The Book of VMware: The Complete Guide to VMware Workstation

Rating:
Summary: The magic of VmWare explained/
Review: I was asked to teach a class on various operating systems such as Windows 3.X, Windows 9X, NT, 2000, XP and Linux. The class was to go over the basic of each OS and the kicker was the class was to be 3 days long. With that many OSes it would have taken 3 days for installs alone, until I found VmWare.

With a basic understanding of the application I managed to teach the class, if I had this book then I would have been able to do so much more. Ward has simply put together the best book on the subject matter that I ever come across.

Starting right of the books delves into the virtual machine and the requirements for install and configuration. The author explains in detail what each version requires in order to have it working properly. Then there is over 100 pages just on the different guest system setups and configurations, again the author attention to detail makes this some of the most interesting reading of the book.

Then the book work with networking and stand alone operations making sure you have a good understanding of the differences. Finally the author gives several pages to the troubleshooting of the application. You have tips and tricks for each OS and hints to avoiding problems before they happen.

Overall this book has already given me several tips and tricks to enhancing the classes I am teaching and I am sure that I will find many others before I am through. Excellent work and if the application gets updated I certainly hope the book does as well.

Rating:
Summary: A useful resource for the dedicated programmer
Review: The Book of VMware: The Complete Guide To VMware Workstation by Linux expert Brian Ward is a comprehensive guide to making the most of the VMware Workstation product. Individual chapters cogently address the VMware virtual machine from its floppy drives and serial ports to its USB interface and peripherals, how to install, configure, and operate VMware, Windows, Linux, and other guest operating systems, network file transfer, troubleshooting and much more. The Book Of VMware is a truly excellent and useful resource for the dedicated programmer wanting to implement and utilize VMware.

Rating:
Summary: Rough around the edges, but otherwise a decent reference
Review: This book is a nice companion for the sparsely documented VMware software. I've used VMware since version 1, and while it's a fabulous tool, I've always been frustrated by features that I only knew about by reading the support knowledge base. I learned about some very useful features in the book that I hadn't discovered before, such as the ability to mount an ISO image as if it were a real CD-ROM device.

The writing is a bit unpolished, and could have benefited from more editing. Also, note that the book covers VMware version 3, while the only version you can buy now is version 4. I think the book is still largely relevant for version 4.

Rating:
Summary: Rough around the edges, but otherwise a decent reference
Review: This book is a nice companion for the sparsely documented VMware software. I've used VMware since version 1, and while it's a fabulous tool, I've always been frustrated by features that I only knew about by reading the support knowledge base. I learned about some very useful features in the book that I hadn't discovered before, such as the ability to mount an ISO image as if it were a real CD-ROM device.

The writing is a bit unpolished, and could have benefited from more editing. Also, note that the book covers VMware version 3, while the only version you can buy now is version 4. I think the book is still largely relevant for version 4.