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VMware is a software for running a virtual PC as process on your workstation. While VMware workstation can only run a few parallel virtual machines and all user-interaction happens using X11 windows, VMware GSX Server and VMware ESX Server can run many parallel virtual machines and come with some tools for remote administration.
VMware can be used e.g. to run Windows within Linux, "embed" a server in a Firewall, test software and much more.
As ROCK a Linux Developer, VMware is very useful for testing boot-able ISO images, etc. VMware is not Open Source - It's a commercial product. So I've asked the people at VMware if there is any possibility to get some licenses sponsored - but they told me (very polite) that they don't sponsor Open Source projects at the moment. So this might only be useful for those who can afford the $299 US license fee. Those who want to try it first, can get a full-functional 30-day evaluation serial number from the homepage.
It seams like the VMware developers didn't hear about DevFS so far. So there are some pitfalls with installing VMware on ROCK Linux..
InstallingAfter downloading VMware-workstation-3.2.0-2230.tar.gz (or similar) from the homepage and receiving the (evaluation) serial number per mail, you can start the installation.
Just extract the tar.gz somewhere (you don't need this data after the installation has been finished):
root@apollo:/usr/local/src# tar xvzf VMware-workstation-3.2.0-2230.tar.gz
vmware-distrib/
vmware-distrib/lib/
vmware-distrib/lib/modules/
vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source/
vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source/vmmon.tar
vmware-distrib/lib/modules/source/vmnet.tar
[...]
root@apollo:/usr/local/src# cd vmware-distrib
root@apollo:/usr/local/src/vmware-distrib#
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The installation itself runs interactively. Just run ./vmware-install.pl. I prefer installing vmware in /opt/vmware rather than /usr (so I can easily remove it later):
root@apollo:/usr/local/src/vmware-distrib# ./vmware-install.pl
Creating a new installer database using the tar3 format.
Installing the content of the package.
In which directory do you want to install the binary files?
[/usr/bin] /opt/vmware/bin
[ ... ]
Before running VMware Workstation for the first time, you need to configure it
for your running kernel by invoking the following command:
"/opt/vmware/bin/vmware-config.pl". Do you want this script to invoke the
command for you now? [yes]
[ ... ]
Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.
None of VMware Workstation's pre-built vmmon modules is suitable for your
running kernel. Do you want this script to try to build the vmmon module for
your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]
Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.
[ ... ]
The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.
Do you want networking for your Virtual Machines? (yes/no/help) [yes]
Configuring a bridged network for vmnet0.
Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.
Do you want this script to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
[yes]
Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time).
The subnet 172.16.29.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.
Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your Virtual Machines?
[no]
Do you want this script to automatically configure your system to allow your
Virtual Machines to access the host's filesystem? (yes/no/help) no
Starting VMware services:
Virtual machine monitor done
Virtual ethernet done
Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 done
Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) done
NAT networking on /dev/vmnet8 done
The configuration of VMware Workstation 3.2.0 build-2230 for Linux for this
running kernel completed successfully.
You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command:
"/opt/vmware/bin/vmware".
Enjoy,
--the VMware team
root@apollo:/usr/local/src/vmware-distrib#
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Now vmware is installed an configured. But we still need to make some DevFS adoptions to make it run as it should. Make sure, that you have the following three lines in your /etc/devfsd.conf file:
REGISTER .* MKOLDCOMPAT
UNREGISTER .* RMOLDCOMPAT
LOOKUP ^vmnet([0-9])$ EXECUTE mknod /dev/vmnet\1 c 119 \1
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Testing ROCK Linux ISO Images with VMwareWhen creating an ISO image, simply pass the -mkdebug option to ./scripts/Create-ISO. The script will then also create a *_vmware.cfg file which can be executed. E.g.:
root@apollo:/rock-linux# ./scripts/Create-ISO -mkdebug generic generic bootdisk
[ ... ]
root@apollo:/rock-linux# ./generic_vmware.cfg
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Before you can boot the virtual machine you need to create the virtual disk. Click on 'Settings' -> 'Configuration Editor' -> 'IDE Drives' -> 'P-M Virtual Disk' -> 'Create':
Now you can boot the virtual machine. Just click on 'Power On'. Now you see a Phoenix BIOS Booting in the Window and then the virtual machine will boot from your ISO Image and you can install ROCK Linux as usual:
Networking supportThe easiest way of getting networking up and running within VMware is to configure a virtual Ethernet Adapter of the connection type Bridged and load the pcnet32 kernel module. After that the networking can be configured as if the vmware box is connected directly to the network the host system is connected to.
SCSI supportVMware can also emulate SCSI disks and CD-ROMs. You need to load the 'BusLogic' kernel driver if you want to use them.
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