[clug-talk] VMWare limitations and alternatives

[Gustin Johnson]

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Greg King wrote:
> I’ve been using VMWare server (the freebie) for some time and have
> been generally happy but now I am bumping up against some limitations
> like #

This is similar to my experiences and is in fact what prompted me to
look deeper into other solutions.  The results I am putting into a
presentation for the March meeting.
> CPUs that impact what I am try to do.  I haven’t tried any of the
> other VM systems so am asking a general question to those who have.
> My preferences are:
> 
> -can run on both Linux and Windows (64 bit hosts)
> 
Most of them can.  The ones I looked at, VirtualBox, Qemu, and VMware
Workstation all have binaries for both platforms.

> -Can run 64 bit Linux or Windows as a VM

Same as above.
> 
> -Can use up to the real RAM minus whatever the host OS needs
> 
They all can.  Even my copy of VMware Workstation.  I did not know that
there was any such limitation in the VMware server product.

> -Can use up to the real # CPUs (or maybe more)

More complicated, but most will use the CPUs that you have.
> 
> I generally run VMs serially rather than as multiple simultaneously,
> so I want the VM to get as much horsepower as possible.
> 
Xen might be the answer.  It is really fast but does require a modern
CPU with the Virtualization extensions.  Virtualbox and VMware also get
my nod for performance.
> 
> Any suggestions / insights into what is available are appreciated.
> 
There are lots of options.  For me I am perfectly willing to give up the
option to run on Linux and Windows hosts.  Functionally this has never
been an issue for me, and when I licence VMWare, I have to specify the
host anyway (until now I have been a paying VMWare customer, dutifully
upgrading to the latest version).

For now I have settled on VirtualBox, but I have a difficult time making
a single catch all suggestion.  If it were me I would simply use the
technology that makes the most sense for a given situation now that I
have 10 years with playing with all of them.
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