History of Virtualization:

Virtualization was first developed in the 1960s to partition large, mainframe hardware for better hardware utilization. Today, computers based on x86 architecture are faced with the same problems of rigidity and underutilization that mainframes faced in the 1960s. VMware invented virtualization for the x86 platform in the 1990s to address underutilization and other issues, overcoming many challenges in the process. Today, VMware is the global leader in x86 virtualization, with over 300,000 customers, including 100% of the Fortune 100.

In the Beginning: Mainframe Virtualization

Virtualization was first implemented more than 30 years ago by IBM as a way to logically partition mainframe computers into separate virtual machines. These partitions allowed mainframes to “multitask”: run multiple applications and processes at the same time. Since mainframes were expensive resources at the time, they were designed for partitioning as a way to fully leverage the investment.

The Need for x86 Virtualization

Virtualization was effectively abandoned during the 1980s and 1990s when client-server applications and inexpensive x86 servers and desktops led to distributed computing. The broad adoption of Windows and the emergence of Linux as server operating systems in the 1990s established x86 servers as the industry standard. The growth in x86 server and desktop deployments led to new IT infrastructure and operational challenges. These challenges include:

Low Infrastructure Utilization. Typical x86 server deployments achieve an average utilization of only 10% to 15% of total capacity, according to International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm. Organizations typically run one application per server to avoid the risk of vulnerabilities in one application affecting the availability of another application on the same server.

Increasing Physical Infrastructure Costs. The operational costs to support growing physical infrastructure have steadily increased. Most computing infrastructure must remain operational at all times, resulting in power consumption, cooling and facilities costs that do not vary with utilization levels.

Increasing IT Management Costs. As computing environments become more complex, the level of specialized education and experience required for infrastructure management personnel and the associated costs of such personnel have increased. Organizations spend disproportionate time and resources on manual tasks associated with server maintenance, and thus require more personnel to complete these tasks.

Insufficient Failover and Disaster Protection. Organizations are increasingly affected by the downtime of critical server applications and inaccessibility of critical end user desktops. The threat of security attacks, natural disasters, health pandemics and terrorism has elevated the importance of business continuity planning for both desktops and servers.

High Maintenance end-user desktops. Managing and securing enterprise desktops present numerous challenges. Controlling a distributed desktop environment and enforcing management, access and security policies without impairing users’ ability to work effectively is complex and expensive. Numerous patches and upgrades must be continually applied to desktop environments to eliminate security vulnerabilities.

The VMware Solution: Full Virtualization of x86 Hardware

In 1999, VMware introduced virtualization to x86 systems to address many of these challenges and transform x86 systems into a general purpose, shared hardware infrastructure that offers full isolation, mobility and operating system choice for application environments.

Challenges & Obstacles to x86 Virtualization

Unlike mainframes, x86 machines were not designed to support full virtualization, and VMware had to overcome formidable challenges to create virtual machines out of x86 computers.

The basic function of most CPUs, both in mainframes and in PCs, is to execute a sequence of stored instructions (ie, a software program). In x86 processors, there are 17 specific instructions that create problems when virtualized, causing the operating system to display a warning, terminate the application, or simply crash altogether. As a result, these 17 instructions were a significant obstacle to the initial implementation of virtualization on x86 computers.

To handle the problematic instructions in the x86 architecture, VMware developed an adaptive virtualization technique that “traps” these instructions as they are generated and converts them into safe instructions that can be virtualized, while allowing all other instructions to be executed without intervention. The result is a high-performance virtual machine that matches the host hardware and maintains total software compatibility. VMware pioneered this technique and is today the undisputed leader in virtualization technology.

What is Virtualization?

Today’s x86 computer hardware was designed to run a single operating system and a single application, leaving most machines vastly underutilized. Virtualization lets you run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, with each virtual machine sharing the resources of that one physical computer across multiple environments. Different virtual machines can run different operating systems and multiple applications on the same physical computer. While others are leaping aboard the virtualization bandwagon now, VMware is the market leader in virtualization. Our technology is production-proven, used by more than 170,000 customers, including 100% of the Fortune 100.

Improve the efficiency and availability of IT resources and applications through virtualization. Start by eliminating the old “one server, one application” model and run multiple virtual machines on each physical machine. Free your IT admins from spending so much time managing servers rather than innovating. About 70% of a typical IT budget in a non-virtualized datacenter goes towards just maintaining the existing infrastructure, with little left for innovation.

An automated datacenter built on the production-proven VMware virtualization platform lets you respond to market dynamics faster and more efficiently than ever before. VMware vSphere delivers resources, applications—even servers—when and where they’re needed. VMware customers typically save 50-70% on overall IT costs by consolidating their resource pools and delivering highly available machines with VMware vSphere.

