VMware Releases Server 1.0 292
epit writes "VMware has released v1.0 of their VMware Server product for free (as in beer) as planned. Up until now, it had been a beta download. You can download your copy via the VMware website. Release notes are also available."
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:5, Informative)
Browsing in a sandbox to escape spyware (Score:5, Informative)
Why would you want to do that? I use a virtual machine to browse the Web - that way, my computer doesn't get bogged down by spyware (only the virtual machine does) and it's much more painless to simply purge a spyware-ridden virtual machine and start afresh than it is for your main computer.
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:5, Informative)
While it doesn't allow me to stress test, it does allow me to test other aspects.
Plus i can install every OS/Browser combination I need and I only need to worry about diskspace. Plus, once you create the images, you never have to reinstall the OS, you just clone it. Awesome piece of software.
Re:Virtual PC (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:5, Informative)
It is also useful for things like clustered file servers. They don't take up much cpu/memory, but if you put two (or more) of them out there on a VM box you can roll them back and forth for patches, updates, adding drives, etc.
It also helps for disaster recovery. You can do the equivalent of a bare metal restore in a few minutes versus loading a machine from scratch, loading drivers, loading your backup software and then restoring.
So multiple answers - and I'm sure there are many more that I haven't listed.
Ah, but... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This comes at a good time (Score:3, Informative)
Now you can do it the opposite. Have linux be your host OS and install Windows in a VM session. As for apps, your VM sessions can see any cds that you put in your CD drive, so installing applications is a snap.
Hoped that helped.
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:4, Informative)
Again this isn't really a VM thing but if you have a whole VM farm on a SAN - you can swap out whole servers without impacting running processes. We mainly use this for file servers / DNS / AD / print servers , but if your servers are beefy I don't see why you couldn't do this with any cluster aware application.
So many problems, though (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:5, Informative)
ESX was great because it allows for much more efficient use of Server hardware. In a lot of cases we had applications running on seperate servers because the apps were unstable. Without VMWare that means seperate hardware (usually racks filled with shelves and desktop PCs if the company is cheap, or 1U servers if they're not) and all the administrative overhead of dealing with those servers. We had 30-40 VMs running inside 12 physical servers including heavily used primary and failover mail servers.
Running inside a VM gives you advantages if you're running a lights out data center, or if your servers are at a remote location. Many has been the time where a server hung and I needed someone on-site to power cycle it - with VMWare you can power cycle the VMs from anywhere, and I've never seen ESX take a dive (supposedly there's a purple screen of death, but I've never seen it)
Another advantage is backup/disaster recover planning. With a VM, your whole server is just a couple files. You can copy those files to a remote location via a variety of means, and boom, you have an off-site clone of your server. More importantly the VMs are hardware independent - you can have a datacenter filled with Dell 6850s burn to the ground and when you power up your VMs in a colo facility running HPs, the VMs don't care about there being different RAID cards, or NICs with the wrong MAC addresses.
This post was made on a Dell D620 running ubuntu with VMWare workstation on top hosting a windows VM for when I need to do windows stuff
Re:This comes at a good time (Score:4, Informative)
Re:With this out, why would I need vmplayer? (Score:2, Informative)
Why it is being released for Free (Score:4, Informative)
Well, that appearently is no longer a problem and you should be able to use a standard Linux Fedora Core, or whatever installation to load windows on by next year.
VMware knows this, and is trying to prevent existing customers from leaving or looking elsewhere by giving away its products.
Interesting thoughts I have was:
1) I can install Windows workstations and servers remotely.
2) How long will it take for Microsoft to add a Service Pack update that detects windows running on a Linux box and have it start not working properly so that people use thier VM product instead, or don't have a choice.
3) Whats the performance going to be like.
VMWare is a nice product but A it is too expensive, and be it is too expensive because it turns any VM machine into a basket case performance wise.
