Up until now I’ve always used Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to do so. However, working with a lot of different companies, I’ve seen the standard virtual server environment is primarily VMWare ESX.

As the new VMWare Workstation v6 has been recently released, I decided to give it a try a few days ago.

Already I’m in love with it. As I have a bit of a soft spot for Linux, and like playing with it every once and a while, I’ve spent countless hours trying to get Linux working under Virtual PC. Networking is also a bit of an issue under Virtual PC, though I’ve learnt all the tricks now.

Linux under VMWare Workstation is beautiful. One of the main issues with running it under Virtual PC is the graphics driver. When the X server loads in Linux, it’s distorted (unusable) until you fix xorg.conf. Really really fiddly. Under VMWare, it does it all perfect, no command line configuration required.

Virtual PC also has issues with graphics under Microsoft, so gaming is a no-go. Under VMWare though, I’ve installed XP Pro, got Starcraft running with no trouble at all, and am now about to conquer MS-DOS and all those old games that I loved. Descent 3… Wings of Fury… Maybe (if I can find it) Space Quest and Kings Quest and Police Quest… *sigh*

This week just gone I’ve successfully deployed Business Objects Enterprise XI-R2 SP2 into a three-tier virtual environment (Dev, UAT and Prod), with Active Directory SSO in IIS. Their servers are running VMWare ESX. Now it’s just a matter of confirming the virtual servers are powerful enough for a Production environment.

What have your experiences been with virtual machines?

- Josh

PS – Tomorrow I’m off to the V Festival to see The Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran, Queens of the Stone Age and some other bands. Should be awesome!! =)