VMware Server 2 - Part 1 - Installation and Guest OS Setup

Have been working with VMare Server 2 as my lab development system over the past month. Chose the VMware Server 2 over the free VMware ESX bare metal installation, as it will allow me to customise the operating environment. The main OS that the VMware Server 2 will be running is CentOS 5.5 64 bit version.

The VMware Server 2 software can be downloaded for free (after registration with VMware) from http://www.vmware.com.
Registration to the site also gives access to other VMware products and trial software.


Installing the VMware Server 2 Software

I used a fresh install of CentOS (which ESX is based on anyway) to install the VMware Server software.

Downloaded the latest binary installer, but left the RPM package. I have tried the RPM package before and it seems to work fine with CentOS, but perferred the more generic approach.

After downloading the software package and uncompressing it, I just ran the installer to start the configuration. Most questions can be left at their defaults.

cp VMware-server-xxxx.tar.gz /temp/dir

cd /tmp

tar -zxf VMware-server-xxxx.tar.gz

cd vmware-server-distrib

./vmware-install.pl

Accept the default directories for the binary files, daemon files, library files, manual files, documentation files, init directories and init scripts.

Then running vmware-config.pl will start the software configuration part of the installation.

./vmware-config.pl

Again, most questions can be left at their defaults, except for the location of the store for your virtual machine files and the serial code that you get from VMware when you download the file.

Controlling the service is simple. Running the script "/etc/init.d/vmserver start|stop|status|restart" makes it easy to control the service.

Installing a Guest OS

Once the VMware Server is up and running, add some virtual machines.

Connect to the host server - https://IP.domain.address:8333.

A simple username and password prompt is displayed once the interface comes up.  

When the username/password dialogue disappears, the main screen appears. 

Before making any virtualized system, there needs to be a datastore made for the machines. Clicking on "Add Datastore" on the right panel starts the wizard to add a new datastore. 

The datastore wizard just requires two values for a local disk: the Datastore name and the location of the datastore files on the CentOS installation. 

Having set-up the datastore, I can start the wizard to make a virtual machine. 

To start the wizard, the link is in the top right menu panel. (Click the images below for larger views)


First give the VM a name and to select a datastore. Press next to continue.

On the next screen, the wizard then asks for the guest operating system. For CenotOS, the Redhat 5 selection is used in this example.


The next wizard screen asks for some basic system information.

For new, the defaults are fine and can be changed later if needed.

After pressing 'next', the wizard asks about the VM's virtual disk.

Select "Create a New Virtual Disk" for the next screen.



The default 8 Gigabytes for the CentOS installation will be fine for the test.

Next the wizard asks about network adapters.

To proceed, click the "Add a  Network Adapter", as this VM will be needing a network connection.


For the network, the Bridged interface will be used to make the test easier.

Power on as start should be ticked.

The next wizard screen asks about CD/DVD drives to connect.

for simplicity's sake, we will connect the physical CD/DVD drive to the VM. (Make sure the ISO install CD is in the drive on the physical machine for OS installation)



Select the CD/DVD drive location on the CentOS bare-metal OS.

Pressing next on the wizard shows the floppy disk configuration. A floppy drive is basically useless at the moment, so it will be left out by selecting "Don't add a floppy drive".


For the fun of it, the USB controller will be added. But otherwise it would be normally left out unless mapping USB drives or devices.

The last screen gives a summary of the installation before completing.

When all looks correct, pressing finish creates the virtual machine.

Now there is a new virtual machine in the VMware Server web console.

By selecting the VM name in the left panel, access to the VM's information and tools becomes available to the user.

To start the VM, go to the console tab and click on the play icon. (Again, check the install CD is in the CD/DVD drive).

Once started, click the console screen again to launch the VM display to start the installation of the OS into the virtual machine.

The OS installation screen should appear like a normal PC stating on a boot-able CD/DVD.

Guest Operating Systems that I have Tested:

Operating System	Guest Notes	Working
CentOS (32bit) http://www.centos.org	Easy to install and set-up.	Working
Gentoo (32bit) http://www.gentoo.org	Kernel build is a bit of a pain. Installation was easy and by the book. This site helps, but does not suite all builds. Got it working with this document's help. http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/VMware_Guest	Working
Slackware (32bit) http://www.slackware.com	Installed straight up with no problems.	Working
Untangle (32bit) http://www.untangle.com	Installed all fine. Bit slow on the boot. Network interfaces are a bit tricky to set-up. Great firewall for other VMs.	Working
Windows XP (32bit) http://www.microsoft.com	Installed all fine. Very snappy interface with VMware tools installed in the guest operating system.	Working

Over all, the VMware Server 2 software on CentOS 5.5 is easy to install, configure and create virtual machines.

A system administrator can get it all running in under an hour without much fuss



More to come in "VWware Server 2 - Part 2 & 3" of the blog , I talk about setting up virtual appliances, mounting ISO images and clustering the VMware Server, along with a few other interesting technical tweaks.

Stay tuned...