Xtravirt — VMworld 2017: A Walk on the Client Side

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VMworld 2017: A Walk on the Client Side

by Curtis Brown

Although VMware tends to put a focus on the more glamorous side of Enterprise computing – Cloud this, Containers that, Hypervisor here, Automation the other…. – there is a side that in the past has been almost a cottage industry in comparison, VMware’s Type 2 desktop hypervisor products. But at this year’s VMworld they weren’t forgotten and got a session all of their own.

Developing Products

VMware Workstation (for Windows and Linux) and VMware Fusion (for Mac) have been around for some time – the latter is celebrating its 10th anniversary, while the former was released back in 1999.

The unified approach to the underlying VMware Platform means that the underlying Hypervisor service, VM hardware, VMware Tools and console, are common across the VMware product range. As a base, this then diverges to the different product teams for the Workstation/Fusion and ESXi vSphere layers.

This is significant, as this article will go on to discuss.

Welcome to the Next Generation

The big-ticket item for this session was the presentation of the new VMware Fusion release (version 10), and VMware Workstation release 14.  Both releases are important for several reasons, not least because it’s the first major version release since 2015.

So, what’s new?

The big one, common to both is VM version 14.  This is noteworthy for several reasons.  Firstly, there is support for VMs running the new Microsoft Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Ubuntu 17.04 and Fedora 26.  In the case of the former, Virtual Machines can be configured to support Microsoft VBS (Virtualization Based Security), i.e. Credential Guard, which is a significant development. VBS requires UEFI bios on a VM configured for Secure Boot and enabled for in-guest (nested) Virtualisation – VBS uses Microsoft Hyper-V components.  We also have virtual NVMe disk support for improved storage performance on VMs too.

Further, with respect to VBS, it was mentioned that a future point release will support this on the host desktop PC, essentially allowing Hyper-V to run alongside Workstation.   Time will tell whether this comes to pass.

Remember the comment about the common underpinnings between the different VMware products being significant?  Ask yourself this – what does VM version 14 mean for the next vSphere release?

Both products gain full support for importing OVA packages. This allows, for example, the configuration of an appliance via the GUI, as would be the case in VMware vSphere. This means that the vCenter Appliance can be deployed in a fully supported manner in the GUI.

There are also improvements in Virtual Networking such as Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro Virtual Networking, which now includes a Latency emulator for network stress testing.  Both products also provide enhancements in their ability to control a VMware vSphere estate.

For VMware Fusion users, there’s an API framework with 20 VM controls for scripting.  Furthermore, the graphics engine now supports MacOS Metal rendering engine, which provides a marked improvement over OpenGL, though the latter is available as a fall-back mode.  For those MacBook users with the fancy new Touch Bar – this is now supported in VMware Fusion. image

VMware Workstation Player has taken on a particularly key role in more recent times as a delivery mechanism for corporate desktop VM builds to BYOD or offsite locations, often using VMware Horizon FLEX.  To that end, VMware have put some effort in improving the User Interface design.   Workstation Pro continues to be the tool for developers using Windows/Linux desktops – the Network testing capabilities being a prime example of that. image

Closing Thoughts…

Far from being a product left to whither on the vine, VMware have breathed new life into these popular products.  They remain at the leading edge with respect to local capabilities while continuing to serve a wide array of use cases from developers to business users to home users.

If you’re interested in exploring the latest virtualisation solutions but not sure where to start, please contact Xtravirt, and we’d be happy to use our wealth of knowledge and experience to assist you.

About the Author

Curtis Brown joined the Xtravirt consulting team in October 2012. His specialist areas include End User Compute solutions and Virtual Infrastructure design and implementation with particular strength in VDI, storage integration, backup and Disaster Recovery design/implementation. He is a VMware vExpert 2017.

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