VMware Fusion Review

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(More customer reviews)Usage: I'm a web developer and graphic designer. My workflow involves using a number of tools that are specific to Windows and others that are specific to the Mac. I also use virtual machines for remotely controlling computers and supporting asp and [...] websites.
Experience: I'm an owner of Parallels 2 and, as released, upgraded to Parallels 3. I was also involved in the Beta testing of VMWare Fusion. I have to acknowledge that the Beta versions of Fusion were not stable, however the release version was a tremendous step up from the Beta and significantly faster than Parallels. Parallels is fine if all you're running it for is IE6/7 browser support for IE specific website (i.e. quickbooks online). If you own Parallels and use it sparingly switching to Fusion is a waste of money. If you use audio, video, and graphic editing programs in your virtual machines you WILL notice huge performance gains running Fusion over parallels. There are numerous *free* appliances available from VMWare you can download, which work immediately and seamlessly with Fusion. Very nice.
Summmary/Recommendation: If you're in the market for a Virtual Machine application VMWare Fusion is my recommendation. If you already own Parallels and use it sparingly there's no need to switch. If you use Parallels with processor intensive programs I recommend switching to Fusion as it is much faster.

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From the proven leader in desktop virtualization comes VMware Fusion--the most seamless way to run Windows applications on your Mac. VMware Fusion combines a clean and intuitive interface that Mac users expect with a virtualization platform trusted by millions of users today. VMware Fusion allows you to launch your Windows applications from the Dock and switch between Windows and Mac applications using Expos . With the industry's most advanced virtualization technology VMware Fusion is ready for the future and lets you leverage all the hardware available on your Mac to simultaneously run 32 and 64-bit operating systems, use two processors at the same time, run select 3D games and utilize USB 2.0 devices. Access the widest range of USB 2 devices, allocate up to 8GB of memory to virtual machines, run over 60 guest operating systems from DOS to Microsoft Windows Vista, Linux, Solaris, Netware and FreeBSD.Run your Boot Camp partition side-by-side with Mac OS X without any additional setup.Run any of the more than 550 virtual appliances available from VMwareVirtualize your existing PC with the free VMware Converter Starter Built Exclusively for the Mac -Built with features such as customizable toolbars, easy-to-manage virtual machine packages, and much more The powerful Unity feature transforms your Windows applications and gives you a seamless Mac experience Requires Any Intel Mac computer with a 1.5GHz or faster Intel processor; 512MB of RAM (1GB or more recommended)

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Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been a Windows user for 25 years and I have made the leap and replaced my Dell laptop with a MacBook. I am an application developer on the PC and Unix platform, and thus I run a lot of industry strength development packages and tools. I use Virtual PC to host different server environments on my Vista desktop, and on my laptop I run all kinds of server applications, from a Sybase database to a WebLogic web server. So when it came time for me to move to a Mac as my mobile platform, I needed a virtual environment for environment. With the adance of hardware assisted virtualization, now is the time.
I tried three virtualization packages - the Sun VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, and Parallels. After hours experimentation and testing, I have decided on Parallels. Here are my findings.
VirtualBox is just not for prime time, lots of graphics corruption right out of the box. For instance, when you switch from full screen Windows to the OS X desktop, some of the Windows desktop would be left on the screen, obscuring the OS X screen. The interaction between the Windows desktop and the OS X desktops is not as seamless as that provided by Fusion and Parallels, and numerous other little things that detract from the overall user experience. So even though VirtualBox is free, it's not worth what I need to put up with.
VMWare Fusion and Parallels are actually very similar in how they work, and I don't see any difference in terms of performance. But after extensive usability testing I have found that Parallels gets more of the little things right. And it's the little things, the attention to details, that differentiates the excellent from the merely good.
For example, when you maximize a Windows application in Windows full screen mode under Fusion, the application would maximize to cover the Taskbar. Under Parallels, however, the application correctly maximizes to cover only the client area of the desktop not cover by the Taskbar. I know VMWare must know how a correct Windows application should behave, and I attribute this behavioral error to either that they were lazy or that they hoped people don't notice. Neither speaks well for the code that runs underneath the surface.
Another example, when you task switch using command-tab in OS X, you can tell which applications are Windows native applications because Parallels would superimpose the two vertical bars Parallels logo over the Windows application icons. Parallels gets credit for extra effort. Fusion on the other hand not only does not show you which applications are Windows apps, but cmd-tab is simply not implemented correctly in virtual Windows and thus task switch is almost impossible when you're not in unity mode (Windows and OS X apps side by side). Very bad.
Yet another example, you can access the entire collection of Mac applications right from the Windows desktop because Parallels sees fit to create shortcuts to all the Mac application right on the Windows Start menu and you can of course duplicate those short cuts anywhere in the Windows environment.
Example number four, you can control the boot sequence of the virtual machine using the Parallels application menu, while with Fusion you need to get in to the virtual machine's BIOS to do that - and the BIOS screen flashes by so fast you need to manually edit the configuration file to slow down the welcome screen so you can actually see which keys to hit to enter Setup or choose the boot device. This is another example of lazy application development.
And not to belabor the point, example number five, VMWare only emulates multiple processors, NOT MULTIPLE CORES, so that Core 2 Dual you got there is useless if you run XP Home which only supports a single processor.
Now I don't know about you, but speaking as a developer, I think thoroughness and thoughtfulness on the part of the user interface is a good indication of the amount of effort that has gone under the surface to make the application work right.
As far as Parallels' performance is concerned, this is what I found. Now I can't speak for gamers, as I don't play games on my laptop. But Parallels is able to run industrial strength servers and development environments on my 2.0GHz, 2GB dual core MacBook faster than my 1.7GHz, 2GB single core Dell. So it definitely does what I want it to. And if you only run Office or Quicken, then you have nothing to worry about.
If you have made a transition to OS X and need a virtual environment to run your Windows apps, I encourage you to go download the trial versions of both Fusion and Parallels and do the testing yourself, using the applications that you want to use. Give it some time and don't get too excited by the initial wow factor of seeing your Windows application and your OS X application coexist side by side. Be thorough and dig deep, and you will find the choice you really want to live with day to day. And mine happens to be Parallels.

