VMware Workstation or Server?

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Hello there,

I am looking for a VM product to put onto a beefy server to run multiple VMs. Now I am narrowing my interest in 3 products:

-VM Workstation
-VM Server GSX
-VM Server ESX

Now I have searched the net for differences but non of is really making sense. One thing I do know is that ESX runs on 'bare metal' without needing an OS whereas GSX does require an OS.

but could someone tell me the main points between workstation and GSX (which is free)? Coz surely people can just use GSX instead of workstation.

Thank you for your help guys.
 
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i can't answer your question, but i recently downloaded and installed the beta of vm workstation and the only reason i was able to run it is cos it was a beta.

i don't think workstation is free. it costs about £100 if i remember right.

impressive bit of software though. had vista and suse linux running in it no probs. while since i've seen a linux os, and it just reminded me not to install it anytime soon. :p
 
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gsx is now free i believe & can run multiple instances of os's within it, very similar to microsoft virtual server 2005 which is also free, i have an hp ml370 with dual xeons + 8gb ram at work running 14 instances of 2003 server and xp for developers :cool: These are connected to via rdp or vnc
The workstation products, virtual pc & vm player/workstation are for running single instances at a time really & go full screen nicely so you can work on hte virtual machine as if it was your own pc, good for demo's etc
 
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oddjob62 said:
In what way? describe the setup and i'll tell you

Sorry my question was a little vague.

We are planning to have a dedicated server rack for running (possibly) VMware gsx or infrastructure standard. The server will have dual xeon CPUs and 16gb of RAM.

We are also getting a 2TB NAS which will be RAID'ed so effectively only have 1TB.

We're going to use VM to develope and test database enviroments.

Obviously GSX is free but ESX runs on 'bare-metal' and thus will not be (as) limited if running on, what will probably be, Windows OS.

We were going to place the VM files on the NAS if possible, along with other files.

Which version would be better in this case?

Will try and provide more info, if required.

Dave.

EDIT:- i understand if we should go for ESX, then i would need Infrastructure standard.
 
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Well i can run a VM from a server share (just tried it as a test)... so i guess it would work... was slow as hell though (although it's just 100mb here)

I would have thought a SAN would be more suitable for this, but then again, my knowledge in this field is a bit dated.
 
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Overload said:
May I ask what you do for a living?

Also, having establish what we protentially getting, which product would be the better one to get?

Dave.

IT support... like so many on this board :p

I've set up VMs quite a bit, but always had internal storage. I haven't have much contact with the latest NAS devices so i'm not sure how good they are compared to SANs.

Generally for heavy IO like this would be, a SAN device would be recommended (or at least this was the case a year ago when i last had to worry about it), but this could have changed
 
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Cool, so do you have VM Infrastructure then running or just plain VM Server? Coz i think VM Infrastructure if the cooler product of the two but obviously more expensive.

Which would you reocmmend with your knowledge?
 
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Overload said:
Cool, so do you have VM Infrastructure then running or just plain VM Server? Coz i think VM Infrastructure if the cooler product of the two but obviously more expensive.

Which would you reocmmend with your knowledge?

Just normal server... never used the "pay" ones :p
 
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