VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide

Virtual Machine Guide

VMware Server 1.0

VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide Revision: 20060706 Item: SVR-ENG-Q206-227

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation at:

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

docfeedback@

? 2006 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,397,242, 6,496,847, 6,704,925, 6,711,672, 6,725,289, 6,735,601, 6,785,886, 6,789,156, 6,795,966, 6,880,022, 6,961,941, 6,961,806 and 6,944,699; patents pending.

VMware, the VMware "boxes" logo and design, Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.

All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

VMware, Inc. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304

ii

VMware, Inc.

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction and System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

VMware Server Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Features of VMware Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Support for 32-bit and 64-bit Guest Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Two-Way Virtual SMP (Experimental Support) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Connect to VMware GSX Virtual Machines and Hosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Upgrade and Use GSX Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Move Existing Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Compatible with VMware Workstation 5.x Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Configure Virtual Hardware Devices to be Automatically Detected . . . . . . . . 3 Take and Revert to Snapshots in the Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Support for VMware Virtual Machine Importer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Support for VirtualCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 APIs Included with VMware Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Host System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Server Host Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Windows Host Operating System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Linux Host Operating System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Remote Client Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Virtual Machine Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Supported Guest Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Hardware Requirements for 64-bit Guest Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Hardware Requirements for 32-bit Guest Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Technical Support Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Self-Service Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Online and Telephone Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Support Offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Reporting Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 2 Creating a New Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting Up a New Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

VMware, Inc.

iii

VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide

What's in a Virtual Machine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Creating a New Virtual Machine with the Virtual Machine Wizard . . . . . . . . 27 Installing a Guest Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Example: Installing Windows Server 2003 as a Guest OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 3 Using VMware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

About VMware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Installing VMware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Installing VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Installing VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Installing VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Executing Scripts When the Virtual Machine's Power State Changes . . . . . . . . . 55 Configuring VMware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Configuring VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Configuring VMware Tools in a Linux, FreeBSD, or Solaris Virtual Machine 60 Configuring VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 About the VMware Tools Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Synchronizing the Time in the Guest OS with the Host OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Executing Commands After You Power Off or Reset a Virtual Machine . . . . 70 Passing a String from the Host OS to the Guest OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Passing Information Between the Guest OS and a VMware API Script . . . . . 73

Chapter 4 Running Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Overview of the VMware Server Console Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Using the Home Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Using Tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Configuring a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Using the Virtual Machine Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Displaying Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Checking the Status of VMware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Creating a Screen Shot of a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Connecting to Virtual Machines and VMware Server Hosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Connecting to a Virtual Machine from a Windows Host or Client . . . . . . . . . 82 Connecting to a Virtual Machine from a Linux Host or Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Connecting to a Virtual Machine from the VMware Management Interface . 85 Connecting to a Different VMware Server Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Connecting to VMware GSX Server and Older Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . 86

Changing the Power State of a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

iv

VMware, Inc.

Contents

Using Power Options for Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Suspending and Resuming Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Shutting Down a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Powering Virtual Machines On and Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Controlling the Virtual Machine Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Using Full Screen Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Using Quick Switch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Taking Advantage of Multiple Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Fitting the VMware Server Console Window to the Virtual Machine . . . . . . . 97 Fitting a Windows Guest OS Display to the Console Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Simplifying the Screen Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Running Virtual Machines from DVDs or CD-ROM Discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Using PXE with Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Installing Software in a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Using Devices in a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Adding, Configuring, and Removing Devices in a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . 103 Connecting and Disconnecting Removable Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Command Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Startup Options on a Linux Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Startup Options on a Windows Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Using Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Chapter 5 Preserving the State of a Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Suspending and Resuming Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Setting the Suspended State File Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Taking Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 What Is Captured by a Snapshot? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Ways of Using Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Snapshots and a Virtual Machine's Hard Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Snapshots and Other Activity in the Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Settings for Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Snapshot Actions as Background Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Removing the Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Snapshots and Legacy Disk Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Snapshots and Legacy Virtual Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

VMware, Inc.

v

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download