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    VMware ESX vs. Xen

    VMware has gone out of it's way to make an OS that can run multiple OSs on one pc at the same time.

    Now I'm wondering, did they really build another OS from scratch or just another modified linux distribution.

    And if so, should I just run Xen instead and figure out a way to customize the crap out of it?

    #2
    I had to do some evals for both VM, Xen and even MS's virtual stuff. I believe VMware ESX is built from scratch or it uses FreeBSD. If it used a Linux kernel they'd have to open source it.

    My experience running Xen vs Vmware server.

    Xen was ok. Although we had myricom 10 GB cards in our hosts and had to recompile the Xen kernel (which is a Linux kernel)which was a bit of PITA. Also the networking seemed more complex then it needed to be.

    Vmware server was the choice we went with. Mostly because of the ability to easily replicate guests or even use the vmware tool that lets you take a running system and make a guest outta it. Some problems with the Vmware Server offering....which is free

    1. It only supports 2 CPU's. They count a die as one CPU so dual core dosn't matter.

    2. Guest OS support can be a pain in the ass. Since these boxes were traffic generators we wanted to have 10GB network support. The best we could get was 1GB. Not a big deal but, Unless the vmware tools compile on your guest (or install in the case of Windows) cleanly the best networking you'll get is 10/100

    3. Also with the host machine I had to turn off hardware acceleration for the Myricom 10GB card...tx,rx ,tso sg via ethtool kinda of a bummer but hey if your not running 10 GB cards shouldn't be a problem.


    Headed out to lunch I'll post more info if you want. The MS stuff worked but....

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      #3
      The thing I don't like about MS virtual product is that fact that it only seems to want to run MS OS's. I like to run what I please, not what is preferred.

      And I didn't know VMware can only support 2 CPU's. That's something to think about.

      Na, that's all I was really wondering. Thanks for the info.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by R0g3r_W4bb17 View Post
        And I didn't know VMware can only support 2 CPU's. That's something to think about.

        Thats only for the free product, VMware Server only cares about CPUs sockets not dies. Meaning a two dual cores appear as 2 cpu's to VMware Server. Of course if you buy they're high end product you get whatever you want. The only other thing is you gotta watch which OS has vmware-tools support. VMware tools are a driver in the guest OS thats gives you higher resolutions, a shared virtual file system and 1GB network support. Not all OS are supported with the free stuff. However that being said I'm running Solaris 10 x86 64 bit, FreeBSD 7, Windows 2003, XP, Vista 64 bit, Ubuntu 8.4, NT Win2k with no problems. You can get other os's to install and run it will just have basic VGA and 10/100 network.

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