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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

Which VMWare to learn?

Hi,

   I'm new to VMware and wanted advice where to start. I've used Oracle VirtualBox type 2

as I'm a dba. I wanted to learn VMware though and wondered how similar the type 2 Desktop version

vs vsphere? Is Workstation a good place to start?

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

Just looking at these other posts scares me. I have an external SSD drive that I intended to use

for VMWare testing on a windows 10 laptop.

Is VMWare Pro 15 currently incapable of running on Windows ?

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

VMware is the name of a company, not a product. The product you would be investigating on your Windows 10 laptop would be VMware Workstation.

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

Of course it can run windows, what are you scared of? What type of specs does your laptop have. In general to run one or two vms, I'd like to see 4cores and 8gb of memory, but you can do less, if your running one vm 2 cores and 8gb of memory should work. If you want to run esxi as a vm, I suggest 4 cores and 16gb of memory, but 8 cores and 64gb of memory for a decent size lab running muliple vms. The external SSD depends on the type of usb your using, usb3 is needed, but its better if its local. In simple comparison workstation and virtual box can do the same things, workstation procan do much more than virtual box, vmware player is closer to virtual box capabilities.

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

I said "VMWare Pro 15"

I've seen others use that as shorthand for "Workstation" and I posed in the Workstation forum.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I said "VMWare Pro 15"

Yes and this is not the name of a product. The Product is VMware Workstation Professional.

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

"Of course it can run windows, what are you scared of?"

I stated above I have an ssd drive I want to use.

All these posts below mine describe my proposed environment, more or less -

* Workstation Pro not working on windows
* wmware pro 15 stalls when external USB is used
* Very poor SSD performance inside Windows 10 guest
* running on VMWare Workstation on a Windows 10 host
SSD Performance Degradation in VMWare Workstation Guest
* VMware Workstation Pro can't run on Windows
* Unity: Workstation Pro 15 - unable to start & desktop goes black/unresponsive
* Performance of NVME SSD Disk with VMware Workstation 12 Pro

I do have 32GB RAM, 4 cores, I think about 12000cpu benchmark...pretty good laptop

and I've successfully ran five Oracle VirtualBox VMs on there simultaneously (two node

rac primary, two node rac standby dataguard, 1 node dns).

    I get it that there's folks who don't provide the virtual OS enough resources.

Those posts above make me wary though. Shouldn't they?

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

Right, but I see these in recent posts next to mine. Nobody seems to not understand

what they're talking about and I didn't see that you correct them.

* wmware pro 15 stalls when external USB is used

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I'm just simply trying to educate you (and others, though I can't reach everyone) on what the correct words are to call something by.

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

Understood, I'll use "Workstation" instead of Pro 15.

thx

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

Is it commonplace to install vsphere on a bare metal

regular desktop pc to emulate VMware in an enterprise

environment?

Workstation is about $250. How much is vsphere?

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

vSphere is a bundling of ESXi + vCenter Server. ESXi is the hypervisor which is installed upon bare metal, and although it *can* sometimes work on select few pieces of desktop hardware, it is not supported. VMware Workstation is a type-2 hypervisor which is designed to be installed on Windows- or Linux-based PCs whereas VMware Fusion is designed for Mac workstations and laptops.

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

Good info, thx.

So if my goal were to learn server level, enterprise vmware management, how much will I get out

of the learning of Workstation Pro? And given the limited hardware and relatively prohibitive

cost of vsphere (as a personal acquisition); I assume there are few ways to work with the product

on a regular basis other than having access at one's workplace? I realize there's training, but that ends.

Are there any inexpensive solutions ?

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

I run a vsphere lab in workstation, plus other servers, totaling probably around 14-15 vms at a time, and I have seen no performance problems on internal SSDs(evo 860) which 14 different vms can do alot of io.I've used workstation basically since they came out with it. Your looking at posts for when people have problems, it doesn't' mean everyone has those problems. What you did in virtual box you can do in workstation. Some of the posts are coming from a Microsoft decision to blacklist older versions of workstation, but there are updates out there to fix that. The biggest complaint I've seen against workstation is its aggressive update model, leaving versions out of support after a year or two. I've used virtual box and fro what I do it can't match what workstation is possible for, otherwise why pay that price.

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

vsphere(esxi/vcenter) is expensive, I wouldn't buy it for home use, you can look which has home test licenses for $200/year which also includes a license for a workstation. Installing ESXi on consumer hardware is hit or miss, if you want something that can run that its best to buy used hardware on eBay or similar.

https://www.vmug.com/vmug2019/membership/evalexperience

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

I was hoping the "issues" were not prevalent.

Maybe you're answering one of my other main questions. How do you run vsphere

within Workstation Pro? Would that do what I'm asking? e.g. bone up on Enterprise vmware management?

thx

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

This looks like a pretty  complete and updated guide

Learn How to Build a VMware Home Lab in a Complete Walkthrough

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

That's what I was looking for. Thank you.

I'll peruse this for awhile and see also what if anything my company might

kick in.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

Watch a course like

https://www.pluralsight.com/paths/vsphere-6-dcv

the vcp certification is for people who want to show they know vsphere related topic. this course can't be used for the prequisite for that certification, but it does go through the tasks you need to know if you did ever want to get that certification. I watched it awhile ago and I beleive they even went through the course making a workstation lab to use during the course.

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VM1020
Contributor
Contributor

I would like to get certified.

You all have been very helpful. Thanks a bunch.

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