How to install VMware Tools (ESX, ESXi, VMware Server) on CentOS 5 (linux)

1. In VMware select the option to Install/Upgrade Vmware Tools (in ESXi, you can do this by right clicking on the VM -> Guest -> Install/Upgrade Vmware Tools. This will insert the CD into the drive on your VM.

2. On the VM, do the following to install kernel source:

yum install gcc gcc-c++ kernel-devel -y
ln –s /usr/src/kernels/[your kernel version] /usr/src/linux

3. Mount the CD, and copy the Vmware Tools installation file:

mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom
cp VMwareTools-[version].tar.gz /root
cd /root
umount /mnt/cdrom
tar zxf VMwareTools-[version].tar.gz

4. Install VMware Tools:

cd /root/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

5. For a standard install, just say yes to all the options.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 6:10 pm

How to Upgrade VMware ESXi 3.5 to ESXi 4.0

To upgrade from VMware ESXi 3.5 to VMware ESXi 4.0 you first need to install the VMware vSphere Host Update Utility:

1. VMware ESXI 4 upgrading release, and extract the file ESXi-4.0.0-0.4.164009-upgrade-release.zip\VMware-viclient.vib\data.tar.gz\data.tar\.\4.0.0\client\VMware-viclient.exe
2. Run the executable to install the VMware vSphere Client 4.0, be sure to select the Install vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0.
3. Run the vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0.
4. Select the server you wish to upgrade, then click Upgrade Host.
5. Select the VMware ESXi 4.0 Upgrade file (for example: ESXi-4.0.0-0.4.164009-upgrade-release.zip)
6. Run VMware vSphere client, login to the host you wish to upgrade. Right click on the server, and click Enter Maintenance Mode.
7. Return back to the vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0, and Accept the agreement.
8. Enter host login details, and click next.
9. Once this has been completed, go back to VMware vSphere client, and Exit Maintenance Mode.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 4:59 pm

VMware ESXi/CentOS: Your cpu does not support long mode. Use a 32bit distribution.

If you receive the following error while you are installing CentOS on VMware ESXi:

Your cpu does not support long mode. Use a 32bit distribution.

Then you probably need to enable Intel VT (virtualization) or AMD-v in the BIOS.

If you are still having problems, make sure you have Paravirtualization disabled (VMI) as this is only supported by 32-bit guests.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 12:42 am

How to change an existing vmdk to thin provisioned on VMware ESXi?

If you need to convert a existing vmdk to thin provisioning on VMware ESXi you can do the following:

1. Login via SSH
2. Run the following command: vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/large-disk.vmdk -d thin /vmfs/volumes/thin-disk.vmdk

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 9:33 pm

How to thin-provision on a VMware ESXi

Are you wondering how you can create a virtual machine which only uses the amount of space that is actually being used in the Virtual Machine?  You can do this by using thin provisioning, and following the following steps:

1. First you need SSH access enabled on the server.
2. Run the command: vmkfstools -c 10G -d thin /vmfs/volumes/test1.vmdk
3. If you receive the error:
   Failed to create virtual disk: The destination file system does not support large files (12).
   Then make sure you run the create command in the datastore you have created already.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 9:28 pm

How to enable ssh login on VMware ESXi

By default VMware ESXi does not have external SSH access enabled, to enable it you can do the following:

1. Login to the server via the Console.
2. Type: Alt + F1
3. Type: unsupported
4. Type: (your root password)
5. edit /etc/inetd.conf: vi  /etc/inetd.conf
6. Remove # sign in front of ssh, by moving down to the SSH line and type 1x, and then :wq
7. Run: /sbin/services.sh restart

You should now be able to login via SSH.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 5:41 pm