Xen is an island
Is Microsoft Virtual Server compatible with VMware? How about Xen? How hard is it to run both in a data center? Do they have to be separate islands?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    When you register, my team of editors will also send you the latest expert resources covering all areas of server virtualization, such as platforms, architectures and strategies, server hardware, managing virtual environments, application issues and more.

    Margie Semilof, Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchServerVirtualization.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchServerVirtualization.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

The exact meaning of "compatible" is probably important here. VMware can read and boot Virtual Server machines (after some conversion), but not vice versa. If you were using both in the same shop, any migration you might do would essentially be in one direction.

Xen isn't the same kind of product as VMware or Virtual Server at all, so it isn't directly compatible with either of those products -- it requires that the guest OS (operating system) be explicitly written to support Xen's variety of virtualization. (Note that with Xen 3.0 and the appearance of Intel and AMD processors that have hardware-based virtualization features, this is changing, so I imagine it will be possible to port VMs (virtual machines) into Xen sooner rather than later.)

This was first published in October 2006

Back to top