1. You can have two computers at each support person's desk. However, this isn't always feasible.
2. Each support person could set up dual booting on his or her PC. But this is very inconvenient, because it would require the support tech to constantly reboot his or her PC during the day and could result in a significant lag time when answering support calls.
3. You can install virtual PC software such as VMware or Virtual PC on each support tech's workstation under Windows and install a Linux partition onto the machine that always runs and is always available.

In this article, I will explain how to use two of the primary offerings in the virtual PC software arena: VMware and Connectix Virtual PC. At the time this article was written, VMware Workstation 3.1 had a list price of $299 while Connectix Virtual PC had a list price of $199. How do they work?
Both of these programs work on the same principal: They completely emulate an entire PC in software running on your existing workstation without actually requiring an additional full PC. Each virtual PC is completely independent of any others and can run its own applications and services, even providing network services to other machines. For both products, when a new virtual machine is created, you need to specify certain parameters, such as how much RAM you wish to devote to each machine and how you want networking to be handled. For networking, you have the option of setting up a virtual PC that is capable only of communicating with the host, that shares the host's IP address to the outside world using NAT, or that uses its own separate IP address on the primary network. In addition to a choice in how networking features are set up for each virtual machine, you also get the option of how to handle CD-ROM devices. In most cases, you will likely take the default option of just sharing the host's physical CD device with the virtual PC, but in other cases, you may want to connect the virtual machine's CD device to a host-based ISO CD image file. Both VMware and Virtual PC support this feature. To get a guest virtual PC up and running, you need to have the installation media for the machine that you want to create. For example, to install a Windows XP Professional virtual machine, you need a Windows XP CD. If you don't have a copy of the client OS that you wish to install, both companies offer for sale guest OS kits, which include the applicable licenses. How it looks on your PC
The guest operating system looks like nothing more than just another window on your host's desktop. In Figure A, you can see a Red Hat Linux 7.2 guest operating system running on my Windows XP desktop using VMware 3.1. The Linux server looks and acts just like it is supposed to.

Figure A

Here you see the VMware guest OS running on a Windows XP host.

Since I need to run a Windows-based desktop in the office, I frequently use VMware to test Linux-based solutions while I am on the train going home from work. This lets me make good use of my time and run a number of virtual machines at once. Using VMware also allows me to run a Windows XP guest operating system that I can use for testing, which helps me avoid cluttering up or messing up my laptop.