A gorgeous virtual powerhouse

Today Apple has made available their newest addition to the Mac lineup: the iMac Pro, and we couldn’t be more excited about the prospects of such a powerful Mac, particularly as the most capable Mac based virtual machine host ever, running VMware Fusion.

Early reviewers have touted the “Blazing Fast” performance that this hardware offers, with both CPU and on GPU, but the new machine isn’t exactly for everyone.

With the iMac Pro, Apple returns to it’s roots with an offering aimed at professionals and power users.

Recently Apple held a media event attended by press, industry analysts and others, to showcase some of the capabilities of such a powerful machine and what it might be used for.

During this event it was reported that Apple demoed VMware Fusion as a professional app that can make full use of this new hardware performance. More than just running Windows on the Mac, Apple showed an end-to-end development and testing pipeline built using virtual machines running on a single machine.

Obviously use cases for Video/Audio editing, 3D/CAD design were discussed, but to quote this Macworld article: By Roman Loyola

“Most impressive was a demo of Apple’s Xcode, which ran several UI tests and VMware Fusion virtual machines at the same time without the iMac Pro breaking a sweat.“

Does not break sweats, can run clouds inside it

From a single iMac Pro using VMware Fusion you could rapidly architect an entire development pipeline complete with SCM, an automated build system, automated UI testing, development and staging environments, topped off with a series of different ‘desktop’ VM’s to test the application with.

Leveraging pre-built packages like those from Bitnami, users can quickly grab all the building blocks for this kind of modern “DevOps” environment. (quotes because I get that DevOps is a buzzword referring to Agile development tools with a goal of continuous iteration and or delivery and an accompanying cultural movement… ).

A user could for example tie together a GitLab VM for SCM; Jenkins, GitLab or Gradle for build and pipeline; some stack for the Dev and Stage environments (LAMP, Node.js, Tomcat, etc…); Redmine, Trac or Mantis for Bug Tracking; JFrog for your artifact/binary repository and then ReviewBoard for team code collaboration.

For folks on the more traditional IT Pro or datacenter admin, this machine is powerful enough to run the complete VMware solution lab from a single desktop. You could easily run the vCenter Server Appliance, several ESXi hosts, vSAN, vRealize suite, and more, all thanks to the common underlying VMware platform and the incredible resources from these new machines.

The possibilities are endless thanks to the amazing abstraction that VMware virtualization provides, and the sheer power that this new Apple hardware delivers, and we can’t wait to fill our office with them.

Did you order the iMac Pro? Which spec? Tell us in the discussion below!

This year at VMworld we had a special treat for our attendees with our Fusion 10th Anniversary Collector Box. Outside the box it says Fusion 10 all over, but with the box came a USB card that has you covered on all platforms: Workstation 14 Pro for Windows, Workstation 14 Pro for Linux and Fusion 10 Pro for Mac.

Of course this is great if you were lucky enough to attend VMworld, but what if you didn’t?

Out of luck, right?

Not anymore!

We pulled back a curtain in the storage room and found a whole crate of boxes that didn’t make it into the hands of our users, so we’re making them available to you for only $160!

That’s right, for the price of a new copy of Fusion 10 Pro with this box you get 2 copies of Workstation 14 Pro, a copy of Fusion 10 Pro* AND a very svelte collector tin and coaster for your office!

Over $660 in just software for only $160!

What else is there to say? If you dig cross platform virtualization, this the best deal you’ll find on the web today. Hurry while supplies last!

Buy Now! > vmwaremerchandise.com

*Includes a ‘Thank You’ card insert which contains 3 keys: 1 Fusion 10 Pro Full License Key, 1 Workstation 14 Pro for Windows NFR Key, and 1 Workstation 14 Pro for Linux NFR Key. “NFR” keys are promotional keys and will unlock all capabilities of the software but do not include entitlement for filing support requests or major-version upgrade discounts. Offer is only available in the United States.

Hot on the heels of macOS 10.13 High Sierra yesterday, today we are proud to announce the general availability of VMware Fusion 10!

