More details on VMware Server

This post contains sparse informations not appeared elsewhere or not large enough to be mentioned on a dedicated post.
I possibly will update it several times so check back from times to times.

Today (09.00 PST) Diane Greene, VMware President, officially presented the free Server product in a web conference for press and analysts.
I attended the event and will published a dedicated report as soon as possible.
Meanwhile I’d like to post just one slide shoot, synthetizing the ongoing VMware strategy:


Here you can find a clear (could be clearer) comparison table between Server and ESX Server: www.vmware.com/products/server_comp.html

Christian Hammond, a VMware employee, published on his blog a sound explaination of what Server is and what it is not. I feel is particularly important the “what it is not” part.

Philip Langdale, another VMware employee, pointed out on his blog an important news: VMware Server can cohexist with Player and both products will be shipped together (as happened for Workstation 5.5).

VMware Server lost support GSX used to have for VirtualCenter agents. It’s actually unclear if the product will be centrally manageable out of beta.

VMware Server has some support limits:

  • 8 physical CPUs (or 16 HyperThreaded) x the number of cores (VMware sent out emails to GSX customers claiming unlimited support)
  • 24 virtual machines creation (the same limit of Workstation. This limit will be increased in beta 2)