Install VMware Server

[Eric Dunbar]

Hi all, since I'd just gone through the pains and aches of installing
VMware Server I thought I'd share my observations with anyone else
who's interested.

What is it?

It creates a "virtual computer" inside your computer that can run
virtually any x86 operating system that your "real" computer can. That
list includes Ubuntu, Fedora Core, Debian, and, for the unwashed
masses, Windows.

The big advantage is that you can "play" with Linux or with Windows
and do things to the operating system that you would otherwise never
dream of doing. You can also easily create "backups" of your computer,
simply by duplicating a few files -- this allows you to experiment and
try different configurations before you actually try it on your own
computer (and, I'm sure most people on this list have had to
re-install some operating system or other because they messed it up).

Anyway... here are my comments:
1. It works on both WIndows and Ubuntu (Linux, in general) and the
virtual machines can be run under both operating systems.

2. Installation is actually quite easy, even on Windows. On Windows,
you need IIS installed before you install VMware Server (hint: it's a
Windows component).

3. I installed VMware Server (1.01) onto Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (note:
Desktop install).

You need to ensure a few packages are available before you install:

i. build-essential for the compilers;
ii. the latest kernel headers; and,
iii. xinetd (why, I don't know but it's a dependency)

This'll get you what you need:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r` xinetd

You also must have the VMware Server package available from:
http://www.vmware.com/download/server/

Download it first since it'll take a while, even on a fast connection!

While you're at it, get a serial number as well from the downloads
page -- you'll need it for the install.

Download the package. Uncompress it:
tar -zxf VM*.gz

(yes, I'm lazy... make sure no other VM*.gz files are in the directory
or they'll get uncompressed too ;-)

cd into the newly created directory.

Run the installer script:
sudo ./install-vmware.pl

Accept the default values & enter the serial number when prompted.

4. You're off to the races. Open VMware Server from the
Applications:System Tools menu in GNOME and you can start setting up
as many virtual machines as your RAM and disk space will allow.

PS You might want to take a look at various sites (e.g.
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_vmware_server) but be ware. They
encourage you install a lot of extraneous packages and one site even
provides a script to automate installation -- unfortunately, it also
adds some third-party stuff that just doesn't seem to work (e.g. my
shells tty1-tty6 would not become active for at least 3 minutes after
boot).

Use your judgement with regards to what to install!

5. Configure your VMs. You can even configure the VMs to start when
the computer boots -- obviously the VMs don't become available for
roughly the same time it took your host OS to boot ;-)

Happy VMing.