Run multiple operating systems on a single computer including Windows, Linux and more.

Let your Mac run Windows creating a virtual PC environment for all your Windows applications.

Reduce capital costs by increasing energy efficiency and requiring less hardware while increasing your server to admin ratio

Ensure your enterprise applications perform with the highest availability and performance

Build up business continuity through improved disaster recovery solutions and deliver high availability throughout the datacenter

Improve enterprise desktop management & control with faster deployment of desktops and fewer support calls due to application conflicts

Why Use Virtualization

there are several important reasons to take into account as to why you would want to use virtualization:

1. Data center consolidation and decreased power consumption

2. Simplified disaster recovery solutions

3. The ability to run Windows, Solaris, Linux and Netware operating systems and applications concurrently on the same server

4. Increased CPU utilization from 5-15% to 60-80%

5. The ability to move a “virtual machine” from one physical server to another without reconfiguring, which is beneficial when migrating to new hardware when the existing hardware is out-of-date or just fails

6. The isolation of each “virtual machine” provides better security by isolating one system from another on the network; if one “virtual machine” crashes it does not affect the other environments

7. The ability to capture (take a snapshot) the entire state of a “virtual machine” and rollback to that configuration, this is ideal for testing and training environments

8. The ability to obtain centralized management of IT infrastructure

9. A “virtual machine” can run on any x86 server

10. It can access all physical host hardware

11. Re-host legacy operating systems, Windows NT server 4.0 and Windows 2000 on new hardware and operating system

12. The ability to designate multiple “virtual machines” as a team where administrators can power on and off, suspend or resume as a single object

13. Provides the ability to simulate hardware; it can mount an ISO file as a CD-ROM and .vmdk files as hard disks

14. It can configure network adaptor drivers to use NAT through the host machine as opposed to bridging which would require an IP address for each machine on the network

15. Allow the testing of live CD’s without first burning them onto disks or having to reboot the computer

Choosing a Business Infrastructure Virtualization Solution

As virtualization is now a critical component to an overall IT strategy, it is important to choose the right vendor. VMware is the leading business virtualization infrastructure provider, offering the most trusted and reliable platform for building private clouds and federating to public clouds.

Find out how only VMware delivers on the core requirements for a business virtualization infrastructure solution.

1. Is built on a robust, proven foundation

2. Delivers a complete virtualization platform from desktop through the datacenter out to the public cloud

3. Provides the most comprehensive virtualization and cloud management

4. Integrates with your overall IT infrastructure

5. Is proven over 190,000 customers

And best of all, VMware delivers while providing

6. Low total-cost-of-ownership (TCO)

How Does Virtualization Work?

The VMware virtualization platform is built on a business-ready architecture. Use software such as VMware vSphere to transform or “virtualize” the hardware resources of an x86-based computer—including the CPU, RAM, hard disk and network controller—to create a fully functional virtual machine that can run its own operating system and applications just like a “real” computer. Each virtual machine contains a complete system, eliminating potential conflicts. VMware virtualization works by inserting a thin layer of software directly on the computer hardware or on a host operating system. This contains a virtual machine monitor or “hypervisor” that allocates hardware resources dynamically and transparently. Multiple operating systems run concurrently on a single physical computer and share hardware resources with each other. By encapsulating an entire machine, including CPU, memory, operating system, and network devices, a virtual machine is completely compatible with all standard x86 operating systems, applications, and device drivers. You can safely run several operating systems and applications at the same time on a single computer, with each having access to the resources it needs when it needs them.

Build your Datacenter on a Flexible Architecture

Virtualizing a single physical computer is just the beginning. You can build an entire virtual infrastructure, scaling across hundreds of interconnected physical computers and storage devices with VMware vSphere, a proven virtualization platform used as the foundation for building private and public clouds. You don’t need to assign servers, storage, or network bandwidth permanently to each application. Instead, your hardware resources are dynamically allocated when and where they’re needed within your private cloud. Your highest priority applications always have the necessary resources without wasting money on excess hardware only used at peak times. Connect this private cloud to a public cloud to create a hybrid cloud, giving your business the flexibility, availability and scalability it needs to thrive.

Manage your Resources with the Lowest TCO

It’s not just virtualization that’s important. You need the management tools to run those machines and the ability to run the wide selection of applications and infrastructure services your business depends on. VMware lets you increase service availability while eliminating error-prone manual tasks. IT operations are more efficient and effective with VMware virtualization. Your staff will handle double or triple the number of servers, giving users access to the services they need while retaining centralized control. Deliver built-in availability, security, and performance across the board, from the desktop to the datacenter.

