On 2/2/2010 11:09 AM, Greg Bailey wrote:
Les Mikesell wrote:
I have to agree that ESXi is better, but I've had VMware server running for years (mostly 1.x versions on CentOS 3.x, but also some CentOS 5.x and VMware 2.x) with no surprises other than jumpy clocks. The servers have sometimes been shut down for power work but I've probably had more than a year of uptime for some intervals on C3 boxes running 3 windows guests. I rarely use the vmware console though - I prefer to vnc directly to the guests once everything is set up. The one advantage of Server vs. ESXi is that you can run things on the host natively if you want.
I would say another advantage of Server as opposed to ESXi is that you don't need a Windows box to administer it. VMware Server version 1.X uses a "server console" that has Windows and Linux clients, whereas I believe VMware Server version 2 is web-based. VMware ESXi *requires* that you have a Windows machine to install the "vSphere Client".
That's true, but the windows client doesn't need to be part of your production infrastructure - you only need it when making changes or if some problem prevents direct access to the guests with vnc/ssh, etc. A laptop or remote desktop works fine - or you could run a windows VM under VMware server to install the ESXi setup if you really don't want to let windows touch your hardware (which probably came with windows installed...).