On Mar 29, 2010, at 10:01 PM, MHR <mhullrich at gmail.com> wrote: > Okay, I'm being noisy today. > > I have VMWare Server 1.0.8 installed on my CentOS desktop, and it runs > my XP and CentOS guests just fine, though I don't use them much. > > I'm considering moving to either VMWare Server 2.0 or switching to KVM > instead, mainly because VMWS 1 is now obsolete and also because its > limitations on video configurations is really annoying - I have a 22" > 1680x1050 LCD monitor, hoping to upgrade sometime in the > not-too-distant future to a 23 or 24" display with full HD > (1920x1080), but VMWS 1 does not support any wide-screen > configurations at all. I tend to use on-screen real estate to maximum > benefit, and the 1152x864 maximum useful size I have now is just too > small for me, so I'm thinking maybe it's time to upgrade to something > newer/better. > > I've seen some of the horror stories about problems with VMWare 2.0, > which is not at all encouraging, and I've taken a look at the Red Hat > Virtualization guides (the 5.4 one that's online in html only) and > also a PDF version for 5.2 that I found somewhere, and it _looks_ > complicated. (One of the main benefits of VMWare Server that I really > liked was that it is fairly easy to use and relatively low > maintenance, if it works, and 1.0.8 works just fine, except for the > screen issue.) OTOH, the built-in nature of KVM is really appealing, > and if it works as well as other features of CentOS/RH/Linux, it would > be nice to be able to avoid the separate upgrade and > re-build-the-drivers-vmware-config.pl annoyance every time a new > kernel comes along. I'm a big fan of well-integrated software, > especially in this area (virtualization). > > One question I had that overrides most other considerations is how to > transfer my existing XP VM over to whichever new underlying system I > choose - is that even possible, or do I have to go through all the > reinstallation pain yet another time? If I have to go that route, > I'll probably opt for kvm and take that plunge so I can do it once and > never again (ok, that was not supposed to be funny... :-). > > Recommendations? For simplicity and reliability I'd give virtualbox a try, especially if your talking limited # of machines and fancy displays. -Ross