VMware virtualization software is an excllent choice for x86-compatible computers. They have both commercial and free version. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems (“virtual machines”) such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system.

VMware Server is a free virtualization product for Windows and Linux servers with enterprise-class support and VirtualCenter management. VMware Server is a robust yet easy to use server virtualization product and is based on proven virtualization technology, which has been used by thousands of customers for many years.

Installing VMWARE server on CentOS 5 or Ubuntu 64 bit version is a tricky business.

1) Check on your Ubuntu or CentOS are running 64 bit Intel / AMD hardware and software.
$ uname -mrs
(You should see the output should be x86_64 like Linux 2.6.18-8.1.6.el5 x86_64)

2) Install required files / libraries
You need to install following development package / files on server:
$ yum install xinetd
$ yum install libXtst-devel libXrender-devel kernel-devel
or
$ sudo aptitude install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd

3) Download vmware server
Go to http://www.vmware.com/download/server/ and click on Download Now. You can either download .tar.gz or rpm as your wish.

4) Serial number
To run VMware Server, you need to get the serial number , go to http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html. Fill in your personal details. Afterwards you will get a page with a serial number for VMware Server. Write it down or print it out.

5) Unpack .tar.gz (skip this if you downloaded the rpm)
$ tar -zxvf VMware-server-*.tar.gz

6) Installing Vmware server
$ sudo ./vmware-install.pl
or
$ rpm -ivh VMware-server-*.i386.rpm

7) Configuring Vmware server
$ vmware-config.pl

The installer will ask you a lot of questions. You can always accept the default values simply by hitting . But this is up to you and not necessary.

At the end of the installation, you will be asked to enter a serial number:
Please enter your 20-character serial number.
Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or ‘Enter’ to cancel:

Fill in your serial number for VMware Server.

This should complete the vmware server installation.

8) Managing Vmware server
For Centos:
You will now find VMware Server under Applications > System Tools. When you start it, select Local host. The usage of the interface is pretty straightforward. Afterwards, you can create virtual machines.

For Ubuntu:
VMware Server 2 does not have a desktop application for managing virtual machines – this is now done through a browser (e.g. Firefox). You can access the management interface over HTTPS (https://:8333) or HTTP (http://:8222); the management interface can be accessed locally and also remotely. If you want to access it from the same machine, type https://127.0.0.1:8333 or http://127.0.0.1:8222 into the browser’s address bar.

If you’re using Firefox 3 and use HTTPS, Firefox will complain about the self-signed certificate, therefore you must tell Firefox to accept the certificate – to do this, click on the Or you can add an exception…

When you try to login using your ubuntu user login details you might see “You do not have permissions to login to the server” error this is because you need to enable root account on your ubuntu machine using this tutorial or login as user who is having root permissions. On Ubuntu, root has no password by default, therefore we create a password now by:
$ sudo passwd root.
Type in root and the password you’ve just created.

Once you login to the VMware Server web interface. The structure is similar to the old VMware Server 1 desktop application, so the usage of the web interface is pretty straightforward.

~

jonboy60

I’m a Malaysian, my name is Jon Loh (jonboy60) living in Kuala Lumpur and working in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Jonboy60.com is a blog magazine about Linux and other open source softwares. All about to a daily jobs or real life experiences I had since the year 2002 administrating Linux and Windows server in a hosting company. Basically i will be offering Linux tips, howto, tricks, latest news and tutorial. Contact Me for Career opportunities, business offers, Linux solutions for business or home, web and email server solutions, Linux consulting and expertise requests. Email to me on jonboy60{@}gmail.com. The site I’m running is VenCouture.com – Malaysia Online Fashion Shopping Boutique, VenCouture. We sell fashion clothes, sexy lingeries, baby clothing and etc.

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