Archive
Home Lab – Adding freeNAS 8.3 iSCSI LUNS to ESXi 5.1
About a half a year ago I setup my freeNAS iSCSI SAN, created 2 x 500GB iSCSI LUNS and attached them to ESXi 5.1. These were ample for quite a while. However I have the need to add additional LUNS…. My first thought was – “Okay, Okay, where are my notes on adding LUNS…” They are non-existent… Eureka! Its time for a new blog post… So here are my new notes around adding iSCSI LUNS with freeNAS to my ESXi 5.1 Home lab – As always read and use at your own risk
J
- Start in the FreeNAS admin webpage for your device. Choose Storage > Expand Volumes > Expand the volume you want to work with > Choose Create ZFS volume and fill out the Create Volume Pop up.
When done click on Add and ensure is show up under the Storage Tab
. 
-
On the left-hand pane click on Services > iSCSI > Device Extents > View Device Extents. Type in your Extent Name, Choose the Disk Device that you just created in Step 1 and choose OK
-
Click on Associated Targets > Add Extent to Target, Choose your Target and select the new Extent
-
To add to ESXi do the following… Log into the Web Client for vCenter Server, Navigate to a host > Manage > Storage > Storage Devices > Rescan Host
If done correctly your new LUN should show up below. TIP – ID the LUN by its location number, in this case its 4
-
Ensure your on the Host in the left Pane > Related Objects > Datastores > Add Datastore
-
Type in the Name > VMFS Type > Choose the Right LUN (4) > VMFS Version (5) > Partition Lay out (All or Partial), Review > Finish
-
Setup Multi-Pathing – Select a Host > Manage > Storage > Storage Devices > Select LUN > Slide down the Devices Details Property Box and Choose Edit Multipathing
-
Choose Round Robin and Click On Okay
-
Validate all Datastores still have Round Robin enabled. 2 Ways to do this.
- Click on the LUN > Paths. Status should read Active I/O for both paths
- Click on LUN > Properties > Edit Multipathing – Path section Policy should state – Round Robin (See PIC in Step 8)
Summary – These steps worked like a charm for me, then again my environment is already setup, and hopefully these steps might be helpful to you.
Home Lab – VMware ESXi 5.1 with iSCSI and freeNAS
Recently I updated my home lab with a freeNAS server (post here). In this post I will cover my iSCSI setup with freeNAS and ESXi 5.1.
Keep this in mind when reading – This Post is about my home lab. My Home Lab is not a high performance production environment, its intent is to allow me to test and validate virtualization software. Some of the choices I have made here you might question, but keep in mind I’ve made these choices because they fit my environment and its intent.
Overall Hardware…
Click on these links for more information on my lab setup…
- ESXi Hosts – 2 x ESXi 5.1, iCore 7, USB Boot, 32GB RAM, 5 x NICS
- freeNAS SAN – freeNAS 8.3.0, 5 x 2TB SATA III, 8GB RAM, Zotac M880G-ITX Mobo
- Networking – Netgear GSM7324 with several VLAN and Routing setup
Here are the overall goals…
- Setup iSCSI connection from my ESXi Hosts to my freeNAS server
- Use the SYBS Dual NIC to make balanced connections to my freeNAS server
- Enable Balancing or teaming where I can
- Support a CIFS Connection
Here is basic setup…
freeNAS Settings
Create 3 networks on separate VLANs – 1 for CIFS, 2 x for iSCSI < No need for freeNAS teaming
CIFS
The CIFS settings are simple. I followed the freeNAS guide and set up a CIFS share.
iSCSI
Create 2 x iSCSI LUNS 500GB each
Setup the basic iSCSI Settings under “Servers > iSCSI”
- I used this doc to help with the iSCSI setup
- Only exception is – Enable both of the iSCSI network adapters in the “Portals” area
ESXi Settings
Setup your iSCSI vSwitch and attach two dedicated NICS
Setup two VMKernel Ports for iSCSI connections
Ensure that the First VMKernel Port group (iSCSI72) goes to ONLY vmnic0 and vice versa for iSCSI73
Enable the iSCSI LUNs by following the standard VMware instructions
Note – Ensure you bind BOTH iSCSI VMKernel Ports
Once you have your connectivity working, it’s time to setup round robin for path management.
