when executed.

But I am not quite sure whether I can do step 3.Or is it possible ?

Note : My users cannot install VM software in their machines.I just give the DVD and they can execute the VM installed inside the DVD.

Any tips?

Answer 1

Can you put a vm image into a DVD?

Yes

Can you run the vm whithin (inside) the DVD?

Probably not, because the vm itself will need write permission for RAM files and things like that.

Answer 2

Is it possible ?

Sure. This approach is similar to what live CDs do, and a number of VM servers support this natively with no extra work on your part (e.g., VMWare GSX).

Of course, because the VM still needs space to write files (because the guest OS will need to write files even if your application doesn't), you're going to pay a hefty price in memory. Essentially the pieces of the VM that need to be written to must be offloaded to main memory, which reduces the memory available to the rest of the applications you have.