Why Your Company Should Virtualize

Virtualizing your IT infrastructure lets you reduce IT costs while increasing the efficiency, utilization, and flexibility of your existing assets. Around the world, companies of every size benefit from VMware virtualization. Thousands of organizations—including all of the Fortune 100—use VMware virtualization solutions. See how virtualizing 100% of your IT infrastructure will benefit your organization.

Top 5 Reasons to Adopt Virtualization Software

1. Get more out of your existing resources: Pool common infrastructure resources and break the legacy “one application to one server” model with server consolidation.

2. Reduce datacenter costs by reducing your physical infrastructure and improving your server to admin ratio: Fewer servers and related IT hardware means reduced real estate and reduced power and cooling requirements. Better management tools let you improve your server to admin ratio so personnel requirements are reduced as well.

3. Increase availability of hardware and applications for improved business continuity: Securely backup and migrate entire virtual environments with no interruption in service. Eliminate planned downtime and recover immediately from unplanned issues.

4. Gain operational flexibility: Respond to market changes with dynamic resource management, faster server provisioning and improved desktop and application deployment.

5. Improve desktop manageability and security: Deploy, manage and monitor secure desktop environments that users can access locally or remotely, with or without a network connection, on almost any standard desktop, laptop or tablet PC.

Reduce Costs with a Virtual Infrastructure

Lower your capital and operational costs and improve operational efficiency and flexibility. Go beyond server consolidation and deploy a standard virtualization platform to automate your entire IT infrastructure. VMware customers have harnessed the power of virtualization to better manage IT capacity, provide better service levels, and streamline IT processes. We coined a term for virtualizing the IT infrastructure–we call it the virtual infrastructure.

What is a Virtual Infrastructure?

A virtual infrastructure lets you share your physical resources of multiple machines across your entire infrastructure. A virtual machine lets you share the resources of a single physical computer across multiple virtual machines for maximum efficiency. Resources are shared across multiple virtual machines and applications. Your business needs are the driving force behind dynamically mapping the physical resources of your infrastructure to applications—even as those needs evolve and change. Aggregate your x86 servers along with network and storage into a unified pool of IT resources that can be utilized by the applications when and where they’re needed. This resource optimization drives greater flexibility in the organization and results in lower capital and operational costs.

 

A virtual infrastructure consists of the following components:

Bare-metal hypervisors to enable full virtualization of each x86 computer.

Virtual infrastructure services such as resource management and consolidated backup to optimize available resources among virtual machines

Automation solutions that provide special capabilities to optimize a particular IT process such as provisioning or disaster recovery.

Decouple your software environment from its underlying hardware infrastructure so you can aggregate multiple servers, storage infrastructure and networks into shared pools of resources. Then dynamically deliver those resources, securely and reliably, to applications as needed. This pioneering approach lets our customers use building blocks of inexpensive industry-standard servers to build a self-optimizing datacenter and deliver high levels of utilization, availability, automation and flexibility.

Bring Virtual Infrastructure Benefits to your Datacenter

Gain the benefits of virtualization in production-scale IT environments by building your virtual infrastructure with the leading virtualization platform from VMware. VMware Infrastructure 3 unifies discrete hardware resources to create a shared dynamic platform, while delivering built–in availability, security and scalability to applications. It supports a wide range of operating system and application environments, as well as networking and storage infrastructure. We have designed our solutions to function independently of the hardware and operating system so you have a broad platform choice. Our solutions provide a key integration point for hardware and infrastructure management vendors and partners to deliver differentiated value that can be applied uniformly across all application and operating system environments.

What is a Virtual Machine?

A virtual machine is a tightly isolated software container that can run its own operating systems and applications as if it were a physical computer. A virtual machine behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains it own virtual (ie, software-based) CPU, RAM hard disk and network interface card (NIC).

An operating system can’t tell the difference between a virtual machine and a physical machine, nor can applications or other computers on a network. Even the virtual machine thinks it is a “real” computer. Nevertheless, a virtual machine is composed entirely of software and contains no hardware components whatsoever. As a result, virtual machines offer a number of distinct advantages over physical hardware.

Virtual Machines Benefits

Compatibility

Just like a physical computer, a virtual machine hosts its own guest operating system and applications, and has all the components found in a physical computer (motherboard, VGA card, network card controller, etc). As a result,

virtual machines are completely compatible with all standard x86 operating systems, applications and device drivers, so you can use a virtual machine to run all the same software that you would run on a physical x86 computer.

Isolation

While virtual machines can share the physical resources of a single computer, they remain completely isolated from each other as if they were separate physical machines. If, for example, there are four virtual machines on a single physical server and one of the virtual machines crashes, the other three virtual machines remain available. Isolation is an important reason why the availability and security of applications running in a virtual environment is far superior to applications running in a traditional, non-virtualized system.

