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VMware Workstation

 
Wikipedia: VMware Workstation
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VMware Workstation
VMware Workstation Logo
VMware Workstation.png
VMware Workstation running Ubuntu under Windows
Developer(s) VMware, Inc.
Initial release 1999[citation needed]
Stable release 7 [1] / 2009-10-26; 35 days ago [2]
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Linux
Platform x86-compatible
Available in English
Development status Active
Type Virtual machine
License Commercial, Proprietary
Website http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/
The Snapshot Manager in VMware Workstation 6

VMware Workstation is a virtual machine software suite for x86 and x86-64 computers from VMware, a division of EMC Corporation. This software suite allows users to set up multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual computers and to 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, such as Windows, Linux, BSD variants, or others. In simple terms, VMware Workstation allows one physical machine to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. Other VMware products help manage or migrate VMware virtual machines across multiple host machines.

Besides bridging to existing host network adapters, CD-ROM devices, hard disk drives, and USB devices (including USB Isochronous devices such as webcams, microphones etc), VMware Workstation also 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 also allows the testing of live CDs without first burning them onto physical discs or rebooting the computer. One can also take multiple successive snapshots of an operating system running under VMware Workstation. Each snapshot allows you to roll back the virtual machine to the saved status at any time. The ability to use multiple snapshots makes VMware Workstation useful as a tool for salespersons demonstrating complex software products, and for developers setting up virtual development or test environments. VMware Workstation includes the ability to designate multiple virtual machines as a team which administrators can then power on and off, suspend, and resume as a single object — making it particularly useful for testing client-server environments.

Contents

Version history

  • 2001-11-01 - VMware releases Workstation 3.0.
  • 2002-04-09 - Workstation 3.1 is released at Microsoft Tech-Ed 2002[3]
  • 2003-03-23 - Workstation version 4.0 is released.[4]
  • 2004-04-05 - VMware announces the release of Workstation version 4.5.[5]
  • 2005-04-11 - Workstation version 5.0 is released.[6]
  • 2005-09-12 - VMware updates Workstation to version 5.5.[7]
  • 2007-05-09 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.0.[8]
  • 2008-09-23 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.5.0[9]
  • 2008-11-21 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.5.1[10]
  • 2009-03-31 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.5.2[11]
  • 2009-08-20 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.5.3[12]
  • 2009-06-09 - VMware Workstation version 7 Technical Preview seen in the wild
  • 2009-10-02 - VMware Workstation version 7 Release Candidate is available. [13]
  • 2009-10-26 - VMware releases Workstation version 7[14]

Known issues

Known limitations of VMware Workstation, as of October, 2009, include the following:

Hardware support

  • VMware virtual machines do not directly support FireWire.[15]
  • VMware Workstation v6.5 and older cannot use more than 2 CPUs (or cores) per virtual machine. This means that a single virtual machine cannot use the full power of the underlying hardware on machines with the total number of cores greater than 2 (Core 2 Quad, or 2 x Core 2 Duo). Version 7 has support for up to 16 cores/CPUs.
  • VMware Workstation version 5.5 provided only experimental support for 3D hardware acceleration, via Microsoft's Direct3D 8 API.[16][17] A video has appeared on YouTube that demonstrates several 3D-accelerated games running under VMware Fusion and Mac OS X. The release notes for Fusion beta 2 include a list of 3D-accelerated computer games that can run within Windows XP-based virtual machines. In version 6.5, Direct3D 9.0 API support (only up to Shader Model 2.0) is provided on Windows 2000 and Windows XP guests (although not Windows 9x) and on any host OS. Its 3D performance is roughly equivalent to GeForce 6600/7300LE, running Crysis at 14-18 fps at low settings. Windows Display Driver Model support (version 1.0) was introduced in version 7.0, allowing Windows Aero to run in virtualized Windows Vista and later Windows guests.
  • 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] AMD64 processors must be revision D or later to run 64-bit guests. [18]
  • Additionally, when using VMware Workstation in an environment using Media Access Control (MAC) addresses as unique identifiers (UID), one should (and often must) manually configure the MAC address for each virtual machine in order to ensure uniqueness (for example, in an environment in which network switches implement MAC security; or in an environment in which Altiris products use the MAC address as the UID). In such a situation, disabling all networks/adapters other than "bridged" and editing each virtual machine's .vmx file to change "ethernet0.address" to a unique MAC and "ethernet0.addresstype" to "static" will help.

