VMware Workstation

Infobox Software
name = VMware Workstation



caption = VMware Workstation 6.5 running Ubuntu under Windows
collapsible =
author =
developer = VMware, Inc.
released = 1999 Fact|date=June 2008
latest release version = 6.5.0 (build 118166) [http://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws65.html]
latest release date = release date|2008|09|23
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
frequently updated =
programming language =
operating system = Microsoft Windows
Linux
Mac OS X (rebranded as VMware Fusion and with some modifications)
platform = x86-compatible
size =
language = English
status = Active
genre = Virtual machine
license = Commercial, Proprietary
website = [http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/ VMware Workstation at vmware.com]

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, 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 sales-people demonstrating complex software products, and for developers setting up virtual development-environments and virtual 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.

Version history

* 2001-11-01 - VMware releases Workstation 3.0.
* 2002-04-09 - Workstation 3.1 is released at Microsoft Tech-Ed 2002 [Cite press release |title=VMware Unveils VMware Workstation 3.1 at Microsoft Tech·Ed 2002 |url=http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws31.html |publisher=VMware |date=2002-04-09 |accessdate=2007-11-03]
* 2003-03-23 - Workstation version 4.0 is released. [Cite press release |title=VMware Announces Fourth Generation of Desktop Virtualization Software |url=http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws4_announce.html |publisher=VMware |date=2003-03-23 |accessdate=2007-11-03]
* 2004-04-05 - VMware announces the release of workstation version 4.5. [Cite press release |title=VMware Announces New Release of Award-winning Desktop Virtualization Software |url=http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws45.html |publisher=VMware |date=2004-04-05 |accessdate=2007-11-03]
* 2005-04-11 - Workstation version 5.0 is released. [Cite press release |title=VMware Unveils Fifth Generation of Powerful Desktop Virtualization Software |url=http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws5.html |publisher=VMware |date=2005-04-11 |accessdate=2007-11-03]
* 2005-09-12 - VMware updates Workstation to version 5.5. [Cite press release |title=VMware Introduces New Release of Its Powerful Desktop Virtualization Software |url=http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/ws55_beta.html |publisher=VMware |date=2005-09-12 |accessdate=2007-11-03]
* 2007-05-09 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.0. [cite press release |url=http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/050907ws6.html |date=2007-05-09 |accessdate=2007-09-20 |publisher=VMware, Inc. |title=VMware Announces Availability of Sixth Generation of Industry-Leading Desktop Virtualization Software]
* 2008-09-23 - VMware releases Workstation version 6.5.0 [http://www.vmware.com/support/ws65/doc/releasenotes_ws65.html]

Known issues

Known limitations of VMware Workstation, as of June, 2008, include the following:

Hardware support

* VMware virtual machines do not directly support FireWire.cite web |url=http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=390865 |title=Does 5.5 support Firewire. If not, is VMWare working on it. |publisher=VMTN |date=2006-04-27]
* VMware virtual machines provide only experimental support for 3D hardware acceleration, via Microsoft's Direct3D 8 API. [cite web |url=http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d.html |title=Experimental Support for Direct3D |accessdate=2007-08-28] [cite web |url=http://weblog.infoworld.com/virtualization/archives/2007/02/can_3d_graphics.html |title=Can 3D Graphics be Achieved on Virtualization? |accessdate=2007-08-28 |date=2007-02-10 |publisher=InfoWorld] A [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF_CoXsXtk4 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 [http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/releasenotes_fusion.html#games list] of 3D-accelerated computer-games that can run within Windows XP-based virtual machines. In version 6.5, a limited Direct3D 9 API support is provided on Windows XP guests.
* Five-button mouse is supported in version 6.5.Fact|date=August 2007

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 [http://blogs.sun.com/jim/entry/how_to_install_solaris_10 blog] has published a workaround for this issue.

Network protocols

VMware Workstation can swallow CPU interrupts, making maintenance of accurate time difficult.cite web |title=Timekeeping in VMware Virtual Machines |url=http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf |format=PDF |date=2005-08-01 |accessdate=2007-09-26 |publisher=VMware] Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers should not be run under VMware.

Path traversal vulnerability

In February 2008, CoreSecurity.com discovered a vulnerability in the Shared Folders function within several VMware products, including Workstation. A user logged onto a guest VM running in VMware Workstation could gain read/write access to the host system by specifying a pathname with the ".." substring. [Cite web |url=http://www.coresecurity.com/?action=item&id=2129 |title=Path Traversal vulnerability in VMware's shared folders implementation |date=2008-02-25 |accessdate=2008-03-07 |publisher=CoreSecurity] Cite web |title=VMWare desktop vulnerability exposed |last=Hines |first=Matt |publisher=InfoWorld |accessdate=2008-03-07 |date=2008-02-25 |url=http://weblog.infoworld.com/zeroday/archives/2008/02/virtualization.html?source=rss] However, the host is only vulnerable if the shared folders are turned on and at least one host folder is set for sharing. This 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 the guest Operating Systems to increase their performances.

Gallery

See also

* Comparison of virtual machines
* List of VMware software
* x86 virtualization

References

External links

* [http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/ VMware Workstation product page]