Right click on one of the LUNS, choose ‘Manage Paths…’
Change the path selection on both the LUNS to ‘Round Robin’
Tip – After the fact if you make changes to your iSCSI settings, then ensure you check your path selection as it may go back to default
Notes and other Thoughts…
I had issues with freeNAS updating information on their web interface, even after reboots of the NAS and my PC. I moved to Firefox and all issues went away. I cleared my cache in IE and these issues were gone.
Using Jumbo Frames with the SYBA Dual NICs (SY-PEX24028) – Short Answer is NO I was unable to get them to work in ESXi 5.1. SYBA Tech support stated the MAX Jumbo frames for this card is 7168 and it supports Windows OS’s only. I could get ESXi to accept a 4096 frame size but nothing larger, however none of the LUNS would connect, once I moved the frame size to 1500 everything worked perfectly. I beat this up pretty hard, adjusting all types of ESXi, networking, and freeNAS settings but in the end I decided the 7% boost that Jumbo frames offer my wasn’t worth the time or effort.
Summary…
These settings will enable my 2 ESXi Hosts to balance their connections to my iSCSI LUNS hosted by freeNAS server without the use of freeNAS Networking Teaming or aggregation. By far it is simplest way to setup and the out of the box performance works well.
My advice is — go simple with these settings for your home lab and save your time to beat up more important issues like “how do I shutdown windows 8″ J
I hope you found this post useful and if you have further questions or comments feel free to post up or reach out to me.
Home Lab – freeNAS build with LIAN LI PC-Q25, and Zotac M880G-ITX
I’ve decided to repurpose my IOMega IX4 and build out a freeNAS server for my ever growing home lab. In this blog post I’m not going to get in to the reasons why I choose freeNAS, trust me I ran through lot of open source NAS software, but rather on the actual hardware build of the NAS device.
Here are the hardware components I choose to build my freeNAS box with…
- LIAN LI PC-Q25 Case – NewEgg ~$120, it goes on sale from time to time…
- Cooler Master 500W PS – ValleySeek ~$34, on sale
- Zotac M880G-ITX – Valleyseek ~$203
- SYBA Dual NIC SY-PEX24028 – NewEgg ~$37
- 8GB Corsair RAM – I owned this bought a Frys in a 16GB Kit for $49
- 5 x Seagate ST2000DM001 2TB SATAIII – Superbiiz ~$89, onsale and free shipping
- 1 x Corsair 60GB SSD SATAIII – I owned this bought at Frys for ~$69
Tip – Watch for sales on all these items, the prices go up and down daily…
Factors in choosing this hardware…
- Case – the Lian LI case supports 7 Hard disks (5 being hotswap) in a small and very quiet case, Need I say more…
- Power supply – Usually I go with a Antec Power supply, however this time I’m tight on budget so I went with a Cooler Master 80PLUS rated Power supply
- Motherboard – The case and the NAS software I choose really drove the Mobo selection, I played with a bunch of Open soruce NAS software on VM’s, once I made my choice on the case and choosing freeNAS it was simple as finding one that fit both. However 2 options I was keen on – 1) 6 SATA III Ports (To support all the Hard disks), 2) PCIex1 slot (to support the Dual Port NIC). Note – I removed the onboard Wireless NIC and the antenna, no need for them on this NAS device
- NIC – the SYBA Dual NIC I have used in both of my ESXi hosts, they run on the Realtek 8111e chipset and have served me well. The Mobo I choose has the same chipset and they should integrate well into my environment.
- RAM – 8GB of RAM, since I will have ~7TB of usable space with freeNAS, the general rule of thumb is to use 1GB of RAM per 1TB of storage, 8GB should be enough.
