The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly about VMware Server 2.0 Beta 1
One of the best things about starting Informed CIO is that now I have a legitimate excuse to start playing around with software that typically I would not be touching until at least it’s first service pack is released. Such is the case with a VMware's newest entry into the virtualization wars, VMware Server 2.0 Beta 1.
The Good…
This new version of VMware, although still in beta, certainly is a contender. It has now added support for Windows Vista Business and Ultimate editions as well as Windows Server 2008. Additionally it now supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 7.x. (I note this least the Linux zealots spam me to death!)
In addition to supporting new operating systems VMware Server 2.0 has made huge leaps over the 1.X versions in terms of scalability. Previously a guest VM was capped to using no more than 3.6 gig of RAM. In the current version a guest VM can use up to eight gig of RAM and two processors. This added capability should move virtualization much farther up the food chain. I seriously believe that once this product GA’s we will begin seeing an exponential increase in production servers being virtualized.
The best news about VMware Server 2.0 is that it will continue to be free. VMware will begin offering paid support options for the software once it is officially released however there will be nothing to stop you from legitimately installing as many copies on as many servers as you want.
The Bad…
For Windows, VMware Server 2.0 continues to only be a 32-bit application. For Lunix they do have a 64-bit offering however it will place them at a serious competitive disadvantage as Microsoft's HyperV will be being released about the same time. In terms of virtualization any serious contender must be running the host on 64-bit code, period. I won't delve into the differences between memory architecture for 32-bit and 64-bit systems suffice to say 32 bit is going to have serious performance limitations.
Another negative is that I found VMware’s a new web interface a bit cumbersome and sluggish. In the interest of being fair I should point out that it also found me to be a bit cumbersome and sluggish. We're both in counseling and hopefully we will be able to make this relationship work.
The Ugly…
One final cautionary note about VMWare’s new beta: after uninstalling version 1.0.6 and installing version 2 .0 I was forced to reactivate my copy of Windows 2003 Enterprise edition. I'm not positive that VM was the culprit however I find the timing very suspicious.
Please let me know about your experiences. Feel free to add any comments, questions, or corrections below.
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