I'm new to VMware and am looking for advice on which OS to choose as my WMware Server 2.0 host.
My usage profile is to begin experimenting with VMware for software development and testing across multiple OS's.
Equipment profile
Dell PowerEdge server with a 4 core 64-bit Intel processor, 12GB RAM
500GB SCSI internal drive, a 2TB external eSATA drive, and some random external USB drives used for ad-hoc backup
I would like to run the following guest OS's on my box
Note: I don't want to run all these VM's simultaneously - I will likely only run one or two guest OS's at a time.
A 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008
A 32-bit version of Windows XP Professional
A 32-bit version of Vista Business or Ultimate (ideally with Aero) <--- is this even possible with Server?
A 64-bit version of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server
A 32-bit version of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop
My initial thought was that a 64-bit version of Linux would make a good host.
BUT .,. While researching my question I stumbled across the following post that seems to indicate that Linux is NOT a good choice as a VM host OS.
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/167897
Quote: The big-picture answer is that the Linux virtual memory subsystem is simply not tuned for running VMs.
Your thoughts appreciated.
Brett