- Hard Disks - I choose the hard disks mainly on Price, speed, and size. These hard disks are NOT rated above RAID 1 however I believe they will serve my needs accordingly. If you looking for HIGH performance and duty cycle HD’s then go with an enterprise class SAS or SATA disk.
- SSD – I’ll use this for cache setup with freeNAS, I just wanted it to be SATA III
Install Issues and PIC’s
What went well…
- Hard disk installs into case went well
- Mobo came up without issue
- freeNAS 8.3.xx installed without issue
Minor Issues….
- Had to modify (actually drill out) the mounting plate on the LIAN LI case to fit the Cooler Master Power supply
- LIAN LI Mobo Mount points were off about a quarter inch, this leaves a gap when installing the NIC card
- LIAN LI case is tight in areas where the Mobo power supply edge connector meets the hard disk tray
PICS…
LIAN LI Case
5 Seagate HD’s installed…
Rear view…
Side Panel…
Zotac Mobo with RAM
Removal of the Wireless NIC….
Zotac Mobo installed in case with dual NIC…
Everything Mounted (Except for the SSD)….
Home Lab – More updates to my design
Most recently I posted about adding a Layer 3 switch to my growing home lab. The Netgear Layer 3 switch I added (GSM7324) is preforming quite well in my home lab. In fact it’s quite zippy compared to my older switches and for the price it was worth it. However my ever growing home lab is having some growing pains, 2 to be exact.
In this post I’ll outline the issues, the solutions I’ve chosen, and my new direction for my home lab.
The issues…
Initially my thoughts were I could use my single ESXi Host and Workstation with specific VM’s to do most of my lab needs.
There were two issues I ran into, 1 – Workstation doesn’t support VLANs and 2 – my trusty IOMega IX4 wasn’t preforming very well.
Issue 1 – Workstation VLANs
Plain and simple Workstation doesn’t support VLANs and working with one ESXi Host is prohibiting me from fully using my lab and switch.
Issues 2 – IOMega IX4 Performance
My IOMega IX4 has been a very reliable appliance and it has done its job quite well.
However when I put any type of load on it (More than One or Two VM’s booting) its performance becomes a bit intolerable.
The Solutions…
Issue 1 – Workstation VLANs
I plan to still use Workstation for testing of newer ESXi platforms and various software components
I will install a second ESXi host similar to the one I built earlier this year only both Hosts will have 32GB of RAM.
The second Host will allow me to test more advanced software and develop my home lab further.
Issues 2 – IOMega IX4 Performance
I’ve decided to separate my personal data from my home lab data.
I will use my IX4 for personal needs and build a new NAS for my home lab.
A New Direction…
My intent is to build out a second ESXi Physical Host and ~9TB FreeNAS server so that I can support a vCloud Director lab environment.
vCD will enable me to spin up multiple test labs and continue to do the testing that I need.
So that’s it for now… I’m off to build my second host and my freeNAS server…
VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide gets an Online Facelift
At some point in your VMware administrator career you discover you need information around the correct settings to deploy a VM properly.
You find that you need to answer questions like –
What is the supported network adapter for my Guest OS?
Are Paravirtualization adapters supported for my Guest OS?
Can I do Hot memory add?
A few years ago the default standard was the Guest Operating System Installation Guide.
It gave you all the information you needed to setup the virtual hardware or confirm what recommend virtual hardware should be by the OS Type.
Recently the compatibility and OS installation guides have come online and they can lead you to best practices around settings and KB’s too.
In this blog post I’m going to step you through how to find basic information around a Windows 2008 server.
Start here – http://partnerweb.vmware.com/GOSIG/home.html#other
This link will take you to the Guest Operating System Installation Guide.
Select your OS – In this case I choose Windows 2008 Server
Here are the base install instructions for the Guest OS, note at the bottom the KB Articles and Guest OS Compatibility Guide.
The Guest OS Compatibility Guide can tell you what network drivers etc are support for the guest OS..
