Migrate from VMware Server to another VMware offering to gain the benefits of newer technologies and improve security and supportability.

VMware Server is a free, easy-to-use Windows and Linux application that provides a superior introductory experience to server virtualization for businesses to optimize utilization of their technology assets.

In January 2010, VMware announced the End of Support for VMware Server with support ending on June 30, 2011. Users are free to continue using VMware Server but are recommended to migrate to another VMware offering to gain the benefits of newer technologies.

There are several VMware offerings that can replace VMware Server depending on the functionality needed. These offerings range from VMware Player for running one or two virtual machines to VMware vSphere Hypervisor for virtualizing on physical host, to VMware vSphere for running more than 100 virtual machines with centralized management and cloud scalability. See the Compare tab for a comparison of the offerings.

If you are happily using VMware Server 2 today, you can continue to use it indefinitely.  There is no requirement to migrate to a different solution today.

Yes, the products will continue to function. Customers will not have access to support and updates from VMware.  The VMTN community forums for VMware Server will remain available for customers using VMware Server 2.

Support for VMware Server 2 ended on June 30, 2011.  While you may continue to use VMware Server 2, you must do so without support.  There will be neither maintenance patches nor minor releases for this product. If support is required, please migrate to one of the recommended supported solutions.

If you have an outstanding SnS contract for VMware Server 2, you should have been notified already.  If you have not, please reach out to your VMware representative for more information.

Yes, customers are entitled to a refund of any SnS that remains unused past 6/30/2011.

VMware Server 2 will remain available for download, unsupported and “as-is”, from the VMware website until further notice. 

Yes, keys are still needed to enable VMware Server.

VMware Server was a first generation Type 2 virtualization product.  As VMware continues to support and invest in our customers’ journey to cloud computing, we are focused on products that best enable that journey.  VMware ESXi, a bare-metal Type 1 hypervisor, is the preferred architecture for server virtualization as it delivers improved reliability and performance over hosted solutions like VMware Server.  VMware ESXi also runs independently of an operating system and improves hypervisor management in the areas of security, deployment and configuration, and ongoing administration.  vSphere Hypervisor is a free solution based on the VMware ESXi architecture that can be downloaded at this link.

For other types of workloads that are better suited in a hosted environment (Type 2 hypervisor), VMware offers a variety of options including VMware Player and VMware Workstation.