VMware Workstation 5

asp:review

VMware Workstation 5

Compelling Reasons to Upgrade

By Mike Riley

It s hard to believe that what began as an intellectualcuriosity a few versions ago has become an information technology powerhousewith its most recent major release. If you read my previous review (located at http://www.aspnetpro.com/newsletterarticle/2003/05/asp200305mr_l/asp200305mr_l.asp),it s fairly obvious that I was impressed with VMware Workstation version 4.

The latest version, VMware Workstation 5, represents amilestone for the company, as it cements its product name and technicalcapability into the cornerstone of any serious x86-based computing enterprise. Fromhelp desk support and unit testing to application development and enterprisemanagement, VMware s success was a primary reason why Microsoft bought VMware scompetitor Connectix to embrace and engulf this fiscally and technicallychallenging opportunity.

Compelling Upgrades

Unlike a lot of other software products reaching maturityafter their fifth major point release, VMware has continued to evolvesubstantially, giving current VMware users a compelling reason to upgrade. Oneof the hottest additions to VMware Workstation 5 is a Teams feature that allowsmultiple virtual machines to be connected to a virtual private network segmenton the same desktop. Imagine running a sophisticated multi-tier, multi-platformapplication with fail-over, load-balance capabilities that could be broughtentirely online with the single click of the pause/resume icon. Think of thecustomer demonstration or technical evaluation possibilities of configuring agrid of systems emulating seriously complex machine interactions, all withinthe boundaries of a traveling laptop. This feature alone is worth every pennyof the upgrade, considering the savings in hardware costs, ease ofconfiguration, and portability of the solution.

Figure 1: VMware Workstation 5 isloaded with new features, including the ability to manage multiple virtualmachines as a combined team of systems running within their own privatenetwork.

An enhancement has also been made to the Snapshots feature,which now has the ability to capture an unlimited number of virtual machinestates. This is a huge improvement, as it effectively turns VMware Workstationinto a version control system for the guest operating system. Rather thanbacking up a multi-gigabyte virtual machine file every time a state change ismade (such as installing new drivers or an ominous system service that wormsits presence into the deepest recesses of the registry), the new multiplesnapshot feature captures the delta between virtual machine snapshot states making rollbacks to previous instances a breeze. Want to know what Service Pack1 does to a perfectly running Windows Server 2003, but dread the possibility ofreloading the OS in the event of a meltdown? Take a snapshot and transform thatapprehension into a comfortable compatibility testing opportunity. BesidesWindows Server 2003 and XP, think of this as a System Restore functionality nowavailable on the Windows 2000 Server and Linux operating systems!

But Wait, There s More...

Several other new features stand out as well. Templatescan be used to create links to cloned virtual machines, allowing teams to shareout VM configurations without copying the entire VM itself. This practice alsoallows the creation and maintenance of a virtual machine repository that can belinked to via a shared network drive, further minimizing distribution ofheavyweight files. Isochronus USB support allows the interaction of hostoperating system-enabled USB devices, and a new command-line interface via thevmrun command opens VMware Workstation to the world of scripts for everythingfrom automated testing scenarios to auto-launching of virtual machines whenanother might have crashed.

Performance continues to improve as well, this time mostnoticeably with more efficient memory utilization on the host system and vastlyimproved network performance within the virtual environment. This improvementmakes it possible to more accurately measure real-world distributed networkperformance benchmarks within the same physical machine. Host OS support notonly includes 32-bit versions of various Windows and Linux builds, but 64-bitversions, as well. Guest operating support has also been expanded to includethe latest Linux releases from Mandrake, Red Hat, and SUSE, as well as the JavaDesktop System and Windows Server 2003 running the SP1 beta. This release caneven allow the recording and playback of a virtual machine in AVI format,obviating the need for desktop presentation capturing software on either theWindows or Linux operating systems. The potential training and marketingenhancements are immense.

Figure 2: The Clone and Snapshopfeatures provide the ability to create version controlled changes to anyvirtual machine. Roll back to any previous snapshot or create a linked or fullclone of a virtual machine at any time.

Because VMware also runs on various Linux hosts, it allowsvarious other Linux or Windows guest operating systems to run on that platform.Not only does this bring a true Windows guest operating system hosted on aLinux system, but other Linux distributions as well. This provides a great wayto test a new Linux distro for compatibility (or curiosity sake) withoutsacrificing a PC to do so. Blowing away a completely configured, well-tunedsystem just to test a new release will be a thing of the past. While testingthe Linux version, I did have a compatibility problem with my Mandrivadistribution that required a kernel recompile, but after that it was smoothsailing and provided the identical feature set to the Windows VMwarecounterpart.

Conclusion

It s obvious I m excited about VMware Workstation 5 andrightly so. If you have never experienced the power an x86 virtual machine canprovide, VMware will blow you away with its near perfect, peppy emulation ofthe physical hardware equivalent. If you re already a satisfied VMwarelicensee, this upgrade is a must-have. Given all the 5-star features includedin this release, I can t wait to see what VMware has in store next!

MikeRiley is anadvanced computing professional specializing in emerging technologies and newdevelopment trends. He also is a contributing editor for asp.netPRO. Readers may contact Mike at mailto:[email protected].

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Web Site: http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_features.html

Price: Electronicdistribution, US$189; packaged distribution, US$199