Click here to go to the VMware Compatibility Guide, Select your OS Family, OS Type and choose Update & Review…
Then select your ESX / ESXi version to see the details…
Here are the results… Also from this page you can choose a different product like ESXi 5.0U1 or other…
Home Lab – Adding a Layer 3 Switch to my growing Home Lab
Most recently I expanded my home lab to include a Layer 3 switch.
Why would I choose a Layer 3 switch and what/how would I use it is the topic of this blog post.
Here are my requirements for my home lab –
I would like to setup my home network to support multiple VLANs and control how they route.
This will enable me to control the network traffic and segment my network to allow for different types of testing.
I’d also like to be able to run all of these VM’s on Workstation 9, support remote access, and ESXi Hosts.
Frist thing I did was come up with a drawing of what I wanted. It included all my wants and needs…
This was my chance to brain storm a bit and I just wrote down everything I wanted or really needed.
From this drawing I came up with this list…
- Support Remote Access
- VLANS
- VLAN Routing
- VLAN Tagging
- ESXi Host with 5 NICs
- Workstation 9 Host with 5 NICs
- Support 5 Different VLANs
- Support Internet Access for VM’s
- Local Storage support for home files
- Printer / Scanner need to be on the network
- I’m going to need a switch with 24 Ports or better
- Design the network so that I can power down the test lab and allow home devices to print and access the Inet.
Second thing – What do I currently have to work with…
- Windows 7×64, Workstation 9, 32GB RAM, iCore 7, 2 x SATA3 2TB 6gbs HD, 2 x SATA3 SSD (60 & 120), 1 NIC
- IO Mega IX4 with Dual NICs
- Older Netgear 16 Port Gig Layer 2 Switch unmanaged
- Netgear N900 with Guest Network Support
Based on these lists I came up with my shopping list…
- I need a Layer 3 Switch to support all this
- I need some Multiport Giga Bit NICs
Let’s start with the switch…Here is what I looked for in a Switch –
Must Have -
- Layer 3 Routing
- VLANs
- VLAN Routing
- Managed
- Quiet – It is a must for home networking as I work from home and am frequently on calls.
- Cost effective – keep it below a few hundred
Nice to have -
- Quality Brand
- Support
- Community behind the product
- Non-Blocking Switch
- OSPF or RIP
Basically most good Layer 3 switches achieve the requirements for 1-4. However these switches usually run in a Data center or Networking closet and are quite loud
I did some looking around for different switches, mostly used Cisco and Extreme Networks. These are switches that I am familiar with and would fit my home lab. However I’ve seen my share of their innards, I know their fans are loud and cannot easily be replaced. When I was at VMworld 2012 I chatted quite a bit with the Netgear folk about their products and I remember talking with them about their products and how they fit SMB to Enterprise quite nicely. I started to look on Ebay and I found an affordable Netgear Switch. I did some research on line and found how others were modifying the fans to help them run more quietly.
My choice was the Netgear GSM7324. It is a 24 Port Layer 3 Managed Switch from 2008. It meets all my must have needs and it fulfilled all of the “Nice To haves”
I also bought the following to support this switch –
Startech Null Modem DB9 to USB to run the CLI on the Switch
Sunon MagLev HA40201V4-0000-C99, 40x20mm,Super Silent FAN for $10 apiece, they fit perfectly and they run the switch at a tolerable noise level
TIP – And this is important… I had to move the PIN outs on these fans to meet the PIN outs on the Switch. If I didn’t it could have damaged the switch…
Next I started looking for Multi-Port Gigabit NICS…
What do I have to work with?
I’m using the Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 for Workstation 9 and MSI Z68MA-G45B3 for my ESXi 5.x Host.
What are the Must haves for the NIC’s?
- Dual Gigabit
- VLAN support
- Jumbo Frames
- Support for ESXi and Windows 7×64
- I need about 4 of these cards
I choose the SYBA SY-PEX24028. It’s a Dual NIC Gigabit card that meets my requirements. I found it for $39 on Newegg .