So XeN's approach hopefully won't be any worse, maybe better since they are not trying to emulate an entire machine.
-Hack
Re:Virtual PC (Score:5, Informative)
On a similar vein, knowing that Microsoft has a strong incentive and ability to get Virtual Server known and used, VMWare decided a few months ago to differentiate VMWare GSX from ESX (their enterprise server product), and to make it free as an enticement to play with server-level virtualization so they could upsell to enterprise-level virtualization.
Both companies made certain products free in an attempt to upsell to their respective primary product lines. Microsoft loses little for giving away Virtual PC because they have so little of the market as it stands. VMWare loses little for giving away Server because it made up a small portion of its own sales. Microsoft possibly gains sales of Virtual Server, while VMWare possibly gains sales of ESX.
Re:This comes at a good time (Score:4, Informative)
Be aware that you need a legitimate license/key to install/activate Windows XP; after a P2V (physical-to-virtual) conversion of a WinXP box, I had to make the obligatory call to Microsoft and promise that I didn't have -that-version- of XP installed on any other system.
Otherwise, I'd suggest just downloading VMware Server, and playing with it for a while. The first time you see the POST (power-on self test) and BIOS screens of the VM it's like you've stepped into another dimension; your mind reels at the possibilities. Tiny servers for all sorts of DNS/LDAP/SAMBA bits. Honeypots. Network IDS. Cookieless web browsing. Knoppix instances for whatever you can think of. It's endless.
Nuggets: The virtual machine shares (by default) the CD drive of the host; but you can point to an .ISO file instead. You can point the drive to a REMOTE drive, of someone who's connected in through the virtual console, so they (the remote end) can have the CD they need to install from in their hands, instead of in the host's CD drive. Same with floppies. The network bits are similar; a private net, a NAT'ed net, or a bridged net. Whatever you need.
Just install it. Let the possibilities wash over you.
\harv
--
How does this sig thing work?
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:2, Informative)
For example, Vmotion allows you to move a virtual machine from one physical machine to another while it's still running without interruption. The newest versions will even automagically load balance virtual machines.
It's all really amazing technology that makes you think that it should've been done this way in the first place.
Re:With this out, why would I need vmplayer? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The business uses of VMware are obvious... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Browsing in a sandbox to escape spyware (Score:4, Informative)
VMWare Player [vmware.com] for Linux & Windows - $0
A good Linux distro [vmware.com] - $0 (yes, you may flame away)
Google Browser Sync [google.com] - $0
Blowing away anything that somehow made it onto your system - $priceless
-Tash
Vrooommm... [tashcorp.net]
Re:The business uses of VMware are obvious... (Score:5, Informative)
6) Lock your significant other/children into a sand box. When they inevitably screw windows up, roll back to a previous working version.
Bryan
Re:What's the license agreement? (Score:3, Informative)
I just re-read the license. That is not a restriction in the use of VMWare Server that I could find at all.
Re:What's the license agreement? (Score:3, Informative)
Never read the betas, didnt really care since it was 'testing' anyway.
The stated upgrade path for GSX is the free 'vmware server' so it would be really hard to restrict its use and get away with it.
Re:With this out, why would I need vmplayer? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:VMware Server, Workstation, GSX, etc. (Score:5, Informative)
Evaluating Wikis using VMware virtual machines (Score:4, Informative)
See this page [twiki.org] for more information and download links.
Re:VMware Server, Workstation, GSX, etc. (Score:2, Informative)
VM runs in the background, and you connect to it using a client. In workstation, you loaded up VMWare Workstation, ran your VM, shut down your VM, then closed workstation. With VMWare server you run the VMWare client and connect to the server running on localhost or another system and then manage it as you would in workstation. When you close the server client, the VM keeps running in the background. It is also more powerful as far as automation and creating of virtual machine groups.
