UML vs. vserver vs. xen

[Daniel Armstrong]

I am looking to setup a box (Athlon XP +1800, 512MB RAM) as a home
server, using Apache to host 1 or 2 websites, a MySQL database, email
(Postfix or Exim), maybe learn more about DNS caching. Is anybody out
there doing something similar implemented in 'virtual machines' using
UML or vserver or xen?

My original intention was to go with a minimal Debian 'stable'
install, and add the necessary services one-by-one, but I am intrigued
by some of the virtualization solutions available. It may be more work
to setup UML or vserver or xen in the beginning, but it appears to
offer greater flexibility to manage services and possibly greater
security??

What I want to do:

- make use of a single server (Athlon XP +1800, 512MB RAM)
- use debian 'stable' as the base install
- use same version of debian for all the 'virtual' machines as well
- a single admin (me)
- no X server required

Right now I am leaning towards the vserver option, as this way all the
virtual machines make use of the single underlying kernel and I would
think this makes a lighter demand on this older hardware as opposed to
UML or xen, where every virtual machine has its own kernel. The
trade-off is in robustness - if something goes wrong with your kernel,
all your virtual machines are hosed.

Anybody have any experience with the above-mentioned solutions and
opinions to share? Or should I just keep it simple and have a single
server that implements everything required?

Thanks... Daniel
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