With over 30 new features in Fusion and over 50 in Fusion Pro, including a refreshed UI, Metal Graphics support, Virtual Network Simulation and the all new Fusion API, Fusion 10 is our boldest and most exciting release yet.

Download it here!

Buy or Upgrade Here!

Powerfully Simple

All new UI elements and contextual Touch Bar support

First thing users will notice is the updated User Interface. Fusion 10 is designed to be simple enough for anyone to use yet powerful enough for IT Pros and Developers, and the new UI is more informative as well as elegant, bringing useful details to the surface, saving time and effort.

For everyone

Fusion 10 and Fusion 10 Pro bring a number of advancements focused on Developers, IT Professionals and businesses, while pushing the envelope for users of all kinds.

Fusion 10 brings with it a new virtual hardware platform and many enhancements to the underlying hypervisor. Derived directly from the vSphere hypervisor, Fusion 10 gains new platform stability, performance and feature enhancements to take full advantage of newer Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Ryzen CPU features for improved performance and stability.

In addition to supporting macOS 10.13 High Sierra as both Host and Guest, Fusion 10 supports Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and the latest updates for Server 2016. We’ve also added support for newer Linux distributions like Ubuntu 17.04 and Fedora 26.

We didn’t stop there

New ‘Metal’ Graphics rendering engine gives us improved performance

Building on innovation for all users, we’re introducing our all new Metal Graphics Rendering Engine to be enabled by default on supported hosts. Apple Metal gives Fusion 10 improved performance, improved reliability and rendering accuracy with better energy consumption.

All new Fusion API

Introducing the VMware Fusion API

For Developers, Operations teams and power users, Fusion 10 Pro introduces an all new REST-based API designed for integrating Fusion with a modern continuous deployment and testing pipeline. Use this secure, HTTP or HTTPS based API to rapidly and automatically deploy, configure, use and finally destroying virtual machines, even without Fusion open. Developers can have a stable, powerful and modern virtualization host that supports the broadest number of Guest OS’s including VMware Photon OS, while Operations teams can use the API to create custom tools for requesting and deploying macOS Desktops or any other VM type for testing.

Simply Powerful

Updated Remote vSphere Host Controls

Fusion 10 Pro now adds new controls for managing vSphere, such as remote Host Power operations. vSphere Admins can now use Fusion to Power Off, Reboot or put ESXi Hosts into Maintenance Mode.

Fusion 10 also adds support for effortlessly deploying the VMware vCenter Server Appliance for rapid testing.

Enterprise Grade

All new VBS Support for Win 10 Guests – Enterprise Security built right in

New this year is support for Microsoft Virtualization Based Security features such as Credential Guard and Device Guard. This new security mode is becoming more commonplace, and not all applications are ready. Use Fusion 10 to test corporate applications for compatibility with VBS, or enable VBS features on the corporate virtual desktop in conjunction with restriction and management features built in. We’ve also introduced a virtual Trusted Platform Module (TPM) which can manage cryptographic functions for applications or OS Features such as BitLocker.

Virtual Networking and Simulation

Fusion 10 Pro makes Virtual Networking more organized while giving new features to test your application’s resiliency. Fusion 10 Pro adds the ability to simulate Packet Loss, Latency and Bandwidth Caps, on both Inbound and Outbound traffic per virtual network adapter. Fusion 10 Pro also now provides an interface to configure NAT and Port Forwarding rules and to enable custom network renaming.

All of this plus a ton of smaller enhancements, we think you’ll agree that this is our boldest and  most exciting release to date.

Pricing, Licensing, Upgrades

New licenses for Fusion and Fusion Pro are available at store.vmware.com for $79 and $159 respectively. Fusion 7, 8 or 8.5 customers can upgrade for $49 or $119 respectively.

Users who purchased Fusion 8.5 from August 22nd until now are eligible for a free upgrade, so check your MyVMware to see if you keys have been upgraded already.

Let us know what you think!

There are many ways to let us know how your experience with Fusion is going, and many ways to get help if you are stuck.  Fusion 10 comes with 18 months of complimentary email support so you can file tickets with our team for no cost through your MyVMware portal.

