Draft 1.0 IS&T VMware Workstation and Fusion phase one support statement

Good Afternoon,

Information Services & Technology (IS&T) is pleased to announce phase one support for VMware Workstation 6 for Windows and Linux and VMware Fusion 1 for the Mac. VMware is virtualization software that allows you create and run virtual machines. Phase one support includes the installation of VMware Workstation and Fusion, vmware tools, guest operating systems and configuring the network.

IS&T, in collaboration with IT colleagues across campus, has tested VMware functionality (Guest OS installations, network configurations ). Based on test results, IS&T encourages the MIT community to use a cautionary approach and to contact their respective IT support provider before installing VMware.

What is a Virtual Machine:
A virtual machine is a tightly isolated software container that can run its own operating systems and applications as if it were a physical computer. A virtual machine behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains its own virtual (ie, software-based) CPU, RAM hard disk and network interface card (NIC).

For additional information on virtual machines and if running VMs' within your environment, please read "Visualization basics":
http://www.vmware.com/technology/virtual-machine.html

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NEW FEATURES
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VMware Workstation 6.0.x for Windows and Linux provides several key new features, including:

• Support for Windows Vista
• Multiple monitor displays
• Support for USB 2.0 devices

For additional features, please read "VMware Workstation release notes":
https://www.vmware.com/support/ws6/doc/releasenotes_ws6.html#features

VMware Fusion 1.1.x for the Mac provides several key new features, including:

• Support for Mac OS X Leopard
• Support for Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit editions
• Support for Windows XP 64-bit editions

For additional features, please read "Getting started with VMware Fusion":
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/fusion_getting_started_11.pdf

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BEST PRACTICES
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IS&T recommends the MIT community follow the security recommendations and best practices guidelines to ensure backup, antivirus and anti-spyware software is installed on each virtual machine. For a more in-depth look at these recommendations and how to obtain, please review the page:
http://itinfo.mit.edu/article.php?id=8903

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LICENSING
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As part of the Microsoft Campus Agreement at MIT, the licensing structure for utilizing instances of a guest OS within a virtual environment is different than that of a standalone machine. For additional information, please read:
http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/software/msca.html#virtual

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NOT SUPPORTED
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IS&T does not provide support for the following:

• VMware importer tool
• VMware Player
• Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) within VMware
• VMware installations of Athena virtual machines

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KNOWN ISSUES
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For a full list of known issues visit the VMware page at:
https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/vmware/VMware+Known+Issues

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HOW TO OBTAIN
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VMware Workstation and Fusion is available to faculty, staff and students and can be obtained from the Software Download page:

http://web.mit.edu/software/

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GETTING HELP
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Documentation for using VMware is available at:

Mac: http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?vid=791
Linux: http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?vid=792
Windows: http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?vid=790

If you need assistance installing or using VMware Workstation of Fusion, please contact the Computing Help Desk at computing-help@mit.edu or 617.253.1101.

Questions or comments can be sent to vmware-release@mit.edu