Jim Baxter wrote:
> Good Morning (or whatever it is where you are)
>
> I am considering installing Linux on some large workstations that now run
> that other "OS".
> We do most of our work with Linux in character mode but still need some
> windows apps.
> We could replace Office 200 with the Corel product like it but I will get
> much static from some key users.
>
> I need some opinions on using VMWARE. Things like ease of use, maintenance,
> and performance.
>
> Thank you
>
> Jim Baxter
> MIS
> Morrison Supply Company
>
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Jim:
I've installed VMware on SuSE6.4 as the HOST operating system.
Several things I've found out.
It is not as user friendly as I would like. For example, unless you follow
the instructions for installing VMware as well as clients you can end up with
a real mess on your hands. A client system is installed on the host sytem.
So, for example, I installed 2 pre-installed packages (Turbo Linux, and
SuSE6.3) on the host system SuSE6.4. Turbo was using GNOME and I had trouble
initially with it's operation. It became apparent that to use VMware it was
going to have to add a lot more memory. I'm now running with approx. 330Mb
of SDRAM and performance is no longer an issue. The pre-installed clients are
packages put together by VMware so that you don't have to install. After
playing with the pre-installed stuff I decided it was time to install a client
(Mandrake Linux) from it's installation CD-ROM. VMware is supposed to create
a VIRTUAL OS environment, which means as far as the client (distribution)
being installed into the VMware virtual environment (Running on my SuSE6.4
Linux installation) is concerned - it should not know anything about the HOST
(SuSE 6.4 within which VMware has been installed) . However VMware has
access to the CD-ROM and the Floppy drive (in parallel to the HOST system
access of these devices). With the pre-installed clients I had no trouble
with X-Window operations (as they were pre-installed - meaning that they were
in the form of several files and one of which is considered by VMware as a
virtual disk). This means that the issues of X-Window operation (server used,
etc.) had already been resolved by VMware when they put together these
pre-installed packages. Anyway, back to Mandrake, everything went fine up
to a point, that is VMware automatically sensed the CD-ROM and a CD-ROM based
installation took off without a problem, near the end of the installation
process I had to do the customary X-Windows set up so that startx command
would work or when the client was run it would come up with X-Windows. To the
best of my knowledge I had collected the information regarding video board,
monitor, etc., and was to the best of my knowledge the same information that I
had used to install the HOST SuSE6.4. However, the client installation of
Mandrake could not work with this information. It looks to me like there was
a conflict in that the Mandrake installation was sensing the existence of an
X-Windows operation already in progress (that of the HOST system) and this
resulted in a conflict (maybe because I had given it identical information.
So the X-Windows part of the installation failed and when I was done had only
command line used of Mandrake as a client operation in the WMware environment
on the HOST SuSE6.4. Now, to me this meant that the so called VMware virtual
machine was not acting as a virtual machine or I missed something somewhere.
Remember, the pre-installed clients did not exhibit this problem nor would I
have expected them to. My guess is that VMware deals with this somewhere in
their manual or I saw something when running the pre-installed clients.
Something that I should have done when I got to the X-Windows part of the
Madrake installation. I paid approx $149.00 US funds + the exchange
difference (multiply by approx. 1.5) for Canadian dollars + 7% GST (Canadian
tax) in order to get this licensed package, so I figured that I should get
some support from VMware - even if it was email based. Hey, I would even pay
for a per incident. So, I wrote them a nice email about what I perceived
would be the benefits of this product if only I could get it to work and would
they be nice enough to give me an answer to my little problem. No reply
whatsoever from VMware to date. I did get something in my email that
I thought said support was only available for the Commercial version. In my
note I complained that I bought the non commercial version in order to
evaluate the buying the commercial version and that I did not acquire just a
demo version.
Maybe they will eventually reply to my email - I sent the same email to every
part of their organization that would accept email of any kind. To me
SUPPORT is a very important consideration when using a product. Take Red Hat
for instance, they give free installation support (just for installation
issues) for a limited time, but there is always the Red Hat list where I found
your note and usually someone and sometimes many, are prepared to help just
like I'm writing back to you now. What I am trying to say here is that
companies that offer products for evaluation or even non commercial
restrictions should be available in some kind of real support way. One
generally evaluate in order to justify the step of acquiring a commercial
license. Maybe, VMware does not see the logic to this. Support does cost
money to give out and a company has to be big enought and on top of their
product enough so that they can both offer the support and do it
efficiently. Red Hat appears to be able to do that. SuSE does also. But
I'm beginning to worry that if I get in over my head with VMware that they
won't be geared up well enough to effectively help me out of my problems.
Best thing you can do is to get their demo and try several differen't
distributions, specially newer versions which are not covered in their
manual. Don't go initially with the pre-installed stuff. I still haven't
heard back from their sales on this issue, ie; what pre-installed selections
on CD-ROM do they have available (obviously for a cost). It would be
unfortunate if all they have available is just a couple of outdated Linux
distributions as pre-installed packages. I tried, but could not find
anything on their web site but sometimes I miss things because I look under
areas like 'products' and the information is not their. For me, internet
time, costs big bucks so the web site better be very clear on where things
are. Imagine, as I am now doing, that maybe one cannot depend on
pre-installed packages as there may not be many and they may not be recent.
Right now, I don't know, and can't find out and am at the mercy of their email
responses. That's another thing. Email response time indicates just how
well a company is set up to hand customer service and inquiries. To me VMware
email response appears non existent or very slow. Slow I don't mind.
Waiting forever and then an email doesn't show up is usually done on purpose,
specially if one has sent several.
So try a demo and the hard way to install a client because that's probably
going to be the way you would have to do it if they don't have up-to-date
pre-installed packages.
I certainly like the potential the product offers. I can temporarily remove
the installed packages to some backup media and when I want to use it again,
just put it back into the directory I got it from.
This means that I could work with either full or partial installations and as
long as my backup resources were upto it I could install as many clients as I
wished. But as excited as I am about this prospect the whole idea of
inadequate support or possibly buggy operation with newer distributions, or
vague instructions, or inadequate email response, all leave me with a sick
stomach. I'll wait a little longer, resend my email again, and see if they
are really ignoring me or just don't have the resources to handle the market
interest that they have created. Both, unpleasant prospects. Maybe, they
just don't care that there are humans out here trying to come to grips with
their product - I'll see.
Hope this helps. Had to put your note back on the list where I found it as
you did not put in your own email. This is probably Off Topic for the Red
Hat list. I'd be surprised if it even get's onto the list.
Bye-thanks_TED
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