VM Software Packages
Virtualization Software
In the Comparison of virtual machines article in the Wikipedia, over 50 different virtualization products are listed, most of which run on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X, and many of which are also free. To get an idea of what’s available, let’s take a look at a few of the more popular (and interesting) VM software packages.
VMWare
VMWare is the major player in the virtualization software market. VMWare released its first product in 1999 and is generally regarded as the most mature and stable of all virtualization products (as in, “Nobody ever got fired for buying VMWare”). VMWare has also driven the virtualization market by making several of its product for free (VMWare Player, Server, and Converter Starter Edition), forcing its commercial competitors to follow suit. VMWare has many different products:
VMWare Workstation is the flagship product of VMWare. Introduced in 1999, VMWare Workstation is capable of creating, cloning, modifying, and running over 60 different 32- and 64-bit guest OSes on Windows and Linux host OSes. Workstation VM’s can have one or two CPUs, up to 8GB of RAM, multiple I/O devices (floppy, CD, DVD), network support (bridged and NAT), 64-bit audio drivers, and USB 2.0. Workstation can also load virtual disk images create by virtualization products from Microsoft, Symantec and StorageCraft. Workstation is a commercial product that is available as a 30-day evaluation for either Windows or Linux. For more information see the VMWare Workstation 6.0 Product FAQ.
VMWare Player is freely available, functionally limited, release of VMWare Workstation for both Windows and Linux. Player is capable of running–but not creating or cloning–all guest OSes supported by VMWare Workstation. Player supports the use of pre-built, read-to-run virtual appliances (such as virtual network monitors, backup tools, and pre-configured LAMP servers) available from the VMWare Virtual Appliance Marketplace. Player cannot co-exist on the same host OS as other VMWare products. For more information and to download VMWare Player, see the VMWare Player 2.0 FAQ.
VMWare Server (formerly VMWare GSX Server) is another free VMWare product that allows a physical server to be created that runs multiple virtual machines. VMWare Server installs on a Windows or Linux host OS and allows multiple guest OSes to be run and controlled simultaneously. Each VM runs in an isolated environment and cannot communicate with the host OS or other VMs (except via pre-configured network connections). The look and feel of VMWare Server is very similar to Player and Workstation, but is lacking some features found in Workstation, such as the ability to manage multi-tier configurations and multiple snapshots, and ESX Server. For more information and to download VMWare Server, see the VMWare Server FAQ.
VMWare ESX Server is the commercial, enterprise-class release of VMWare’s server product. ESX Server is used for virtualizing entire datacenters, where very large amounts of memory, disk space, and network connections must be utilized by many VM guest OSes. ESX Server improves over VMWare Server by adding more performance, use of more memory and disk space, running directly on physical hardware, and integration into VMware Virtual Infrastructure.
VMWare Fusion is VMWare Workstation for Intel-based Macintosh computers. Fusion allows Mac OS X system to run virtual 32- and 64-bit guest OSes, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, or Netware. Virtual disk images created by Fusion are compatible with other VMWare products. VMWare Fusion is a commercial product that is available as a 30-day evaluation and compete with Parallels Desktop (see Comparison of VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion Wikipedia article).
VMWare ACE (Assured Computing Environment) is used to deploy and manage virtual desktops across an enterprise network. ACE is capable of deploying virtual work environments to PCs and laptops (Windows and Linux) and to portable media devices (USB Flash drives) in the form of guest OSes created by VMWare Workstation. Features such as security, copy protection, expiration, and Virtual Rights Management (VRM) can be applied to the deployment package. All ACE virtual desktops are managed from a central management console. For more information and to download a 30-day evaluation of VMWare ACE, see the VMWare ACE 2.0 FAQ.
VMWare Wikipedia article
Microsoft Virtual PC
Microsoft Virtual PC (VPC) is Microsoft’s offering to the VM software market. VPC is actually two products: Virtual PC (2004 and 2007) and Virtual Server 2005. Virtual PC is capable of running one guest OS at a time on a computer, while Virtual Server is capable of running multiple guest OSes simultaneously on the same computer. Both products offer the same hardware emulation and are based on the same code, so any differences between the two products is entirely intentional.
