On 6/11/08, Ned Slider <ned at unixmail.co.uk> wrote: <snip> > I've run VMware Server (free, as in cost, not as in open source) on > CentOS to host WinXP VMs since it was in beta and have no complaints. > There is an RPM package available on VMware's site: > > $ rpm -q VMware-server > VMware-server-1.0.6-91891.i386 > > It's only available in i386 package but installs fine on x86_64 and > supports 64-bit VMs provided the underlying hardware supports it. I > believe VMs are limited to a max of 2 processors each. > > I've used VMware Server on systems varying from old AthlonXP, 512MB RAM > through to Intel Quad Core Q6600 with 4GB RAM. Note VMware will run on > older processors without hardware virtualization. In my experience > there's little noticeable difference between software and hardware > virtualization (on VMware), and each run at about the perceived speed > you would expect if it was on native hardware (I've not conducted any > benchmark tests). The main consideration is that you have enough RAM to > support the host OS (CentOS) and any VM(s) running on it. > > I've not used Xen so can't offer a comparison. Ned: I was very interested to read that you've run VMWare Server on systems with only 512 MB of RAM. I haven't tried it, because the box I can use only has 512 MB of RAM. My impression is that Xen is much more demanding about HW. Lanny