Training and Development using Virtual Computing Print

Training and Development using Virtual Computing

Why Use Virtual Computing?

  • Try new operating systems
  • Learn about new operating systems and software
  • Set up server deployments from your desktop
  • Run multiple operating systems on the same computer
  • Save the expense and energy of multiple computer when everything can run on one
  • Virtual network together multiple virtual machines
  • Added security by isolation between the virtual machine and the host computer

What Does Virtual Computing Cost?

VMWare Player Free 50 MB download
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 Free 70 MB download
Linux Xen Free Bundled in some Linux distributions

What Hardware do I need?

  • PC with large hard drive and lots of memory.
  • Assume 20 GB and 500 MB RAM per operating system
  • The drive space needed is the total size of files in the operating system.
  • The operating system believes it has larger storage than is actually used.

What are some of the Virtual Machines available for download?

Virtual Computer Name Hard Drive Requirement Memory RAM Requirement
Linux Distributions600 MB500 MB
Windows 2008 Enterprise Server 60 days2.3 GB500 MB
Firefox browser appliance (protection from Internet)250 MB 
Thin Client Server 500 MB500 MB
Oracle Database for Education750 MB1GB
SUSE Linux with IBM DB2 database750 MB1GB
Red Hat Enterprise Linux1.4 GB500 MB
Windows 7 Beta2.6 GB500 MB
Network Storage Server1 MB Software300 MB
Ruby on Rails Development Server350 MB500 MB
Virtual Tape Library for Virtual Machines400 MB10 MB
Checkpoint VPN Security700 MB500 MB
Symantec Email Gateway Security700 MB500 MB
InterScanT Web Security Virtual Appliance600 MB2 MB
Windows XP SP3 3 GB256 MB
Windows Vista Ultimate15 GB512 MB
Windows 2000 Professional2 GB100 MB

Try trial software such as SQL 2008, Visual Studio and Sharepoint on a seperate virtual machines to prevent clashes with your host computer.
Build up your IT skills on the latest software without spending money.
Over 1000 Virtual Machines are available for download. Most are free.

References:
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/virtualpc/default.mspx