VMware introduces free VMware Server

Monday, February 06, 2006   |   8 Comments   |   addthis
Quoting from the VMware official announcement:
VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today introduced VMware Server, a free new entry-level hosted virtualization product for Linux and Windows servers. The product is available as a beta download at www.vmware.com/products/server/. "Virtualization and VMware have become mainstream in the past year, and many customers have deployed thousands of VMware server environments across their enterprises. With VMware Server, we are ensuring that every company interested in, considering or evaluating server virtualization for the first time has access to the industry-leading virtualization technology," said Diane Greene, VMware President. "VMware Server makes it easy and compelling for companies new to virtualization to take the first step toward enterprise-wide virtual infrastructure." VMware Server, the successor to VMware GSX Server, enables users to quickly provision new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines, bringing the powerful benefits of virtualization to every server. VMware Server is feature-packed with the following market-leading capabilities:
  • Support for any standard x86 hardware
  • Support for a wide variety of Linux and Windows host operating systems, including 64-bit operating systems
  • Support for a wide variety of Linux, NetWare, Solaris x86 and Windows guest operating systems, including 64-bit operating systems
  • Support for Virtual SMP, enabling a single virtual machine to span multiple physical processors
  • Quick and easy, wizard-driven installation similar to any desktop software
  • Quick and easy virtual machine creation with a virtual machine wizard
  • Virtual machine monitoring and management with an intuitive, user friendly remote console
... Availability VMware Server beta is available for immediate download at www.vmware.com/products/server/. The product is expected to be generally available later in the first half of 2006. Support and subscription services for VMware Server will be available for purchase upon general availability.

Comments

Has anyone been able to download it yet? I have been unable to all morning, with the page just timing out.

By Blogger Toby, at Monday, February 06, 2006 2:13:00 PM 

Toby,
thank you for commenting!

I downloaded it very slowly.

As the hours go American people start reading news and start downloading. We'll have maximum peak starting from 17.00 GMT (09.00 in Pacific coast).

So I'll suggest you to wait until this evening (at least 20.00 GTM).

By Anonymous alessandro, at Monday, February 06, 2006 2:20:00 PM 

Alessandro

Thanks for the reply. I will be patient and try again tomorrow.

FYI this was is message that I am now getting whenever I submit my registration details:

Internal Error
The VMware web store encountered an error while processing your request. We're sorry for the inconvenience. If you choose to report this error, please mention error code BY89

Great blog by the way, a must read for me every day!

Toby

By Blogger Toby, at Monday, February 06, 2006 3:49:00 PM 

I encountered the same error. It's not depending on traffic congestion.

Go in your profile and change your country location to any U.S.A. country. Then try download it again.

HTH

By Anonymous alessandro, at Monday, February 06, 2006 3:54:00 PM 

Anyone know how many running VMs this version supports?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Monday, February 06, 2006 4:30:00 PM 

Thanks Alessandro!

VMWare now think I live in Arizona, but at least I have the download going!!

By Blogger Toby, at Monday, February 06, 2006 4:34:00 PM 

I managed to download it using the fllowing url:
http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-installer-e.x.p-20925.exe
I was able to use my old VMware GSX 3.2 license key.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Monday, February 06, 2006 5:51:00 PM 

Hey anonymous,

According to some posts on the forum, the current (beta 1) version supports up to 24 VMs running. Supposedly this will be raised in later versions.

By Anonymous Rob Petruska, at Thursday, February 09, 2006 5:38:00 AM 

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