VMware ESX3i
I’ve recently been playing around with VMware’s ESX 3i server virtualization system. So far, my feelings are rather mixed. It’s not particularly easy to get running, and beyond that, it’s not particularly easy to use. However, once you get past that, you’ll see the power of a low-level virtualization system.
I have a lot of experience with VMware Server 2.0, which is far easier to install and configure. Just run the executable on your favorite Windows or Linux system. I’d recommend Linux because it has lower base requirements. One of the things I liked about Server is the web based interface for managing the VMs. ESXi makes you download the VMware Infrastructure Client to manage the server and its VMs. Now, that’s not bad, but I like the web interface better. It feels nicer.
I’ve not had any luck getting my VMware Server machines to run on ESXi. For me, that was the killer. I spent some time trying to get it to see those VMs. I copied them to the datastore, tried setting up new machines pointing to the VHD, however that didn’t work because it wouldn’t find the VHD. All in all, it was a painful process. I gave up after a couple of hours.
ESXi seems to be a really powerful engine. That’s one thing it has going for it. It’s also free, that’s another huge thing. It also has a really steep learning curve. That being said, if you want the highest performance for your virtual servers, and you can deal with the learning curve, go for ESXi. If you just want it to work without a lot of trouble, go for Server.