Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [493]
You also may find some confusion on the VMware site regarding which Linux distributions can operate as "guest" systems and which operate as hosts. Think of this like inviting a guest to your home. You escort them into the living room, where you sit and talk. In VMware terms, when you install VMware, you create a living room for a guest operating system.
In this case, you are running Linux as the host system and install Microsoft Windows as a guest. If you are interested in installing other Linux distributions as guests, make sure you check with the VMware web site for supported guests (as opposed to hosts). Officially supported guest operating systems include the following:
Mandrake Linux 8.2, 9.0, 9.2, 10
Novell Linux Desktop 9
Red Hat Linux 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 9.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES/WS 4.0 (32-bit)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES/WS 2.1, 3.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server 2.1
SUSE Linux 7.3, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 7, 7 patch 2, 8, 9, 9 SP1
Turbolinux 7.0, Enterprise Server 8, Workstation 8
Sun Java Desktop System (JDS) 2
The virtual hardware of VMware 5 runs better than previous versions. With a single Pentium IV or an equivalent AMD processor and 512 MB of RAM, one should be able to run two virtual machines simultaneously. The previous versions would grind to a halt in such a scenario.
VMWare Workstation 5 features
Once you get used to the novelty of seeing another familiar operating system running on your Linux system, you can start to consider the advanced capabilities of VMWare Workstation 5 that turn it into an excellent platform for system testing and group development work.
Operating system snapshots . Version 5 of VMware provides for multiple snapshots so that a user can preserve the state of a guest and revert to an older state after powering down and starting up again. You can configure a virtual machine to take a snapshot and preserve an audit trail. If you need to examine a virus, for example, you can take a snapshot before you introduce the malware. If the virus does damage, you can restore the virtual machine to the state preserved in that snapshot. The same capability can prove valuable when you're testing new code or a patch.
Previous versions of VMware allowed for the taking of snapshots. However, each snapshot would overwrite the previous one. So, for testing purposes, Version 5 provides a significant upgrade.
Virtual networks. Workstation teams allow users to set up a virtual network or lab on a host computer. You can power up multiple virtual machines, as mentioned earlier. You then can configure networking the way you would on any local area network, however, this network would run on a single computer.
Users can work together in what VMware calls a LAN segment. They are invisible to the host computer's network, which creates a virtual safe house for development.
Cloning. VMware Workstation 5 provides interesting deployment capabilities with what the company calls clones. In VMware workstation terms, two types of clones exist. One is called a full clone, which we might consider to be similar to a ghosted image used to provision another computer. The second type of clone is called a linked clone. It remains dependent on the original image.
VMware's full clone functions as an independent copy of a virtual machine. Once a user makes the clone, it runs separate from the parent. It then can go off and become a unique instance that you can use to make changes or deploy for whatever purpose you see fit.
VMware's linked clone shares virtual disks with the original or parent, conserving disk space. This permits multiple virtual machines to use the same software installation. Also, linked clones take less time to create than a full clone.
Labs might want to create linked clones to provide identical environments to developers, quality assurance engineers, testers, or maintenance programmers. If you store a linked virtual machine on your local network,