[Welly Wu]

http://www.vmware.com/
http://www.virtualbox.org/
 
I work for New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey 07102 as a Help Desk and Support Technician and I am a graduate student pursuing a Masters of Science in IT Administration & Security. I have been working with two professors that use Red Hat Fedora 14, Ubuntu 10.10, and Scientific Linux 5.5 along with Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32 bit version. We are deploying Dell Precision T3500 workstations and Dell Latitude E6410 notebook PCs as a part of our ongoing systems upgrade on campus recently.
 
One of the professors is the associate dean for the college of computing sciences department with whom I have been working closely last week before winter recess. He uses a Dell Precision T3500 workstation with Scientific Linux Release 5.5 and VMWare Workstation 7.1. NJIT has a contract with VMWare as one of its software vendors and he has a licensed copy of it. I have to work with him next week to complete the installation and data migration of his Dell Optiplex desktop PC to his Dell Precision T3500 workstation.
 
I am in the process of acquiring my own copy of VMWare Workstation 7.1 for Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit through NJIT. I will need to wait for a reply to an e-mail message to the director of technical support at NJIT next week to see if I am eligible to have my own licensed copy or not.
 
In the meantime, I downloaded and I installed Oracle VM VirtualBox 3.2.12. I also downloaded and I installed the DVD .ISO images for Fedora 14 KDE and Linux Mint 10 "Julia." For some unknown reason, I cannot get the latest version of Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.0.0 to work properly on my computer. It stalls when I try to setup a new virtual machine using the DVD .ISO image file to install either GNU/Linux operating system. There has been a change in ownership between version 3.2.12 and version 4.0.0 with Oracle purchasing VM VirtualBox from Sun Microsystems; consequently, there is a significant revision change to the code base.
 
I perused the VMWare and Oracle VM VirtualBox website recently. I am still trying to figure out the key differences between these two software applications that are used for virtualization.
 
What are the key differences between VMWare Workstation 7.1 and Oracle VM VirtualBox?
 
According to the websites:
 
VMWare Workstation 7.1 supports Microsoft Windows 7, popular integrated development environments such as Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse, and it can support pipelining, parallelization, and symmetrical multi processing for powerful virtual machines while integrating Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit cryptologic algorithm for each virtual machine. It also supports hardware 3D acceleration, OpenGL, DirectX 9.0, and VM Sphere cloud integration plus optimizations for Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs.
 
Oracle VM VirtualBox supports a modular architecture (which is evident with their new version 4.0.0 release), virtual machine descriptions in XML, shared folders, guest additions within virtual machines, virtual USB controllers, remote desktop protocol, and USB over RDP.
 
Which one is better?
 
What else am I missing here?
 
Thank you.

 

[ShinyFalcon]

I think you'll get more input if you post your questions on hardforum.com. They have a dedicated subforum on virtualization.
 
VMWare is definitely more feature rich and more suitable for the professional environment. It will depend on what you will be doing with the virtual machines.

 

[Welly Wu]

ShinyFalcon:
 
Thank you once again for referring me to Hard Forum. It seems like the right place for me to post questions about computers more so than here.
 
I will be sure to do that in the future.
 
I will be using the virtual machines to do software development in C++, install software applications used by NJIT for each specific platform (i.e., Solaris, GNU/Linux, Windows), and do testing for beta products under development.
 
I like Oracle VM VirtualBox, but it does not have the hardware and software support for Microsoft Windows 7 and Eclipse along with Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2010. There is no support for AES - 256 bit encryption for the virtual machines which is practically mandatory given the fact that these will be run on the professor's Dell Precision T3500 workstations or Dell Latitude E6410 notebook PCs on campus. They need to protect their academic research to publish their papers. I need to learn VMWare Workstation 7.1 ASAP so that I can be a more versatile and effective Help Desk & Support Technician. We use VMWare frequently in the computer laboratories on campus for different courses such as operating systems which I am required to take in the upcoming spring 2011 semester.

 

[Welly Wu]

VMWare Workstation 7.1 is slow as molasses on my ASUS N61JV-X2 running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. Oracle VM VirtualBox is much faster. Is this due to the fact that I am on the 30 day trial?
 
I am waiting for the administrators or moderators to approve my registration at Hard Forum.

 

[Welly Wu]

I am having a problem with VMWare Workstation 7.1 and Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.0.0. When I download and install the latest 64 bit versions, I am unable to create virtual machines using the live DVD .ISO files for Fedora 14 KDE and Linux Mint 10 "Julia." The installation stalls and hangs the virtual machine during the early stages of the installation for both GNU/Linux distributions. I cannot even select my language, keyboard, time zone, or enter my user credentials. I will post a question in the Hard Forum Virtualized Computing forum.
 
Thank you.

 

[Welly Wu]

I fixed VMWare Workstation 7.1. I successfully installed Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat onto a 20.00 GB 64-bit Virtual Machine. Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.0.0 still does not work: I cannot install any .ISO files onto a Virtual Machine. I may have to downgrade to version 3.2.12 which did work.