Tip – When choosing a network card I needed to ensure the card will fit into my motherboards, not all x1 PCIe slots are the same and when looking at Dual Gigabit NICs most only work in server class hardware.
Summary –
I achieved what I was looking to accomplish and with some good design work I should have a top notch home lab. All in all I spent about ~$400 to upgrade my home lab. Which is not a bad deal considering most Layer 3 switches cost $400+. All my toys have now come in and I’m off to rework my lab…. But that my friend is a different blog post…
VMworld 2012 – Public Voting Now Open – Vote for my sessions!
For the first time I submitted sessions for VMworld 2012.
Please support me by going to vmworld.com and voting for my sessions…
Please visit VMworld 2012
Update to my Home Lab with VMware Workstation 8 – Part 1 Why
Over the couple of years my home lab running VMware Workstation 7 has served me quite well. I’ve been able to deploy VM’s as needed (Windows, ESX, etc) and attach it to my shared storage.
However as my role has changed to a TAM at VMware I’ve needed to depend on my lab to interface with my customers and keep my technical skills up. VMware supplies labs and access to many of their products and this approach is a good one, however there is something said for building it yourself.
Before I just start setting up software, hardware, SAN’s, network, etc I needed to reevaluate my current home lab and setup my new objectives / goals –
“To update a home lab one must look back to move forward” – Matt Mancini 
What were some of the objectives and goals I chose back then?
What do you want to accomplish by setting up a home lab or work test environment?
I wanted to setup a home lab with a couple of ESX servers and shared storage
I wanted to do this so I could testing basic ESX functions and new versions
What are the expectations for uptime and performance?
I’d like the system to perform well as a home PC and a test lab
I’d like to use it to do basic functions and run my lab quickly keeping delays to a minimum
What equipment do I have access to and what do would I need to purchase?
Have – High End PC, Home Network
Purchase – More RAM, Shared Storage, Workstation Software
I built the following environment based on my objectives and goals–
Hardware / Software -
Network –
Internal networks to support vMotion and ESX Management Network
External Single NIC to support VM’s
Storage –
iSCSI, NFS – To support ESX Hosts
CIFS Shares – for a Public Share
Single NIC from home lab to support connection to IX4
500GB HD - Boot OS and Some Workstation VM’s
300GB HD – For Workstation VM’s
160GB HD – For Workstation VM’s
Current VM’s -
Web Safe – XP VM’s used for surfing the web
Home VM – Used for Home / Personal Use
ESX 3.5 Cluster – built but rarely used
ESX 4.0 Cluster – Used but not fully configured
vCenter Server VM – Windows 2003 x32 running vCenter Server 4.0
Outcomes for 09/2011 -
Currently my home lab is struggling to keep up. As my role has changed the demands on my home lab have increased. The main constraint appears to be RAM, 8GB of RAM won’t cut it anymore. So now I’m faced with updating or replacing my home lab.
The Update Plan 10/2011 -
Generally the home lab is doing okay but it is struggling with local RAM. If I run more then 3 VM’s (1 – vCenter Server, and 2 – ESX) there isn’t really much left and paging begins.
I start to look to update my current Mother board (MoBo) to 16GB of RAM, it’s MAX. As I start to research 4 x 4GB DDR2, I find that DDR3 has consumed the market. and DDR2 is so far past its prime that updating it would cost about ~$250 for RAM.
It’s time for a major overhaul for my home lab – What are the new objectives and considerations?
What do you want to accomplish by setting up a home lab or work test environment?
I wanted to setup my home lab to be able to run One vCenter Server, 2 – ESX servers w/ shared storage iSCSI and NFS, maybe on other XP VM, at the same time with out paging to disk
I to test basic ESX functions, new versions, explore options for customers, work with beta code, etc
What are the expectations for uptime and performance?
I’d like the system to perform well as a home PC and a test lab
I’d like to use it to do basic functions and run my lab quickly keeping delays to a minimum
What equipment do I have access to and what do would I need to purchase?
