Item: VMware Workstation Pro
Rating: 10
Author: Tyler Twitchell

Overall Satisfaction with VMware Workstation

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

VMware Workstation is used to run VM's that can be discarded and recreated with little effort. These VM's run on our location desktop or laptop with the intended purpose to obfuscate the work that goes on within our organization and that of our production use. These virtual machines are running and supported within VMware to act as a barrier between production access and regular access to our corporate environments allowing up to have a separation of duties within the working environment.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Create test systems to validate specific builds.
Allow for a separation of duties as well as keep network traffic segregated.

Cons

Some changes could be made to help with multi screen support.
VMware Workstation is difficult to span between different host OS (Windows vs Mac).

Return on Investment

It has helped a great deal keeping duties separated among different roles.
The ability to share a single OS build helps cut down on setup for new employees.

Alternatives Considered

Oracle VM VirtualBox and Hyper-V

This version of the HyperVisor is similar to other systems, but like most, it has its own twist on things and how it works. One of the essential functions is the tabbed approach to listing VM's which allows multiple servers to be running and allowing access to each using keyboard shortcuts to do so without the need for a listing of servers or having to use the mouse. VMware Workstation is also well established in the marketplace with a reputation for stability and performance, which works well for my situations.

Support Rating

I haven't had to call VMware Workstation support. The majority of the time, whenever I have a problem, I can perform an online search and find the answers I need. Online forums and users with similar situations are generally sufficient to answer any questions I have had, though, from previous experience at another company, their support is outstanding and responsive to circumstances. However, that is generally for a paid support contract and should be expected when you are paying for that support.

Key Insights

Do you think VMware Workstation Pro delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with VMware Workstation Pro's feature set?

Yes

Did VMware Workstation Pro live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of VMware Workstation Pro go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy VMware Workstation Pro again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Hyper-V, Oracle VM VirtualBox, Dashlane, KeePass

Likelihood to Recommend

The ability to deploy a server to test a specific piece of software is of great benefit, and if you mess up with an install, as long as you have a copy of the machine you started with, you can quickly delete an OS and start over. The same works if you need to share a single image among many people.

VMware Workstation Pro Feature Ratings

Comments

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VMware Workstation - Running many VM's on one server