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I am using VMWare Tools, yes.

Actually, since I posted last I was googling and found a few threads (one example) that indicate that performance when using VMWare Server and connecting to it via its Console program (even when connected locally) is worse than when using VMWare Workstation or Player because you're basically connected over a socket via some VNC/rdesktop-like protocol (don't know the specifics, sorry). When its just running in the background as a server the performance is fine, it's when you're using it interactively with the Console that you'll notice a difference.

VMWare is definitely a lot better than VPC.
One of the very handy features in VMWare is snapshots/machine cloning feature, and while VPC offers some kind of snapshot functionality, its less intuitive and limited.

Also, (in my personal experience), VMWare has been as fast as native, and at times even 'faster' than native - because of smart disk caching, tasks like installing Windows XP as vmware guest complete faster than native on same hardware.

VMWare 5.5 can also do pass-through Direct3D emulation (its a beta option, see http://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_vidsound_ d3d.html), don't know about OpenGL, hopefully by 2006 nobody actually cares enough about OpenGL to make a difference.

At work I use the player version to install temp software. For example, on a daily basis I have to use Microsoft Windows Platform Builder 5.0. We recently got the CE6 beta. For a project, I'm supposed to learn about it and use it to make a few demo images.

So rather than risking having the CE6 beta pooch my whole install, I just make a 20GB disk image using qemu, edit a vmx file and make a system. Load XP SP2 on that, Visual Studio and the beta and I'm ready to rock. Runs like a champ.

Another thing I do is have a VMware virtual machine on my external 40GB USB2 hard drive. It's a Mandriva Linux 10 image, and I use that for personal programming during down time at work. Or if I want to read web pages and dodge the spyware. I have another image that I'm using to design simple circuit boards using the freeware Eagle software. I can start an autoroute job, then simply move the whole machine out of my way and keep working. This is extra great at home, since I'm on a Athlon X2 dual core 4400. The virtual machine runs at full tilt on one processor, and I can play Mechwarrior 4 on the other one. With no lag or skipping. It's a blast.

At home, another good use is their browser appliance. It's a virtual machine running Linux that dodges practically all spyware. I'm going to hook my wife up with it sometime here soon. She likes to visit song lyric sites and they keep loading crap on her Windows install.

Q: Who can use VMware Server?

A: The benefits of server virtualization can be realized by a company of any size -- even small companies with just a few servers.

I do have to wonder what VMware is hoping to get out of this...

Oh and how does the sever product compare to Workstation... is it the same?

2 GB USB Drive - $40
VMWare Player for Linux & Windows - $0
A good Linux distro - $0 (yes, you may flame away)
Google Browser Sync - $0
Blowing away anything that somehow made it onto your system - $priceless

-Tash
Vrooommm...

2 GB USB Drive - $40
VMWare Player for Linux & Windows - $0
A good Linux distro - $0 (yes, you may flame away)
Google Browser Sync - $0
Blowing away anything that somehow made it onto your system - $priceless

-Tash
Vrooommm...

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but they're releasing what was known as GSX for free. ESX, which is the super deluxe product, still costs plenty of money. GSX has limitations compared to ESX which are detailed here http://www.vmware.com/products/server/server_comp. html . At it's most basic, ESX is a linux 'underhost' which runs on the bare metal and has a web interface where you configure virtual servers and run them on top of this layer. The linux layer is completely hidden from the hosts and the actual hardware is abstracted. On the other hand, GSX requires a host OS to run on and therefore inherits the limitations of whatever OS it's installed on top of. There are other limitations as well but some light reading at vmware's site will clue you in.

Right now it's in an experimental stage. Check out more info here: Experimental Support for Direct3D

[Yes] [No]

Both buttons bring me to their Google search appliance web form. Cannot download, ya mongrels!

Check out Virtual Appliances. Basically, there are people who've already fully configured environments in a virtual machine so you can just pick up the free (as in beer) VMWare Player product and run them.

Why would you want to do that? I use a virtual machine to browse the Web - that way, my computer doesn't get bogged down by spyware (only the virtual machine does) and it's much more painless to simply purge a spyware-ridden virtual machine and start afresh than it is for your main computer.

http://www.vmware.com/solutions/desktop/vdi.html

I believe this is using some sort of citrix management, but not sure about the protocol, probably still RDP.

I would very much like it if I could continue using Windows (because I run other programs that are not available on Linux) but it can't match the simplicity of Ubuntu.

It *does* look very very very similar to VMware Workstation. Same icons, same menus, same dialog box. Maybe they haven't a mac version out, but that Parallels thing looks like a real copycat.

The features are exactly the same. Same looks, same "Tools" in the VM, same operating systems supported, same snapshot function. I don't if this is strictly cosmetic, but it sure looks like it *is* VMware. If you have ever used VMware, you know what I'm talking about.

