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/virtu
 Or Virtual PC 2004:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.m
 Buy from http://www.programmersparadise.com