It’s no secret that when it comes to building applications, many developers prefer to use the Apple Macintosh. However, that preference can create multiple DevOps challenges. VMware is moving to reduce the friction with the release of VMware Fusion Pro 10, a desktop virtualization offering for Apple Macs that now supports REST application programming interfaces (APIs) to more easily programmatically invoke virtual machines on Macs.
In addition, VMware has significantly improved support for graphical processors units (GPUs) and 3D graphics within VMware Fusion Pro 10 that are now more commonly being invoked by developers.
At the same time, VMware is also updating VMware Workstation 14 and Workstation Player, which adds support for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 along with updated Linux support for Fedora 26 and Ubuntu 17.04 guest operating systems to the desktop virtualization software. Workstation Player is a subset of VMware Workstation 14 that IT organizations can employ to limit the size of a virtual machine running on a local workstation.
Other new capabilities include support for Microsoft’s Virtualization Based Security (VBS) features of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows Server 2016 guests, enhanced virtual networking and new support and controls for working with vSphere and the vCenter Server Appliance software.
Michael Roy, product line marketing manager for VMware Fusion, says more organizations are making GPUs available to developers as part of an effort to build more robust applications. Support for GPUs make it easier for developers to build compute-intensive applications for multiple operating system environments within the context of a DevOps environment managed by an IT organization, he notes.
Other new capabilities include a revamped user interface and support for the Apple Touch Bar to simplify moving between native applications and virtual machine environments, including applications hosted on the VMware PhotonOS distribution of Linux optimized for hosting container applications.
In this release of Fusion Pro, VMware is also adding support for Microsoft’s VBS features—which include Credential Guard for Windows 10 virtual machines, unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) Secure Boot and a virtual Trusted Platform Module—in the same way it supports them on VMware Workstation 14.
Finally, VMware is providing access to enhanced networking controls to enable management of network address translation (NAT) rules, network packet loss and latency simulation and renaming of VM networks.
The updates were announced ahead of VMware’s VMWorld annual conference, being held Aug. 27-31 in Las Vegas.
Developers typically require more access to more IT environments than almost any other employee, so maximizing the number of operating systems that can be deployed on their systems is in the best financial interests of the organization. Even when an organization can afford multiple machines most developers don’t want to have to move files between physical machines. Desktop virtualization software provides a means to not only increase productivity but also reduce the amount of machine overhead associated with developing applications across multiple operating environments.
