Specifications

VMware, Inc. 61
Chapter 2 Creating and Configuring Virtual Machines
! The!guest!operating!system!must!support!multiprocessor!systems.!Examples!
include!Windows!Server!2003,!Windows!2000,!and!Red!Hat!Enterprise!Linux!AS!
2.1.!Review!the!list!of!supported!guest!operating!systems!in!the!VMware!ESX!Server!
Installation!Guide!to!see!which!guests!are!multiprocessor‐!or!SMP‐capable.
! The!virtual!machine!cannot!have!more!virtual!processors!than!the!ESX!Server!
system!has!physical!processors.!To!create!a!virtual!machine!with!two!virtual!
processors,!the!ESX!Server!system!must!have!at!least!two!physical!processors.
First,!configure!the!virtual!machine!to!use!more!than!one!virtual!processor!using!the!
management!
interface.!See!“Configuring!a!Virtual!Machine’s!Memory!and!Virtual!
Processors”!on!page 105.!Follow!the!steps!appropriate!to!the!guest!operating!system!
below.
Windows Server 2003 Guest Operating Systems
Windows!Server!2003!upgrades!the!HAL!automatically.!Use!the!management!interface!
to!configure!the!virtual!machine!to!use!more!than!one!virtual!processor.!When!you!
power!on!the!virtual!machine,!the!guest!operating!system!detects!the!new!processor!
and!updates!the!HAL!accordingly.
Windows 2000 Guest Operating Systems
For!Windows!2000!guest!operating!systems,!to!use! more!than!one!virtual!processor,!
configure!the!virtual!machine!to!use!more!than!one!virtual!processor.!Upgrade!the!
guest!operating!system’s!HAL.!Virtual!machines!created!with!one!processor!in!ESX!
Server!2.5!use!the!ACPI!Uniprocessor!HAL.!To!use!two!virtual!processors,!use
!the!ACPI!
Multiprocessor!HAL.!To!change!the!HAL,!follow!the!instructions!in!the!Microsoft!
Knowledge!Base.!Go!to!support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN‐US;237556.
Linux Guest Operating Systems
To!create!a!virtual!machine!with!more!than!one!virtual!processor,!create!a!new!virtual!
machine!with!two!virtual!processors!and!install!the!guest!operating!system!in!this!new!
virtual!machine.
The!Linux!distribution!must!support!SMP.!Supported!Linux!guest!operating!systems!
that!can!be!configured!with!more!than!one!virtual!
processor!include!Red!Hat!Enterprise!
Linux!2.1!and!3.0,!Red!Hat!Linux!9.0,!SuSE!Linux!8.2,!and!SuSE!Linux!Enterprise!Server!
(SLES)!8!and!9.0.
For!the!list!of!supported!Linux!guest!operating!systems,!refer!to!the!ESX!Server!
Installation!Guide!at!http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/esx_pubs.html.