On Feb 5, 2010, at 9:03 AM, Drew <drew.kay at gmail.com> wrote: >> Thanks for the info. Looks like VM would be the way to go. I have >> been >> looking at Vmware and virtualbox. Would you recommend Vmware over >> virtualbox? > >> Whats your thoughts on Vmware server over esxi? >> Really do not want to have to budget for Virtualization if I do not >> have to. > > I know some will disagree with me but for production I recommend > sticking with VMware's ESXi product, which is free, unless you have > need of some of the more advanced features which are available through > paid options. > > The downside of offerings like Virtualbox or VMware Server, where the > guest OS is hosted inside the app running on a full blown OS, is the > host itself. In my experience, the smaller footprint of VMware ESX(i) > reduces the amount of maintenance required as well as has minimal > performance impact of the guest OS's. > > That said, apps like Virtualbox / WMware server do have their place. > At work I routinely create virtual machines under WMware Server to > experiment with new software before releasing it into the wild at > work. The cost overhead of running Server on my own workstation is > acceptable for testing but I wouldn't consider it for production. Citrix XenServer Pro is also free and it comes with live migration, you don't get VMotion with ESXi unless you dish out big $$ for Enterprise. -Ross