Posted on 11/01/2009 4:14:13 PM PST by killermosquito
I just experienced virtualization in a computer lab environment. The PC’s use VMWare Workstation and have a virtual machine with Windows XP Pro and Office 2007 and another virtual machine with Windows XP Pro and Office 200. I'm thinking very seriously about purchasing VMWare Workstation or possibly installing equivalent open source virtualization software. My goal is to upgrade my Dell (Inspiron 530 Intel Core2 processor Q6600 (2.40Ghz 1066FSB) w/Quad Core Technology and 8MB cache and 4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz) with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and install virtualization as well. But, before I take the plunge I have many questions about virtualization.
1. Out of the free versions of virtualization software what do you recommend that is as safe, secure, and reliable as VMWare Workstation that can be installed on a PC?
2. Is the "host" the operating system on which VMWare Workstation is installed (in my case it will be Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit)?
3. Would you call a virtual machine a "client?"
4. Can I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit as the host (on which I install VMWare Workstation) AND install Windows XP Pro 32 bit as a virtual machine? In other words, can 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems exist on the same PC using virtualization?
5. Can I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit as the host (on which I install VMWare Workstation) AND install either Ubuntu 64 or 32 bit as a virtual machine?
6. What is a "hypervisor?"
7. Which is better? Having a dual-boot setup or using virtual machines?
8. Is it possible to create a copy of a virtual machine and on it install different software? For example, suppose I have Windows 7 as the host and I install Office 2007 on it. Can I create a virtual machine that consists of Windows 7 and Office 2010? Then, at some point, make the Windows 7 with Office 2010 the host instead of a virtual machine?
9. Is it possible to restore a PC with a copy of a virtual machine?
10. How would you backup and restore a virtual machine?
11. If I have a virtual machine and I access files on the "C" drive do all of the virtual machines have access to the same files on the "C" drive? Say, for example, I create a Word document and save it to the hard drive as a .doc file. Then I open a virtual machine consisting of Ubuntu and Open Office. Can I open the same document and navigate to it in the same way? In other words, is the file always accessible to all virtual machines as though the path is the same?
12. I have multiple users on the PC and Windows XP is set up with a separate login for each family member. Would I continue doing this or perhaps create a virtual machine for each person?
13. Do virtual machines share software? For example, If I have Windows 7 Ultimate and Office 2007 installed and running as the host and I create a virtual machine running Windows XP would I have to reinstall Office 2007 in this virtual machine?
14. Can I make a copy of a virtual machine and then install additional software on it to make sure that it is compatible and that no problems occur with the new software, if there are problems revert back to the original virtual machine?
15. Are the virtual machines running on partitions and if so what about drive mapping considerations?
16. Do you have any recommendations? Are there any questions I haven’t thought of but should have?
17. Can a copy of a virtual machine essentially serve as a backup of the virtual machine?
18. Is it possible to remote-desktop into a virtual machine?
19. What can you tell me about VirtualBox: http://www.virtualbox.org/ Is it as good as VMWare Worskstation or is it only for servers?
20. I'm also thinking about installing VNC or some other remote desktop software so that I can login to my PC from remote locations.
1. VNC has been around for quite awhile and it is free. Is it safe?
2. What remote desktop software do you suggest (freeware or paid)?
3. Are there other freeware versions that I should consider other than VNC or would it be safer to purchase this type of software? If I should purchase remote desktop access software which version should I buy?
4. Is it possible to remote-desktop into a virtual machine?
I have a second hard drive that is the same size as my primary hard drive. I have not installed it yet but plan to when I install Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
1. Should I set up a Raid Array or use the second drive for my files and the primary drive for my operating system and virtual machines?
I’m kindof thinking that I would want to use RAID in order to mirror the primary drive on the secondary drive. I’m assuming then that if one of the drives failed it would be fast and easy to resume operations without losing any data or configuations. Sort of just picking up where I left off when the drive failed if you take my meaning.
I want to be able to remote desktop into my home PC to access files. I carry around a 16 gig USB key but occasionally I want a file that I don’t have with me or I want to make sure I have the most recent version of the file which may not be the one on the USB key.
I’m serious about learning about virtualization on a desktop PC. I don’t have a server. I’m also serious about disaster recovery and I’m thinking a mirrored drive might be the best form of RAID for my purposes.
I think my valid requirement to do virtualization is my desire to have on one PC multiple installations including:
Windows XP Pro with Office 2003
Windows XP Pro with Office 2007
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 with Office 2007
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 with Office 2010 (eventually)
Ubuntu with OpenOffice
I also do Microsft Office training both at a college and at a computer center. At the center I could potentially teach Office 2003 or 2007 so I would like to have access to both on my home PC since I use it to make and modify curriculum.
I was just kidding about the geek thing. I’m a bit of a geek myself, otherwise I wouldn’t have read your post. Good luck with the job search. Even those of us that still have jobs are a bit worried that our jobs won’t be around much longer if something doesn’t change soon.
Otherwise it'll be a hodgepode of OS + VM ware virtualization and then you're missing the whole Server 2008 R2 platform possibilities while still having significant software costs.
For that task, I've recently begun using Dropbox. It works quite well.
Correction: Exchange 2010 will fully replace Exchange 2003 in enterprise environments.
If you’re using Windows 7, you might want to take a look a WinRM. It enables you to access a remote Powershell session on one or more target machines. There should be considerably less bandwidth overhead than a full rdp session, and it runs over HTTPS, which makes firewall configuration much easier. You can further secure by configuring the remote session to require a certificate based authentication.
If you’re using Windows 7, you might want to take a look a WinRM. It enables you to access a remote Powershell session on one or more target machines. There should be considerably less bandwidth overhead than a full rdp session, and it runs over HTTPS, which makes firewall configuration much easier. You can further secure by configuring the remote session to require a certificate based authentication.
If you’re using Windows 7, you might want to take a look a WinRM. It enables you to access a remote Powershell session on one or more target machines. There should be considerably less bandwidth overhead than a full rdp session, and it runs over HTTPS, which makes firewall configuration much easier. You can further secure by configuring the remote session to require a certificate based authentication.
Sorry about that.
Thank you all for giving me so much to think about! Especially usconservative...WOW! Your post was amazing!
Freepers are the best.
You might want to revisit Virtualbox. Since Sun took it over, it has made huge leaps. Vbox is what I’m more used to, so I’m admittedly biased in that regard, but I do have both on my system. In particular, the ‘seamless’ mode in Virtualbox is MUCH better than VMware. Particularly with a Linux host.
For enterprise use, I’d go for VMWare or Xen, but on a workstation, Virtualbox is a great option.
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