UCSPE can be installed on the following Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisor platforms:

• VMware Player 4.0 and higher (Windows and Linux versions)
• VMware Fusion 4.0 and higher for Apple macOS
• VMware Workstation 7 and higher (Windows and Linux versions)
• VMware vSphere ESXi 4.0 and higher
• Microsoft Hyper-V Server

VMware Workstation Player for Microsoft Windows is a free download from VMware. VMware has released a new version, VMware Workstation Player 12.0, and discontinued its previous version of VMware Player 7.0. For a home lab environment, VMware Workstation Player is an excellent choice. Users interested in advanced virtualization benefits such as snapshots may download VMware Workstation. Registration on the VMware website is required for downloading VMware Workstation, and it is not available as a free download. Users may also opt to run UCS Emulator on VMware ESXi or Microsoft Hyper-V environments if they do not want to install VMware Workstation Player, VMware Workstation, or VMware Fusion on their laptop or desktop.

In this chapter, we will be installing UCSPE on VMware Workstation Player 12.0 installed on Microsoft Windows 7.

Make sure that the system on which VMware Workstation Player is installed has enough resources for running the guest UCSPE VM. VMware Workstation Player can be installed on a desktop or laptop even with lower specifications than the minimum system requirements for UCSPE. Newer laptops and desktops generally have more CPU speed than the minimum system requirements. Hard disk storage is very cheap, and usually, all new systems have an abundance of available hard disk space. System memory is usually a major consideration. As UCSPE VM's memory requirement is 2 GB, it is recommended you install VMware Workstation Player on a system with 4 GB of RAM.

The VMware Workstation Player installation is a typical Microsoft Windows click-next type of installation. It is recommended you close all running programs and save your data before installing VMware Workstation Player as the system may require a reboot.

To download UCSPE, log on to the Cisco Communities website and download the file in the OVA or ZIP file formats. A simple Google search for UCS emulator download will take you to the right section of Cisco Communities website, where you will be required to enter your Cisco credentials to download the UCSPE.