VMware Server free as in beer

Nowadays, VMware has become an essential tool for ApSIC’s localization and internationalization testing team, effectively phasing out the former arrangements based on disk images.

So now it’s good news that the entry product for VWware server-grade line-up, VMware Server, will be available for free to entice businesses to start deploying server virtualization, with a view that they get some conversions to their currently pricey high-end server virtualization solutions.

I first learn about VMware, back in 1999 when I read a press release about a start-up that had released a product which would allow running Linux and Windows virtual machines on a Linux or Windows host operating system.

At that time we were frequently dual booting Windows NT Workstation and OS/2, so I wrote them to ask if they were planning to add OS/2 as either a guest or a host operating system, and they replied almost instantly saying that due to certain technical particularities, support for OS/2 was not feasible. (Fortunatelly, weeks later we deployed a solution to avoid frequent dual booting with a combination of Windows NT Terminal Server 4.0 and OS/2 client machines.)

We forgot about VMware for a while, and the main driver to revisit VMware in our testing process was a couple years ago, because when we expanded the testing lab with newer machines the only way to test Windows NT was on a virtual machine, due to the lack of drivers for new machines.

Ironically, lack of NT support for newer hardware was a good show-stopper to run into, because VMware has since become instrumental in our testing efforts!

Start Achieving the Benefits of Virtualization

The free VMware Server is based upon VMware’s proven virtualization technology. With this robust yet easy to use software you can:

• Accelerate server provisioning by building a virtual machine once and deploying it multiple times
• Easily evaluate software in ready-to-run virtual machines without installation and configuration
• Simplify IT testing of patches, new applications and operating systems by allowing systems administrators to test in a secure virtual machine environment and be able to roll back to a clean state by using the snapshot feature
• Re-host legacy operating systems such as Windows 2000, Windows NT Server 4.0 and Windows 2003 in a virtual machine running on new hardware and operating system
• Leverage pre-built, ready-to-run virtual appliances that include virtual hardware, operating system and application environments from the Virtual Appliance Marketplace

How Does VMware Server Work?

Install and run VMware Server as an application on top of a host Windows or Linux operating system. A thin virtualization layer partitions the physical server so you can run multiple virtual machines simultaneously on a single server.  Computing resources of the physical server are treated as a uniform pool of resources that can be allocated to virtual machines in a controlled manner.

VMware Server isolates each virtual machine from its host and other virtual machines, leaving it unaffected if another virtual machine crashes. Your data does not leak across virtual machines and your applications can only communicate over configured network connections. VMware Server encapsulates a virtual machine environment as a set of files, which are easy to back-up, move and copy.

Try VMware Server as the First Step to VMware Infrastructure

Start with VMware Server now, knowing that your virtual machines can easily be migrated to VMware Infrastructure later. VMware Infrastructure 3, the most widely deployed virtual infrastructure suite in the market, delivers improved service levels and operational efficiency by enabling centralized management, automatic load balancing, business continuity, power management and the ability to live migrate a virtual machine across physical machines to minimize service interruption.