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[1]
Stable release 8.0.3[2] / May 3, 2012; 26 days ago (2012-05-03)[3]
Preview release VMware Workstation Technology Preview / March 12, 2012; 2 months ago (2012-03-12)
Development status Active
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Linux
Platform x86 (discontinued in 8.0 onwards), x86-64
Size 3456
Available in English
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, which allows users to set up multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual machines (VMs) and 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, including Windows, Linux, BSD variants, and others. In simple terms, VMware Workstation allows one physical machine to run multiple operating systems simultaneously, whereas other VMware products help manage or migrate VMware virtual machines across multiple physical host machines. Workstation is sold and developed by VMware; VMware Player is a similar program with fewer features supplied free of charge.

VMware Workstation supports bridging to existing host network adapters, CD-ROM devices, hard disk drives, and USB devices (including USB Isochronous devices such as webcams, microphones etc.), and 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).

Multiple successive snapshots of an operating system running under VMware Workstation can be taken,[4] and the virtual machine can be restarted in the state it was in when any snapshot was saved.

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

[edit] Version history

[icon] This section requires expansion.
Color Meaning
Red Release no longer supported
Green Release still supported
Blue Future release
Major Version Release Date Significant Changes
1.0 1999 first release
3.0 01 November 2001 ?
3.1 09 April 2002 ?
4.0 23 March 2003 ?
4.5 05 April 2004 ?
5.0 11 April 2005 ?
5.5 12 September 2005 ?
6.0 09 May 2007 ?
6.5 23 September 2008 ?
7.0 26 October 2009 ?
8.0 14 September 2011 ?
VMware Workstation Technology Preview 2012 March 2012 add support for windows 8

[edit] Known issues

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

[edit] Hardware support

  • Workstation 8 is the first version that requires a x86-64-compatible CPU.[5]
  • VMware virtual machines do not directly support FireWire.[6]
  • VMware Workstation version 5.5 provided only experimental support for 3D hardware acceleration, via Microsoft's Direct3D 8 API.[7][8] 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. Version 7 has support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.1 graphics. It can run[dead link] Crysis at 14-18 frame/s 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, but OpenGL is regressed to 1.4.
  • 64-bit guest operating systems require a 64-bit processor and a BIOS compatible with x86 virtualization.[9] 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.[9] Only AMD64 processors of revision D or later can run 64-bit guests.[9]

[edit] Network protocols

VMware Workstation can swallow CPU interrupts, making maintenance of accurate time difficult.[10]

[edit] Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities affecting VMWare products typically involve ways for users inside a Guest VM to become super-user, or allow Guests to execute code on the Host.

Notable vulnerabilities of earlier versions include:

  • Kostya Kortchinsky of Immunity discovered a vulnerability in the 3d API allowing Guests to execute code on the Host.[11] Fixed in VMWare Workstation 6.5.2.
  • Rafal Wojtczvk of McAfee discovered a Guest-to-Host memory corruption vulnerability which might allow Guest users to run arbitrary code on the Host.[12] While the CVE entry is still set to "under review", the vulnerability was fixed in VMWare Player 2.01.[13]
  • 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).[14] Fixed in VMWare Workstation 5.5.4.[15]
  • Core Security discovered that the Shared Folders patch did not correctly account for Unicode characters.[16] The Unicode traversal vulnerability was fixed in VMware Workstation 6.0.3.[17]

[edit] VMware ACE

VMware ACE (assured computing environment)[18] is a feature that allows the deployment of virtual machines that end users can use on their work PC, personal computer, or even a portable USB media device (in the way of a portable application). In essence, VMware ACE allows the creation of portable virtual machines.

Update: Product has been discontinued as of December 2011.

[edit] 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
    • Network drivers for the vmxnet2 and vmxnet3 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

[edit] Gallery

  • VMware Workstation booting a virtual machine

  • Boot Menu of a VMware Workstation virtual machine

  • The BIOS of a VMware Workstation virtual machine

[edit] Third-party resources

[edit] Ready-to-use virtual machines

Many ready-made virtual machines (VMs) which run on VMWare Player, Workstation, and other virtualization software are available[19] for specific purposes, either for purchase or free of charge; for example a free Linux-based "browser appliance" with the Firefox browser installed[20] which can be used for safe Web browsing; if infected or damaged it can be discarded and replaced by a clean copy. The appliance can be configured to automatically reset itself after each use so personal information is not stored. VMs distributed legally only have freely distributable operating systems, as operating systems on VMs must be licensed; ready-to-use Microsoft Windows VMs, in particular, are not distributed, except for evaluation versions.

[edit] Other 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ IEEE Xplore - Abstract Page
  2. ^ [1][dead link]
  3. ^ VMware Workstation 8.0.1 Release Notes
  4. ^ Snapshots in VMware Workstation
  5. ^ "VMware Workstation 8 Now Available Worldwide!". Vmware.com. http://www.vmware.com/support/ws80/doc/releasenotes_workstation_80.html#Installation_Requirements. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  6. ^ "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. 
  7. ^ "Experimental Support for Direct3D". http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d.html. Retrieved 2007-08-28. 
  8. ^ "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. 
  9. ^ a b c "Hardware and Firmware Requirements for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems". Kb.vmware.com. 2010-10-28. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=1901. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  10. ^ "Timekeeping in VMware Virtual Machines" (PDF). VMware. 2005-08-01. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-26. 
  11. ^ http://www.immunityinc.com/documentation/cloudburst-vista.html
  12. ^ "CVE - CVE-2007-4496 (under review)". Cve.mitre.org. 2010-12-21. http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2007-4496. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  13. ^ "VMware Player Release Notes". Vmware.com. 2008-08-28. http://www.vmware.com/support/player2/doc/releasenotes_player2.html. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  14. ^ "Public Advisory: 04.27.07 // iDefense Labs". Labs.idefense.com. http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=521. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  15. ^ "VMware Workstation 5.5 Release Notes". Vmware.com. 2008-11-06. http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/releasenotes_ws55.html#bugfix554. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  16. ^ "Core Security Technologies". Coresecurity.com. http://www.coresecurity.com/content/advisory-vmware. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  17. ^ "VMware Workstation 6 Release Notes". Vmware.com. 2008-08-28. http://www.vmware.com/support/ws6/doc/releasenotes_ws6.html#bugfix603. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  18. ^ Currently Being Moderated. "VMware ACE: The Assured Computing Environment for the Enterprise". VMworld.com. http://www.vmworld.com/docs/DOC-1773. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
  19. ^ Directory of VMs with 1539 entries as of 7 January 2011
  20. ^ VMWare Browser Appliance page

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

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