Use a Virtual Machine

If you are already running a flavour of the Linux operating system that is compatible with the MiniSAP installation requirements, it might be tempting to save time and remove the minor overhead involved in setting up and using a virtual machine application. While this approach has a few minor advantages, it is not recommended.

That will entangle all of the MiniSAP applications directly with your existing configuration. While most applications manage to play nice with each other, there are never any guarantees. When something goes wrong, you’ll have to re-install your whole laptop, including all the applications you currently use. When that happens, it really sucks because it can take up to a week to get all the tweaks in the laptop back to ‘just the way you like it’.

There has to be a better way to manage the risk of introducing MiniSAP while protecting the day-to-day configuration of your existing personal laptop experience.

Recommended Solution: The preferred approach to managing a MiniSAP installation is to use a Virtual Machine (VM) application; done in three easy parts:

1. Install a Virtual Machine (VM) Application that is suitable for whatever Host Operating System your personal computer happens to be running (Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, etc).
2. Install a Guest Operating System in a Virtual Machine Image (VMI). OpenSUSE is exactly what this MiniSAP Developer Edition needs.
3. Install MiniSAP in the Guest Operating System.
   1. Server-side Services become the Database Layer & Application Layer in the landscape.
   2. Client-side Applications become the Presentation Layer in the landscape.
      

Primary Advantage: Isolate the new installation configuration to an operating system that can give MiniSAP exactly what it needs, while still protecting the personal computers operating system.

Advantage: Minimises interference with the personal computers operating system and all your currently installed applications, just the way you like them.

Advantage: Allows the virtualised operating system to be tweaked and have unnecessary applications and services removed; if you want to put in the time and effort.

Advantage: Allows the whole virtual machine image to be backed up as a snapshot to an external drive. Concerned your about to mess with something too important? Then back up the VM instance before the adventure begins.

Dis-advantage: This introduces a few pre-requisite installations and configurations that need to be done to create a virtual machine technology stack; however, you won’t regret any of the effort to get this up and running.

Congratulations, keep going.