Whats this VMWare stuff all about?

[portseven]

So can you run Windows on Linux on Windows on Linux etc.?

Yep thats the idea, Linux, Windows, Solaris, Open/Net/FreeBSD, DOS, Netscape, etc

Now that VM-Player is free (you can only 'play' VMs not create them) there is a growing community around VM Appliances . So images of OS's tuned to a specific purpose, so you can have one for a particular mailserver, or security appliance etc.

[MarillionFan]

So this VM stuff is around to stay then?

[Cowboy Bob]

I've seen clients using VMs to test software for legacy OSs (i.e. Win95, 2K, XP Home), but I'd argue whilst it's better than nothing, it's not a real test.

It is 100% a real test. Nothing is emulated here, you are running the real OS on a real PC (yours). VMWare (or any of the others) just provides a layer in-between to allow the guest OS to boot in it's own process.

[Cowboy Bob]

Don't forget Microsoft Virtual PC.

It is now FREE. That's right free.

Probably because out of the big three (VMWare, Parallels and Virtual PC) the MS offering is by far the worst performer. I wouldn't recommend it. This is because originally it WAS an emulation of x86 running on PowerPC. I suspect that some of that emulation is still buried in there.

It's also been crippled by MS from what it once was. Originally it was a Mac product and MS bought it, removed the ability for it to run on a Mac host along with a whole bunch of other features that were Mac specific, then released their bastardised version on to the world.

Basically MS saw the VM world running away without them so they bought the only product that would sell to them and then made it worse in typical MS fashion.

[Back In Business]

MS Virtual Server is much better the Virtual PC but still nowhere near VMWare's offering.

[MarillionFan]

I understand that VMWare are to float on the stock market in the next few months.

[n5gooner]

I understand that VMWare are to float on the stock market in the next few months.

buy buy buy then!

[wendigo100]

Think of it like a Russian Doll, just with computers

So can you run Windows on Linux on Windows on Linux etc.?

I've only seen VMware used to run virtual machines side by side on the same physical machine.

Are you saying that VMware also runs one VM inside another, and if so how common is this?

[dotnetter]

I worked for the biggest car manufacturer in the world and they used clustered VM's for their production environment.

[darmstadt]

Well VM has been around for over 30 years now and I use it quite often for running multiple zOS, VSE, TPF or zLinux guest systems. Its just the desktop crowd have now appropriated its concepts. Have a look at zVM 5.3 which has just been announced, you can run thousands of zLinux guests (I know someone who has run 20,000+ zLinux images under zVM.)