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Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac makes it easy to run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X without rebooting. With Parallels award winning virtualization technology, you can run Mac OS X and critical Windows applications such as Outlook, Access, QuickBooks, Internet Explorer and more, all at the same time. This new release of Parallels Desktop for Mac comes packed with 50+ new features and enhancements including the ability to drag-and-drop files between desktops, run Windows programs like native Mac applications and migrate your existing PC to your Mac. And with the Installation Wizard to help you get started, youll be up and running in just three clicks of the mouse!

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Securing Storage: A Practical Guide to SAN and NAS Security Review

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(More customer reviews)The theme of this book is that Storage Area Networks and Network Attached Storage have been hitherto neglected with respect to securing their contents against unauthorised use. Dwivedi remarks that most sysadmins focus on maintaining and securing a corporate firewall. Along with regularly patching users' machines plus web servers. A common attitude is that SAN and NAS devices are at the very heart of the corporate network, and often cannot be directly accessed from outside the firewall.
Dwivedi spends the bulk of his book debunking this idea. For one thing, he points out that a SAN or NAS box is a computer that has to run an operating system. Usually linux, unix or Microsoft. A vendor is very unlikely to write a custom operating system from scratch. Too expensive and takes too long to devise. So even if nothing else, you as a sysadmin should regularly patch those boxes if you can, when known bugs are found in their operating systems. These boxes should be no more exempt from patching than your other machines, even those behind the firewall.
Another cause of concern is the sheer mass of data on a SAN or NAS box. Nowadays, likely to be many gigabytes. These are high value targets for an attacker. Whereas a typical user's desktop would have much smaller data sets.
Plus, even with a firewall, there is always the possibility of an employee being an attacker. If she has a machine inside the firewall, then this already gives her a good start. Of course, you might reply that you "lock down" your users' machines, so that they cannot get root access, for example. But the attacker with a Microsoft machine could boot off a Knoppix CD, for example, and go into a linux that sits only in memory, and for which she has root. Suppose now you have a NAS box exporting a file system via NFS to the attacker's machine, which is normally running Microsoft Windows. The author shows how the attacker can from her Knoppix OS mount the NAS file system and by changing her local passwd file, assume any user id and group id that gives her read access (and maybe write access) to any file in the foreign file system.
These are the sort of attacks that you have to guard against. The book offers several chapters at its end describing possible countermeasures. The tone of the book is not alarmist. Rather, Dwivedi matter of factly walks through many attacks; the above being just one case. He shows how using open source code freely available on the net, that an attacker could gleam useful data from your machines.

