Vmware workstation vs Vmware server performance -

[tab21]

I have a windows VM running on my Gentoo server using VMware Workstation -
Since VMware server doesn't require a GUI, should I expect better performance if I run my VM using VMware server vs VMware workstation?

I'm not worried about available resources after the VM has been started; overall CPU usage and end user performance while accessing the VM via VPN are my main concerns.

What I'm seeing is that VMware workstation running in the background is taking ~10% cpu usage at all times -
I'd like to see this lower during idle times...

Does anyone have experience with this comparison?

[tab21]

Still wondering on this -

Anyone?

[timeBandit]

This should give you a rough idea. I logged into a remote GNOME session, started a virtual machine and then disconnected the console. After each step, I took my hands off the keyboard and mouse, waited until GNOME System Monitor showed no CPU usage spikes for at least a minute, then noted the limits of the idle range. (There is some jitter introduced by network activity and the monitor itself.)

I left all services and whatnot running but there's no activity on the box except my session.

1. Idle GNOME desktop session via NoMachine over SSH: 3-4% CPU.
   
2. VMware Server Console started, no virtual machines running: 5-6% CPU.
   
3. Windows 2000 Professional VM started, no apps running in VM: 7-9% CPU.
   
4. Close VMware Console, leaving VM running: 6-8% CPU.
   

This is a 2.4GHz Pentium4 with 1.5GB RAM. The VM is allocated 256MB.

Conclusion: there's a slight penalty for running the console (surprise ). The CPU activity in your VM matters a whole lot more. I can't tell you whether Server's CPU overhead is inherently lower than Workstation as I've never tried the latter.

Hope this helps.
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[tab21]

Thanks, timeBandit -

Your data does give me a strong feeling that server will run more efficiently as compared to workstation.

I'll setup the server console on another PC and play with it. My guess is that it will be drop idle cpu usage by ~5%.

Thanks for your time and data -