VMware Workstation v/s VMware Server

[_deXter_]

Hi,

I'd like to know the EXACT differences in the features and working between VMware Workstation and the free VMware Server.

I've looked around and the only info I was able to find was this:

"Workstation has unique, advanced features that are not available in VMware Server. These features include the ability to manage multi-tier configurations and multiple snapshots. Workstation is a productivity tool used by developers and technical professionals on an individual PC."

I'd like a more detailed, feature-wise, comparison listing.

Regards,

Dexter M.

[oreeh]

take a look here http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=580774

and here http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=580541

[_deXter_]

Thanks, I already have checked out those topics, but its not exactly what I want. Both those topics have replies that are generic in nature, like "Optimised for so and so", but what I'm looking for is a full, detailed, feature by feature difference checklist, so one glance at it and I can make out if a particular x feature is present or not.

[oreeh]

AFAIK there's only comparisons between Desktop and Server product available.

But maybe these help

http://www.vmware.com/products/server_comp.html

http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop_comp.html

Message was edited by:

oreeh

forgot to mention this comparison

Workstation vs Server[/url]

Covers Workstation 5.5.2 and Server 1.0.0

[_deXter_]

Thanks, that answers a lot but I'd still like to clarify a few more features, whether they're available in Server or not:

\- DirectX and 3D acceleration support

\- Memory page trimming

\- Background Snapshots

\- Non-persistent disk support

\- Copy-paste between virtual machines / host and guest

\- Priority management

\- Virtual Hardware differences

[oreeh]

- DirectX and 3D acceleration support

not available

- Memory page trimming

not available

- Background Snapshots

what do you mean with background snapshots?

- Non-persistent disk support

I assume you mean snapshot / rollback - available

- Copy-paste between virtual machines / host and guest

available - if you have the guest tools installed

- Priority management

not available (you can of course use the host builtin commands to achieve this)

Well there's the "Priority grabbed" stuff as in Workstation - but I don't count this a priority management[/b]

- Virtual Hardware differences

none that I'm aware of

Message was edited by:

oreeh

[_deXter_]

- Background Snapshots

Background snapshots allow snapshots to be taken in the background, without interrupting the user. Basically, you can continue working in the VM while the snapshot is being taken.

- Non-persistent disk support

No, Non-persistent virtual disks aren't affected by snapshots. Anything that's written to a non-persistent disk is discarded after a power-off or a snapshot-restore.

[oreeh · Accepted solution]

Background snapshots allow snapshots to be taken in the background, without interrupting the user. Basically, you can continue working in the VM while the snapshot is being taken.

available

No, Non-persistent virtual disks are that aren't affected by snapshots

available

[_deXter_]

Thanks for the fast replies.

Although, I highly recommend that the VMware staff maintain an online HTML version of that PDF file, with a proper link to it and with more feature depth.

[oreeh]

There is a online version of all the PDFs http://pubs.vmware.com/server1/

More feature depth indeed would be nice.