We also have a thriving community of users, experts and supporters over at communities.vmware.com

And of course, feel free to comment below.

We help you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed building it!

10 Years in the making…

The time has come to pull the covers off what we think is just might be our biggest release yet. We are pleased to announce the VMware 2017 Mac Desktop Hypervisor lineup: VMware Fusion 10 and VMware Fusion 10 Pro! Learn More

So. Many. Features.

This year marks our 10th anniversary of our favourite Mac hypervisor, and with it we’ve introduced a bounty of innovation to our beloved virtual platform. The first thing you’ll notice after installing is that Fusion has an updated User Interface. 

The new Fusion Virtual Machine Window with 3 VMs open as tabs

The new Virtual Machine Library Window, with copy-able IP and MAC address

We also improved our New VM and our Migrate Your PC Wizards, both functionally and aesthetically.

Updated UI for our New VM and Migration wizards

Behind the scenes our Virtual Hardware Platform has been updated to support new OS’s like macOS 10.13 High Sierra and Windows 10 and Server 2016 Fall Updates, as well as a host of new Sphere platform features like UEFI, Virtual TPM, and virtual NVMe storage devices.

A big feature several years in the making is our new support for Apple’s Metal Graphics acceleration technology, which gives our virtual GPU engine a noticeable boost in Performance, Battery/Power Efficiency and accuracy of rendering. Both games and professional applications like AutoCAD benefit from this enhanced feature.

New ‘Metal’ Graphics rendering engine gives us improved performance

VMware Fusion 10 Pro – A new foundation for modern Dev and Test

Built with everything included in Fusion 10, Fusion 10 Pro goes even further by adding new vSphere controls, support for seamless import of the vCenter Server Appliance, and an all new REST based API.

All About DevOps

Use Fusion as a local Vagrant provider or a remote Docker host with VMware PhotonOS, or build a custom application to deliver macOS–virtual-machines-as-a-service. With todays rapidly automated development processes, the integration possibilities are endless.

The new Swagger-based RESTful API enables developers, QE and Operations teams to integrate Fusion into a continuous deployment, delivery or other iterative pipeline by proving an entry point for remote services to securely communicate with using standard JSON.

The Swagger UI provides a complete reference of available APIs, complete with context and usage examples, making it easy to get started. Users will have control over VM operations including VM inventory management, VM power management, cloning, networking, configuration, and IP and MAC address gathering, among others.

New Windows Virtualization Based Security Features

Brand new this year is support for Microsoft’s new Virtualization Based Security features such as Credential Guard and Device Guard for Windows 10 Enterprise virtual machines,  (UEFI) Secure Boot and a virtual Trusted Platform Module (TPM) will add to existing security features in Fusion 10 Pro – delivering a more secure virtual corporate desktop environment than ever before.

Improved vSphere Integration

With Fusion 10 Pro we’ve added new controls for managing remote ESXi hosts for Power operations. Users can now Shut Down, Reboot or toggle Maintenance Mode to remote vSphere Hosts right from within Fusion.

Updated Remote vSphere Host Controls

We’ve also added a out-of-the-box support for the vCenter Server Appliance, so IT Pros who need to test vSphere can get up and running in just minutes without hassle.

vCenter Server Appliance – Seamless Import

Upgraded Virtual Networking

New this year on the networking side is our ability to simulate packet loss, latency, and to limit bandwidth, on both incoming and outgoing virtual network interfaces. This is done per-virtual machine, so you can test the resiliency of your application against degraded networks without affecting all of your running VMs.

Added advanced networking controls

We also added the ability to configure Network Address Translation (NAT) rules for each virtual network, in addition to being able to rename networks for order and convenience.

Improved control over Host Virtual Networks: NAT, Network Rename

Our teams have been hard at work this year, and we hope you love what we’ve been building!

We’re just putting the final touches on everything to make sure our Fusion products meet the high demands put upon them, and we can’t wait to make Fusion 10 and Fusion 10 Pro available to everyone in early October.

