Why Would I Need To Use A VM?

It takes time to setup a VM but it is easier to back up and restore.
The VMs now are pretty good and easy to configure. I use VMWare's Fusion on Mac OS 11 and VMWares Workstation Pro at work. At home I use the free player version since I just use that to make YouTube videos.



Now that I am mostly retired I work a lot with our IT person making sure our IT infrastructure is secure. We have concentrated all our old physical servers on a few powerful servers that run the old servers as VMs. We have 3 computers that can load share VMs as well a 2 NAS that provide redundancy. What is nice is that we can back up or restore individual VM with ease.
If we ever got attacked by ransom ware we can restore/replace the infected VMs easily. We may lose a day's worth of work.



In the automation world it is easy run a host system using Mac OS or Linux and run VMWare on it. Now it is possible to have a separate VM for each type of PLC but also save away VMs when a project is done so 5 years later it can be restored to do updates or required changes that project knowing it will work. I think this is a biggy.
 
You lost me.....


It takes time to setup a VM but it is easier to back up and restore.
The VMs now are pretty good and easy to configure. I use VMWare's Fusion on Mac OS 11 and VMWares Workstation Pro at work. At home I use the free player version since I just use that to make YouTube videos.



Now that I am mostly retired I work a lot with our IT person making sure our IT infrastructure is secure. We have concentrated all our old physical servers on a few powerful servers that run the old servers as VMs. We have 3 computers that can load share VMs as well a 2 NAS that provide redundancy. What is nice is that we can back up or restore individual VM with ease.
If we ever got attacked by ransom ware we can restore/replace the infected VMs easily. We may lose a day's worth of work.



In the automation world it is easy run a host system using Mac OS or Linux and run VMWare on it. Now it is possible to have a separate VM for each type of PLC but also save away VMs when a project is done so 5 years later it can be restored to do updates or required changes that project knowing it will work. I think this is a biggy.


Would you like them highlighted in a specific color that would help you "find your way"?



The search function could also be a guiding light.
 
The best case for VMs that I've seen was from a Rockwell technician. Nowadays there is software that can copy your physical computer to a VM file that can then be run on a separate computer.

This guy had his last 3 laptops as VMs on his most recent one and saved my bacon by having a decrepit old Internet Explorer that ran the Javascript web browser on a network switch we needed to modify.

As Peter said, it takes time to set up a VM, but you can set up a blank OS VM, duplicate it and install what you want on the copy. If it doesn't work you can delete it and won't have a bogged down laptop whilst being able to duplicate the VM again and reinstall whatever you need.
Some software doesn't work on Windows 10 anymore, but the controllers in the plant require that software to be around. I have a VM on DOS that I use to look up some S5 programs (I worked in a place before where they used the GE software like this, for example).

On the controls side, VMs are priceless!! My controls infrastructure (about 8 VM servers) are backed up daily without stopping the plant. This is not easy or even possible without dedicated hardware that costs an arm and a leg without a VM.
 
For me using VM is a must. I have customers with multiple different software version requirements. Many of these cannot coexist on the same machine. Hence the need for multiple VMs with different software versions on them.

A secondary benefit is when work gives me a new laptop, all I have to do is install VMWare Workstation and copy all my virtual machine over. No sitting there for hours installing software.
 
The disadvantages off the top of my head:

  • Setup time
  • Each VM running Windows requires a Windows license
  • Take a lot of hard disk space
  • VM software may cost money although some are free
  • Slower

Now throw that all out because there are so many advantages that they vastly outweigh the disadvantages. Several comments have already been made on the pros and cons. But here are a couple advantage scenarios:
  • Some software cannot coexist on the same computer. For example, Rockwell's FactoryTalk only allows me to install one version. But I might need an older version for a customer. I can have multiple VMs each with different versions. You can even run them simultaneously.
  • I might need to support an older installation that requires older software like Windows XP. A virtual machine can run a completely different operating system from your physical computer. I can launch a VM running XP while my physical computer is running Windows 10.
  • Imagine if your computer is stolen or the hard drive fails and has to be replaced. All the time it would take to download and reinstall all of the various software tools that you use. This can easily take several days. With a VM, keep your VM backed up to an external drive. Simply copy it to the new computer or hard drive. You can be back up in running in minutes.
  • You need to load a software utility or tool onto your PC. But it turns out that tool breaks other software. Or worse yet, installs a virus or malware. VMs allow you to create a snapshot. This is a point in time that you can go back to at any time. Before I install or upgrade anything, I create a snapshot. Then after installing the software, I determine it doesn't help or causes a problem. I click a couple buttons to restore my snapshot and my virtual computer is restored to that point in time before I installed that tool. The install never happened.
  • Snapshots also allow you to create a timeline and move forward and backward through that timeline. I can revert to a snapshot from last year before I installed a whole bunch of software. Then I can move back to a recent snapshot. You can even take a snapshot and create a separate virtual machine from that snapshot.

