Features comparison: VMware Workstation 5.5.2 vs Server 1.0.0

Posted by Alessandro Perilli   |   Monday, August 14, 2006   |   7 Comments
On July 2006 VMware released its first free virtualization product aimed to business use: Server. Born from the former GSX Server 3.2.1, this product offers enterprise-class features, reliability and flexibility, becoming a desirable choice for companies and high-level professionals. VMware Server features are similar to ones provided by another famous product from VMware, Workstation, which during the years became the symbol of innovation in virtualization market. Despite similarities in performances and feature set, Workstation is available only as commercial offering, while Server is available free of charge. This difference leads customers to confusion and uncertainty when choosing the best product fitting their needs. Adopted naming policy and company marketing message clearly imply Workstation is a product targeting a single user or small teams' needs while Server is most suitable for companies needs, but at the moment VMware didn't release any guide detailing products differences. To bridge this gap virtualization.info compiled a comparison chart for last releases of these products, underlining existing differences in features set and reporting a small subset of notable similarities. Download it here.

7 Comments

Blogger Speedmaster Tuesday, August 15, 2006 4:00:00 PM  
Good blog, glad I found it. Been tinkering w/ VMware lately and really like it.
Anonymous Ben W Tuesday, August 15, 2006 4:03:00 PM  
Very useful comparison, thank you,

I believe that there are some differences in host platform support also ?
Anonymous alessandro Tuesday, August 15, 2006 10:38:00 PM  
Ben,
you are perfectly right.

Thank you for pointing me out the missing part.

The comparison is now updated to version 1.1, with Unsupported Host OSes for both products.


Thank you!
Anonymous Anonymous Tuesday, August 29, 2006 12:31:00 AM  
Good white paper. Here are a few other features that I believe are present in Workstation but not Server. Correct me if I'm wrong.

- custom network configs (traffic shaping)

- linked clones (to save disk space)

- capturing a movie of a specific event (real useful for debugging)
Anonymous alessandro Tuesday, August 29, 2006 3:56:00 PM  
Hi there.
First of all thank you for stopping by and sending out a feedback.

You suggestions are absolutely correct, but I implemented just the third one (video capture):

- traffic shaping is part of VM Teaming, which is already listed

- linked clones is part of VM Cloning, which is already listed


The comparison has been updated to version 1.2 and is now reporting Server 1.0.1.


Thanks!
Anonymous Anonymous Thursday, September 28, 2006 6:39:00 AM  
Despite your whitepaper, Vmware Server 1.0.1 supports saving and reverting to multiple snapshots....
Anonymous Anonymous Tuesday, November 14, 2006 10:09:00 PM  
Very good

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