Check out our Personal Desktop Product Line page here for more details about Fusion 10 and Workstation 14!

Availability and Pricing

VMware Fusion 10 Pro and VMware Fusion 10 are expected to be available in October 2017, from vmware.com for $159 and $79 respectively. VMware Fusion 10 Pro is also available from VMware partners and distributors.

Fusion 8.5 customers can upgrade to Fusion 10 Pro for only $119 and to Fusion 10 for $49 at the VMware online store.

Customers who purchase Fusion 8 or Fusion 8 Pro between August 22 and November 1 are eligible for an electronic upgrade to Fusion 10 or Fusion 10 Pro, respectively, at no additional cost. No action is required on your part, your licenses will automatically be upgraded in your MyVMware account manager.

Time flies when you’re working hard…

It’s been a busy year for us as we’ve been working hard on delivering new compelling features to VMware Fusion.

For many years we’ve enjoyed opening things up a bit to get some feedback on what we’ve been working on, and this year we’ve decided to open that program up again.

In this spirit, it is with great excitement that we announce the availability of VMware Fusion Tech Preview 2017!

This is a free, time-limited release that is aimed at gathering feedback on our direction and progress. We encourage users to grab the build, put it through it’s paces, and let us know in the Discussions where we can do better. While the release is certainly stable, we don’t recommend this on Production systems. Tech Preview builds are exclusively for testing purposes.

What’s in the release?

If you’re an IT Professional or a Developer, we think you’re going to really enjoy what we’ve been working on. We took the time to make some enhancements to existing technology such as our command line ‘vmrun‘ utility with many additional commands, while still working on brand new features like our new REST API.

We’ve made many enhancements to the UI to modernize the look and feel, and added support for TouchBar as well as automated background cleanup tasks.

There’s also a new 3D Rendering engine that leverages Apple’s ‘Metal‘ technology instead of OpenGL on the Host. This has given us improved battery life and more performance in many areas. There are some performance hits as well, so we’re eager to hear about your experiences with both performance and ‘correctness’ of rendering.

On the Networking side of things, we’ve been working on a highly-requested feature of the UI to modify the NAT port forwarding rules, so users can do that now without having to modify text files on the command line. You can also rename networks to be whatever you like so you can easily tell your ‘storage-net’ from ‘vmnet5’.

For folks working with vSphere, check out the new features for interacting with ESXi Hosts. Users can now control host power operations remotely, so you can easily shutdown or reboot a remote ESXi host.

Check it out today

The download is located over on our community page here, and there is a license key that you can use to unlock the functionality of this technical preview.

Today Apple seeded the first Public beta of macOS 10.13 High Sierra, making it available for all interested Mac users through the Apple Beta Software program.

We’ve written about how to run 10.13 in a Virtual Machine before, and previously there was a couple of hacks to do in order to get it running. This is just part of the fun of being on the ‘bleeding edge’, and thankfully with Fusion doing all this in a virtual environment makes it pretty painless.

With the recent release of Fusion 8.5.8 we did several behind-the-scenes changes, and while the release notes were a bit light on details for a variety of reasons, we did manage to make the process of testing out macOS High Sierra in a VM much easier.

The two main problems previously were that a) We would get the error about Fusion being ‘unable to create the installation medium’, and b) the lack of APFS support in our virtual EFI implementation.

Under Fusion 8.5.7 this is expected behaviour, now resolved with 8.5.8

For the ‘Unable to create installation medium’ issue, for which we had a community contribution to help work around that which we posted to our github page, we have since addressed the issue and the user-submitted code is not required.  Big thanks to norio-nomura over on github for taking the time to submit those changes. While we did not use code from that pull request to accomplish our task, we sincerely appreciate the community digging in and contributing.

Users can now simply drag the ‘Install macOS High Sierra.app’ directly on to Fusion’s New VM wizard and it will ‘do the right thing’.

The second problem was lack of support for APFS, rendering the OS unbootable if the user chose the ‘covert drive to APFS’ option from the installer.

The previously missing APFS UEFI driver is no longer missing

This issue is now simply resolved and the VM should boot just fine.

