Virtual Server 2005 R2 comes in two different flavors: Standard edition and Enterprise edition. R2 Standard edition supports a maximum of four processors, where as Enterprise edition supports a maximum of 32 physical processors.

Keep in mind that this does not mean that your guest operating systems can take advantage of multi-processors. It only means that the Virtual Server software can run on multiple processors. Microsoft has not yet addressed the issue of processor use in VS2005 R2. Unlike VMWare’s GSX and ESX offerings, guest operating systems running inside an R2 virtual machine cannot use more than a single processor, effectively eliminating VS2005 for most high-end use.

Price
One of the biggest changes you will see in Virtual Server 2005 R2 is in the price. Previous editions were priced at $499 and $999 where as the latest version is available free. This makes it an ideal choice over its many competitors.

Virtual Disk Pre-compactor
If you have used Virtual Server in the past, you are likely aware of how large a dynamically expanding Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) can become. Virtual Server 2005 R2 includes the Virtual Disk Pre-Compactor utility that you can use to create smaller compacted VHDs. It does this by reclaiming space that the guest operating system is not actually using. The benefit is that you get a smaller VHD and better performance.

Note: A dynamically expanding virtual hard disk grows as data is written to it. This is the default disk type created in Virtual Server.

[tags]virtual server 2005, Windows, XP,virtualization[/tags]