I have systems that can't have any downtime.
We are about to put in VMotion from VMWare.

http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/vc/vmotion.html

No down time and users have no idea that the virtual server is moved. Heck most don't know they are even on a virtual server.

check out vmware. they have a free player, and you can download pre-built virtual machines to run in windows, including FC5 and ubuntu 5.10. i've been using vmware to run FC5 for a week now and it works really well.

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/ca t/45

check out vmware. they have a free player, and you can download pre-built virtual machines to run in windows, including FC5 and ubuntu 5.10. i've been using vmware to run FC5 for a week now and it works really well.

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/ca t/45

Get a copy of VMware Player (it's free at http://www.vmware.com/download/player/) and load any of several Jabber virtual appliances. (You may have to change the virtual ethernet adaptor to use the bridged network.) Here's one applicance that looks like a close fit: http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/24 8

Get a copy of VMware Player (it's free at http://www.vmware.com/download/player/) and load any of several Jabber virtual appliances. (You may have to change the virtual ethernet adaptor to use the bridged network.) Here's one applicance that looks like a close fit: http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/24 8

--I was a Win98SE fanboi up until last year, when I discovered Win2kpro. Trust me, it's like night (98) and day (W2k.) In almost all cases, I prefer Win2k over XP due to resource usage and nagginess: XP == forced activation, genuine disadvantage, etc.

--With Win2kpro, you can also host Vmware Player instances. That alone is worth the money for the OS upgrade. :) Meaning: Upgrade your hostbox to Win2k, and you can still have your Win98 environment as a guest.

See:
http://www.edirectsoftware.com/product.php?product _id=16144

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

The JanusVM Internet Privacy Appliance supports this very well. It also uses squid and privoxy to filter out any leaked information from your web browsers. Since the first hop is the Tor node on your Virtual Machine, data is encrypted before it ever leaves the physical PC. Plus it works well with WiFi over open channels. And of course, it's open source friendly and freely available. Well worth checking out.

You know, I'm honestly not sure. I don't see it listed on CompUSA or Fry's/Outpost. Amusingly, Walmart lists Workstation v5.0, but it's Out of Stock. :)

You can buy directly from VMware at VMware Workstation in the VMware Store (including a downloadable get-it-now version). Also, there's a reseller search engine. Running it for my immediate area didn't turn up any big-name stores.

You probably should've checked the actual terms before posting this FUD, you know.

From http://www.vmware.com/products/server/faqs.html:

Q: Will VMware Server still be free when it is generally available?
A: Yes, VMware Server will be a free product. There will not be any charge for licenses to VMware Server when it becomes generally available.

Too bad it doesn't work on AMD64x2 systems without disabling half the processor, that is unless you like crashing or NUMA errors (no no, not the crazy dancing kind). I love their workstation product, but I'll come back to drink the VMWare Kool-aid when they implement some method to bind a VM to one core (in software) or something without having to apply various hacks to my system to even use it.

... frustrated VMWare Customer

Yea, it's called VMWare P2V and works great if you take your time and read the documentation first (obviously something I didn't do right away)

Ah. XP. In case you're missing it, I've just installed the free VmWare Server Beta http://www.vmware.com/download/server/ on Dapper (AMD64), and am ?happily? running XP on it, mostly for running ham radio programs. I'm also going to set up a 32 bit Dapper VM for those few progs that don't compile or run well on the 64 bit platform.

So far, so good. BTW, anyone trying to configure software RAID for their Dapper BETA install, you need to use the alternative install CD image, for the old-style install routine (no live disk built-in). A useful guide is here for setting up a RAID1 configuration
http://users.piuha.net/martti/comp/ubuntu/raid.htm l

Enjoy...

I don't know how this was missed, but VMware GSX has been free for a few months now, to compete with MS virtual server. Havn't tried qemu or xen yet, but VMware runs rings around MS virtual server disk I/O wise (that and it runs on Linux)

Just when I was running out of rackspace! (and electrical outlets)

http://www.vmware.com/products/gsx/

The real trick to any virtualization is how you utilize
your processor, gobs and memory and fast storage.

In VMware
---
Under Linux you would go to Edit -> Preferences -> Memory (tab)
and choose Fit all virtual machine memory into reserved host ram.

this will greatly boost speeds as nothing is swapped to disk

---
to speed up your resuming of virtual machines you would go to
Edit -> preferences -> priority (tab) and uncheck Take
and restore snapshots in the background.

this one is significant for those vm images with more 512MB.

---
also a fast hard drive helps as well, if you got a laptop with
a 4800/5400rpm drive, it's going to be a lot slower than a 7200
rpm drive.

