I've been using variations of VMWare Fusion since the first beta but have largely been unaware of VMWare's other technologies and I've only ever used it in the 'classic' way of virtualising x86 Windows or Linux distros so apologies if my question seems stupid or obvious.
With Apple Silicon slowly rolling out, I will likely want to replace my ageing twelve year old Mac Pro finally. However, I currently have a few tasks that I run in x86 virtual machines. Chances are I'll be able to carry on doing those in Windows Arm installations but, just in case, I'd like to think about other options. It strikes me that an alternative setup would be to have a dedicated headless small x86 multicore system whose singular purpose is to run virtual machines so that all processing requirements are shifted onto this other device. Either a new system with a high core count Ryzen or Threadripper setup or a repurposed older system (e.g. I'll be upgrading my gaming PC at some point so could get a mini ITX motherboard and case for that). I know I could always connect via RDP or VNC to either the host computer or the imaged machine but I was just wondering if there's any way that VMWare could handle all that. I.e. I install some stuff on the dedicated server and then control everything through VMWare products on my Mac with all the actual virtual machine processing being done on the dedicated computer.
I just thought that might be a 'best of both worlds' scenario so I was hoping it might already exist.
This would do what you describe: https://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor.html
Awesome, thank you, I'll check it out! 🙂
If you're going to retire your gaming PC, which is presumably running Windows 10 64-bit, perhaps vmWare Workstation is an option for you too. Depending on the hardware compatibility level, I think could just move your Fusion VMs to Workstation.
At that point, just run the games on the workstation host 🙂