Encapsulation

A virtual machine is essentially a software container that bundles or “encapsulates” a complete set of virtual hardware resources, as well as an operating system and all its applications, inside a software package. Encapsulation makes virtual machines incredibly portable and easy to manage. For example, you can move and copy a virtual machine from one location to another just like any other software file, or save a virtual machine on any standard data storage medium, from a pocket-sized USB flash memory card to an enterprise storage area networks (SANs).

Hardware Independence

Virtual machines are completely independent from their underlying physical hardware. For example, you can configure a virtual machine with virtual components (eg, CPU, network card, SCSI controller) that are completely different from the physical components that are present on the underlying hardware. Virtual machines on the same physical server can even run different kinds of operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc).

When coupled with the properties of encapsulation and compatibility, hardware independence gives you the freedom to move a virtual machine from one type of x86 computer to another without making any changes to the device drivers, operating system, or applications. Hardware independence also means that you can run a heterogeneous mixture of operating systems and applications on a single physical computer.

Use Virtual Machines as the Building Blocks of your Virtual Infrastructure

Virtual machines are a fundamental building block of a much larger solution: the virtual infrastructure. While a virtual machine represents the hardware resources of an entire computer, a virtual infrastructure represents the interconnected hardware resources of an entire IT infrastructure—including computers, network devices and shared storage resources. Organizations of all sizes use VMware solutions to build virtual server and desktop infrastructures that improve the availability, security and manageability of mission-critical applications.

VMware Workstation:

VMware is a virtualization platform where you can install multiple Operating Systems (OS) on your desktop or laptop computer.

For example, if your computer is running Windows Vista but you want to experiment with Windows 7 for development or certification, you can install a guest OS of Windows 7. In fact, you can install an entire virtual domain on a single computer.

With VMware Workstation, you no longer need to purchase multiple physical computers to meet your development or certification needs. A desktop or laptop with good processing power and plenty of available memory is all that you will need to unlock your desktop from a single OS to multiple OS’s.

For example, my current configuration is a 64-Bit computer with a quad-processor and 8GB of RAM. It allows me to run up to 10 virtual machines simultaneously. If your computer is 32-bit with 2-4 GB of RAM, you can run 1-4 virtual machines simultaneously. You can experiment with the memory settings depending on the specifications of the computer you own.

VMware Workstation is a virtual machine software suite for x86 and x86-64 computers from VMware, a division of EMC Corporation, which allows users to set up multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual machines (VMs) and use one or more of these virtual machines simultaneously with the hosting operating system. Each virtual machine instance can execute its own guest operating system, including Windows, Linux, BSD variants, and others. In simple terms, VMware Workstation allows one physical machine to run multiple operating systems simultaneously, whereas other VMware products help manage or migrate VMware virtual machines across multiple physical host machines. Workstation is sold and developed by VMware; VMware Player is a similar program with fewer features supplied free of charge.

VMware Workstation supports bridging to existing host network adapters, CD-ROM devices, hard disk drives, and USB devices (including USB Isochronous devices such as webcams, microphones etc.), and provides the ability to simulate some hardware. For example, it can mount an ISO file as a CD-ROM, and .vmdk files as hard disks, and can configure its network adapter driver to use network address translation (NAT) through the host machine rather than bridging through it (which would require an IP address for each guest machine on the host network).

VMware workstation continues to be the most advanced virtualization software for desktop and laptop computers. It enhancing the productivity of technical professionals and the organizations. VMware workstation is essential for all technical professional like System administrators, software developers, call centers and support engineers, sales executives and engineers who run different software on different OS platform for demos, users who need to run Linux on windows system.

VMware workstation installs onto the host operating system. It is secure virtual machines that encapsulate an operating system and its applications. Each virtual machine has its own CPU, Memory, disks and I/O devices etc. We can run any application on virtual machine that will run on a standard PC like MS office, internet software, coral draw, Adobe Photoshop etc.

VMware workstations runs on standard x86 based hardware with Intel and AMD processors and most windows or Linux host operating system minimum hardware requirement  is 1GHz or faster processor, 2GB RAM, and at least 1.5GB of free disk space depending on the guest operating system you want to install.

