I’ve used both VMWare and Virtual Server (not Virtual PC) as VM
environments, so I can do a compare and contrast. I think, with the
latest version of Virtual Server out, it’s pretty much a “which one
you’re comfortable with” thing. VMWare has lots more infrastructure
support and features than does Virtual Server (a consequence of it being
much longer in release), but Virtual Server has been quite solid for me
as a debugging platform. I don’t use the VMWare features in normal
day-to-day use for driver development, and the new price for Virtual
Server is hard to beat, so it’s become my standard platform - although I
still have a VMWare environment in use on one of my test machines.
They’re both very easy to set up and use for debugging.
I find an enormous usability improvement in running either of these
environments on dual core (or dual processor) machines, but especially
so for Virtual Server. Both environments also REALLY LIKE memory, so
figure on needing lots of it (start with 2GB for half-way decent
performance).
The new Linux support for VS seems (with limited use) to work pretty
well. VM has great Linux support.
I do ALL of my testing on Windows (and Linux, for that matter) on server
versions, so I can’t speak to XP or things like Fedora, but for Virtual
Server Microsoft claims support for XPSP2 for both host and guest OS.
None of the above speaks to production use; my use is strictly in debug
and test environments.
…dave
-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Steve Dispensa
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 8:39 PM
To: Kernel Debugging Interest List
Subject: Re: [windbg] Windbg on virtPC and VMware
I can’t do a compare and contrast, since I’ve never played with Virtual
PC (other than the Mac version), mostly because I’ve been so happy with
VMware.
I’ve been using it for driver development and debugging for years and,
other than the occasional 100% CPU use problem during debugging
sessions, it’s been flawless.
I’ve switched almost entirely to using VMware server since the beta was
announced, and I’ve been really pleased again. It’s a pretty
high-quality beta. The latest Workstation has several nice features that
are relevant here, but the server product is nice for, well, being a VM
server, and I never got much more creative than a single restore point
anyway.
I know a number of other developers who work this way, and the consensus
is positive.
-Steve
On 5/11/06 9:54 AM, “Matthew N. White” wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I realize that this has been discussed on this list before, but I
> wanted to get the latest scoop on the subject from windbgers. Can
> anyone give me any advice as far as which product works best for
> debugging drivers on multiple Win Oses in order to facilitate testing
> in different environments w/o actually buying as many machines? I’m
> looking at using either VMware or VirtualPC. Any thoughts on
> advantages/disadvantages of each, etc., or even whether using them
buys anything over not using them?
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
>
>
>
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