Re:What's the license agreement? (Score:5, Informative)
This is total BS. Their license agreement has never said that, and as a matter of fact, their FAQ [vmware.com] makes it pretty clear:
The BETA Had this restriction (Score:2, Informative)
Any surprised M$ VirtualPC 2004 now free? (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/defaul
I've heard it doesn't totally suck anymore.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=95 [zdnet.com]
Re:Why it is being released for Free (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Virtual PC (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/defaul
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virt
Unlike the free versions of VM Player and VMWare Server, you can not only run existing Virtual Machines, but also create them. Of course, the M$ stuff only supports M$ guest and host OS's.
Interesting to note though is that you VM Player can import a M$ Virtual PC or Server created VM.
Re:Browsing in a sandbox to escape spyware (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The BETA Had this restriction (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:3, Informative)
Virtualization software takes that to the next level.
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:4, Informative)
I've been in the situation where one of the above required updating to fix a security hole, effectively breaking the rest. For instance, one needed to be using mysql5 but the others didn't support it.
Now they can all live on their own separate Vmware machines and can be updated separately.
--jeffk++
Re:Browsing in a sandbox to escape spyware (Score:3, Informative)
Linux/UNIX virtualization (Score:3, Informative)
Just check into
OpenVZ http://openvz.org/ [openvz.org]
FreeBSD Jails http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD_Jail [wikipedia.org]
Solaris zones http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/zones/faq
Xen http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/ [cam.ac.uk]
and the list goes on. So much better on *nix. Of course, I think that is somehow related to the fact you can run a *nix box via CLI, bare minimum of functionality, the likes of which it even the best Windows gurus [sysinternals.com] cannot get close to (though Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell do rox)
What is funny, is so many of us are ignorant of virtualization's roots in IBM mainframes. Big Blue was so far ahead of the times, it is like omg. BTW, I love Wikipedia. I've been preparing a presentation on virtualization the last few days, and Wikipedia makes it so easy!
Re:Why it is being released for Free (Score:3, Informative)
Are you sure about that? [cam.ac.uk]
Re:Virtual PC (Score:1, Informative)
We moved all our servers to VM ware (Score:2, Informative)
Re:workstation vs. server (Score:2, Informative)
You can run VMware Server VMs headless and can connect to the console remotely.
Workstation, you cannot.
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:4, Informative)
Good grief, where do I start?
Putting everything on one big server is a recipe for disaster. What if one app goes down and you need to take it down, reboot, rebuild, whatever? You have to take your whole bloody network down. Lots of angry users.
What if you upgrade your apache server which inadvertantly causes your mysql server to die? What do you do. Restore the whole shooting match from backups? Spend an hour or two trying to roll everything back? All while your users are looking over your shoulder asking "how long before it's fixed?"
Doing it that way is just shitfight city.
On the other hand, if you run all your servers virtually you open up a whole world of possibilities.
For example, a few years back I worked at a place that ran their whole operation on a bunch of NT4 servers made up of a pair of Compaq Proliant ML530's (which supported SMP but only had single 1Ghz P3s fitted). These servers also had 1Gb RAM each plus 3 x 18Gb SCSI in raid 5 configuration. On top of that they had a hodge podge of whitebox servers, all with SMP mobos but only single CPUs. It was a nightmare.
One day the backup tape drive died and the bosses were not keen to spend 3 grand for a new one. Also, I already had the shits with the whole shitfight so I built a few tempory boxes, moved the stuff onto them and pulled the 2 compaqs offline. I cannibalised one of them and made a monster (well it was back then) server with dual P3's, 2Gb RAM, 6 disk hardware raid and redundant PSU's. I kept the remaining chassis as a spare in case the main box died.
I stuck redhat 9 on the "monster" and GSX server on that. Then I built 8 virtual servers, 2 x Win2K AS and 6 x redhat 9 and ran all of the main apps (apache, sendmail, PDC, BDC, FIle+print, MySQl and a CRM package all on seperate virtual servers. Once this was done I switched off all the other boxes and after running like that for a few weeks to make sure all was OK I also scrapped those boxes. Again I cannibalised them and came up with a lesser monster whitebox which I also put vmware GSX on, stuck 1gbit lan cards in both and hooked the two up with a link cable, wrote some scripts to backup the servers across that link nightly.
