The Initial Cost of VMware

I've written elsewhere abut the incremental cost of a VMware licence at the firm at which I work. But what about the initial cost?

There is the cost of:

• the new hardware
• training
• VMware software
• OS Licences
• additional Application Licences
• Administrator time!?!?

I try and use CentOS Linux for everything these days, but sometimes you need to use Windows. It takes just 5 to 10 minutes to create a new Windows VM from a template. However, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Each one of those Windows VMs will need a licence.

How do you factor in the cost of the mistakes you'll make with new technologies?

Some of these mistakes you will hope to avoid. Who makes mistakes? Or admits to them anyway?


Administrator time is a constant surely? I'm joking, but sometimes it does seem like there is a belief that a finite group can undertake infinite work.

There is also the opportunity cost of your Administrators not just improving and optimizing your existing infrastructure.

Training!? Choosing the right training first off for a new technology is difficult. For VMware, I'd recommend Elias Khnaser's Training DVDs. Having used VMware for nearly two years now, there are holes in his coverage. However, he also covers some topics I've yet to need to get involved with.

And new hardware! Well that wasn't a road we went down. To start with our development box was an IBM 366 with an EXP400 that had been forklifted from site to site to site. The downside, which we've had to explore extensively, is that as it originated in California IBM are unable supply a replacement motherboard in this country - a 366 in this country has different part numbers! In the long run, completely new hardware might have been the cheaper option, simply in Administrator time. Whilst we were getting the server back up, we weren't doing other more productive work!

So it goes.