VMWare without GUI?
 

Hi,

Im about to get VMWare, but im unsure which one to pick. I didn't work much yet with vmware.
Here are my requirements:

I need to run VMWare on a Linux box, that does not and will never have a GUI for performance reasons.
But we want to connect to this VMWare Host with a GUI client, that can manage this Host within a GUI.
AND , we need SMP (multiprocessing support, this machine has more than one core).

So, does this mean we need ESX Server, + Vmware Virtual SMP right?
I been to the VMware page but im unsure which ones i need... Is SMP Support not yet included in ESX Server, but is it an own Product? (VMWare Virtual SMP)
And can ESX Server run without GUI ? And which client do i need, to connect grafically to this ESX Server?
I guess VMWare Workstation cannot run without GUI right?

Regards,
NDev

With ESX Server (now called VMware Infrastructure Server VI3), the console is done via an application that only runs under Windows. You don't have to bring up the console... so the machines can indeed start GUI-less. With regards to starting the machines, there may be some things that are a bit more difficult to do from the command line.... again, you use a separate app on a Windows platform to start the machines (usually).

Obviously, there is always a console for your VM's... it's just not visible unless you attach to it.

Hope I wan't too confusing in all of that...

ESX is the heavy stuff, unless you're doing real enterprise stuff, it's very unliekly to be the right tool for you. just check out vmware server. free, and does everything you've asked for.

alternatively try Xen, totally open source and again does all you ask for.