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Earlier this year, VMware announced a free version of its market-leading virtualisation software, designed to encourage smaller companies to discover what the technology has to offer.
We downloaded the beta, renamed VMware Server, to see exactly what you get and how easy it is to use.
VMware Server runs as an application on a host server with two versions available – Windows and Linux – with identical functionality.
Essentially, that’s the ability to host multiple virtual machines (VMs), each with its own virtual processors, memory (up to 3.6GB per VM), hard disks, CD-Roms, network interfaces and so on.
Each VM can then run its own guest operating system, which can be more or less any version of Windows, Linux or Solaris and any applications written for those platforms.
Installation is straightforward, particularly the Windows version, but it can be tricky on some of the more obscure Linux distributions.
However, stick with one of the major commercial Linux packages (we loaded it onto a server running Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4.0) and you shouldn’t have any problems.
The same VMware console can be used to manage either platform with, again, consoles for both Windows and Linux, which can either be run on the host server itself or remotely.
Either way you start out by defining the VMs you want to run; from scratch, using the wizards provided, or by importing the single file used to hold an existing VM configuration.
VMs are also started and stopped from the console, plus you get full remote access, as though sitting in front of a physical system.
You can also take a snapshot of each VM setup, which can later be used to revert to the original settings, undoing any changes made in the meantime – a real boon when deploying new applications and for system developers when debugging code.
We found it all remarkably easy to use and, although free, it is far from a cut-down version of VMware’s virtualisation technology. Indeed, according to VMware, it can be used to run full production systems and not just for testing and development.
It supports both 32bit and 64bit VMs (you’ll need a 64bit processor for the latter) and two-way virtual SMP, and is fully compatible with other VMware products.
It may sound a bit complicated and you might not think it worth bothering with for your business, but don’t be put off. VMware Server is deceptively easy to master and, once you understand what it does, it’s amazing how many uses you can find for it.
Companies looking to consolidate servers, for example, can get maximum benefit from new hardware while retaining the same web, email and other servers.
It also lets you build custom virtual machines and (where licensing allows) deploy them as many times as you want – and in minutes rather than hours or days. Indeed, pre-built file and print, DNS, email and other virtual servers can be downloaded from the VMware website ready to just load and run.
It’s a must for software developers to develop and test their applications, with none of the time, trouble and investment required using real systems.
Based on a tried and tested technology, VMware Server is a stable and eminently usable product, and should be released along with full commercial support by the middle of the year. We recommend you download and try it yourself – it doesn’t cost anything and you won’t be disappointed.
System requirements:
32bit or 64bit server (64bit required for 64bit guests)
Host operating system that can be Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server, Windows
Server 2003 (any edition) or Linux
Guest operating systems can be any version of Windows, most implementations of
Linux or Sun Solaris
All Networking
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