VMware Workstation System Requirements

The hardware requirements are as follows:

1. Standard x86?compatible or x86?64?compatible personal computer

2. 1.3GHz or faster CPU minimum

3. Multiprocessor systems are supported

4. Support for 64?bit guest operating systems is available with Intel VT or AMD?V CPUs

5. Operating system installation media (disk or disk image) for virtual machines

6. For Windows 7 Aero Graphics Support:

a. Intel Dual Core, 2.2GHz and above or AMD Athlon 4200+ and above

b. nVidia GeForce 8800GT and above or ATI Radeon HD 2600 and above

c. At least 3GB of host system memory

7. 64-bit guest operating systems require a 64-bit processor and a BIOS compatible with x86 virtualization.[18] Intel processors require Intel VT hardware virtualization technology as Intel 64-bit processors without hardware virtualization technology do not have segmentation support in long mode.[18] Only AMD64 processors of revision D or later can run 64-bit guests

8. Workstation 8 is the first version that requires a x86-64-compatible CPU

Version history

Major releases:

1995 - VMware releases Workstation 1.0 for Linux.

2001-11-01 - VMware releases Workstation 3.0.

2002-04-09 - Workstation 3.1 is released at Microsoft Tech-Ed 2002[5]

2003-03-23 - Workstation version 4.0 is released.[6]

2004-04-05 - VMware announces the release of Workstation version 4.5.[7]

2005-04-11 - Workstation version 5.0 is released.[8]

2005-09-12 - VMware updates Workstation to version 5.5.[9]

2007-05-09 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.0.[10]

2008-09-23 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.5.0[11]

2009-10-26 - VMware releases Workstation version 7[12]

2011-09-14 - VMware releases Workstation version 8[1

VMware Tools:

VMware Tools is a package with drivers and other software that can be installed in guest operating systems to increase their performance or VMware Tools, a set of utilities that enhance virtual machine performance and host/guest integration.

It has several components, including the following:

Drivers for the emulated hardware:

o VESA-compliant graphics for the guest machine to access high screen resolutions

o Network drivers for the vmxnet2 and vmxnet3 NIC

o Ensoniq AudioPCI audio

o Mouse integration

Drag-and-drop file support

Clipboard sharing between host and guest

Time synchronization capabilities (guest syncs with host machine's clock)

Support for Unity, a feature that allows seamless integration of applications with the host desktop

In the current version of VMware Workstation (VMware Workstation 7), the VMware Tools are automatically installed so you no longer have to worry about whether you remembered to install the VMware Tools or not. The VMware Tools install the following components:

VMware Tools service

VMware device drivers

VMware user process

VMware Tools control panel

Install VMware Tools for Windows guest

This means you have already successfully installed and configured VMware Server or VMware Workstation. This also means you have successfully installed a Windows guest operating system. Now, it's time to enhance it.  It's very simple. In the main menu of the VMware (Server) Console, click VM > Install VMware Tools.

This will popup an installation wizard inside the guest. This is identical to any other Windows installation. Click Install, follow the menu and that's it. After the installation is complete, reboot.

After the reboot, check the system tray. It should have a VMware icon in it, signifying that the VMware Tools are running. Bob's your uncle.

Working with the VMware Tools

Open VMware Workstation from the start menu and select your virtual machine from the sidebar (Figure A). Power On your virtual machine (VM) by choosing VM | Power | Power On.

Figure A: The sidebar displays all your virtual machines.

Once your virtual machine is powered on, click on the Start button and Control Panel. Once the Control Panel opens, choose VMware Tools as shown in Figure B.

 

Figure B: Opening the VMware Tools via the Control Panel

 

Working with the Options Tab in VMware Tools

The Options Tab allows you to set the time synchronization between your Host and Guest (VM). Selecting this checkbox (Figure C) keeps the time synchronized between your host and guest computer.

Periodically, the Host checks the guest VM and if the time is incorrect, it is correctly synchronized.

 

Figure C: The Options Tab

Furthermore, this tab allows you to display whether you want the VMware Tools to display in your taskbar and whether you want to be notified via the taskbar if a VMware Tools update is available.

 

Working with the Devices Tab in VMware Tools

The Devices tab allows you to connect removable devices to your virtual machines such as floppy drives, DVD/CD-ROM drives, ISO images, USB drives, network, and sound adapters.

Alternatively, you can add/remove devices if you edit the settings of a newly created virtual machine.

 

Figure D: Working with the Devices tab

 

Working with the  Scripts Tab in VMware Tools

The Scripts tab allows you to run scripts that help automate your virtual machine(s).

For example, you can choose a script from the dropdown menu and click Run Now. Click the dropdown and experiment with the system delivered scripts to create your ideal virtual machine(s).

 

Figure E: Working with the Scripts Tab

 

Working with the Shrink Tab in VMware Tools

The Shrink Tab allows you to reclaim unused disk space in a virtual disk.

If you balloon a virtual machine and then delete the files, the virtual machine remains in a ballooned state with empty space. Shrinking a VM will erase this empty space and compact your virtual machine.