---
inside of your guest environments, trim it down
      * disable 3d screensavers
      * disable unneeded services
              e.g. do you really need apache or iis running
                        in the background

---
if you are not using your host environment for anything,
trim it down as much as you can.
---
If you want to be able to access external storage
inside your vmware guest, use usb, forget firewire,
vmware doesn't support those kinds of devices.
---
Laptops that support disabling HyperThreading is often
there for the reason it WILL overheat, disable it when
using VMware, cuz it WILL overheat.
---
if your clock is running slow in your linux guests, try the following link
http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.p hp?p_faqid=1420

better yet, before you even try that, make sure you install vmware-tools
to your linux guest. DO BE AWARE ANY KERNEL UPGRADES BREAKS THESE TOOLS,
AND YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL SUFFER.

for window guest os, also install these tools, but you won't have the same
breakage problem.
---
Performance of NAT vs Bridging, NAT is slower and if you try to run security
audit tools such as nessus or nmap, you will start getting network time-outs
until a slot becomes available.
---
Another tip, once you build your guest environment, run all your apps at once
and check your memory. If you find that you aren't utilizing all that memory,
adjust it accordingly in the VMware guest settings.
---

some example VMs I run on a daily basis are 384MB ubuntu drapper drake OS for
personal work station (email, gaim, browsing, open office), security auditting
vm (384MB|bridged networking!) and Windows 2003 Enterprise + Visual Studio 2005
+ SQL Server 2005 + BizTalk 2006. I run all 3 simultaneously without any
real hiccups on a laptop whose host os is ubuntu.

Regardless of what you use for the host, when you run Linux as a client there are a couple of things to be aware of. First, include AMD ethernet and Buslogic SCSI drivers in your kernel. Second, if you're running a 2.6 kernel, they'll eat a lot of extra CPU when idle unless you redefine HZ and recompile the kernel.

The VMWare web site has info on this and on fixing other clock problems: http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.p hp?p_faqid=1420

Does ESX Server Run on Linux? On Windows?
ESX Server runs natively on server hardware, without a host operating system. The ESX Server virtualization layer is a highly compact and efficient operating system kernel entirely developed by VMware for optimum virtual machine performance. This allows ESX Server to fully manage the hardware resources and provide the highest levels of security and performance isolation. ESX Server also incorporates a service console based on a Linux 2.4 kernel that is used to boot the ESX Server virtualization layer. It also runs ESX Server administration applications.

-- http://www.vmware.com/products/esx/faqs.html

So, yeah, Linux might be used as the bootloader and/or system console image.

I've run Workstation and GSX (Server) on Windows and Linux. The best performance by far was Linux with XFS. Ext3 does not cut it (regardless of writeback option used). XFS support is a little tricky to find in VMWare supported distros. For less critical servers, I prefer Centos 4 with the Centosplus kernel (see the Readme). Centos isn't supported by VMWare but Red Hat is.

VMWare Server supports Ubuntu as a host. It's a little easier to setup XFS and VMWare on Ubuntu. VMWare server claims experimental support for Ubuntu Dapper. I am running it on two servers for testing and it is performing very well. As Ubuntu gains popularity, the choice may be clearer. For right now, Google University has more help for VMWare on Red Hat^W^WCentos than Ubuntu.

If your system is AMD64/EM64T, you may be tempted to load a 64-bit OS. Resist the temptation. VMWare now claims official support for x64 host operating systems, but in practice these are more trouble to get working than they are worth (MUI, authentication, and even stability can be problematic IMO). With hardware that supports 64-bit virtualization (many new Pentiums and Opterons), 64-bit guests can be run on both 32- and 64-bit hosts. Determining whether your CPU supports it is so difficult, VMWare made a tool to do it for you called the processor check utility. (It's about halfway down this page.) Down the road when 4GB+ is standard on laptops, VMWare's x64 support will probably be a lot better.

VMWare ESX runs without an underlying OS (it provides one of its own). It might be overkill for your needs though....

http://www.vmware.com/products/esx/

This also emphasizes why all P2P users should quarantine their P2P software inside a virtual machine. VMWare's recently renamed VMWare Server" product is free and is a perfect way to isolate your P2P software from the rest of your machine. I actually employ this method myself. Much of the documentation I download is infected and this method prevents that infection from getting back to the host server. Plus it's quite easy to rollback changes to a time before the infection and start over.

Good idea. It's been a long while since I've looked there and I'm probably due for an update.

BTW, you don't need a spare box. Try the VMWare free player for OS tests. All you need is a blank machine (since the free version won't make them for you). But Google can help you find those. QEMU can also make VMware compatible blank hd images too.

Just my opinion, but I would hold off on buying the third-party virtualization solution by Parallels (or any other company charging money) on the basis of a free open-source solution for now (the Q project based on QEMU) and the likelihood of a free commercial solution in the near future (VMware competing with Microsoft).

One person's experience with Q/QEMU on the Intel-based Macintosh computer.

Like VMWare?

