recommended upgrade from vmware server 1.0.1?

[killStupidWebSi]

I'm still running ye olde vmware server 1.0.1 on my home server running CentOS 5.8..  This was a free download but I'd like to expand the hard drive of one of my vms and it doesn't seem to support that feature.

So what is the recommended practice for upgrading to a more recent version?  Since this is a free version and it's running on a home noncommercial machine, I want to stay with free products here.  I am willing to consider rehosting my vm on kvm or another free linux-based alternative solution if vmware inc does not provide any more free server products.

[rcporto]

From VMware and free, do you have two alternatives:

1 - VMware Player: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

2 - VMware vSphere ESXi: http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor

I will recommend you to use VMware vSphere ESXi, but you will need install this on top of your hardware and manage from another system.

[killStupidWebSi]

Thanks for the reply Richardson.  vSphere ESXi requires that I purchase more hardware.  I'm not ready to do that at this point.

It's unclear to me if VMware Player supports expanding a guest VM's hard drive.  If it can do that then perhaps I should try this option.

-Frank

[rcporto]

Yes, it can, check the page 84 of the Getting Started with VMware Player guide.

[killStupidWebSi]

OK that looks promising.  Do you know if I can install vmPlayer side-by-side with the existing installation of vmware server?  This way I can shutdown the guest VM in vmware server and see if it starts successfully under vmPlayer.  If all looks good I will then uninstall vmware server.  If there are problems then I uninstall vmPlayer and can still run my vm.

-Frank