Just to clear up some terminology, the physical computer is known as the "host" and the operating system on the host is referred to as the host operating system. The virtual machine is referred to as the "guest" and the operating system on the guest is known as, you guessed it, the guest operating system. My host is running Windows 10, but my VMs range from XP up through Windows 10 and even a few Windows Server operating systems. But the host can be pretty much anything these days. Windows, Mac, Linux. And the guest can be any mix of Windows and Linux. It is a great way to try out something new. Like a new version of Windows (hello Windows 11) or to dip your toe in the Linux pool.

OG
 
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Would you like them highlighted in a specific color that would help you "find your way"?



The search function could also be a guiding light.

No reason for that kinda attitude toward a fella just asking a question about something he doesn't understand, and being rather baffled by the detailed response.

Yes its a common enough question here and search may have brought him what he needed but not always, and the ability back and forth discuss it with knowledgeable folks is how one learns.
 
Another great feature with VMWare Workstation is the virtual back-plane. I have to do demo's sometimes and I can setup several servers and clients and emulators and have them all talking on the same virtual network. That way i don't even need a wired network to do the demo.


I will have a FIView server, Thin Manager server, SQL server, a Windows 10 running Logix emulators, and four Windows 10 LTSC clients all running at the same time.
 
No reason for that kinda attitude toward a fella just asking a question about something he doesn't understand, and being rather baffled by the detailed response.

Yes its a common enough question here and search may have brought him what he needed but not always, and the ability back and forth discuss it with knowledgeable folks is how one learns.


I'm sorry, I'm sorry; please don't hurt me.


I edited the post just for you, better? clearer?


Would you like them highlighted in a specific color that would help you "find your way" (y)?



The search function could also be a guiding light.🍻


And to remain on topic(hint...hint)(no similies for you):


Of the list of disadvantages posted above I would say that disk space is by far the biggest issue I have to deal with. I use Virtualbox and have both Windows 7 and Windows 10 guest systems. Windows 10 seem to be OK but Windows 7 balloons and takes a bit of work to get the size down where it should be; disk defrag and a few other steps.

Still the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and as fare as I'm concerned, there's no going back to one single system.
 
Advantages And Disadvantages Please........

You lost me.....

I started a post about virtual machine setup yesterday. Here is why I want to do it. After a ssd failed in my programming laptop that could not be recovered I'm starting back at the windows intro screen on a new laptop. I've got at least 30 different programs I have to set up. The most important files were backed up so data loss isn't an issue. I know I've got at least 2-3 days worth of setup in front of me. If these programs were on a vm, that vm could have been backed up. Then install your virtual environment, move your vm folder to the new computer, hit play, and your back running.
 
I can't live without VMs. I have a dozen on my laptop (WinXP, Win7, Win10 + multiple Linux) and more on an office server. I can maintain multiple virtual switches in the host and connect them across office lan and road warrior tunnels.


Each client's LAN(s) get a vswitch for my VMs to permanently attach. I route the host physical port to the right vswitch when on-site.


Hosts are all Linux. Much of the advanced networking I do is not available in Windows.


Most importantly, Windows OS's are isolated for best security.
 
Of the list of disadvantages posted above I would say that disk space is by far the biggest issue I have to deal with. I use Virtualbox and have both Windows 7 and Windows 10 guest systems. Windows 10 seem to be OK but Windows 7 balloons and takes a bit of work to get the size down where it should be; disk defrag and a few other steps.


Aren't current USB-C drives fast enough to run the VMs from it? Never tried it, don't even have a USB-C drive, but I think someone here already did it.
 
With a fast enough USB connection you can absolutely run it from an external drive. However, you want to have it backed up. If it is only on your USB and not on the hard drive then you have no backup. Unless of course you have it saved to yet another location. I always copy to my hard drive just so I have my USB as a backup.

OG
 
Aren't current USB-C drives fast enough to run the VMs from it? Never tried it, don't even have a USB-C drive, but I think someone here already did it.


I've used external drive to run VMs "light" that I don't use often and things like TIA and Ecostruxure Machine Expert I keep on the laptop. That works no so bad but I still occasionally have to remove a VM make room for a heavy one like RSLogix5000 or a version of TIA, and there are just too many of them.



With a fast enough USB connection you can absolutely run it from an external drive. However, you want to have it backed up. If it is only on your USB and not on the hard drive then you have no backup. Unless of course you have it saved to yet another location. I always copy to my hard drive just so I have my USB as a backup.

OG



I used to have one backup drive for everything including all my VMs and one day, pre-pandemic, I was working in starbucks and had the drive running and connected to the laptop, the cord got wrapped around my foot; I pulled it to the ground as I moved my leg and lost everything in one go. Since then I've been backing up onto three drives; not everything, but the stuff that is "expensive" gets backed up on at least two drives plus the working copy on my laptop. Not just VMs but all important data.
 

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