[PANTUGGeneral] Making the Switch To Windows "Workstation" 2008

[JP Vossen]

Anyone try this? Sounds interesting...

http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/07/15/2325215.shtml
Making the Switch To Windows "Workstation" 2008
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday July 16, @12:35AM
from the active-vista-avoidance-techniques dept.
Windows Microsoft
snydeq writes "Disenchanted with Vista? Why not convert Windows Server
2008
[http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisedesktop/archives/2008/07/workstation_200.html]
into the lean, efficient, reliable 'power user' OS that Windows should
be? InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy, who has been using a converted
'Workstation' 2008 as his primary OS since hitting a wall using Vista as
a Visual Studio development platform four months ago, says the guerrilla
OS has turned his Dell notebook into a well-oiled machine that never
gets sluggish and rarely needs to reboot. Those interested in making the
switch should check out win2008workstation.com, a clearinghouse for
'Workstation' 2008 tips and techniques. Kennedy also offers a link to a
Windows 2008 Workstation Converter utility for those looking to quickly
convert a fresh Server 2008 install without hacking the registry or
manually installing/enabling lots of services and features."

--
Later,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP |:::======| jp{at}jpsdomain{dot}org
My Account, My Opinions |=========| http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
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[David Dows]

Not yet, but now I might.

JP Vossen wrote:
> Anyone try this? Sounds interesting...
>
> http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/07/15/2325215.shtml
> Making the Switch To Windows "Workstation" 2008
> Posted by kdawson on Wednesday July 16, @12:35AM
> from the active-vista-avoidance-techniques dept.
> Windows Microsoft
> snydeq writes "Disenchanted with Vista? Why not convert Windows Server
> 2008
> [http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisedesktop/archives/2008/07/workstation_200.html]
> into the lean, efficient, reliable 'power user' OS that Windows should
> be? InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy, who has been using a converted
> 'Workstation' 2008 as his primary OS since hitting a wall using Vista as
> a Visual Studio development platform four months ago, says the guerrilla
> OS has turned his Dell notebook into a well-oiled machine that never
> gets sluggish and rarely needs to reboot. Those interested in making the
> switch should check out win2008workstation.com, a clearinghouse for
> 'Workstation' 2008 tips and techniques. Kennedy also offers a link to a
> Windows 2008 Workstation Converter utility for those looking to quickly
> convert a fresh Server 2008 install without hacking the registry or
> manually installing/enabling lots of services and features."
>
>

[Troy Sorzano]

A while ago Drew and others were discussing VM's. Drew suggested that VM
Ware offer a $99 version of ESX. Well VMWare listened and one upped him. It
looks like they will release ESXi for free.

Later,

Troy

From http://www.wservernews.com/?id=685

* VMware To Cut its Hypervisor Price To Zero

Somewhat surprising but not entirely unexpected with Redmond's new Hyper-V
threat to VMware, their new CEO Paul Maritz decided to match Microsoft's
price point, and make VMware's ESXi hypervisor free by the end of the month
to get more marketshare. At the moment, ESX costs between $495 and $1,090
depending on the support level chosen. Obviously VMware hopes to sell its
Infrastructure code after sites install the (soon free) hypervisor, and grab
market away from Redmond.

[JP Vossen]

Troy Sorzano wrote:
> A while ago Drew and others were discussing VM's. Drew suggested that VM
> Ware offer a $99 version of ESX. Well VMWare listened and one upped him. It
> looks like they will release ESXi for free.
>

> From http://www.wservernews.com/?id=685

Interesting! More links:

http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/ Product sheet
http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/uses.html FAQ
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003345 v3.5 ESX vs. ESXi
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf 3.5 ESXi HCL

Later,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP |:::======| jp{at}jpsdomain{dot}org
My Account, My Opinions |=========| http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.

[JP Vossen]

JP Vossen wrote:
> Troy Sorzano wrote:
>> A while ago Drew and others were discussing VM's. Drew suggested that VM
>> Ware offer a $99 version of ESX. Well VMWare listened and one upped
>> him. It
>> looks like they will release ESXi for free.
>>
>> From http://www.wservernews.com/?id=685
>
> Interesting! More links:
>
> http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/ Product sheet
> http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/uses.html FAQ
> http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003345 v3.5 ESX vs. ESXi
> http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf 3.5 ESXi HCL

http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/07/28/1742222.shtml
IT: VMware ESXi Available For Free Starting Today
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday July 28, @02:52PM
from the free-always-sounds-better dept.
Operating Systems
Mierdaan writes "VMware's bare-metal hypervisor is available for free
starting today. ESXi, which can either be installed or run from an
embedded device available in certain servers, has a 32MB footprint and
gives small businesses an easy way to get into the virtualization world,
with easy upgrade paths to enterprise-level features such as (H)igh
(A)vailability and (D)istributed (R)esource (S)cheduler. ESXi runs on
most any hardware with a server-class disk controller, and previously
retailed for $495. VMware is obviously shooting to prevent Microsoft's
Hyper-V technology from gaining a foothold in the marketplace."
http://vmware.com/company/news/releases/esxi_pricing.html

[JP Vossen]

JP Vossen wrote:

> JP Vossen wrote:
>
> http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/07/28/1742222.shtml
> IT: VMware ESXi Available For Free Starting Today
> Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday July 28, @02:52PM
> from the free-always-sounds-better dept.
> Operating Systems
> Mierdaan writes "VMware's bare-metal hypervisor is available for free
> starting today. ESXi, which can either be installed or run from an
> embedded device available in certain servers, has a 32MB footprint and
> gives small businesses an easy way to get into the virtualization world,
> with easy upgrade paths to enterprise-level features such as (H)igh
> (A)vailability and (D)istributed (R)esource (S)cheduler. ESXi runs on
> most any hardware with a server-class disk controller, and previously
> retailed for $495. VMware is obviously shooting to prevent Microsoft's
> Hyper-V technology from gaining a foothold in the marketplace."
> http://vmware.com/company/news/releases/esxi_pricing.html

Test install on a PE750
= Failed! "Unable to find a supported device to write the VMware ESX
Server 3i 3.5.0 image to."

http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=9192
"There isn’t a single system, whether it be a PC or an entry-level
server which use embedded SATA2 RAID chipsets that will work with ESX 3i
or ESX 3.5 out of the box. If you boot ESX 3i on any of these systems,
you’ll be presented with a message that no suitable storage device has
been found. Doh! Game Over, man."
[...]
"Once ESX 3i is running, you then test its connectivity using a web
browser on a client Windows-based machine (XP, Vista or Server) and you
can download the VMWare Infrastructure Client 2.5 over the web. Unlike
VMWare’s other free virtualization solution, VMWare Server 2.0 ESX 3i
doesn’t currently support VMWare Virtual Infrastructure Web Access, so
management is limited to Windows systems only."
[...]
"There is a “gotcha” here, however. Without purchasing a license to
VirtualCenter, VMotion and HA/DRS (in which case you are getting into
the thousands of dollars) you won’t be able to use any of the advanced
features such as live migration, clustering and high availability."
[...]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Get:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_systems_guide.pdf'
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf

Bummer,