Convert XP into a Windows 7 Virtual Machine with Disk2vhd
Greg Shultz shows you how to use Disk2vhd to move your Windows XP installation into Windows 7 and then run it with Windows Virtual PC.
Greg Shultz shows you how to use Disk2vhd to move your Windows XP installation into Windows 7 and then run it with Windows Virtual PC.
How well does the latest beta of Microsoft's virtualization solution work? In this gallery, Ed Bott looks at Hyper-V in action on Windows Server 2008.
First came VMWare, which recently announced free availability of its market leading server virtualisation software in the form of <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/server/">VMWare Server</a>. Then Microsoft quickly followed suit with the release of <a href=" http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx">Virtual Server 2005 R2</a> as a free download. Moreover, the company is bowing to customer pressure by offering official support for Linux virtual machines plus a new Virtual Machine Additions for Linux pack to enhance such setups.
The Australian Navy's officers-in-training are using an advanced virtual-reality training simulator to replicate combat missions on a 3,500-tonne warship
<p> <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/esx3i.html">ESXi</a> is the latest version of VMware's industry-leading hypervisor. Although you can still buy its big brother, <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/">ESX Server</a>, ESXi is now the main front-line VMware hypervisor. Rather than choosing between ESX Server and ESXi, people should probably install ESXi and pick a suitable license. More detail on the differences between the two products are available on <a href="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1006543">VMware's web site</a>. </p>
<p> <a href="http://www.parallels.com/">Parallels</a> (formerly SWsoft) has a 'bare-metal' server hypervisor in development, but this remains in <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/server/wl/">beta testing</a> and is only properly available for the <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/server/mac/">Apple Mac</a>. However, it does have a hypervisor alternative, in the form of <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/virtuozzo/">Parallels Virtuozzo Containers</a> which takes a somewhat different approach to compared to VMware, Microsoft and Citrix products, yet delivers very similar results. </p>
The undisputed heavyweight of the server virtualisation world, the recently updated and re-packaged <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/">VMware Infrastructure 3</a> (VI3) solution is aimed squarely at enterprises looking to consolidate full-scale production systems. As such it’s easily the most scalable of the VMware platforms with additional management, load balancing and high availability features, all designed to take full advantage of the underlying virtualisation technology.
<p> The open-source <a href="http://www.xen.org/">Xen</a> hypervisor has been around for a while now, mostly notably bundled with a variety of Linux distros, but has never had much impact. Even when the software was released as a commercial product and subsequently acquired by Citrix, it failed to win many hearts or minds. That could change with the launch of <a href="http://www.citrix.co.uk/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=683148&ntref=hp_nav_UK">XenServer 5</a>, which addresses many of the shortcomings of previous versions, putting the Citrix hypervisor firmly in the production-quality ranks. </p>
<p> Launched in April, VMware's <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/">vSphere 4</a> is the latest major release of the company's ESX server virtualization platform. Highlights of the new suite are Thin Provisioning, Data Recovery, Fault Tolerance and Distributed Power Management, all of which we'll look at in more detail in this review. </p>
If there was ever an application designed to 'blow your socks off', it has to be the Software Virtualisation Solution (SVS) from <a href="http://www.altiris.com">Altiris</a>. Why? Because it lets you install complete Windows applications in seconds, run them without affecting anything else on the host PC, and remove them again just as quickly and easily. Imagine it: using SVS you can check out new application releases without being forced to upgrade the existing version; test beta code without fear of corrupting other programs or data files; reset applications to their just-installed state at the click of a mouse button; and a whole lot more besides.