分类：
2007-03-29 13:52:50
In the past,
VMware was just
a single
product. Now,
you will find
that there are a
wide variety of
VMware products
to choose from.
Because of this,
it can be
confusing which
one to choose.
This article
aims at helping
you sort it all
out by providing
a quick review
of all VMware
products.
With that, I will now list out the major VMWare products and provide my take on how these products differ from one another.
Overview:
Enterprise Class
High Availability
Better Manageability
Used for enterprise applications like Oracle, SQL Server, clustered servers, and other critical infrastructure servers
Supports 4-10+ virtual machines per servers, depending on hardware
Supports up to 32 physical CPU (and 128 virtual) and up to 64GB of RAM
Loads directly on hardware with no need to load underlying operating system (because it uses the VMKernel)
is a FREE VMware virtualization product built for use in production servers. Unlike ESX, VMware Server still uses the underlying host operating system. With VMware Server, you loose the some of the functionality and performance of the ESX server but don’t have as great of price tag (its free!) For an organization starting with a single VMware server and not anticipating drastic growth, VMware Server is for you. VMware Server’s primary competition is Microsoft’s Virtual Server.
Overview:
Used for medium/small business workgroup servers
Excellent for software development uses
Used for Intranet, utility, and workgroup application servers
Supports 2-4+ virtual machines per servers, depending on hardware
Supports 2-16 CPU and up to 64GB of RAM (but limited by host OS)
Runs on top of Linux or Windows Server
is for use on a client workstation. For example, say that I want to run both Windows 2003 server and Linux Fedora Core 5 on my desktop workstation, which is running Windows XP. VMware Workstation would be the program I would use to do this. This would allow me the flexibility to run these guest operating systems to test various applications and features. I could also create snapshots of them to capture their configuration at a certain point in time and easily duplicate them to create other virtual machines (such as moving them to a VMware Server). Keep in mind that I would have to have a “beefy” workstation with lots of RAM and CPU to keep up with the applications I am also running on my host operating system (Windows XP). Some people ask whether you could run Workstation on a “server” and just not have to use VMware Server. The answer is that, while you can do this, you don’t want to because the server’s applications won’t perform well under load and neither will the multiple operating systems. You might ask why you would buy VMware workstation for $189 when VMware Server is free. Many people would assume that Server is better and costs less. The answer is that these VMware Workstation and VMware Server serve different purposes. VMware Server should be used to run test or production servers. On the other hand, VMware Workstation would be used by testers and developers because of its powerful snapshot manager. This development and testing also applies to IT professionals who want the ability to take multiple snapshots of their virtual systems and be able to jump forward and back in these snapshots. However, you do not want to run production servers in VMware Workstation. In other words, both VMware Workstation and VMware Server have different purposes and should not be looked at as competing products.
Overview:
Runs on your desktop operating system
Costs $189
Great for testing applications and developing software
Can create new virtual machines, where cannot
Support bridged, host only, or NAT network configurations
Ability to share folders between host OS and virtual machines
Access to host devices like CD/DVD drives and USB devices
Snapshot manager allows multiple snapshots and ability to move forward and backwards between them
, , and are VMware's core product line. However, it doesn't stop there. Let's look at
provides a centralized management console for all VMware servers. If you plan to grow your farm of virtualized servers into the ten’s and hundreds, over time, you should have Virtual Center in your plans.
Like magic,
can
move a running
virtual server
to another
physical server,
without
interrupting
that server’s
requests. This
can be done for
maintenance of
hardware or to
better balance
workload.
VMotion requires
a SAN be used
for these
virtual
machines.
Both Virtual Center and VMotion are part of the VMWare vManage offering.
The VMware Converter is used to move physical machine operating systems to virtual machines. This tool automates the migration to virtual machines. Besides migrating, the Converter can be used to create images of physical systems for disaster recovery purposes. Currently in Beta, the VMware Converter will replace the P2V Assistant.
While VMware
offers a number
of application
lines there are
three platforms
of VMware that
you would
typically be
running:
For a single
user desktop
system, you will
choose the
Workstation
version of
VMware. For a
medium size
business, you
will probably
choose VMware
Server for all
virtualized
server
applications.
For larger
businesses, they
would be
interested in
the ESX server
and the
management tools
available in the
.
For more
information on
VMware Products,
see the
on
their website.
