Don't have VMware ESX? This is the next best thing. (Howto)

[paradexes]

This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of Virtualization and the Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) CLI commands. The goal here is to build Ubuntu with a very minimal install to maximize performance.

This tutorial is ideal for small businesses or individuals that heavily use Linux and are not looking to buy Virtual Infrastructure 3 or any of the equivalent competitor products.

As you may or may not know, VMware ESX server is supposed to be an OS or a thin layer of software that has one function. To create VMs for near native performance.

There recently was a free release for ESX3i which is a stripped down version of ESX. However it lacks a the virtualized Linux console that its bigger brother has and both are limited to very specific hardware configurations. This tutorial is meant to be an alternative solution using existing VMware products and give similar results. Granted performance will be a little slower, but for most cases it will be enough to work reliably and with flexibility.

First download and burn to CD

For anyone with a x64 bit capable CPU I strongly recommend:
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...tboot/mini.iso

If you are limited to x86 hardware then download:
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...tboot/mini.iso

Boot the CD and type CLI at the boot screen.

Install Ubuntu (if you are not familiar with an Ubuntu installation please search these forums for further assistance as it is out of the scope of this doc)

Once installed please set your IP address to static by editing /etc/network/interfaces to look like:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1

If you have more interfaces just add eth1, eth2, etc.

Before installing VMware server you MUST have the following installed:
build-essential linux-kernel-headers debian-helper-scripts (optional)
Install by typing

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-kernel-$(uname -r) debian-helper-scripts

If the install goes well...

Then download VMware Server 2.0 RC1 (as of this writing) (RC2 has been released which is also VMware-server-2.0.0-110949.*.tar.gz)
by typing in the console

wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-2.0.0-101586.x86_64.tar.gz

Then type the following each on a separate line

cd ~/
tar -xvf VMserver*
cd vmware-server-distrib
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

Answer the questions and get the free registration key at vmware.com and you are all set if you don't have one. You can also google for the key seeing as it is a free product. I will not post it here in the interest of possible liability.

Assuming you followed the default web ports then you should be able to just type http://servernameorip.com/ui and you will be presented with a login and then a fully functional web based client to create manage and provision VMs. With an open source underlying system to keep the system running and massive driver support, this in many ways already beats out ESX for SMBs.

VMware is rock solid IMO, and the management tools rock. (again my opinion).

Here is a free and very flexible alternative using Ubuntu and woudl want from ESX. And there is immense flexibility in both hardware and software to manage the host system based on the open source aspects of Linux. This tutorial can be adapted for various other distros as well that can strip the OS down to barebones, but Ubuntu is the one I have focused on since it is the distro I use and it was the easiest to implement this.

If you find any other tweaks that help boost the performance post them up. I kept this real basic for anyone new to Linux and Virtualization to follow on.

[Mike'sHardLinux]

Thanks for the tutorial! I was just trying to install ESXi and it doesn't like my hardware.

I noticed one typo when I was installing my server: I think linux-kernel should be linux-headers, at least, that's what I had to do.

Thanks again!

[MrFSL]

Disable ipv6

[paradexes]

You can, but you should not need to. At least that was not the case on Hardy 8.04.1

Can you state why IPV6 needs to be disabled? I can post it in the notes if I can get a detailed reason why. My goal with this howto is to make it solid as a rock for anyone to setup stably.

[Sam Lars]

Thanks for this guide. I've tried putting in

localhost/ui
127.0.0.1/ui

and it tells me that there's a server there, but it can't connect to it.
I tried

http://127.0.0.1:902/

and got

220 VMware Authentication Daemon Version 1.10: SSL Required, ServerDaemonProtocol:SOAP, MKSDisplayProtocol:VNC , VMXARGS supported

Edit:
I finally got to it after doing a port scan and trying the 8000 series ports (one of which I suspected VMware was set up on), and

localhost:8222/ui

did the trick.

[MrFSL]

You can, but you should not need to. At least that was not the case on Hardy 8.04.1

... because the people over at vmware told me to.

Sorry wish I could supply a link... let me search a second...

Here is a google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...earch&aq=f&oq=

Greets.

[MrFSL]

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/...vmserver2.html

The vmnet-netifup daemons do not terminate when VMware Server is stopped.
Workaround: Disable IPv6 on your host.

[airjrdn]

A normal VM runs within a host OS so you can run Windows inside Linux or vice versa. ESX differs in that the "host OS" is actually a minimal VMWare OS correct? And you can "switch" between running OS's similar to switching between applications?

I have some apps that are Windows only, and won't run in a VM due to graphics constraints. Would this negate my need for dual booting (shutdown Linux, and reboot into Windows)? So I could just alt-tab or whatever to get to Windows or back to Linux?

[MrFSL]

Not quite. ESX is an enterprise virtualization system - specifically desired because its High Availability options.

For the most part it would be used to run enterprise server solutions that have high availability requirements.

There is no graphical desktop for ESX. The concept is that you install ESX on your servers and then use a management computer to setup your Virtual Machines. - This would not be for daily user use and operations.


This thread points out that because this is considered a "server" solution it is made to only run on specific hardware. If you wanted a similar solution without the H.A. and Enterprise Service features you can run Ubuntu server with vmware server 2 beta. This is because the web interface is similar to ESX as well as the system resources needed to run the host.

In short ESX is not meant to be a Desktop product. It is probably not what you want to run at home.

[airjrdn]

"Ubuntu server with vmware server 2 beta"

Wouldn't that just be running Windows inside of Ubuntu in VMWare, similar to how I do w/Ubuntu 8.04 LTS?

I'm really after what it was I thought ESX did. Something with an *extremely* minimal footprint that gives each OS near direct access to the hardware. So there'd be almost no speed difference playing a game in XP for example vs playing it in XP where XP was the only OS on the machine.