Specifications

Copyright © 2008 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
Installing and Configuring Linux Guest Operating Systems
RatherthaninstallingfromaphysicalCD‐ROM,youcancreateanISOimagefilefromtheinstallation
CD‐ROM.UsinganISOimagefileinthiswaycanbeparticularlyconvenientifyouneedtoinstallthesame
operatingsysteminmultiplevirtualmachines.YoucanstoretheISOfile
onthehostmachineoronanetwork
driveaccessiblefromthehostmachine.ThenintheVIClient:
1Right‐clickthevirtualmachineinwhichyouwanttoinstallthenewguestoperatingsystemandclickEdit
Settings.
2 SelectCD/DVDDrive1undertheHardwaretab,selectConnectatpower
on,andbrowsetotheISOfile
underDatastoreISOfile.
3PoweronyourvirtualmachinebyclickingthePowerOnbutton.
4Followtheinstructionsin“InstallationSteps”onpage 3.
5 ChangebacktotheirnormalsettingsforCD/DVDDrive1ifyoudonotwanttheISOfiletoremain
connected
duringsubsequentreboots.
Installation Steps
1Followtheinstallationstepsasyouwouldforaphysicalmachine.Besuretomakethechoicesoutlinedin
thefollowingsteps.
2 AllowautomaticpartitioningofthedisktooccurintheAutomaticPartitioningscreenorpartitionthe
virtualdiskmanuallyifyoudonotwanttousetheRedHat
defaults.Youmightseeawarningthatbegins
“Thepartitiontableondevice<devicename>wasunreadable.Tocreatenewpartitionsitmustbe
initialized,causingthelossofALLDATAonthedrive.”Thisdoesnotmeanthatanythingiswrongwith
theharddriveonyourphysicalcomputer.Itsimply
meansthatthevirtualharddriveinyourvirtual
machineneedstobepartitionedandformatted.
3ClickYestopartitionandformatthevirtualharddrive.
4DonotselecttheVirtualizationsoftwareoptionduringtheinstallation.UnchecktheVirtualizationbox.
Ifyouselectthisoption,RedHatEnterpriseLinux5or
FedoraCore7installstheXenhypervisoranda
XenLinuxkernel.Youmightexperienceanumberofperformanceandfunctionalityissues.Formore
information,seetheVMwareknowledgebasearticle“RHEL5andFC7GuestsInstalledwithRedHat
VirtualizationAffectsPerformanceofVirtualMachine.”Foralink,see“Resources”
onpage 19.
Choosing a Kernel
SomeolderLinuxdistributionssuchasRedHatEnterpriseLinux3andRedHatAdvancedServer2.1install
kernelsoptimizedforAMDprocessorswhenoneisdetectedatinstalltime.Ifavirtualmachinewithsuchan
AMDLinuxkerneliseverrunonanIntel‐basedhost,itcanencounter
problems,asdescribedintheVMware
knowledgebasearticle“LinuxGuestMovedtoaSystemwithDifferentProcessorTypePanicsDuringBoot.”
Foralink,see“Resources”onpage 19.KernelsthatareoptimizedforIntelprocessorsarealsocompatiblewith
AMDprocessorsanddonothavethisissue,however, it
isbettertomatchthekerneltothehardwareplatform.
Currentlyfor64‐bitprocessors,LinuxvendorshaveasinglekernelforAMDandIntelplatforms,sothisisnot
anissuefor64‐bitguestoperatingsystems.
ItisalsoimportanttoselectaLinuxkernelthatisappropriatefor
yourneeds.Linuxdistributionstypically
offerachoiceofprecompiledkernelsoptimizedforvarioussystemmemoryandSMPconfigurations.Asa
roughruleofthumb,kernelsoptimizedforthefollowingsystemsarelistedinorderofperformance:
 Uniprocessor(UP).
 Symmetricmultiprocessor(SMP).
 Symmetricmultiprocessorwithphysicaladdressextensions(SMP‐PAE).
 Symmetricmultiprocessorwithphysicaladdressextensionsandseparationofkernelanduserspace
entirelysothateachcanmakefulluseofthe4GBvirtualaddressspaceon32‐bitsystems(SMP‐PAE,
4G/4Gsplit).TheseSMP‐PAE,4G/4GsplitkernelsarenotsupportedbyVMwareproducts.