Have – High End PC, Home Network, Shared Storage, Workstation Software
What newer hardware update should be considered?
i7 Core CPU, MoBo with 32GB support, USB 3.0, onboard mSATA, SSD Drives, SATA 6.0 Support
With these things in mind I decided on the following items…
Let chats a bit about the Buy items and reasons why I choose them…
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 Mobo
Here are the key drivers why I choose this motherboard -
Price and options were my number one driver, I had looked at other MoBo’s but when I narrowed it down this one kept coming up…
4 x SATAIII – 6.0Gbs Support – Really the MoBo out there with this (Note – this MoBo uses 2 different Chipsets to achieve this (2 x on the Intel Z68 and 2 x on the Marvell chipset)
4 x SATAII – 3.0Gbs Support – Uses the Z68 Chipset
32GB RAM Max
USB 3.0 Support
Good PCI Support – PCI Express 2.0 x16 2 (x16, x8), PCI Express x1, 3 PCI Slots 2 (I did look at PCI Express 3.0 boards but at this point they are more of a fad then reality)
Here are the details on this board — http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128512
60GB SSD SATAIII aka 6.0Gbs
The key driver for this product was Speed and Price.
I got the “Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F60GB3A-BK 2.5″ 60GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)”
I got this drive at Fry’s for $80 and it stated it could do 500MB/s Read and Write.
Come to find out it can only do 250MB/s RorW however if you buy the GT Model it will.
Don’t take my word for it read about it on the Corsair forums — http://forum.corsair.com/v3/forumdisplay.php?f=188
Other Caveats – Don’t use SSD for your boot drive, before you buy read reviews
I’m not happy about this but the drive still preforms well and I use it to boot VM’s it flys!
Here are the deailts on the SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233223
16GB DDR3 RAM
Key driver here was Size and Price
Once again Frys had the best price and it got 16GB of RAM for $79
Here are the details on the RAM – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143
With new hardware in hand, let the fun and rebuilding begin – I’m off to Part II of this blog “Update to my Home Lab with VMware Workstation 8 – Part 2 Fun with a Windows 7 Installer“
vSphere: NUMA 706: Can’t boot system as genuine NUMA
If you install vSphere on NON-NUMA hardware the following warning message will be displayed on the Service Console splash screen
cpu0:0)NUMA: 706: Can’t boot system as genuine NUMA. Booting with 1 fake node(s)
To resolve the warning message uncheck the option setting vmkernel.boot.usenumainfo
Home Lab – Workstation 7 to 7.1 Upgrade
I upgraded my Home Lab from Workstation 7.0 to 7.1 tonight..
More info on my home lab here…
http://vmexplorer.blogspot.com/2010/02/home-lab-install-of-esx-35-and-40-on.html
Upgrade Steps I took…
- First step was to uninstall Workstation 7, then install 7.1
- Note: The install will do this automatically if needed
- Once the uninstall is completed a reboot is necessary
- After the reboot I noticed Windows 7 reconfigure the Network adapters
- Note.. At this point if you need to adjust your local subnets now might be a good time, once you install 7.1 it will reconfigure all the vmnets around this.
- The install of Workstation 7.1 is pretty simple, Choose Custom and Next a few times and one reboot
- After the reboot Windows 7 finds the new network adapters, and it was all done..
What I noticed after the upgrade..
- WS7.1 launched with out issues, it didn’t require me to input my serial number again, and it came right up.
- I opened up the Virtual Network Editor, and it took about a minute to assign subnets to the 8 difference vmnets. (This is something I should have documented better, as I don’t recall all the subnets. However I did have 2 documented)
- When I powered on my good old XP VM, locally Windows 7 noticed this as needing an USB updated driver, it quickly went to the update site and downloaded the driver, no issue. In the XP VM I updated the vmware tools, rebooted, and it worked normally
- One new thing was the vmtools ICON now is grey and white
- I powered up my ESX test environment..
