New Virtualization Rig
We’ve completely migrated our VM infrastructure from Virtual Server 2005 to VMWare Server 2.0 RC1. We used this tool called VMWare Converter to convert all of the virtual server images to VMWare counterparts.I love using this little gem. Basically , this tool allows you to create a VMWare virtual machine , or VMWare virtual appliance, from any of the following sources:
- Physical machines
- Virtual appliances
- Virtual machines
- Third-party backup images
The only issue we are facing using VMWare converter is that VMWare tools that is installed on the machine as part of the conversion process is somehow screwed up. Uninstalling and reinstalling it really didn’t help either. As such, we can’t use the console access to the VM machine ,so the only way to get into the VM is pretty much via RDP.Other than this , the migration went really smooth.
In case you are using differencing drives in Virtual Server 2005, no worries! Converter is smart enough to build the right image for ya. What you’ll get at the end of the process is an independent VM and not a linked clone of the base or something.
VMWare Server remote management tools are much more intuitive, lighter and more responsive comparing to the Virtual Server web console. It also seems more optimized in CPU/Memory utilization towards running multiple VMs. If you put some of the extra luxury with regards to snapshots, cloning and team functionalities aside, VMWare Server RC1 has almost everything that VMWare Workstation offers ,but it’s free :).
If the next version of ESXi, which will be released to public soon, will be available at no cost, then VMWare’s competitors are in trouble! That would be nice if there was a comparison chart of Workstation vs VMWare Server vs ESX vs ESXi to be able to compare the whole spectrum. Something like this , but covering all of them.
