Mac OS Client Virtualization

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This page was created by the Fall 2007 Mac OS Client Virtualization Evaluation Team as a place to collect documentation and resources regarding virtualization clients for Mac OS X.

This Evaluation Team was convened on 2 November 2007. For more information on the evaluation, please visit the Mac OS Client Virtualization website.

Contents

Mac OS Client Virtualization Overview

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Virtualization products

Real virtualization clients to be considered

  • VMWare Fusion version 1.x?
  • Parallels version 3.0
  • CodeWeavers (explanation why we're not looking at it)


Alternatives

  • Boot Camp (in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard)

University applications or benchmarks to test against

Core applications

  • BEN Financials
  • Business Objects
  • Active Directory (administration)
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
  • AMX (classroom manager)

Periphery & misc.

  • arcane/very specific Windows application (need to address this; come up with best practice)
  • School of Design applications (ArcGIS? + others)
  • IDX (Hospital billing system)
  • Sunrise medical system

Testing Scenarios

  • VMWare Fusion: Windows XP
  • BEN Financials
    • Litmus test works
    • BEN Requisitions
  • Business Objects
    • installs properly?
    • standard canned query runs?
  • Active Directory (administration)
    • installs Exchange Tool properly?
    • manage user & machine
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
    • Access: NIMH DIGS database - ensure it runs and data can be entered
    • Visio: launches, can create diagram
    • Outlook: read/send mail, create calendar item, one user/directory lookup
  • Kerberos for Windows 3.2
    • can get ticket? (TGT & service ticket)
  • LiveUpdate
    • Does LiveUpdate run, update SAV definitions?
  • Windows/Microsoft Update
    • are updates delivered?
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
    • installs properly?
    • run a print usage report
  • AMX (classroom manager)
    • can access with IE7 - web control of rooms
    • can access with IE6 - web control of rooms
    • can access with FireFox - web control of rooms
  • Misc. testing (handheld sync, CPU/graphic card intensive applications, etc.)
  • Follow standard Windows/Microsoft practices
  • comparison of feature sets
    • drag & drop copying
    • single button mouse support (right-click)
    • coherence & unity
    • on-the fly screen resolution changes
    • document type mapping
    • peripheral management (PDA, printer, USB flash drive, etc.)
  • VMWare Fusion: Vista Business+?
  • Business Objects
  • Active Directory (administration)
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
  • AMX (classroom manager)
  • Parallels: Windows XP
  • BEN Financials
  • Business Objects
  • Active Directory (administration)
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
  • AMX (classroom manager)
  • Parallels: Vista Business+?
  • Business Objects
  • Active Directory (administration)
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
  • AMX (classroom manager)
  • Boot Camp: Windows XP
  • BEN Financials
  • Business Objects
  • Active Directory (administration)
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
  • AMX (classroom manager)
  • Boot Camp: Vista Home Premium+?
  • Business Objects
  • Active Directory (administration)
  • Microsoft Office 2007 (+Access, Visio, Outlook)
  • PAS-Equitrac print accounting software
  • AMX (classroom manager)

Resources/More information

  • External links here

Fall 2007 Evaluation Team

Team Information

Fall 2007 Mac OS Client Virtualization Evaluation Team Website

Team Addresses

Timeline of Objectives

  • Week of Oct 29: Kickoff meeting
  • Week of Nov 5: Begin to refine/finalize testing scripts
  • Week of Nov 12: Begin testing products
  • Week of Dec 3: Finalize results, prepare final report for IT Roundtable
  • Week of Dec 17: Complete team web page, Wiki, documentation

Meeting Agenda

Weekly meetings for the main Mac OS Client Virtualization Evaluation Team on (day) at (time) in the Bits & Pieces Room, Sansom West 3rd Floor. Archive of Agenda

Meeting Minutes

Archive of Minutes

Team Process

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Testing Script

The script used for testing at the following URL:
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/eval/2007/macosvirtualization/testscript.html

Product/OS testing combinations: SIGN-UPS

The following product/OS combinations are to be tested. Note "guest OS" is the flavor of Windows tested, while "host OS" is the flavor of Mac OS client for which the product is used. Example: VMWare Fusion running Windows XP on Mac OS 10.4.10 Tiger.

Please sign up for a testing combination by placing your name next to the combination.

