VM /ETC

Archive for the ‘workstation’ Category

Almost as if to segue from my recent Virtumania Podcast episode about type 2 hypervisors, VMware has announced the release of the public betas for the latest versions of their popular Workstation and Player desktop products. Touting several new features and performance improvements, VMware Workstation 7.1 and Player 3.1 betas can now be downloaded from their VMware Beta Community pages.

I am downloading my copy as I write this post, but several new features have caught my attention.

• Open GL 2.1 support for Windows 7 and Vista guests
• Improved graphics support enabling high resolution videos in VMs
• Autologin for Windows Guests
• Inclusion of the OVF 1.0 command line tool to convert VMs to .OVF files for exporting to other hypervisors
• 8 way vCPU support in VMs
• up to 2TB virtual disks
• Direct Launch – drag icon to host desktop and seamlessly start an application inside a VM – even after closing VMware Workstation or Player.
• Support for Fedora 12 as a guest OS
• VMware Ace upgraded to version 3.7

Also, I can’t help but notice Known Issues from the Release Notes such as the following:

“Display

• Exiting FIFA 08 game on Windows 7 guests and hosts with Aero enabled, might cause the desktop wallpaper to turn black.
• There are known issues with the ATI Linux driver 10.2. VMware recommends that you use ATI Linux driver 9.11 for the best 3D user experience.”

Looks like I’ve got some new testing to do! (and maybe a new 3D games video to make!)

Copying more information from the Release Notes:

Read the rest of this entry »

After a few short weeks as a Release Candidate (RC), Version 7 of VMware Workstation is now officially available. The gallery above contains images provided by VMware of Workstation 7 in action. The following list points out highlighted product enhancements from the draft press release I was forwarded:

• VMware Workstation 7 is optimized for maximum performance when running on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 PCs and works seamlessly with Flip 3D and Aero Peek to show live virtual machine activity.
• Run even more 3D applications with support for Windows Aero, DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.1 in Windows virtual machines.
• VMware Workstation 7 streamlines software development and testing with new IDE integrations for the SpringSource Tools Suite and Eclipse IDE for Java & C/C++ along with Record Replay Debugging improvements that make it faster to find non-deterministic bugs.
• Run 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems with up to four virtual CPUs and 32GB of RAM dedicated to each virtual machine.

As previously mentioned in my post about the Workstation 7 RC, another significant new feature is that ESX/ESXi 4 is now a supported guest operating system. ESX/ESXi can now be selected in the drop down list of OSes when building a new VM. This greatly simplifies using VMware Workstation as a platform for administrator training and VCP certification preparation.

For more information about VMware Workstation 7 go to www.vmware.com/workstation. VM /ETC readers can also take advantage of an additional 10% discount when ordering Workstation here.

The next version of VMware Workstation was made publicly available as a release candidate this past Friday (10/02/09). Jason Joel’s post titled Workstation 7 Release Candidate Available! on the Workstation Zealot Blog helped announced the new version now downloadable from http://communities.vmware.com/community/beta/workstation.

The community site also lists several new Workstation 7 features:

As Vladan Seget points out in his post No more tweaks of VMX files. With VMware Workstation 7 you will be able to run ESX 4 with nested VMs without any tweaks, Workstation 7 lists ESX 4 as one of the supported guest operating systems making the process of configuring “ESX in a Box” an automated and much simpler procedure.

The version 7 release also coincides with new versions of VMware ACE and VMware Player as well.

Go to the communities page linked above for a serial number, download links, and documentation to get started with Workstation 7.

A public a release candidate of VMware Player 3.0 is now available to the public. The free Player finally has the ability to create new virtual machines (VMs), thus making it a viable alternative to other free, host based hypervisors such as VirtualBox and Microsoft’s Virtual PC. Not packing quite as many features as the licensed VMware Workstation, Player version 3.0 still offers a good enough platform for basic desktop testing and development.

More information and a download link is available at VMware Communities: VMware Player Release Candidate.

The Feature Highlights listed on the VMware Player 3.0 RC Page:

• The ability to create Virtual Machines
• Aero support for Windows 7 and Windows Vista guests!!!
• OpenGL support for Windows guests (give Google Earth a try!)
• New User Interface including a Virtual Machine Library
• Windows 7 support (as a Host and Guest OS)
• Automatically download and install the latest VMware Tools package
• Multiple Monitor Support
• Print from your VM without installing printer drivers. Virtual Printing courtesy of our friends at ThinPrint.
• ALSA Sound support on Linux hosts enables multiple VMs to play “music” concurrently
• VIX API support will let our coding fans write applications that can interact with their VMs

I have not had the opportunity to try the new Player yet, but I plan on downloading it soon and will probably post some screen shots when I get it installed.

I just received word from Duncan over at Yellow-bricks.com that the same Cyber Monday deal code, “CyberMondayDeal”, can be used for a 25% discount on VMware Workstation 6.5 as well as 50% discount on VMware Fusion 2.0! (Sorry, I forgot to include a link in my first post!)

I’m not sure how long the VMware Workstation deal will last, so hurry and get your copy today. Use my Telepal referal link (in the right column or at the end of this post) and be sure to enter the promo code above. It is a case sensitive code.

Go here to get the discounts!

VM /ETC has signed up for the VMware Referral Program. If you could use an additional 10% discount on VMware Fusion or Workstation click the badge below. You’ll also have the option to purchase VMware Virtual Infrastructure editions in packages that offer 33% discounts on the individually priced components of VI3.

Hey Citrix, Microsoft, or any other virtualization vendors: VM /ETC offers equal opportunity referrals

Save 10% on select VMware products!

I will also keep a copy of this badge in the right sidebar of the site until the promotion is over.

Thanks for supporting vmetc.com!

Several web sites have already reported the new releases of VMware Workstation 6.5, VMware Ace 2.5, and VMware Server 2.0, but I have not seen any mention of the new VMware Player 2.5. According to the VMware Player 2.5 Release Notes the latest version is dated 09.23.08 and is now available for download.

Some exciting new features of the latest version are the support for 3-D graphics, a GUI based Linux installer, faster performance for transferring files between guests and host as well as seamless windows on the host desktop (the popular Unity feature already in Fusion and the new Workstation version).

VMware Player is a free download from VMware that lets you run virtual machines (VM) on your desktop. Unlike Workstation, Player does not have the ability to create a new VM. However, using the online easyVMX virtual machine creator lets you work around this limitation.

The following is taken from the “What’s New” section of the previously mentioned Player Release Notes page: Read the rest of this entry »