Customer Reviews

Virtual Machines Companion (Networking (Course Technology))

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As the title suggests; this is not an introduction to the concepts of virtualization. It is a companion that you would use to assist in your learning desktop virtualization. If you were expecting Vmware esx or esxi or even Hyper-V; you will not find it here due to when the book was originally published. Does this make it bad book? Not really. It helps to be good with both server and desktop virtualization.

Chapter one will give you an introduction to the concepts of virtualization. The other chapters deal with setting up vmware workstation, player, server and virtual pc and server.

The setups are basic in design and the chapter does walk you through all the options available for the products. If you are looking for more advanced issues, they are not here. This is a beginner's book and the one nice aspect of the book is that it avoided repetition of similar information of the product lines.

I only skimmed the section of virtual PC as I don't have a need to run and my last two companies didn't have any installations of it.

I didn't do the exercises at the end of each chapter as I already have experience. However, I found they were not bad and could be of use to the beginner.

As a statement of age for the information, the software versions discussed are vmware workstation 6.0, vmware player 2.0, and vmware server . For virtual pc we have virtual pc 2007 and virtual server 2005.

Overall, for what is offered, it's not a bad book but I am not sure the value considering the information offered can be found in other sources.

Good things can come in small packages, and as the author I hope that this is true of my book. I have worked with virtual machines in the my classroom, professional life, and home environment for several years, and with this book I have been able to put a lot of what I have learned about the virtual computing environment into a compact resource that I hope you can use to get started with this exciting technology. The book covers the essential operation of 4 major virtualization products including VMware Workstation 6, VMware Server, Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, and Microsoft Virtual Server 2005. Covering all these products in one place makes this book very unique. In addition, with the exception of VMware Workstation 6, all of the products are available as free downloads. (There is also a 30-day trial version of VMware Workstation 6 that you can play with.) This book will allow you to experiment with each of these products, learning which best product suits your needs. You may ask, "How can you cover so many products in such a small book?" The reason is because we stick to the basics. In addition, there are a lot basic concepts that are similar to each of the products, providing opportunities to condense the material by eliminating redundancy. For example, Chapter 1 provides an overview of virtual machine technology and the capabilities found in most of today's products. In addition, Chapter 1 provides information on how to download each product from the product vendor's Website. Chapter 2 covers VMware Workstation 6, VMware Server, and VMware Player. Since these products share many common options and windows, I was able to keep the chapter to a minimum by eliminating repetition. Chapter 3 covers Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 and Virtual Server 2005. Again, both products have many similar functions that do not need repetition. In addition to covering product installation and configuration, each chapter contains steps on how to perform many essential virtual machine tasks. The book also provides a number of End of Chapter Projects to challenge your abilities. In the near future I also plan to post step-by-step hands-on activities to my Web site that will allow the reader to apply each task covered in the book to a sample virtual machine application. I know that I am bias, but I sincerely hope you will try the book, and that you will find it one of the best buys on the computer book market.

Best wishes to all...

Ted Simpson - Author