We don’t officially support High Sierra in a VM, and don’t recommend it in production environments, but by and large things seem to be working well as a VM with Fusion 8.5.8.

How has your experience been? We’d love to hear how your testing has been going, what you like and what drives you crazy both about macOS and about Fusion!

Last week’s WWDC marked another annual iteration of our favourite operating system, macOS. This year, moving from Sierra to High Sierra, we see a number of great reasons to upgrade when it’s released in the fall:

• Metal 2
• HEVC H.265 Support
• APFS
• Siri updates
• Safari Updates

Full release notes can be found over at the developer.apple.com release notes page, as well as links to download and the installation guide.

Test Drive!

Naturally we were inclined to check things out in VMware Fusion, and we were met with some mixed results. By and large the OS runs as a VM, but at this time things aren’t working exactly as we’d like.

Here are the two main issues you can currently expect with macOS 10.13 High Sierra as a VM:

• Fail to install macOS 10.13 guest, got error “Unable to create the installation medium”
• No APFS driver in UEFI renders the Guest OS unbootable when the Guest boot volume is using APFS.

Install Fresh vs. Upgrade?

What we’ve seen is that upgrading existing macOS VM’s is the easiest path to go. Always make sure to have a snapshot or a clone [clones are Fusion Pro only] of your VM so you have a known good roll-back point if things go awry. Upgrades are done in the guest just like they are on a physical machine, so Apple’s instructions apply and can be found right here.

For installing fresh, we had a fix for this last year which the community has updated with a new fix! (oh how I love our users!)

Without the patch, this is what happens

The process is the same as I outlined before, just replace the .tool with the new one from here. Original blog post: http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2016/06/fix-for-installing-macos-sierra-as-a-vm.html

Ah, there we go…

To APFS or not to APFS?

Isn’t that the question? Unfortunately Fusion’s current lack of support makes the decision for us. Rest assured we are very excited about and interested in leveraging the new capabilities found in Apple’s new File System, but for now it will give you an OS that you can not boot in a Virtual Machine.

As such, during the installation, be sure to NOT check the ‘Use APFS’ checkbox, otherwise you will render the VM unbootable.

We currently need to uncheck this box to boot successfully

If it remains checked, here’s what things look like after the installation has completed:

Missing APFS UEFI driver

With the added message:

It looked, but alas could not find it.

Again, simply not choosing APFS during the installation gets around this limitation, but I wanted to make sure users were aware that we knew about it and how to still take High Sierra for a test drive. Rest assured we are very excited about and interested in leveraging the new capabilities found in Apple’s new File System!

On another note, what we’ve also noticed is that not everyone gets the full OS installation image downloaded when they grab the ‘Install macOS High Sierra.app‘ package from the App Store. Originally mine was only 5MB and it downloaded the OS during the installation itself, but after upgrading my Host MBP to 10.13 (with APFS) and tried to run the upgrade again, it clearly downloaded the update in a different (earlier) stage of the installation. I quit before actually installing a second time and then use that .app to install my VM with the ~5GB .app file that I now had.

So there we have it! In summary:

• Fusion 8.5.7 runs on 10.13 Host with or without APFS
• macOS 10.13 High Sierra runs as a Guest without AFPS after a small patch to one of our scripts to support the new OS image structure changes.

A bit of business, but please note that ‘support’ for this new os is still considered experimental, so it’s definitely not recommended in production environments, but it makes for some fun and exciting times on testing machines!

Let us know in the comments or the Communities how your experience has been!

Team Fusion is proud to announce the availability of VMware Fusion 8.5.7.

A free update for existing users, this release contains bug fixes and adds improved support for the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update.

We also resolved an issue when using git to perform a ‘git clone’ from within virtual machines failing in NAT configurations. Sorry about that one, but thanks for the community’s support in helping us fix it!

You can always grab the latest Fusion by using the Check for Updates features within the app, or by going over to vmware.com/go/getfusion

Check out the release notes here:

http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/fusion/8/fusion-857-release-notes.html