Re: [Xen-users] XEN vs GSX Server

["M.A. Williamson" <maw48@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yo,

I'm a sometime Xen developer so you might want to take what I say with a 
pinch of salt - I'm biased! ;-)
> Has anyone compared XEN against (vmware) GSX Server?
Were you aware VMware are releasing a free (as in beer) GSX-based product? 
You still have to pay if you want support. Beta release here: 
http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
Quick bullet points of some of the most important pros and cons (there are 
others):
Xen + Distro support is present, and is getting better over time. + 
Maturing; has been around for a few years now, and has a good number of big 
name contributors (IBM, Redhat, Novell, and others) + Very fast for running 
Xen-aware OSes + Live migration
- Still not a great solution for running production Windows machines. - May 
have to patch your kernel (although various distros have Xen-aware kernels 
now)
GSX
+ Mature product
+ Runs Windows well

- Not so fast
- You have to pay for it, but this'll be fixed by VMware server

> My boss wants to use GSX server because he said that it's more stable
> and has a good administration interface.
There's always XenOptimiser for administering a Xen box, plus there are 
other administration interfaces (both open and closed source) likely to be 
released in the future.
How much the administration interface really matters does depend, to a 
certain extent, on how many systems your managing. If there's just one then 
I imagine that the admin interface is less important.
> I don't want to use GSX server but I need a very good argument to
> convince him.
Hope that helps. Even if GSX suits you better right now, you should keep an 
eye on future Xen developments as its functionality develops further.
Cheers,
Mark

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