VMware Server 2.0 changes some things

VMware Server 2.0 is out and installing it changes some things.

First, installing over a running VMware Server 1.0.7 did not work. The installation routine complained about a running instance of the server:

vmrun stop /path/to/vm/file.vmx

solves the issue. I installed over the previous version (the installation routine deinstalled 1.0.7 for me).

No problems installing, however, the installation routine asked for a http port and suggested port 80. Port 80 is taken by apache and the installation routine acknowledges this. I also run MUI (the web frontend for 1.0.x) on port 8333. This does not work either.

One can choose any free port (as there will be a Tomcat server be installed).

VMware Server 2.0 comes with its web interface integrated (as mentioned, Tomcat). There is a browser based console window that installed without any problems.

VMware Server Console for the client provides an error:

Unable to connect to the remote host: 501 Global command GLOBAL server-vmdb to non-host agent targets not supported.

I did not find a version of the linux client that works with 2.0 yet. However, it's not neccessary either. The built in browser console does the job nicely.

Upgrade VMware Tools in virtual machines

I strongly recommend updating the VMware Tools in Windows VMs. Much to my surprise, the visual performance and speed increased significantly. Also I could adjust my screen resolution to fit the size of my monitor.

VMware Server 2.0 offers another nice feature that I missed previously: Administration of user rights via the graphical interface (remember, you had to set file access rights to allow for different user rights in the VMware Server).

After installation of VMware Server 2.0 I deinstalled the MUI on the server and the client console on my client machines. I don't need them.