Using VMWare

jpeezy55

I have used Virtual-PC in the past and did not have any problems setting up virtual machines (I have Server 2003, 2000, XP, ME, and 98 ). What I was wondering is if it is just as easy to set them up using VMWare? I am thinking of making the switch (once I get my new machine built) and have heard that VMWare is a little more flexible in what settings you can change and use. VPC is a good product, but if VMWare is "better" than I am going to switch.

Anyway, for those who have used it or do use it, is it easy to set up and run? I will just be making additional clients, and maybe one server since I have an actual server running already to allow for some trusts, etc...

Sie

I currently use it and its very simple to setup.

Easy access to add multiple drives, devices to a machine.

Easy Virtual network setup to designate DHCP and DNS to your virtual networks. Allows bridged, NAT, Host Only, Virtual Only networks.

Nice and simple to use, used VPC for a bit then switched and never thought of going back.

Running 2K3 server, 3 clients (2 XP & 1 *nix distro) Had no problems so far.

[Edit - Never used VPC enough to be able to compare fully so couldnt say which is 'better']

JDMurray

I use both VPC and VMWare; in my humble opinion, VMWare is faster and better, even if VPC is now free. VMWare Player is free too, and VMWare images for practically every OS distro are freely available as well.

Just don't try to run NetWare on VMWare, unless you wish to experience much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

rcoop

Not sure if this has changed, but the time I tried VPC it didn't support USB, and since the software I run requires USB security keys, it wasn't an option. (Can anyone confirm if this is still true?)

I have used VMWare Workstation for the past two and a half years, and it is an excellent product (I've even got a VM of Solaris 10 running now), and if you have plenty of diskspace and RAM, it is simply amazing... especially since you now can have branches off of snapshots, and it is simply point and click to head to another configuration of the VM.

Complaints:
The VM's will get huge, both in size and number of files. With a couple of snapshots a VM can easily get to well over 10GB in size, and will consist of a number of files. We recently had issues when trying to move a zipped VM that was around 5.8GB onto an external 400GB HD formatted with FAT32... which has a maximum file size of 4GB, so it is not a bad idea to run NTFS on the host OS.

There is really no way to "natively" compress VM's, they seem to grow and grow, even after defragmenting them and the host system.

Although I haven't really checked it out, I have heard Parallels http://www.parallels.com/ is a great VM, and not only are your VMs in a single file, they have a utility to convert from VMWare VM's, they also sell a compression for VM's that even compresses VMWare VM's. I was amazed when I saw a fellow consultant run a demonstration of our software (which is Windows only, and requires a USB security key) running within a Parallels VM (Windows Server 2003, I believe) on one of the new Intel Mac PowerBooks. Not sure if it was just the hardware it was running on, but the application was definitely faster running on Parallels on the Mac, than my VMWare on my XP Pro box.

Take Care,
Rcoop

jpeezy55

rcoop wrote:

Although I haven't really checked it out, I have heard Parallels http://www.parallels.com/ is a great VM, and not only are your VMs in a single file, they have a utility to convert from VMWare VM's, they also sell a compression for VM's that even compresses VMWare VM's. I was amazed when I saw a fellow consultant run a demonstration of our software (which is Windows only, and requires a USB security key) running within a Parallels VM (Windows Server 2003, I believe) on one of the new Intel Mac PowerBooks. Not sure if it was just the hardware it was running on, but the application was definitely faster running on Parallels on the Mac, than my VMWare on my XP Pro box.

Take Care,
Rcoop

I'll play guinea pig here and I have downloaded the trial versions of both the workstation and compressor...I figure that since I am just setting things up, I don't have much to lose right now...

I just wonder how long they will last when they charge $49.95 for their product and there are 2 that are FREE for the taking...

I'll let you know what I think of it in a few days after I've had a chance to kick it around.