If windows apps (or group of apps) were virtualized, we could use activex webpages without having to worry about spyware. Just close the virtualization window and it's gone.

On more than one occasion, I've trolled the warez sites for a "key generator". These are programs that you run that give you a workable key for a particular software product - but they are almost ALWAYS loaded with spyware and other easter eggs.

But, with VMWare, it's no big deal. Take a snapshot, download the generator & run, write down key, revert to snapshot. Snap! Done!

I treat such software products as a sort of "try before you buy" - and I've bought numerous products after reviewing them in this manner. (For example, Qarbon, Dreamweaver, PC/Anywhere)

VMWare is really, really cool, though - there's nothing quite like running 3 or 4 virtual systems in a coordinated network application, all on your laptop while in the airport waiting for the plane to land, to really see what it's all about.

Also, my Windows VM has b0rk3d itself several times after an otherwise innocent update or something, and in the case of a physical install, I would have had to re-install. But, with VMWare, I just revert to snapshot, and 5 minutes later, I'm back up and runing.

SWEET!

Redhat Fedora Linux makes a *great* host O/S for software development, especially when combined with VMWare. What's more, VMWare is FREE!

VMware's P2V Assistant http://www.vmware.com/products/p2v/ will allow you to convert your current Windows partition into a VM.

That's what VMWare is for!

Oh, wait...

;-)

Oh, wait...

;-)

No wait... seriously, if it weren't for games, I'm not sure but I think I would have switched to FreeBSD 6.0, and even upgraded my box to a Mac OS X capable box with an ATI card.

Yeah, well my dad can beat up your dad. Plus I heard Microsoft's "virtualization" has no hypervisor, so isn't really virtualization. And VMware gives theirs away for free, too. So, what were we talking about? Our sisters?

Could Cnet.com.au possibly be any more clueless? Boot camp is what it is. Virtualized guest OS solutions are already starting to appear (Parallels Workstation for Intel Macs is currently in beta and close to release; VMware is also semi-officially working on it). Both solutions have their uses. A virtual machine is no good for running games. Dual boot is no good for cutting and pasting between simultaneously running sessions. Doesn't mean they both don't have their uses.

As for Apple getting into the business of supporting the jungle of commodity PC hardware out there - they are not that stupid, and Cnet is an ass for even suggesting it. The reasons why this would be a fool's errand are well appreciated by anyone with a clue.

I was going to reply with this link. (Specifically the limitations.) Apparently they've added this since last time I switched back from Linux and it's not even a fully functional feature yet. It still doesn't look like it supports a lot of things I would need for, say, the Sims 2 or Half-Life 2. Maybe someday but not now. Especially considering that also in 5.0 they can't even get the sound to stop studdering on my machine. =O/

More links: Enabling Accelerated 3-D for a Virtual Machine, and also checkout Experimental Support for Direct3D for limitations and issues.

More links: Enabling Accelerated 3-D for a Virtual Machine, and also checkout Experimental Support for Direct3D for limitations and issues.

> When will 3d graphics be supported/available in GSX server?

The GSX does not support 3D graphics and I am not sure that this will be ported over from Workstation into a server product, like VMware Server.

Won't work, not likely to ever work. Server always runs VMs using a VNC-like remote connection which cannot handle 3D acceleration. Workstation always runs locally, so certain optimizations are possible. One of these optimizations is 3D graphics. It's in the codebase; but the UI that can make use of those 3D settings isn't a part of Server, and it's not possible to mix-and-match different UIs. Besides, "workstations" use fancy 3D graphics, not "servers"! ;-)

"Look carefully at VMware or Xen, and you'll notice that the "video card" inside the guest OS is a very barebones VESA card with minimal hardware accelleration features, and no hardware-accellerated GL/D3D at all." Strictly speaking this isn't true. VMWare 5.5 has (albeit very basic) 3D acceleration, and it is getting better with time. It's been awhile since I screwed around with it (enabling Aero Glass in a Vista beta was a total no-go) but when running XP as the guest OS I could run the basic DirectX spinning cube test in dxdiag, IIRC. For those interested, it's pretty easy to set up.

Reading about p2v here: http://www.vmware.com/products/p2v/ it doesn't sound like it could perform what you are talking about without a lot of processor work and a lot of time. It "transforms an image of an existing physical system into a VMware virtual machine." So you need to have an image of the computer first. If you had a hypothetical application that could look at someone's computer, transform the contents to an image and then deploy that image, it'd be amazingly processor intensive. Moore's law doesn't even assist, as operating systems are becoming weightier to fill in the power being supplied, and even if they weren't, applications certainly are. A few years back I would have been surprised when a game advertised itself as filling several DVDs, for example. Now, I wouldn't blink. In short, it's a neat idea, and if you were patient enough to implement a script or something to detect when the processor was idle and run only then it might work over the course of several months, but I'm sure it'd only work on a user with little/no knowledge.