Conclusion

A 1vCPU Xeon X5500 series based Exchange Server VM can support 50% more users per core than a 2vCPU VM based on previous generation processors while maintaining the same level of performance in terms of Sendmail latency.  This is accomplished while the VM’s CPU utilization remains below 50%, allowing plenty of capacity for peaks in workload and making an FT VM practical for use with Exchange Server 2007.

Need to access the ESX console with the Virtual Infrastructure Client in some remote location where your VPN does not work.  Forward ports 443, 902 and 903 with putty.  Port specifics for ESX can be found on page 179 of the ESX Server Config guide.

In my case I additionally need to forward from a boundary machine:
ssh -L 8443:localhost:443 -L 8902:localhost:902 -L 8903:localhost:903 node2

• ESXi 3.5 does ship with the ability to run SSH, but this is disabled by default (and is not supported) – from.
• ESXi and what it does NOT have compared to regular ESX 3.5
• Upgrade ESX eval to ESXi.
• Some Basic ESXi questions.
• 8.04 and ESX.
• Motherboards and unsupported servers that work with ESX 3.5 and / or ESXi 3.5 Installable
• 
  Running ESX 3i Installable from a USB Flash Drive

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Check out the download link at the end of the press release.

• Thread: Howto for migration from VMWare ESX
• Virtual Disk Migration Utility 1.1
• Converting a Physical Disk to a VMWare Virtual Disk
• Thread: VMware Linux guest to Xen
• VMWare to Xen Migration
• Thread: Migrate VM under VMWare Workstation 6 to XenServer
• Thread: v2xva failure in converting .vmdk files? – phantom disks in vmx can make v2xva fail.
• VMware KB #1308 – Cleaning Up After Incomplete Uninstallation on a Windows Host- removing Vmware Tools can be troublesome. Check this kb article and also note the following location in the registry.
• VMware server memory controller service failed to start

The vmmemctl.sys driver is missing from your system or the registry contains the wrong image path. The \??\ is normal in the path.

If you selected the default path for the VMware Tools, your registry imagepath should look like the example below.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VMMEMCTL]

In September, possible with a launch at VMworld 2007, VMware will announce a new promotion called Foundation, bundling together three ESX Servers Started Edition and one VirtualCenter (capped to manage those three virtualization hosts) for $3,000.

VMware have three versions of VI3, so it will be interesting to know which is being offered as part of the package. VirtualCenter also requires a fourth machine to operate, and is probably the big saving. It currently starts at $5000 as is required to “enable distributed virtualization services such as VMware VMotion, VMware High Availability and VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler”. Both XenEnterprise and VirtualIron do the same without the fourth computer, but are probably not as mature as VI3 in this area.

If the VMware SME package offers shared storage and vmotion then it will certainly cut the legs out from under XenSource in a key market. In that situation it will be 3000USD and 4 machines vs 7500USD and three machines. If it does not offer those extra features then it likely to be comparable to XenServer and a very similar 3000USD vs 2250USD. In that situation it is likely to be purely a case deciding between management tools, upgrade path and brand.

Either way it is a classic market position play against a new entrant. Given that virtualised servers have only 1% of the total market, and now both main players have similar channels and technological value in the long run I think it will be a tight interesting race. Can only be good for the end customer.