Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 101
Chapter 4 Running Virtual Machines
When!a!virtual!machine!boots!and!there!is!no!guest!operating!system!installed,!it!
proceeds!to!boot!from!devices!(hard!disk,!CDROM!drive,!floppy!drive,!and!network!
adapter)!in!the!order!in!which!they!occur!in!the!boot!sequence!specified!in!the!virtual!
machine’s!BIOS.!If!you!plan!to!use
!PXE!with!a!virtual!machine,!it!is!a!good!idea!to!put!
the!network!adapter!at!the!top!of!the!boot!order.!When!the!virtual!machine!first!boots,!
press!F2!to!enter!the!virtual!machine’s!BIOS!and!change!the!boot!order!there.
As!the!virtual!machine!boots!from!the!network!adapter,
!it!tries!to!connect!to!a!DHCP!
server.!The!DHCP!server!provides!the!virtual!machine!with!an!IP!address!and!a!list!of!
any!PXE!servers!available!on!the!network.!After!the!virtual!machine!connects!to!a!PXE!
server,!it!can!connect!to!a!bootable!disk!image!(such!as!an!
operating!system!image!or!a!
Ghost!or!Altiris!disk!image)!and!start!installing!a!guest!operating!system.!
VMware!has!tested!and!supports!the! following!PXE!configurations!with!VMware!
Server:
! Remote!installation!of!a!Windows!Server!2003!guest!operating!system!from!a!
server!running!Windows!Server!2003!Automated!Deployment!Services
! Remote!installation!of!a!Windows!2000!guest!operating!system!from!a!server!
running!Windows!2000!Server/Advanced!Server!Remote!Installation!Services
! Remote!installation!of!a!Linux!guest!operating!system!from!a!Red!Hat!Enterprise!
Linux!3.0!AS!PXE!boot!server
! Remote!installation!of!a!supported!guest!operating!system!from!a!Ghost!image!
using!Windows!2000!and!Ghost!RIS!Boot!package
! Remote!installation!of!a!supported!guest!operating!system!from!an!Altiris!image!
using!a!Windows!2000!Altiris!server
! Network!booting!a!Linux!virtual!machine!by!connecting!with!the!Linux!Diskless!
option!to!a!Red!Hat!Enterprise!Linux!3.0!AS!server
Installing Software in a Virtual Machine
Installing!software!in!a!virtual!machine!is!just!like!installing!it!on!a!physical!computer.!
For!example,!to!install!software!in!a!Windows!virtual!machine,!complete!the!following!
steps:
1Be!sure!you!have!started!the!virtual!machine!and,!if!necessary,!logged!on.!In!the!
VMware!Server!Console!window,!check!VM!>!
Removable!Devices!to!be!sure!the!
virtual!machine!has!access!to!the!CDROM!drive!and,!if!needed,!the!floppy!drive.!
2Insert!the!installation!CDROM!or!floppy!disk!into!the!proper!drive!on!the!
VMware!Server!host.!If!you!are!installing!from!a!CDROM,!the!installation!
program!might!start
!automatically.!