 

[ShinyFalcon]

I gave Linux Mint a try with 4.0.0, initially it hung on the black screen immediately after "Booting in 10... 9..." screen, but I exited out and changed some settings relating to chipset (set to ICH9), memory, and some CPU settings. From there I could install Mint fine.

 

[Welly Wu]

ShinyFalcon:
 
Thank you once again for your help.
 
I changed the processor to ICH9, enabled IO APIC, set the memory to 2048 MB, and set the video card memory to 128 MB along with enabling 3D acceleration.
 
Funny enough that the people at Hard Forum did not come up with the same solution.
 
I am installing Linux Mint 10 "Julia" right now within Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.0.0.
 
Head-Fi members are quite knowledgeable about computer topics in my experience.

 

[Welly Wu]

I have been using both VMWare Workstation 7.1 on the free 30 day trial and Oracle VM VirtualBox version 4.0.0 for the past few days. VMWare is much more powerful and flexible as a whole. It supports more virtual machines and the installation and setup processes for supported guest operating systems is seamless. The performance envelope for VMWare and Oracle VM VirtualBox are about the same on my ASUS N61JV-X2. Since these are hypervisors instead of emulators, virtual machines run at near native speeds without the hassles of rebooting my laptop anymore. It is also much more secure especially when I enable Advanced Encryption Standard at 256 bit cipher strength for my Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat 64 bit virtual machine within VMWare Workstation 7.1. I have yet to install Eclipse and Netbeans for my integrated development environments for both aforementioned virtual machines within this thread. I am doing that right now for my Linux Mint 10 "Julia" Virtual Machine on VirtualBox.
 
When I return back to work next week at New Jersey Institute of Technology, I will be much more familiar with VMWare Workstation 7.1 so that I can continue to work with both of professors on their Dell Precision T3500 workstations. They still need me to setup more virtual machines and install software development applications such as eclipse, netbeans, and other stuff like Google Chromium web browser. They also asked me to backup their new Virtual Machines to the Andrew File System disk array on campus so that data has to be encrypted using AES-256 bit. They probably want me to do other stuff like data migration of their personal and academic files from AFS onto each of their Virtual Machines.
 
I still need to install and setup a Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP-3 Virtual Machine on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit host operating system. To accomplish this goal, I will use Microsoft Virtual PC to do this. NJIT still has a lot of legacy systems that run XP Professional SP-2 on campus. I still need to be able to support these legacy systems and offer troubleshooting help to those that are still using it.

 

[Welly Wu]

I am getting my license key for VMWare Workstation 7.1 for Windows 7 from New Jersey Institute of Technology later today. I just saved $189.99 USD. Thank goodness for the fact that I am a current graduate student and employee at NJIT.

 

[Welly Wu]

I just got my VMWare Workstation 7.1 for Microsoft Windows 7 license key. Now, I can continue to provide help and support to a professor that uses VMWare Workstation 7.1 for GNU/Linux on his new Dell Precision T3500 workstation when he returns to his office on January 19th, 2011. I truly needed this license key because I had no idea how to use VMWare Workstation 7.1 and my 30 day trial was going to expire before he returned to his office. NJIT just saved me $189.00 USD. Now, I can create and run the same virtual machines and provide technical support as we tackle data migration and resolve some outstanding technical issues.
 
Hey, it's all about job security nowadays too.

 

[Welly Wu]

VMWare Workstation 7.1 is the leading software application for virtualization technology. This thing can do just about everything. It is unbelievable how great it is. My productivity just dramatically improved by being able to host guest virtual machines at near native operating system performance levels. I can run multiple virtual machines and everything is rock solid stable. There are so many different options available for each virtual machine that it requires careful reading of the manual to understand the flexibility and power of VMWare Workstation 7.1.
 
I still remember when I had to dual boot to be able to run Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and Ubuntu GNU/Linux 10.10 64 bit. It was cumbersome and slow. There were problems with the GRUB boot loader on rare occasions. Those days are in the past now.
 
Compared to Oracle VM VirtualBox, there is simply no comparison. VMWare Workstation 7.1 is a far superior product with more flexibility, customization, and power. I knew this would be the outcome when I carefully evaluated both software applications. It is like comparing high end designer audio components that were carefully matched together for maximum synergy to consumer grade electronics that are found in your local Best Buy store. There is simply no comparison.
 
Of course, there is a big difference in price. VMWare Workstation 7.1 costs $189.99 USD while Oracle VM VirtualBox is free of charge. You get what you pay for in this world most of the time.
 
I am happy that I received a fully licensed version of VMWare Workstation 7.1 for Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit for free because I am a graduate student and employee at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
 
For those of you that need virtualization technology for your desktop or notebook PC, I highly recommend VMWare for a professional quality solution. If you just need basic virtualization for personal usage, then choose Oracle VM VirtualBox.