Virtual Server 2005 may be hosted on Windows XP, Server 2003 (all editions), or Small Business Server, and support guests OSes of Windows Server 2000 and 2003 (except Datacenter Edition) and NT4 Server. For more information, see the Virtual Server 2005 Administrator’s Guide.
VPC 2004 supports as guest OSes MS-DOS, Windows 95, 98, 98SE, Me, NT4 Server, 2000 (Professional and Server), Windows XP (Home, Professional, and Tablet PC), and OS/2 Warp. VPC 2004 runs on host OSes Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003. Virtual PC 2004 was also released for the Macintosh for Power PC, but was never ported to Intel-based Macintosh hardware.
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is the latest release of VPC, which added support for Windows Vista as both a guest and host OS, and Windows XP x64 and Vista x64 a host OS. Neither VPC 2004 nor 2007 will run any 64-bit guest OS. VPC 2007 dropped support for Windows 2000 as both a host and guest OS, and also for guest OSes MS-DOS, Windows 95, 98, Me, and NT4 Server, although those OSes still run as they did on VPC 2004. For more information, see the Virtual PC 2007 Release Notes. You can get Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 for Windows free at Microsoft’s Web site.
Although not officially supported, many distributions of Linix also run as a guest OS on VPC. Check the Web page What works and what doesn’t in Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 for what Linux distros and other OSes have been tested.
Hyper-V
Hyper-V is Microsoft’s hypervisor for Windows Server 2008.. Hyper-V competes for server market share with VMWare and XenSource. Actually, the word “competes” is somewhat inaccurate, as Mirosoft has a partnership with XenSource’s owner, Citrix. Citrix’s desktop virtualization products support Hyper-V, and Hyper-V supports interoperability with Xen. Hyper-V is currently offered as a beta in Windows Server 2008 and should be officially released in late 2008.
Microsoft Virtual PC Wikipedia article
Microsoft Virtual Server Wikipedia article
Microsoft Hyper-V Wikipedia article
Xen
Xen is a free VM software package by XenSource, Inc. Xen is the major competitor to VMWare in the virtualization market. Xen supports both 32- and 64-bit hardware and supports running multiple, simultaneous guest OSes, including Linux, Solaris, NetBSD, and Windows. Xen is the native hypervisor included with Oracle, Virtual Iron, Novell SUSE Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Sun Microsystem’s xVM. The Xen hypervisor can boot directly on the computer, allowing special management privileges and direct access to the physical hardware. Citrix Systems acquired XenSource in 2007 and Microsoft has also worked with XenSource to port Windows Server to Xen. Xen is released under the GPL license and its source code is freely available.
Xen Wikipedia article
Parallels Desktop
Parallels Desktop for Mac is the first VM software package released for the Intel-based Macintosh OS X computers. Parallels is a commercial program produced by Parallels, Inc. and is available for host OSes Windows and Linux as well as OS X. Guest OSes include MS-DOS, Windows XP, Vista (Home Basic and Home Premium) and many 32-bit Linux distros. 64-bit guest OSes are not supported. Parallels’ principle market competitor is VMWare Fusion (see Comparison of VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop).
Parallels is sometimes confused with Boot Camp, which is a dual-booting program that was included on the first Intel-based Mac OS X (Leopard) system and used to boot either Windows XP or OS X on an Intel Mac.
Parallels Desktop for Mac Wikipedia article
VirtualBox
VirtualBox is a free (Open Source and GPL) VM software package produced by German software company innotek GmbH, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems. VirtualBox supports as host OSes: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, OpenSolaris, and OS/2 Warp. Supported guest OSes include Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and OS/2 Warp. VirtualBox is a popular choice for running Windows as a guest OS in Linux as a host OS (the above screenshot is of VirtualBox).
VirtualBox Wikipedia article
DOSBox
I must mention DOSBox because if you love playing DOS-based games from the 1980’s and 1990’s you need to know about it. DOSBox is a self-contain emulation of the MS-DOS operating system that runs in a window in Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS/2, and Mac OS X. DOSBox will run most MS-DOS software, including games like DOOM, Duke Nukem, Warcraft II, Ultima III, King’s Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. DOSBox is an excellent example of a self-contain virtualization environment.
DOSBox Wikipedia article
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