MS Virtual Server for free?

[Norphy]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/default.mspx

 

Wow

 

I know people will probably say "I prefer VMWare" but hey, free is good

[plexer]

hmmm $20 shipping though

 

Ben

[NetworkGeezer]

VMWare made their server free first

 

OK it's beta but that just means they're more honest

[NetworkGeezer]

Actually, according to Mike Gunderloy on the Larkware site, the full release product will also be free to download.

[Norphy]

hmmm $20 shipping though

 

Ben

 

Not if you download it. Its not even 30MB

[CyberNerd]

IMHO the vmware is a far better product, MS playing catchup as usual.

[Geoff]

Does Virtual Server support snapshots or cloning? The current VMWare (free) server doesn't.

[thom]

I just setup the free Virtual Server 2005 R2 on our test server and it's working a treat. easy peasey!

 

Register for the free download here,

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6dba2278-b022-4f56-af96-7b95975db13b&DisplayLang=en

[plexer]

Yes but with the cd version you get a copy of server 2003 r2 to run on it

 

Ben

[NetworkGeezer]

IMHO the vmware is a far better product, MS playing catchup as usual.

 

The end is nigh for VMware. Microsoft have decide to enter a market with all guns blazing. VMWAre may soon go the way of Netware, Netscape [hey is there a pattern here], WordPerfect [no, guess not], Lotus 1-2-3, Havard Graphics, OS/2 etc. etc.

[CyberNerd]

The end is nigh for VMware. Microsoft have decide to enter a market with all guns blazing. VMWAre may soon go the way of Netware, Netscape [hey is there a pattern here], WordPerfect [no], Lotus 1-2-3, Havard Graphics, OS/2 etc. etc.

 

I entirely agree, MS are trying to kill VMWare but at the moment vmware (commercial) is superior, even running on windows. Unless the EU force MS to open up The likes ofVMWare don't stand a chance competing against them.

[NetworkGeezer]

MS are trying to kill VMWare but at the moment vmware (commercial) is superior, even running on windows. Unless the EU force MS to open up The likes ofVMWare don't stand a chance competing against them.

 

The thing that puzzles me is why are they bothering. People still needed licenses in order to run guest OSes. Microsoft would still get paid no matter how sucessful VMWare became in what is a niche market anyway.

 

Xen is another matter altogether as its open source and free in both senses.

[CyberNerd]

The thing that puzzles me is why are they bothering.

 

Virtualisation is a useful tool in migration (away from MS) and clearly MS don't want this. They want everything to run windows and make cross platform compatibility as difficult as they can get away with.

[Geoff]

The thing that puzzles me is why are they bothering. People still needed licenses in order to run guest OSes. Microsoft would still get paid no matter how sucessful VMWare became in what is a niche market anyway.

 

Because VMWare server runs on Linux. So you can save some money on OS licenses.

 

MS is using its monopoly to force VMWare out of the marketplace (think Netscape and IE...). That way, those people using VMWare on Linux are forced to 'upgrade' to W2k3 server when VMWare implodes.

 

Xen is another matter altogether as its open source and free in both senses.

 

But can't run Windows because the drivers were developed for Windows at Berkeley under Microsofts restrictive non-compete licensing scheme. Until someone reverse engineers it (which is illegal in the EU and US under the laws MS and friends paid^H^H^Hlobbied for) Xen can't fill the same niche VMWare does.

[DMcCoy]

Virtual server does not support any non windows guests at the moment. Not that they don't work, but they are unsupported.

 

Vmware is much more powerful when you move to ESX. Hot migration of running instances of virtual machines to another physical host is an excellent utility. I can upgrade the physical box, bios and esx version without any downtime by vmotioning the running machines off of the box.

 

Without this facility virtual server still limits you to hardware to some extent. I have around 15 virtual servers running across 4 hosts at the moment, 2 are unused still. Just 5 or so physical servers left until migration has been completed.

 

I can deploy a new server from a template in 10 minutes. Licensing cost is still peanuts for the windows server as I do it through schools agreement.

 

ESX is however not cheap, but I though it was worth a try, I'm very pleased with it at the moment.

[Geoff]

Virtual server does not support any non windows guests at the moment. Not that they don't work, but they are unsupported.

 

Amusingly Microsoft have stated they will support customers running Linux on Virtual Server.

[NetworkGeezer]

ESX is however not cheap, but I though it was worth a try, I'm very pleased with it at the moment.

 

I wondered what lottery winners spent their money on:)

[Geoff]

How much is ESX?

[CyberNerd]

Xen is another matter altogether as its open source and free in both senses.

 

But can't run Windows because the drivers were developed for Windows at Berkeley under Microsofts restrictive non-compete licensing scheme. Until someone reverse engineers it

 

New multi-core vurtualisation chips should fix this:

http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/columnItem/0,294698,sid39_gci1176065,00.html

[NetworkGeezer]

How much is ESX?

 

I can't remember. I passsed out after the third naught

[DMcCoy]

Lots. I use the infrastructure pack for each blade and a single copy of virtual center. Yearly maintenance charge too if you want updates, and I'm not missing out on version 3!

 

Commercial is around £4k for a 2cpu infrastructure node and 1 year support and updates, after that support and updates is about 1k per year per node.

 

There is an education price I believe, mine were cheaper due to a dell price break and oem deal. I still need to give them a reference, but my job has changed over the last year causing progress to be slow, almost done now though!