OS support

64-bit Solaris 10 1/06 (Update 1) and Solaris 10 6/06 (Update 2) fail with a triple fault on Core 2 generation processors (this includes processors codenamed Merom, Woodcrest, and Conroe). A Sun Microsystems blog has published a workaround for this issue.

Network protocols

VMware Workstation can swallow CPU interrupts, making maintenance of accurate time difficult.[19] Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers should not be run under VMware.

Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities have affected VMWare products. These can offer ways for users inside a Guest to become super-user, or allow Guests to execute code on the Host.

Notable ones include:

CLOUDBURST - Immunity's Kostya Kortchinsky discovered a vulnerability in the 3d API allowing Guests to execute code on the Host. http://www.immunityinc.com/documentation/cloudburst-vista.html . This vulnerability was fixed in 6.5.2 (and related ESX and Fusion releases).

Rafal Wojtczvk (CVE-2007-4496) also discovered a Guest->Host memory corruption vulnerability, although it's not known if this was exploitable.

Greg MacManus of iDefense Labs discovered a vulnerability in the Shared Folders implementation which allowed Guests to read/write host files (in a non-default configuration) (http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=521). This was then built on by Core Security who discovered that the patch did not correctly account for unicode characters. The unicode traversal vulnerability was fixed in VMware Workstation versions 5.5.6 and 6.0.3.

VMware Tools

VMware Tools is a package with drivers and other software that can be installed in guest operating systems to increase their performance. It has several components, including the following:

  • Drivers for the emulated hardware:
    • VESA-compliant graphics for the guest machine to access high screen resolutions
    • "VMXNet" emulated Intel PRO 10/1000 or AMD PCnet II NIC
    • Ensoniq AudioPCI audio
    • 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

Gallery

VMware Workstation booting a Virtual Machine

Boot Menu of VMware Workstation

The BIOS of VMware Workstation

3rd Party Tools

  • PowerWF - Provides a visual representation of VMware VIX scripts, converting them into workflows, or converting workflows into Powershell cmdlets and modules. VIX is VMware's addition to Microsoft's Powershell for automation of the VMware Player.
  • VMX Builder - Provides free tools for disk management of VMware Player virtual machines.


See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.vmware.com/support/ws7/doc/releasenotes_ws7.html
  2. ^ http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2009/10/workstation-7-the-gold-standard-in-desktop-virtualization-now-available.html
  3. ^ VMware (2002-04-09). "VMware Unveils VMware Workstation 3.1 at Microsoft Tech·Ed 2002". Press release. http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws31.html. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  4. ^ VMware (2003-03-23). "VMware Announces Fourth Generation of Desktop Virtualization Software". Press release. http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws4_announce.html. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  5. ^ VMware (2004-04-05). "VMware Announces New Release of Award-winning Desktop Virtualization Software". Press release. http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws45.html. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  6. ^ VMware (2005-04-11). "VMware Unveils Fifth Generation of Powerful Desktop Virtualization Software". Press release. http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws5.html. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  7. ^ VMware (2005-09-12). "VMware Introduces New Release of Its Powerful Desktop Virtualization Software". Press release. http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws55_beta.html. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  8. ^ VMware, Inc. (2007-05-09). "VMware Announces Availability of Sixth Generation of Industry-Leading Desktop Virtualization Software". Press release. http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/050907ws6.html. Retrieved 2007-09-20. 
  9. ^ http://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws65.html
  10. ^ http://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws651.html
  11. ^ http://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws652.html
  12. ^ http://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws653.html
  13. ^ http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2009/10/workstation-7-release-candidate-available.html
  14. ^ http://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2009/10/workstation-7-the-gold-standard-in-desktop-virtualization-now-available.html
  15. ^ "Does 5.5 support Firewire. If not, is VMWare working on it.". VMTN. 2006-04-27. http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=390865. 
  16. ^ "Experimental Support for Direct3D". http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d.html. Retrieved 2007-08-28. 
  17. ^ "Can 3D Graphics be Achieved on Virtualization?". InfoWorld. 2007-02-10. http://weblog.infoworld.com/virtualization/archives/2007/02/can_3d_graphics.html. Retrieved 2007-08-28. 
  18. ^ a b c Hardware and Firmware Requirements for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems
  19. ^ "Timekeeping in VMware Virtual Machines" (PDF). VMware. 2005-08-01. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-26. 

External links


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