VMware Server! And it's free!

Fantastic! VMware has now announced it's new VMware Server, and it's free! I've recently been testing the product it replaces, VMware GSX, and it's great stuff. While I like VMware Workstation, it's not so good for running long term virtual sessions, because it runs as a user application. VMware Server, like GSX, runs as a system service, and is the better for it. Using it is a bit like using a terminal server (a graphical one, although you can run your Linux virtual machines at runlevel 3, which is text only and saves memory). You can check on a virtual machine session, close the client application, and then come back later. You virtual session is still running, whether you have the VMware client application running or not. You can also set your virtual sessions to boot up when the host boots up, which you need if you want to run any kind of server application in a virtual session.

I'll be trying it very soon on my laptop and my desktop machine. If you haven't tried virtualisation before, there has never been a better time to give it a try. Once you try it, you won't go back!