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The security of data, as shown by several recent high-profile cases, is weak. It is but a question of time before courts begin requiring more thorough steps to be taken--users and courts want data security. This book not only helps IT meet those growing needs, but shows the vendors where they need to improve. Regulations have highlighted an overlying issue of data protection. Data, whether it is financial data, non-public private information, or medical data, needs to be protected from unauthorized external and internal entities at all times. Much valuable data (i.e. customer and patient data) spends most of its lifetime in a storage device--not on computers, servers, or networks. Local failures and outside intruders can change, destroy, or compromise stored data even if the main network is secure: storage requires its own security. This book is a must read for IT personnel responsible for data security and security consultants who perform compliance audits at companies that use storage devices.

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VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm in security engineering and we are moving toward this technology. This is a great presentation of the issues. Solid reputation and referred to me by several of the engineers on the project.

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Complete Hands-On Help for Securing VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure by Edward Haletky, Author of the Best Selling Book on VMware, VMware ESX Server in the EnterpriseAs VMware has become increasingly ubiquitous in the enterprise, IT professionals have become increasingly concerned about securing it. Now, for the first time, leading VMware expert Edward Haletky brings together comprehensive guidance for identifying and mitigating virtualization-related security threats on all VMware platforms, including the new cloud computing platform, vSphere.This book reflects the same hands-on approach that made Haletky's VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise so popular with working professionals. Haletky doesn't just reveal where you might be vulnerable; he tells you exactly what to do and how to reconfigure your infrastructure to address the problem. VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security begins by reviewing basic server vulnerabilities and explaining how security differs on VMware virtual servers and related products. Next, Haletky drills deep into the key components of a VMware installation, identifying both real and theoretical exploits, and introducing effective countermeasures. Coverage includes• Viewing virtualization from the attacker's perspective, and understanding the new security problems it can introduce• Discovering which security threats the vmkernel does (and doesn't) address• Learning how VMsafe enables third-party security tools to access the vmkernel API• Understanding the security implications of VMI, paravirtualization, and VMware Tools• Securing virtualized storage: authentication, disk encryption, virtual storage networks, isolation, and more• Protecting clustered virtual environments that use VMware High Availability, Dynamic Resource Scheduling, Fault Tolerance, vMotion, and Storage vMotion• Securing the deployment and management of virtual machines across the network• Mitigating risks associated with backup, performance management, and other day-to-day operations• Using multiple security zones and other advanced virtual network techniques• Securing Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)• Auditing virtual infrastructure, and conducting forensic investigations after a possible breachinformit.com/ph www.Astroarch.com

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Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information Review

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(More customer reviews)Over the past decade the world has witnessed an exponential growth of information and the rapid development of the storage technology industry. While both are certainly two sides of the same coin, it is debatable whether the former inspired the latter, or vice versa. Either way, storage technology has become a field of knowledge and information, in itself, and as such necessitates a didactic approach. The non-profit trade association - SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) - aims to lead the storage industry in developing and promoting educational services, and has accordingly developed a vendor-neutral certification program and courses. SNIA did not however publish any definitive textbook that would lay the foundation for an accessible storage networking's body of knowledge. This gap has been filled in the past years by several authors and vendors. EMC's "Information Storage and Management" (ISM) is the latest textbook of this kind.
Starting with the bottom line, I would say that ISM is a well-written and coherent book. It succeeds in introducing the main theoretical issues of storage networking without ever losing its audience. As with all storage networking books ISM is also divided into several main sections - storage system, storage networking technologies and virtualization, business continuity, storage security and management. However, the book's new approach here is that each chapter ends with helpful real-life examples from the vast variety of EMC's product line. Considering this, the theoretical part of the book is short. This is, in my opinion, the main virtue of the book - being succinct and deep at the same time, the editors - G Somasundaram and Alok Shrivastava, have skillfully conveyed their massage. Novice readers, as well as experienced IT and storage practitioners, will benefit from reading the book.
Nonetheless, the book suffers from a few flows, mainly in neglecting to get into details regarding some emerging technologies and concepts like green storage, cloud storage, de-duplication SSD and FCoE. I believe that adding these issues would not have compromised the book's coherency and brevity.
Another aspect of ISM is that one can use it as study guide for EMC's E20-001 exam, leading to EMC Proven Professional Associate certification. Plainly, EMC has intended the book not only to promote the theoretical knowledge of storage networking in the IT and academic communities, but also to initiate them into "the EMC path". This dual goal (as seen also in the usage of EMC products as examples in each theoretical chapter) is unavoidable and in my opinion should not be frowned upon. On the contrary, following "Information Storage and Management" I believe that EMC education services should publish additional books that will further enhance general knowledge of storage networking. Two likely candidates that will most certainly benefit both the general public and EMC are "Storage Networking Design and Management" and "Information Availability Design and Management".


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