Have Desktop Ubuntu Installed with 2nd HD having 2 LVM partitions: want to install LAMP

Question

I have Ubuntu 10.04LTS Desktop version installed on a 300GB HD. I also have another 300HD divided into two 150GB LVM partitions neither of which are used at this time. I want to install LAMP and run it simultaneously as I use the Desktop.

Should I set up a virtual machine on one of the LVM partitions and install LAMP in it just install it in the Desktop?

Thanks for contributing your opinion.

Answer 1

You can do either - LAMP will run as a service so you can use your Ubuntu system while LAMP is running.

Most paranoid techies however will run LAMP in a virtual machine for a few reasons:

1. Security - Any compromises in your LAMP setup will not affect your base computing environment.
2. Easy portability - You can move the VM to another machine and get up to speed fast - useful for portable debugging for e.g
3. Snapshots - VM allows you to do snapshots, which means you can tweak your LAMP setup and if you are not satisfied or if something goes wrong, rollback to before the changes were done.