We all using VMware Workstation for testing VMware products or testing different operating system or application etc .As I said using workstation you can perform virtualization on a desktop workstation of many operating systems including Windows and Linux based desktops also you can create vSphere machines anf test its features .Few months back VMware released their latest version vSphere 6.7 and in VMworld 2018 US 6.7 update 1 announcement also .Now VMware released VMware Workstation Pro 15 now with New Features and new enhancements .
What’s new with VMware Workstation Pro 15
- New operating system support
- Direct X 10.1
- Hardware version 16
- REST API
- High DPI support
- Hosts and Clusters view when connecting to vCenter
- vSphere 6.7 support
- USB Auto connect to virtual machine
- SSH login to Linux virtual machine
- Enhanced User Experience
- Linux host Wayland support
- Virtual NVMe performance improvements
New Operating System support
Every new version of VMware Workstation will have enhancements includes latest versions of Windows and Linux , below are the list of new supported guest operating systems with VMware Workstation 15 Pro
- Windows 10 1803
- Ubuntu 18.04
- Fedora 28
- RHEL 7.5
- CenOS 7.5
- Debian 9.5
- OpenSuse Leap 15.0
- FreeBSD 11.2
- ESXi 6.7
Updated Interface
Workstation Pro and Player have a fresh new face that supports the latest HiDPI 4K display resolutions for both Host (UI) and Guest (desktop) scaling. With over 500 new feature icons as well as updated product icons, the Workstation family has never looked so good.
Direct X 10.1
VMware Workstation 15 Pro is the have new capability of of DirectX 10.1 . It allowing games and applications which require DirectX 10.1 to run where they could not before. D3D 10.1 was an important step beyond D3D 10 because it adds Ant-Aliasing and Geometry shaders, and serves as a fallback for many DX11 games and applications that otherwise would not run.
VM Hardware Version 16
Workstation Pro 15 has new Virtual Hardware Platform Version 16 and this new hardware version 16 is included with VMware Workstation 15 Pro and adds support for DirectX 10.1 and new maximum graphics memory of 3 GB. Also this includes many updates around Performance, Security and supporting the latest hardware and software technologies, including:
- Improved Virtual NVMe Device Performance
- Important Security Fixes (Spectre, Meltdown and L1TF)
- Virtual Trusted Platform Module
- UEFI Secure Boot
- IOMMU
- VBS (Device Guard, Credential Guard) Support (guest only)
REST API
Most exciting for us is the addition of a new REST API. This API is the very same introduced in Fusion 10 last year has been brought to the Workstation platform. The REST API allows users to automate VM tasks as part of a broader workflow. Quickly command Workstation to deploy, configure and destroy VMs on the fly to rapidly speed up the development and testing process Version 1.2 of the API adds new controls to manage NAT port forwarding and MAC to IP DHCP bindings, allowing users to create complex virtual networking simulations using standard JSON over HTTP/S.. REST APIs provide programmatic interfaces to be able to automate and provides an interaction point programmatically. New with REST API support in VMware Workstation 15 Pro is the ability to perform the following virtual machine operations:
- Inventory management
- Power management
- Cloning
- Networking management
High DPI support
With VMware Workstation 15 Pro, High DPI support has been added and this DPI displays are capable of extremely high resolutions.To use this feature, the host and guest operating system be Windows 10 version 1703 or higher. As for the host level high DPI support, VMware Workstation 15 Pro detects the host level DPI change and auto adjusts the layout to meet the new DPI. On the guest operating system side, When the host side DPI changes, the guest operating system adjusts its DPI to match the host DPI. Additionally, VMware tools 10.3.2 is required inside the guest operating system.
Stretch Mode
Guests can now be ‘Stretched’ to fit displays with higher DPI without adjusting the guest resolution: console windows can be made larger and readable, and older OS’s with lower resolutions look like they’re supposed to.
Hosts and Clusters View
With this new version VMware made strong integration with vCenter Server and effectively used as a management interface for VMware vSphere. And with VMware Workstation 15 Pro “hosts and clusters” view when connecting to vSphere and the inventory tree now shows a hierarchical arrangement of objects in two different views including hosts and clusters and VMs.
vSphere 6.7 Support
To go along with the above-mentioned statement concerning vSphere interoperability, VMware has added vSphere 6.7 support to VMware Workstation 15 Pro to provide interaction with the latest and greatest vSphere version. This means you can manage vSphere 6.7 environments using the functionality mentioned above as well as upload and download machines that are running in vSphere 6.7 environments and have these operations be fully supported.
USB Auto connect to virtual machine
Over the last few versions of VMware Workstation, USB device support and functionality has been improved. New with VMware Workstation 15 Pro is the ability to “auto connect” USB devices to virtual machines and have VMware Workstation 15 Pro remember the connection(s).
One-Click-SSH into Linux VM
New with VMware Workstation 15 Pro is the ability to SSH to Linux guest virtual machines. You must have Windows 10 version 1803 or greater and you have access to the new ‘One-Click-SSH’ feature to rapidly open up a secure shell to a Linux VM. This feature also works for remote connected vSphere, ESXi and Workstation hosts (network connectivity directly to the VM’s IP is required.)
Enhanced User Experience
There are a couple of new enhancements with the user interface to mention with VMware Workstation 15 Pro. One is the Stretch guest display feature that is enabled for Linux and Windows guests. You can use the keep aspect ratio stretch feature to stretch the VM display while maintaining the user interface aspect ratio or you can use the free stretch feature to stretch the virtual machine display to fill the user interface. This is a Windows only feature.
Another new Windows host only feature is being able to right-click a virtual machine running in the VMware Workstation 15 Pro library and choose “open VM directory” which will open the virtual machine directory right from the VMware Workstation Pro 15 interface. Linux Workstation Pro has already supported this feature.
Linux host Wayland support
New Linux host support here – VMware Workstation 15 Pro can now run fro a Wayland desktop.
Virtual Networking Controls (Workstation Pro Only)
Network Simulation: Workstation Pro can introduce Latency, as well as Packet Loss and Bandwidth Limits on Incoming and Outgoing traffic per Virtual NIC.
Network Rename: Workstation Pro allows users to rename networks for personalization and organizatio
Virtual NVMe performance improvements
NVMe storage is gaining popularity and is certainly becoming more mainstream across the board. With the new VMware Workstation 15 Pro release, the performance of virtual NVMe has been improved.
Virtualization Based Security
VMware Workstation 15 Pro and Player can each deliver a secure, managed virtual desktop capable of running the latest Virtualization Based Security technology such as Device Guard and Credential Guard by providing a compliant virtual hardware platform. (Guest support only)
Workstation 15 contains a Virtual Trusted Platform Module device type, as well as UEFI Secure Boot and IOMMU, which are requirements for certain security applications and policy controls such as BitLocker.
Workstation also supports “nested” 3rd party hypervisors and hypervisor-based security functions, so features like Core Isolation and Hyper-V will run in supported VMs.
Download VMware Workstation 15 Pro
From VMware Website – Download VMware Workstation 15 Pro
Alternate Direct download links