- 1st my vCenter Server is connected to VMnet0 in Auto-Bridged mode
- On Power up I noticed my vm had been switched from a static ip to DHCP
- I correct this by entereing its static IP and it functioned normally
- 2nd I powered up my ESX 3.5 host
- It booted fine and attached itself to the vCenter server without issue
- 3rd I powered up my ESX 4.0 host
- It booted fine and attached itself to the vCenter server without issue
Final thoughts…
This upgrade was a good warm up for the next Workstation upgrade that I need to do.
This environment was pretty simple, nothing very complex, and pretty much went smoothly.
I think the best rule of thumb is before you upgrade know and document your lab then upgrade.
My home lab was partially documented it would have went smoother if it was fully documented.
Next up… Update of a more complex WS lab with an IOMega iSCSI NAS and multiple subnets…
I’ll post up how it goes…
Here’s whats new with WS7.1… I got this from VMware site…
http://www.vmware.com/support/ws71/doc/releasenotes_ws71.html#whatsnew
What’s New
This release of VMware Workstation adds the following new features and support:
•New Support for 32-Bit and 64-Bit Operating Systems
•New Features in VMware Workstation
New Support for 32-Bit and 64-Bit Operating Systems
This release provides support for the following host and guest operating systems:
Operating System Host and Guest Support
Ubuntu 8.04.4 Host and guest
Ubuntu 10.04 Host and guest
OpenSUSE 11.2 Host and guest
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 Host and guest
Fedora 12 Guest
Debian 5.0.4 Guest
Mandriva 2009.1 Guest
New Features in VMware Workstation
•OpenGL 2.1 Support for Windows 7 and Windows Vista Guests — Improves the ability to run graphics-based applications in virtual machines.
•Improved Graphics Performance — Enhanced performance with better benchmarks, frame rates, and improved rendering on Windows 7 and Windows Vista guests allows you to run various graphics-based applications. In addition, major improvements in video playback enable you to play high-resolution videos in virtual machines.
•Automatic Software Updates — Download and install VMware Tools and receive maintenance updates when available.
•Direct Launch — Drag guest applications from the Unity start menu directly onto the host desktop. Double-click the shortcut to open the guest application. The shortcut remains on the desktop after you exit Unity and close VMware Workstation.
•Autologon — Save your login credentials and bypass the login dialog box when you power on a Windows guest. Use this feature if you restart the guest frequently and want to avoid entering your login credentials. You can enable Autologon and use direct launch to open guest applications from the host.
•OVF 1.1 Support — Import or export virtual machines and vApps to upload them to VMware vSphere or VMware vCloud. The VMware OVF Tool is a command-line utility bundled in the VMware Workstation installer. Use this tool along with VMware Workstation to convert VMware .vmx files to .ovf format or vice versa. VMware recommends that you use the OVF command-line utility. For more information, see the OVF Web site and OVF Tool User Guide.
•Eight-Way SMP Support — Create and run virtual machines with a total of up to eight-processor cores.
•2TB Virtual Disk Support — Maximum virtual disks and raw disks size increased from 950GB to 2TB.
•Encryption Enhancements — VMware Workstation includes support for Intel’s Advanced Encryption Standard instruction set (AES-NI) to improve performance while encrypting and decrypting virtual machines and faster run-time access to encrypted virtual machines on new processors.
•Memory Management — User interface enhancements have simplified the handling of increased virtual memory capacity.
•User Experience Improvement Program — Help VMware improve future versions of the product by participating in the User Experience Improvement Program. Participation in the program is voluntary and you can opt out at any time. When you participate in the User Experience Improvement Program, your computer sends anonymous information to VMware, which may include product configuration; usage and performance data, virtual machine configuration; usage and performance data, and information about your host system specifications and configuration.
The User Experience Improvement Program does not collect any personal data, such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address that can be used to identify or contact you. No user identifiable data such as the product license key or MAC address are sent to VMware. VMware does not store your IP address with the data that is collected.
For more information about the User Experience Improvement Program, click the Learn More link during installation or from the VMware Workstation Preferences menu.
