How to install VMware View 4 on notebooks

[FilippoNeri]

Hi Folks,

I am absolutely new to VMware.

Our company has about 20 Dell Latitude 6400 notebooks.

Our task is to use 2 Windows XP virtual machines on them at the same

time.

The notebook users should manage the virtual machines on their notebooks

by their own, and we should like to centrally manage these notebooks

as well. We were advised to try to use VMware View 4.

My first problem is how to install it.

Do I need to install Windows or Linux to these notebooks first or VMware

View 4 is enough alone?

Earlier I used VMware server on LINUX platform, but now I dont really

understand the concept.

Which module of VMware View 4 should be first installed to the notebook?

Thanks for every help in advance

[scottziehr]

It sounds to me like VMware Workstation may suit your needs better than View.

View provides virtual desktops running on ESX hosts. While you can "check out" these virtual desktops to run on laptops, for instance, it is probably more complex than what you need. You have to have ESX infrastructure along with a View Connection server up and running before doing anything with the laptops. Check out the documentation on View,

and Workstation,

[jaffa-unisys]

Kia Ora mate.

I'd go one step further and suggest VMware Workstation ACE product. I suspect that the 'users will look after there own stuff' approach could have a few more "basics" underneath. Such as permissions, monitoring or prevention of changes, controlling interaction with the host data/drives/usb/network devices etc. Easy modifications and change and so on.

Look up VMware Workstation ACE. You can "wrap" a typical VMware Workstation Guest in some controls and security and all sorts, while still allowing "whats left" of the desktop to be managed by the notebook owner.

VMware View offline is still beta, seems to work, however you will need a lot of infrastructure to get it up and going so i'm thinking the other product.

[FilippoNeri]

Thanks for every advice.

I have already use VMware Workstation.

The only problem with it is that it is not free and it needs a full operating system to run on. ( Windows or LINUX)

The best method would be the one which is running without a host operating system like VMware ESX on servers.

What about VMware ACE?

What operating system should I install to the notebook if I want to use VMware ACE? Is it nesessary to have VMware workstation installed on the notebook to use VMware ACE?

[scottziehr]

View is far from free.

And ESX is a host operating system. Maybe you want a dual-boot configuration, in which case, you don't need VMware at all.

[jaffa-unisys]

Think of ACE as a VMware Workstation guest wrapped up in goodies.

Really suggest you grab the admin/starter guide for this product and

spend 20 minutes reading the features, not how to install.

As for price, well nothing is free really is it?! 😃 If its not brought out right then the cost of supporting something is always a dollar disappearing somewhere.

If you're wanting to put two operating systems onto a laptop "cheaply" then get a Workstation/ACE for building them but ship out VMware Player to run them. Which is free, however that is rudimentary for a solution and I'd build up on it.

Send me a private message with more info, what you want the pc's for and so on and i'll see if i can provide more assistance for you.

All good.

catch ya

[acerbisvm]

I know that maybe I'm not advised to suggest it here, and I'm a customer of View and vsphere, but for your particular niche use case, I would use VirtualBox

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox

it includes RDP servers to connect remotely to the virtual machine in case of remote need, is open sourced and is - expecially in the last incarnations - very very good.