 

Figure F: Working with the Shrink Tab

 

Working with the About Tab in VMware Tools

The About tab displays VMware’s build number and copyright information.

 

Figure G: Working with the About Tab

 

Third-party resources

Ready-to-use virtual machines

Many ready-made virtual machines (VMs) which run on VMWare Player, Workstation, and other virtualization software are available[28] for specific purposes, either for purchase or free of charge; for example a free Linux-based "browser appliance" with the Firefox browser installed[29] which can be used for safe Web browsing; if infected or damaged it can be discarded and replaced by a clean copy. The appliance can be configured to automatically reset itself after each use so personal information is not stored. VMs distributed legally only have freely distributable operating systems, as operating systems on VMs must be licensed; ready-to-use Microsoft Windows VMs, in particular, are not distributed, except for evaluation versions.

List of VMware software

Desktop software

VMware ThinApp (formerly known as Thinstall)

VMware ACE (Assured Computing Environment)

VMware Express (for accessing Windows applications from a Linux desktop[1])

VMware Fusion (for Mac Desktops)

VMware Player

VMware View (formerly VMware VDM)

VMware Workstation

Server software and datacenter products

VMware vSphere 5

VMware vSphere 4 (rebranded version VMware Infastructure)

VMware Infrastructure 3

VMware ESXi (formerly VMware ESX Server ESXi edition)

VMware ESX (formerly VMware ESX Server)

VMware Server (formerly VMware GSX Server)

VMware vCenter Application Discovery Manager (formerly EMC Ionix Application Discovery Manager)

VMware vCenter AppSpeed

VMware vCenter Converter (formerly VMware P2V)

VMware vCenter Lab Manager (formerly VMware Lab Manager)

VMware vCenter Lifecycle Manager

VMware vCenter Operations Standard / Advanced / Enterprise (formerly Integrien Alive)

VMware vCenter Orchestrator

VMware vCenter Server (formerly VMware VirtualCenter)

VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager

VMware vCenter Stage Manager (formerly VMware Stage Manager)

VMware vCenter Update Manager (ESX/ESXi Host, Guest OS (Windows & Linux) and Virtual Appliance Patch Management)

VMware Capacity Planner

VMware Data Recovery

VMware Server: 8 Must-Know Tips and Tricks

Some VMware tips and tricks that can make using VMware easier than ever.

 

1. Enabling Virtual Network Computing

A handy tip for all of us that need to access the various servers remotely is Virtual Network Computing (VNC). VMware Server comes with VNC preinstalled; all you have to do is enable and configure it. To do this you must modify the virtual machine’s configuration file (.vmx) while the virtual machine is powered off.

First open the .vmx file in a text editor and add the following line:

RemoteDisplay.vnc.enabled = TRUE

This will enable standard VNC support. Now you can power on the virtual device and connect! VNC lets you interact with your PC from any other computer or mobile device on the Internet. So, for example, you can access the files on your home computer from your work computer, and vice versa.

2. Downloading Preconfigured Appliances

Why spend the time building a server when you can download a pre-built one? There are many pre-built servers to choose from, all available on the web. Technically they are free, but keep in mind you will still need to pay for licenses.

The benefits to these appliances are:

The appliances come with the OS and applications installed

You can simply install and run the appliance — no need to install the OS and apps

They are a great way to build a test environment

Several vendors provide these appliances, including Microsoft and VMware. VMware’s site has a section specifically devoted to appliances, called the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace. The Virtual Appliance Marketplace is a great source for downloading virtual appliances.

 

3. Increasing Performance

To increase performance on your virtual machines, there are several things you can do. The first thing you should always do is install the VMware tools on every virtual machine. The VMware tools contain drivers that are designed to increase virtual machine performance.

Next you can defragment your virtual drives regularly just as you would with a physical drive. You can also increase performance by scheduling antivirus and backup programs to run during off-peak hours when use is low, and turning off screen savers.

To further increase performance, VMware advises that you disable unused resources to free system resources. Items that you should evaluate and disable if not used include:

COM port 1

COM port 2

LPT port 1

Floppy drive

CD-ROM Auto-Detect

USB adapters

Disabling these devices will free up IRQ resources and eliminate IRQ sharing conflicts within the guest operation system that can cause performance problems. Remember, you should enable devices only when you need them.

 

4. Disabling CTRL-ALT-DEL

When you have a Virtual Machine loaded and you press CTRL-ALT-DEL it can cause various issues depending on the OS, especially with Linux hosts. VMware uses CTRL-ALT-INS in place of this command on virtual hosts and it can simplify your life to disable VMware from recognizing the CTRL-ALT-DEL command.

