VMWare

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BZeto

Platinum Member
Apr 28, 2002
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VMWare Workstation allows you to run multiple operating systems on a single physical computer, which seems nice.

What exactly is VMWare Server for? Can I put multiple server OS's on a single server (Windows 2003, linux, etc)? What would the main benefit be of being able to do this?

I'm basically looking to see how people use VMWare and how it helps their business. Even after reading about it I'm very confused as to how it is used in real world applications.

I actually meant to post this is Operating Systems*
 
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nweaver

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2001
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vmware workstation is more for running a VM part time to do specific things.

VMWare server is for hosting (longer term) virtual machines to perform (usually) specific "server" tasks. The reason for this is that most people like to segregate tasks. You don't really one a single server running DHCP, DNS, AD, Exchange, File Server, ISA firewall, and someones personal workstation. Instead you get one (usually powerfull, enterprise class) machine and run multiple "virtual" boxes on that one machine, so that if you need to say...patch a problem in the DNS daemon, you can take that server down, patch, and reboot without affecting your email server, or gateway server.

It is also so you can buy fewer bigger servers, and utilize that hardware well. Ideally, you want your servers to be busy, otherwise you have wasted some money. You want to have an independent FTP server, so if it gets hacked, it won't kill your network. The problem is budget and resources, an ftp server is a trivial thing, and can run on most anything, so you virtualize it.


It's also nice for testing, I run vmware server so that I can do many things from one PC, all without rebooting.
 
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BZeto

Platinum Member
Apr 28, 2002
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Originally posted by: nweaver
vmware workstation is more for running a VM part time to do specific things.

VMWare server is for hosting (longer term) virtual machines to perform (usually) specific "server" tasks. The reason for this is that most people like to segregate tasks. You don't really one a single server running DHCP, DNS, AD, Exchange, File Server, ISA firewall, and someones personal workstation. Instead you get one (usually powerfull, enterprise class) machine and run multiple "virtual" boxes on that one machine, so that if you need to say...patch a problem in the DNS daemon, you can take that server down, patch, and reboot without affecting your email server, or gateway server.

It is also so you can buy fewer bigger servers, and utilize that hardware well. Ideally, you want your servers to be busy, otherwise you have wasted some money. You want to have an independent FTP server, so if it gets hacked, it won't kill your network. The problem is budget and resources, an ftp server is a trivial thing, and can run on most anything, so you virtualize it.


It's also nice for testing, I run vmware server so that I can do many things from one PC, all without rebooting.
Click to expand...

So VMWare on a windows network, each 'virtual box' would be a seperate install of say Windows 2003 configured with different roles?
Is there still just a single network card in the server being used for all these VM's?

 
Nothinman

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
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So VMWare on a windows network, each 'virtual box' would be a seperate install of say Windows 2003 configured with different roles?
Click to expand...

Yes, each VM is a completely separate installation and is treated as such. This also means that you need individual licenses for each VM if the OS and software requires it.

Is there still just a single network card in the server being used for all these VM's?
Click to expand...

Depends on how you want to set it up.
 
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p0lar

Senior member
Nov 16, 2002
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I use it extensively in production -- I'm not a guru by any means, but I use it on a default install of CentOS 4.4. Literally, it requires `yum install gcc' and `rpm -ihv http://path.to.vmware.server.1.0.2.rpm'. Helps to disable some services but I don't run anything extra on the hosts so that it is an easily reproduced host environment.
 
JackMDS

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,548
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Originally posted by: JackBurtonYes they are free, but they've got a loooong, loooong way to catch up to VMWare's offerings.
Click to expand...
This is a broad verbal generalization.

Depending on what technically one wants to do both products are very viable.

I own the VMWare product, yet most of my needs are covered very nicely with the Microsoft products.
 
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BZeto

Platinum Member
Apr 28, 2002
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Originally posted by: Nothinman

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote> Is there still just a single network card in the server being used for all these VM's? </end quote></div>

Depends on how you want to set it up.
Click to expand...

So say im running several VM servers on one machine with one nic. One of these is an FTP server housing large files used often. Wouldn't that use a good portion of that particular links bandwidth slowing the other servers down to a crawl?



 
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nightowl

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2000
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If you have any service that needs a high amount of I/Os (either disk or network) or CPU processing, it is best to not run it on VMware. It just makes sense that for services that need a lot of power to not have them on a shared environment. Of the examples given, DHCP and DNS make sense but some of the others do not. Basically, it comes down to if the VM can give the application the performance it needs.
 
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kevnich2

Platinum Member
Apr 10, 2004
2,465
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Vmware is designed to segregate server tasks, to enable a server to be utilized more effectively and, what's really neat, make disaster recovery easier. With a virtual machine, the entire "server" is essentially a hard disk file that can literally be moved across physical servers through the network in minutes. This comes in handy when backing up virtual servers, they can be readily restored to a different physical server and brought back up within 15-30 minutes if one of your server's physically crashes. Your no longer tied down to one specific physical server due to hardware. This, for me, is a really good reason to use it.
 
Nothinman

Nothinman

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Sep 14, 2001
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So say im running several VM servers on one machine with one nic. One of these is an FTP server housing large files used often. Wouldn't that use a good portion of that particular links bandwidth slowing the other servers down to a crawl?
Click to expand...

Probably, but there are other factors that come into consideration though. If the other servers are doing low bandwidth things like DHCP, who cares? And you can add more NICs just like you can add more hard disks if one VM heads high performance or low latency I/O.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,307
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www.anyf.ca
With VMware ESX you can also bandwidth throttle (I think... been a while). You feed a couple 1 gig links to the physical server, and it will use whatever you allowcate out of that bandwidth. The VMs get virtual nics which bridge to the real nic. Or you can setup a virtual NAT as well, but rarely seen in server environments, mostly in testing ones.

VMware server is the free version of ESX, less fancy, but for home use its awesome.
 
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BZeto

Platinum Member
Apr 28, 2002
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I'm setting up VMWare Server on a test machine now to try it out. Question, can I install VMWare Server on my workstation PC so i can control my servers VM's remotely?
 
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Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
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I use VMWare for our AV, Print, and WSUS server. Makes moving the server to new hardware very easy. Simply copy the files to the new hardware and start the machine. Minimal downtime.

 
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BZeto

Platinum Member
Apr 28, 2002
2,428
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For home use will I be ok installing VMWare Server on a client OS such as XP or Vista and running a server as a VM? Or is VMWare Server designed more specifically for server OSes? I'm assuming I'll be fine installing it on whatever, but I wanted to make sure incase there was another VMWare product for mixing client/server OSes.
 
Nothinman

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
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For home use will I be ok installing VMWare Server on a client OS such as XP or Vista and running a server as a VM? Or is VMWare Server designed more specifically for server OSes? I'm assuming I'll be fine installing it on whatever, but I wanted to make sure incase there was another VMWare product for mixing client/server OSes.
Click to expand...

It'll be fine and it's your only real option unless you want to get a demo license (or pay for a real license) of VMWare Workstation.
 
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