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VMware

VMware. What is VMware?. VMware is virtual machine software It runs multiple operating systems on a single computer It’s an excellent testing and development platform It’s an enterprise-class server as well It’s a paradigm shift. Flavors of VMware. VMware Workstation GSX Server

Jims
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VMware

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  1. VMware

  2. What is VMware? • VMware is virtual machine software • It runs multiple operating systems on a single computer • It’s an excellent testing and development platform • It’s an enterprise-class server as well • It’s a paradigm shift

  3. Flavors of VMware • VMware Workstation • GSX Server • ESX Server

  4. VMware Workstation • Current version is 5.5 • Evaluation license key is valid for 30 days • This is a full working version • VMware has extended this for additional evaluation time if necessary • Runs on Windows or Linux • Retails for ~$189 • Upgrades after a year are ~$95 a workstation

  5. GSX Server • Able to run multiple servers or workstations on a single box • Meant for a small size server environments and larger-scale test environments • Scales to allow a test Active Directory domain, client/server environment, etc. • Can run on Windows or Linux • Retails for ~$1400 for a dual processor system • But you can do better than that!

  6. ESX Server • Enterprise-class virtual server • This is meant more for a live environment • ESX Server is built directly into a custom Linux kernel to optimize performance, stability, and modularization • Pricing: call them. We just purchased this for a 2 processor system with a bundled package for ~$3500.

  7. Why VMware Workstation is good • Saves the average administrator and developer hundreds of hours a year by allowing rapid, modular and convenient tests • You can run Windows on Linux and Linux on Windows • You can do presentations involving OS-based demonstrations on the same piece of hardware as the presentation using multiple VMware systems • It’s VERY cheap

  8. Why GSX Server is good • It’s less expensive than ESX Server • It allows for multi-processor environments and rapid tests of multiple systems • You can run a few servers or workstations on a single system • If you’re not comfortable with Linux, you can use a Windows Server as the host OS

  9. Why ESX Server is good • Create new systems faster with reduced hardware needs allowing for tailored and scalable memory and processor utilization • Decouple application workloads from underlying physical hardware for increased flexibility- read this is to separate your server applications and services onto individual servers (DNS, DHCP, SMS, IIS, AD, FTP, Brightmail, Sendmail, whatever). • Dramatically lower the cost of business continuity- if your virtual system dies, crank of a new box and run a restore in just a few minutes

  10. Things you can do to impress your friends • You can build a base test image, take a snapshot, run multiple tests on it, destroy it, and then just revert back like nothing happened • You can clone it for future work or pass it on to someone • You can set up small server-client/server test environments • I have an parallel Active Directory domain complete with an Exchange Server, SQL Server, IIS box, etc. • You can join your own domain and test concepts from permissions to group policy • You can pause in the middle of working on a project and come back to it later

  11. Things you can do to impress yourself • Run Symantec ghost into or out of your VMware system- Dell GX1’s and Pentium III systems work, others may not. In other words- put your current system into VMware easily. You can use the import tool for this as well. • Test out multi-homing systems by adding additional virtual NIC’s • Really learn how to script/MSI package by doing some really potentially destructive ones without hurting your live systems • Virtual Teams- set up a template system, distribute tests without damaging the original

  12. Things you can do to impress your boss • Leverage VMware to drastically improve your speed of testing, server, and workstation deployment • Do live demonstrations of concepts using VMware systems to drive a good point home • Reduce your wasted time by pre-configuring images that are in various stages of deployment

  13. Things you can do to impress your users • More thoroughly test upgrades, rollouts, and deployments to perfect the concept before going live. This means way less downtime for users and of course- a more polished look • Learn how to script if you’ve got more than just a few computers. This is a great platform to teach yourself on! • Learn how to MSI package software with custom builds and try deploying these onto test systems using Group Policy- computer goes on, and so does the new software- without fumbling!

  14. Recommendations • Minimum of a 1 GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 80GB drive • What I recommend for testing: 3GHz+ processor, 1GB+ RAM, 15k RPM SCSI purely for live VMware systems, 80GB drive for image storage

  15. Useful links • http://www.vmware.com • Don’t want vmware? Try Virtual Server 2005 R2 by Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx • Or Virtual PC 2004: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx • Buy from http://www.programmersparadise.com

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