To make VMware ignore this key combination all you have to do is add the line:

mks.ctlAltDel.ignore = "TRUE"

to the "C:\Users\All Users\VMware\VMware Workstation\config.ini" file. Doing so instructs VMware to ignore the CTRL-ALT-DEL so you can eliminate the annoying pop-up message that says “VMware has detected you pressed CTRL-ALT-DEL.”

 

5. Using VMware Virtual Disk Manager

The Virtual Disk Manager allows you to manage your virtual disks within VMware. You can perform many tasks including growing, creating, shrinking, and defragmenting disks — all without powering on the Virtual Device.

To defragment your disks simply use the command: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe-d myVDisk.vmdk

To shrink a virtual disk without powering on the Virtual Device (Windows hosts only), use this command: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe-k myVDisk.vmdk

To expand the size of a virtual disk so it is larger than the size specified when you created it use: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe-x 45Gb myVDisk.vmdk. This however, will not expand the guest partition, you will have to use disk management software for that.

 

6. Using the Web Interface

VMware Server comes with a web based management tool. The VMware Management Interface allows you to manage most aspects of your Virtual Devices from one simple interface. With the web based tool you can:

Power on, suspend, resume, reset and power off the virtual machines

Connect the VMware Server Console to a given virtual machine

View details about the Virtual Devices, including system summary, hardware information, any connected users and a log of recent events

Setup secure console and management interface sessions with SSL for administrators

Change the start order and start/stop delay time of auto start Virtual Devices

 

7. Configuring Auto Start and Stop

If the web interface is not installed, you can set the order in which Virtual Devices start and stop, as well as the start and stop delay time, manually. To do this, edit the config file of the server, which can be found at:

Windows host = \Documents and Settings\All Users\ApplicationData\VMware\VMware Server\config.ini

Linux host = /etc/vmware/config

To set the delay start / stop time of the Virtual Devices use the following:

autoStart.defaultStartDelay= "300"

autoStart.defaultStopDelay= "300"

The value we set is in seconds; so 300 seconds would be 5 minutes.

To set the start and stop order of our Virtual Devices use:

autostart= "poweron"

autostart.order= "10”

Set  #1 to 10, #2 to 20….etc

autostop.order= "10"

Set  #1 to 10, #2 to 20….etc

 

8. Backing-Up Virtual Devices

As with any device, you want to make sure to back up your data. The simplest method is just to back up the Virtual Devices Host directory and if you need to restore — you just restore the files. However, you should never backup the Virtual devices files on the VMware Server host if the Virtual Device is powered on.

First, either suspend or shut down the virtual machine before backing up its directory. Attempting to back up a powered on Virtual Device can cause it to hang. ALos, be sure to test your backup method before implementing it.

If you can’t take your server down, or just want to back up data, treat the Virtual Device like any other device. Back it up by installing backup software and connecting to backup media.

Creating a Virtual Machine:

1. Installing Windows XP on VMware Server, ESX, Workstation, ACE or GSX

1. Click the "Create Virtual Machines" button in VMware, then select Windows XP as the guest operating system. Click "Next" to use the default CPU, memory and hard drive options. You can also customize these options, just make sure not to set them lower than the recommended number, which is shown in parenthesis next to the option. Be sure to leave the "Datastore" option as standard, this will allow you to access the installation ISO and the floppy image.

2. Click the "Virtual Device Node" option for the "CD/DVD Drive" section. Select the Windows XP installation ISO in the list presented. If you are using a physical Windows XP installation disc, leave the default "Host CD/DVD Drive" option checked.

3. Click the "Use a Floppy Image" option in the "Floppy Drive" section. Select the floppy image in the list presented. Click "Finish" to create the virtual machine.

4. Click the "Console" to start the virtual machine. If you are using a physical Windows XP CD, insert it now. The virtual machine will start from the CD or ISO image, and you'll see the Windows Setup screen.

5. Press "F6" in the setup screen to load SCSI drivers.6. Connect the floppy image to the virtual machine by clicking the floppy icon in the Console window, then

press "S" when prompted to load the contents.7. Press "Enter" and continue normally with the installation. The virtual machine will reboot when the

installation is finished. Click the "Install VMware Tools" option in the main VMware screen to run the setup program and follow the prompts to install VMware Tools.

Install VMware Workstation

Your first step is to register at vmware.com. After completing the registration step, you will receive an email with an evaluation key and a link to download the product. You need either the 32-bit or 64-bit VMware Workstation bundle. You can identify the download by the .bundle suffix. Download the one matching your architecture.

Next, you need to run the bundle from the command line. The bundle is a wrapper script. As a security precaution, it is shipped without the executable bit, so you will need to turn it on before you can invoke the script.

chmod +x <VMware Workstation>.bundle

Then, run the bundle. You need to install as root. Later, you can run either as root or a standard user. Please note that the settings for each user will be separate.