So, I had rationalised the entire server room down to two boxes, considerably improved reliability and all for the price of a vmware license and on top of that I had a spare chassis available in case of a catastrophic failure.
About a year later one of the SCSI discs died. The whole thing kept working but it was sloooow. So, all I did was manually copy over the server images from the nightly backup, shutdown the main server and turn on the primary lan interface of the backup box. The whole shebang was back up and running within an hour with no loss of data. Neato.
Other advantages for vmware are;
If you want to do major upgrade to a server, you can just copy the server image to your development box, fire it up, do the upgrade and then test it all out. All perfectly safely. If you fuck it up then you just do it again and try to figure out what went wrong, document your steps and when it is time to do the live upgrade you simply do a manual backup and then do the upgrade. It should work OK because you have already tested and documented your process and even if it doesn't it is a simple job to just restart the old server from the backup you made and start again.
If you want to do something like a major overhaul of something like a webserver with a mysql backend then you will love vmware. You just leave your old server running and build up the new one over how many days/weeks/months you like. You can fully test it in a sandbox network (another great feature of vmware, "host only" networks) and once you are satisfied that all is well you just copy it over to the main box, shutdown the old virtual server, start up the new one and you're done. If there is a problem down the track you ju
Re:Free download... sweet! (Score:1, Informative)
If it makes troubleshooting easier, the ability to take things down and update them, clustering applications, moving applications / servers to different hardware, management, reporting, being able to move a CPU from one box to another, adding/removing drives on the fly, NIC teaming, centralized SAN backup, faster disaster recovery - why wouldn't you look at it? We probably save more in our DR costs alone than we spend for ESX licenses.
One of the things I do like with our virtualized Linux boxes is that I don't worry at all about drivers. As long as VMWare can access the hardware - so can the Linux box (usually only use SuSE and Redhat). I update one driver - and all 60+ of my virtual machines now use the abilities of that updated driver. Another benefit.
I also see the '1 app 1 server' much more for *nix than I do for Windows. Firewalls, routers, switches, IDS/IPS, databases, proxy servers, SSLVPN, web servers - the list can go on forever. Not saying that Windows even offers these capabilities in some cases, just that the 1 app / 1 server = more stability didn't start with the Windows camp.
There are also very valid reasons where you don't want other things on your box. Think about things like CA servers for your PKI infrastructure. If you want to run everything else on that box and consider it 'secure' - welcome to audit hell.
I've also never worked in an enterprise environment where your public web servers had anything on them except your public website. We usually don't put our dev site out on a box that the public can get to even if it has a separate IP.
If Linux couldn't benefit from virtualization just as much as all the other operating systems, I don't see why IBM, Dell, Xen, Microsoft, Softricity and Citrix all work on differing types of virtualization technologies.
The final endpoint will be a separation of the OS and the hardware. If you think this is about trying to get around 'shortcomings' in any particular OS, you are missing the big picture about where virtualization technology is going in the next few years.
Microsoft won't have to worry about backwards compatability. Their next OS can have no backwards compatability as long as it runs a virtual machine that can run their old software.
Linux can worry less about drivers as long as they can talk to any type of hypervisor for the hardware.
SCO can....oh...well....they probably won't be around then. Nevermind
Re:Browsing in a sandbox to escape spyware (Score:2, Informative)
Doesn't matter. only the host os is supposed to support it, then you "mount" the partitions to your guest oses from the host os.
However, if you need, you can always try to mount it in the guest, my usb 2 pendrive on linux was sucessfully detected by the winxp guest os (vmware server beta which is now at 1.0).
Cheers,
-S