VMware Server

Fedora 14

This information was taken from HowToForge, checked and slightly modified.

• First, go to the VMware server page , click on download.
• Create your VMware account or login using an existing account.
• Check your mail, activate the account and store your license keys.
• Now, choose the right download for either 32bit or 64bit: Choose the .gz, not the .rpm file, using Manual Download.

Now we need to install some needed packages, open a terminal and enter:

  # su -
  # yum -y install kernel-devel-`uname -r` xinetd gcc gcc-c++ perl-devel perl-ExtUtils-Embed wget vim-enhanced
  # exit

VMware server 2.02 does not work with kernel 2.6.35 out of the box, so we need a small script:

  # wget --no-check-certificate http://codebin.cotescu.com/vmware/vmware-server-2.0.x-kernel-2.6.3x-install.sh

Look at your download directory. You should find these files:

  # -rw-r--r-- 1 user group      8696 Dec 16 16:46 raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-release-1.5-1-g71f8b66.tar.gz
  # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group 506047036 Dec 16 16:31 VMware-server-2.0.2-203138.i386.tar.gz

Now, unpack the file we got from the script:

  # tar xvfz raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-release-1.5-1-g71f8b66.tar.gz

A new directory has been created:

 # ls -l
 # drwxrwxr-x 2 user group      4096 Nov 14 22:24 raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-71f8b66
 # -rw-r--r-- 1 user group      8696 Dec 16 16:46 raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-release-1.5-1-g71f8b66.tar.gz
 # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group 506047036 Dec 16 16:31 VMware-server-2.0.2-203138.i386.tar.gz
 

Move the downloaded VMware server in the new directory:

 # mv VMware-server-2.0.2-203138.i386.tar.gz raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-71f8b66/
 # cd raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-71f8b66
 # ls -l
 

Your directory should now look like this:

 # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group      1321 Nov 14 22:24 LICENSE
 # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group      1980 Nov 14 22:24 README
 # -rwxrwxr-x 1 user group       702 Nov 14 22:24 start-VMware-console.sh
 # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group      1111 Nov 14 22:24 vmware-config.patch
 # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group 506047036 Dec 16 16:31 VMware-server-2.0.2-203138.i386.tar.gz
 # -rw-rw-r-- 1 user group     13618 Nov 14 22:24 vmware-server-2.0.2-203138-update.patch
 # -rwxrwxr-x 1 user group     11095 Nov 14 22:24 vmware-server-2.0.x-kernel-2.6.3x-install.sh
 

To install VMware server, we need the script vmware-server-2.0.x-kernel-2.6.3x-install.sh. To execute it, root rights are required.

 # sudo ./vmware-server-2.0.x-kernel-2.6.3x-install.sh
 

The installer will ask a lot of questions which can be answered by defaults by hitting Enter. At the question

 # What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include]

the installer will get stuck. Close it with Ctrl-C.

The VMware configfile must be edited to continue:

 # sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
 # sudo vim /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

You can of course use another editor, but he should isplla line numbers. Around line 2702, replace

   [...]
       if (-e $answer . '/linux/utsrelease.h') {
         $uts_headers .= "#include <linux/utsrelease.h>\n";
       }
   [...]

with

   [...]
       if (-e $answer . '/generated/utsrelease.h') {
         $uts_headers .= "#include <./generated/utsrelease.h> \n";
       }
   [...]

Now run the configuration script:

 # sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

to finish the installation.

Only two questions need specific answers, answer the default values withEnter for the others again:

 # The current administrative user for VMware Server is . Would you like to specify a different administrator?
 

Answer yes and enter root as the administrator.

For the question:

 # In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files? [/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]

you may enter a directory of your choice if you wish.

Next, you will be prompted for the serial number you recieved at the beginning.

After successful installatio, the install directory can be deleted.

Open your browser.

You can access the management interface over HTTPS (https://<IP ADDRESS>:8333) or HTTP (http://<IP ADDRESS>:8222); the management interface can be accessed locally and also remotely. Use your HDA IP for remote access, and 127.0.0.1 for local access.

As login name, enter root and as password your root password.

That should be it.

Fedora 10

Begin enjoying the benefits of server virtualization for free. VMware Server is a hosted virtualization platform that installs like an application on any existing server hardware and partitions a physical server into multiple virtual machines.

Now lets get started

Note: You will need to create a account to get a license key
Note: You must have a couple of packages installed before starting.

• gcc
• kernel-devel

To install the package in the terminal as root type “yum install packagename”, example yum install gcc

1. Go here https://www.vmware.com/download/server/ and download the software suited for your computer. You might also want to download some of the documents for your reading pleasure from here http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/server_pubs.html

2. Log in with the user name you plan to use when running VMware Server.

3. In a terminal window, use the command to become root, example:

su -

4. Run RPM and specify the installation file:

rpm -Uvh Vmware-server-<xxxx>.rpm

In place of <xxxx> the filename contains numbers that correspond to the version and build.

Note: The file indicated in the image may or may not be the same as the one you need to install.

5. Installation is now complete.

Configuring Your VMware Server

This section describes how to use vmware-config.pl to configure your installation of VMware Server.
Configuration with vmware-config.pl is required in the following circumstances:

• When you install VMware Server for the first time.
  
• When you upgrade your version of VMware Server.
• When you upgrade your host operating system kernel. (It is not necessary to reinstall VMware Server after you upgrade your kernel.)
• To reconfigure the networking options for VMware Server. For example, to add or remove a virtual network.

1. If you have not already done so, open a terminal window and log in as the root user before performing the following steps.

2. If vmware-config.pl is not started by the installation script, enter the following command to run the script:

vmware-config.pl

The script is located in /usr/bin. If this directory is not in your default path, enter the following command to run the script: /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

3. Respond to the prompts. In most cases, the default response is appropriate. In mine install I changed one from the default “In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?[/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]” /var/hda/files/machine

Note: In italic text was were I chose to have my virtual machine files, this option is up to you but you will want to have enough disk space available for them.

The following ports are used by default: port 902 for the VMware Authorization Service, port 8222 for http connections, and port 8333 for secure http (https) connections.

If you do not want to use the default value, change the port number when prompted.

Note: If you do not specify port 80 for http connections, you must include the port number when you connect to VMware Server using VI Web Access. See “Logging In to VMware Server Using VI Web Access” on page 48 of VMware Server User's Guide.

If the configuration program does not display a message saying that the configuration completed successfully, run the configuration program again.

For more detailed information see the VMware Server User's Guide.

Now that you are finished goto https://hda:8333 and login as root, providing you did not change the settings during installation of VMware Server 2.

Uninstalling an RPM Installation of VMware Server

To remove VMware Server, remove the software from your system using the following command:

rpm -e Vmware-server-<xxxx>

In place of <xxxx> the filename contains numbers that correspond to the version and build. If you have VMware Server properly installed, you can find the VMware Server build number by running:

rpm -qa | grep VM

List of OS that I have had working:
Fedora 9 64 bit
Fedora 10 64 bit
Fedora 11 64 bit
Ubuntu 9.04 64 bit
Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100
Windows Vista 64 bit
Windows XP 32 bit

List of OS that I have not been able to get working:
OS X Leopard 10.5.2

Any questions feel free to hit me up in the IRC

Greg aka rampage537