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Thread: VMWare Recommended MSR

  1. #1
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    VMWare Recommended MSR

    hello guys,

    i was wondering what are the actual Minimum system requirements to be able to completely run and work from inside vmware
    currently i have a toshiba 1.83GHZ Core 2 Duo with 512 RAM 80 GB hdd

    i plan to leave my licensed winxp home
    and have many virutal machines each for different kind of tasks
    one for developpin
    one for testing
    one for internet and entertainement
    and of course for testing and trying out linux distros
    should i divide according to different tasks..
    The main task include developping.. internet browsing..music and regular stuff


    and in general, how do u describe ur experience with vmware
    what are the bad things and the good things
    any special tips or tricks

    thanks
    Last edited by beee; October 2nd, 2007 at 09:40 AM.

  2. #2
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    What version of VMware are you referring to? Player? Server? Workstation? ESX?
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  3. #3
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    currently have Vmware 5.5 Workstation

    if it is matter of lower hardware spec.. i will get any version that suits best

    i am using vmware for personal use, not company or something

  4. #4
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/ws_pubs.html <-- have the specs you need.

    http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/d...ostreq_ws.html <-- host requirements

    Your system should be fine but more memory would be helpful. Remember that you are sharing those resources with the VM. If you don't have enough, the VM will act sluggish.

    How you divide it is really up to you. There is no real best practise in how the tasks should be done. I've used 5.x and 6.x and have found them both to do well (I also have a 2.4Ghz, 2GB laptop).
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  5. #5
    Just Another Geek
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    Having lots of internal memory is the key. 512MB is a bit on the low side, even when you're just running XP. For running any decent VMware guest you would need at least 1GB and preferably more.
    Oliver's Law:
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  6. #6
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    thank you so much for the feeback,

    for the MSR , usually they post what you need to make it run
    not what you need to use in the real world

    128 MB minimum (256 MB recommended)
    400 MHz or faster CPU minimum (500 MHz recommended)

    that will install VMWare , but i don't think i can actually use winxp with it
    that is why i am asking

    so,i think i will update to 2GB RAM
    have a clean winxp install with nothing at startup (even without some toshiba defaults)
    Then i think i will have VMWare installed

    i am not sure i will put antivirus on the basic xp
    i am sure i won't make it run with vmware as it will eat ressources
    maybe, i will have it installed, and from time to time i will run a scan
    (i don't think i will be needing it)

    I am searching now on different versions of vmware
    if i can make a software interconnnect between virtual machines
    for example i don't want to install and keep updating softwares: truecrypt/adobereader/opera/firefox on different machines

  7. #7
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    After you've done the fresh install of XP, defrag the disk. It will help. Having a clean and contiguous disk makes it run faster and better, IMO.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  8. #8
    Just Another Geek
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    True.. Locking the pagefile to a certain size helps too. Turn off the pagefile, boot to safe mode and defrag.
    Then boot normally and turn the pagefile back on, 1GB will do, set it's low and max to that (fixating it's size).
    After the reboot the pagefile will be one continues file, improving swap access (you'll probably never need it but it's a good thing to do ).

    Have a look at VMWare server, it's free and works really good.
    Workstation has a bit more options but these are mostly related to several people using the same wmware image file for testing (collaboration).
    ESX and the others are more aimed at running vmware on several physical boxes all running the same vmware guests. I don't think you need that.

    As for networking 2 or more virtual machines, yes, that's possible. Bridged, virtual or natted network interfaces are available. In a whole host of different configurations.
    You can easily setup a client, a firewall and a webserver, all virtual.

    Here comes the key though, every virtual machine uses some memory. Running 3 virtual machines each with 256MB will eat up about 768MB on the host system[*].
    Remember to keep enough memory left for the host OS to run, things will run horribly slow if you don't.
    I only have 1GB so I'm a bit limited on the amount of virtual machines I can run. 2GB would be nice


    [*] Actually a lot less. Memory management has really improved over the years. It really depends on the memory usage of the guests so YMMV.
    Last edited by SirDice; October 2nd, 2007 at 07:49 PM.
    Oliver's Law:
    Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

  9. #9
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    Well, if you're doing dev, Workstation will have more snapshot options than the single level in server. So that may be better.

    And ESX is not dependent on have the same VMware guests. It's dependent on how those guests use the resources. ESX is designed for larger datacenter environments (to replace email/web/file/database server types).
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  10. #10
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    http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000714.html

    a really really nice article

    i quote:

    [the] biggest performance win is to put the virtual hard disks on separate disk spindles from the operating system. The biggest performance hit in virtual machines is disk I/O. Making the VM fight with your OS and swap disk makes this issue much, much worse. Additionally, today's USB 2.0 and firewire external hard drives run on a fast interface bus, have large buffers and spin at 7,200 rpm, as opposed to 4,200 rpm for most laptop hard drives.

    The primary performance bottleneck in virtual machines, by a very wide margin, is the hard drive.

    sure i am gonna use the snapshot option
    it is of the main reasons i will be using vmware
    from the brief description i got from SirDice i think i will go for workstation
    not too much for my needs and no too less

    i think vmmachines will become really a mainstream
    with quad cores and all that power .. besides gaming.. it will be good for vmwaring

    well i think i will need a 2 GB Ram and an external HDD :P
    Last edited by beee; October 2nd, 2007 at 09:01 PM.

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