Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VMware ESX 2 vs. MS Virtual Server?

Posted by Cliff on from the hare-vs-the-gorilla dept.

Saqib Ali asks: "I m sure most of you have heard that Connectix, the makers of Virtual PC/Server, have been acquired by Microsoft. Based on the technology acquired, MS has developed a new product called Microsoft Virtual Server, using which a Windows Server 2003 based server can run multiple operating systems concurrently. I am doing a preliminary analysis of using MS Virtual Server vs. running VMware ESX Server 2.0 on Clustered Linux Environment. Both solutions offer a way of running multiple OSes in a virtual environment using the same underlying OS (Windows 2003 or Linux). Of course, running VMware on Linux, offers the stability, scalability, and reliability of Linux, and also prevents a business form being locked into one single vendor. However running Microsoft Virtual Server does have some merits from a business perspective (vendor viability, reduced licensing costs etc). Any thoughts on merits/benefits/downside of using either of the technology stacks?"

2 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. I wouldn't consider a Microsoft Virtual Server by DA-MAN · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why trust a company to produce a virtual server, when they have yet to produce a working actual server!!!

    ust my .02 cents.

    --
    Can I get an eye poke?
    Dog House Forum
  2. Re:ESX does not run under linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Vmware ESX server does not rely on Linux kernel modules for hardware support. It does rely on ESX kernel modules for hardware support.

    The console OS is Linux and can see any device Linux is capable of seeing with the proper driver. However, if the ESX kernel does not support your device (RAID controller, NIC, etc.) you can't assign it for use by virtual machines. Currently ESX server only supports a small subset of devices in comparison to Linux. The ESX kernel does use the kernel module paradigm, but that is as far as the similarity goes.

    The console OS (Redhat Linux) serves primarily as a bootloader for the ESX kernel. It does run processes which aid in I/O for Remote Console sessions among other things, but that's it. The ESX kernel sees the console OS as just another virtual machine.