Product Guest OS Host OS Name of Evaluator Name of Evaluator Name of Evaluator
VMWare Fusion Windows XP Mac OS 10.4.10 Tiger Rob Marcolina
VMWare Fusion Windows XP Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Vern Yoneyama Bob DeSilets
VMWare Fusion Windows Vista Mac OS 10.4.10 Tiger Charles Rejonis
VMWare Fusion Windows Vista Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Bob DeSilets
Parallels Windows XP Mac OS 10.4.10 Tiger Michael Greve Sonny Phan
Parallels Windows XP Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Mikki Miller Larry Macy
Parallels Windows Vista Mac OS 10.4.10 Tiger Michael Greve Sonny Phan
Parallels Windows Vista Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Mikki Miller Larry Macy
Boot Camp Windows XP Mac OS Leopard (existing Tiger Boot Camp OK too) Bob DeSilets
Boot Camp Windows Vista Mac OS Leopard (existing Tiger Boot Camp OK)

Note: we will not test every permutation of sub-version of Windows Vista with each product/host OS, but please list the version of Windows Vista you used for testing. Hopefully we will have a wide variety of Vista versions.

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Background information

Final Report DRAFT

Executive Summary

Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMWare Fusion are virtual machine clients for Intel-based Macs. Both products run Windows-based operating systems such as Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista in a virtualized environment.

When appropriately configured, Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMWare Fusion are adequate alternatives for those Schools/Centers which need to run Windows-only applications such as BEN Financials.

Recommended Hardware and Configuration

The Mac OS Client Virtualization Team found minimum requirements and configurations for ideal virtual machine environments. Based on testing, the Team recommends the following:

Recommended Minimum System Requirements

The minimum hardware requirements to run either virtual machine client are based on the FY2007 hardware recommendations, with an increase in physical RAM:

  • 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo Mac (Intel Core 2 Duo recommended)
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 160 GB HD space
  • Mac OS 10.4.x with all software updates (Mac OS 10.5.x recommended)

Recommended Virtual Client Configuration

The recommended client configuration for the most ideal virtual environment is listed below:

  • Latest Parallels Desktop for Mac (version 3.0 as of Feb. 1, 2008) or
  • Latest VMWare Fusion (version 1.1.1 as of Feb. 1, 2008)
  • 1 GB RAM allocation to the virtual Windows environment
  • At least 20 GB HD partition for Windows XP
  • At least 30 GB HD partition for Windows Vista
  • Enabling of the client’s Bridged Mode, if necessary, for certain network applications such as Kerberos

Testing of Everyday Windows Usage Scenarios

One goal of the Team was to explore performance of an ideally configured virtual client running everyday Windows applications or functions. The Team chose popular or common Windows activities relevant to Penn users. Examples include running BEN Financials, using Microsoft Office, running Windows Updates, synchronization of Windows with PDAs, etc. Full test script can be found below:

http://www.upenn.edu/computing/eval/2007/macosvirtualization/testscript.html

Results of the Team’s testing can be found below. The table shows the wide range of combinations of virtual client choice (Parallels or VMWare Fusion) running the “guest” operating system (Windows XP or Windows Vista) on the “host” Mac OS system (10.4 or 10.5)\:

http://www.upenn.edu/computing/eval/2007/macosvirtualization/testresults.html

(When no testing data for certain Windows activities were available, such as AMX access testing, that activity was omitted from the reported results in the table).

Analysis

In general, the Windows virtual experience for mostly every configuration, was comparable to that of a real Windows machine.

Test results showed common and important activities such as use of Microsoft Office, Symantec AntiVirus LiveUpdate functions, Windows/Microsoft Updates, and even PDA synchronization were not problematic for either virtual client running either guest operating system for each host Mac OS system.

Expected functionality and features of the virtual client were generally favorable. There were no significant installation issues; VMWare Fusion's installation tended to be a little easier than that of Parallels. Drag & drop copying between the Mac and Windows environment was seamless in both clients. (Say more about the features of the virtual clients: Coherence/Unity, resolution changes, document type).

Boot Camp

While no formal scripted data was captured, collective Team experiences suggest that Boot Camp is a viable alternative to Parallels or VMWare Fusion. Users of Boot Camp do not enjoy the luxury of having access to Mac OS; Boot Camp runs natively

Both Parallels and VMWare Fusion have the ability to run a Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine, albeit with a degradation in performance in terms of speed.

(Say more about Boot Camp).

Best Practices

The following are best practices for the ideal virtual Windows environment.

  • Turn on Automatic Updates in the virtual Windows environment
  • (Say more)

Miscellaneous

(Say something about price/site licensing. VMWare Fusion's academic price is 50% of Parallel's: VMWare Fusion at US$40 compared to Parallels at US$80)

Retrieved from "http://prowiki.isc.upenn.edu/wiki/Mac_OS_Client_Virtualization"
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