./<VMware Workstation>.bundle

You will be asked to accept the License Agreement:

Optionally, you can configure VMware Workstation to use Integrated Virtual Debugger. If none is found, you will have the option to install Eclipse and configure it. Most users will not need bother.

The Workstation will now begin to install:

This is only step one. Now, you need to go back to the command line and execute:

vmware

This will begin the compilation of relevant modules. For this, you will need gcc, make, kernel sources, and  kernel headers for the running kernel. I've explained this step on numerous occasions, including the setup of VMware Tools in Linux Mint, the setup of VMware Server on Ubuntu, my Fedora 10 Cambridge review, and others.

Again, an EULA:

And you're done:

How to Install Windows 7 on VMware:

1. Install VMware first, then click "New Virtual Machine" to create a new virtual machine in VMWare.

Create a new virtual machine

2. Choose a type of configuration. In the following page, you can see "Typical" was selected by default.Normally, you can click "Next" directly to "create a workstation 6.5 virtual machine in a few easy steps".

Setup windows 7 in vmware

3. Select "Install disc image file(iso)", then browse your disc image file of Windows 7, click "Next".

install windows 7 in VMware

4. Type your windows 7 product key and personalize information in the following dialog, include Full name, Password. Write down your Full name and Password, because it will be used for login to the Windows 7 Virtual Machine.

install windows 7 in VMware

5. Name your Windows 7 virtual machine, so as to others connect to your windows 7 virtual machine via local area network.

name the windows 7 virtual machine

6. Distribute Maxium disk size for your Windows 7, The Virtual machine's hard disk is stored as one or more files on the host computer's physical disk. These file(s) start small and become lager as your add applications, files, and data to your virtual machine.The Maximum disk space must smaller than the disk whick the Windows 7 virtual machine will be located. Generally speaking, to install and use Windows 7, you'd better split more than 8GB in vmware disk. I recommand you distribute 16 GB by default.Click "next".

distribute disk space of windows 7 virtual machine

7. Click "Finish" to start install Windows 7 virtual machine.

install windows 7 in VMware

8. Wait for a moment, VMWare will startup automatically.

9. After virtual machine installation start, you will see the following dialog. Select your language, time'and currency format, keyboard or input method, then click "Next".

choose language of your Windows 7

10. Click "Install Now" to start install your Windows 7 virtual machine use VMware.

install windows 7 in VMware

11. Waiting for a moment. In the following picture, you can see Vmware is installing Windows 7 virtual machine for you.

install windows 7 in VMware

12. Read the license terms of install Windows 7 and accept it, then click "Next".

accept the license

13. Click Custom(advanced), but do not upgrade.

install windows 7 in VMware

14. Choose a hard drive to install your Windows 7. Then click "next". The hard drive must larger than "Maxium disk size" of your Windows 7 virtual machine.

Choose a hard drive to install windows 7 in VMware

If you want to partition it, you can click "Drive options (advanced)".

15. Waiting for installing Windows 7 virtual machine, it will take you about 10 minutes.

setup windows 7 in vmware

16. After installing, Windows 7 virtual machine will be restarted automatically.

windows 7 is starting

17. Wait for a moment. Setup is preparing your Windows 7 virtual machine for first use.

preparing your windows 7 virtual machine for first use

18. Type a username and computer name for your Windows 7 virtual machine, then click "next".

choose a username for your account in windows 7

19. Type a password twice for your Windows 7 virtual machine, then click "next"

set a password for your Windows 7 virtual machine

20. Type your windows 7 product key in the following dialog, then click "Next".

type windows 7 product key

21. Click Use recommended settings to protect your virtual computer and improve Windows 7 automatically.

security settings of windows 7

22. Review time and date settings of Windows 7 virtual machine.

set time and date of Windows 7

23. After a few minutes, you will see desktop of windows 7 display on your VMWare.

o Windows 7 is finalizing settings.

Windows 7 VMware

o Windows 7 virtual machine is preparing desktop.

Windows 7 virtual machine starting

o Destop of Windows 7 virtual machine. Now you finished install Windows 7 virtual machine use VMware.

install windows 7 compeleted

Tips : You can also install windows Vista, Windows XP in VMware use this Tutorial.

Working with a Virtual Machine:

Now that your virtual machine (Figure 10) is ready, you can use it like it was a physical computer. If you choose View | Full Screen, you can work with your virtual machine a full-screen mode. Other options you have when working with virtual machines is the following:

Power On a Virtual Machine

Power Off a Virtual Machine

Suspend a Virtual Machine into Memory

Snapshot a Virtual Machine

Figure 10: Windows 7 Virtual Machine