Installation of VMWare Player on Ubuntu 7.10 beta (Gutsy Gibbon).

Moma’s notes.

Ubuntu 8.04 version is here… <–

A) Installation of VMware Player on Ubuntu 7.10 (alias Gutsy)

A1) First, install some prerequisites (pre-requirements).
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic linux-headers-$(uname -r)
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A2) Create a working folder and cd there.
$ mkdir $HOME/vmware
$ cd $HOME/vmware
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A3) Download VMware Player from http://www.vmware.com/download/player/
wget guarantees a safe download.

32 bits
$ wget -c http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmplayer/VMware-player-2.0.2-59824.i386.tar.gz

64 bits
$ wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmplayer/VMware-player-2.0.2-59824.x86_64.tar.gz

Important: Check the website and pick the most recent version of the product.

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A4) Unzip and untar the files
$ tar -xvzf VMware*gz
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A5) Cd into the installation directory
$ cd vmware-player-distrib
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A6) Install it
$ sudo ./vmware-install.pl

Press [ENTER] key to give a default answer to all questions. The default answers are just OK to begin with.
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A7) Update the library cache (it’s a list over dynamic DLL libraries)
$ sudo ldconfig
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A8) Test whether it will run and play
$ vmplayer
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But for now, quit the vmplayer because we need to donwload some guest operating systems first. Move to step B).

B) Donwload guest operating systems and run them in VMware

These are the most common download sites for ready-made VMware images:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/cat/25

http://vmplanet.net/

http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/

B1) Search for guest images.
I want to test the latest openSUSE 10.3 release, so I browse to
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/cat/25 and search for “suse 10.3”.
It leads me to
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/1010

Important: Read the entire description so you get known what the user names and passwords are. It this particular case it says
openSUSE 10.3 beta. PASSWORD FOR ROOT/SU/SUDO is: bagside
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B2) For the sake of tidiness (order), lets gather all guest OSes under the same sub directory.
Create an “images” directory under your $HOME/vmware/ folder.

$ cd $HOME/vmware
$ mkdir images
$ cd images

As said, I want to test openSUSE 10.3 beta. The registration page on the VMware’s website sent me directly to this external
http://www.bagside.com/bagvapp/index.html site.

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B3) Download a guest image (operating system or distro).
There’s a list of guest OSes on the right hand side of the page.
So I just copy the URL of “openSUSE 10.3 beta” and wget the file to my PC. I prefer wget -c because it can continue from an interrupted delivery.

$ wget -c http://download.bagside.com/osuse.7z

It will takes some time…

It’s done. Check the file.
$ ls -l
-rw-r–r– 1 moma moma 785089810 2007-10-06 13:51 osuse.7z

What type of compressed archive is it?

$ file osuse.7z
osuse.7z: 7-zip archive data, version 0.2

Install the p7zip (un)compression tool if not already done
$ sudo apt-get install p7zip
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B4) Unzip the file
The file is a compressed 7-zip archive which we can unzip with the p7zip tool. Linux can read anything !

$ p7zip -d osuse.7z

Again, the file is huge so it will take some time…

Now check the resulting directory and files.
$ ls -lR

drwxr-xr-x 2 moma moma 4096 2007-10-06 13:58 openSUSE10.3beta

./openSUSE10.3beta:
-rw——- 1 moma moma 4165 2007-08-15 19:23 README.txt
-rw——- 1 moma moma 1244463104 2007-08-15 16:50 suse-s001.vmdk
-rw——- 1 moma moma 558301184 2007-08-15 16:50 suse-s002.vmdk
-rw——- 1 moma moma 1666056192 2007-08-15 16:50 suse-s003.vmdk
-rw——- 1 moma moma 1179648 2007-08-15 16:50 suse-s004.vmdk
-rw——- 1 moma moma 454 2007-08-15 15:58 suse.vmdk
-rw——- 1 moma moma 1890 2007-08-15 16:52 suse.vmx

Looks good to me mama. But what are the suse-s001?.vmdk files ? Are they saved snapshot images?

Note: The README.txt file has important information about the system settings, installed applications and usernames/passwords.
Read it carefully.

In this particular case the file says that the SUSE-image comes with vmware tools ( vmware-toolbox ) ready installed. Not bad !
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B5) Start the guest OS in the vmplayer.

Now, start vmplayer from the command line or from the menu. You should find it in Applications -> System Tools menu.
$ vmplayer

Click the [Open an existing virtual image] button and pick the suse.vmx image from the download directory.

Picture B5-1: Start it.

Picture B5-2: openSUSE 10.3 is playing nicely. Really awesome, absolutely great distro and virtual machine !

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B6) Create and put a shortcut icon on the desktop or toolbar

First, check which command line arguments vmplayer can take.
$ vmplayer –help

(note: the -X argument for full screen may be useful )

So in my case, the command line will look like this (replace the username and location with your own).
$ vmplayer /home/moma/vmware/images/openSUSE10.3beta/suse.vmx

Create an icon on the desktop and set the command. Drag & drop it onto the toolbar for quick access.
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One additional thing.
I launched openSUSE 10.3 but the network did not work.
So I started Yast control center and oriented to Network Card -> Network Settings where I changed the IP-address method to DHCP.
The network worked well after that. Probably, “ifdown / ifup ethX” will do the same trick. Study this picture…

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B7) Download and test other Linux distributions. Go to step B1).

Boa viagem & good luck.

The end.
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Note: If you upgrade the Linux-kernel manually then your vmplayer will most likely stop working. However, it’s easy to fix. Run
$ sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl
Give the default answers and vmplayer will play again.

VMWare Tools
howto-install-vmware-tools-in-ubuntu.html

How-to-run-windows-within-linux…

C) Installation guide for VirtualBox – yet another virtualization solution for Ubuntu

VirtualBox on Ubuntu 7.10

C1) Get some pre-requirements.
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic libqt3-mt libxalan110 libstdc++5

C2) Dowbload VirtualBox (32 bits version)

$ mkdir $HOME/tmp
$ cd $HOME/tmp

Browse to http://www.virtualbox.org/download/ and locate the most recent version of VirtualBox.

You can either download the ready made .deb package or the binary .run file. I download the .deb package here because it’s easier to install.
Check the website before download because new versions come out quite often.

$ wget http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1.5.6/virtualbox_1.5.6-28266_Ubuntu_gutsy_i386.deb
Take the xxxxx_amd64.deb package if you run 64 bits Ubuntu.

C3) Install the package
$ sudo dpkg -i virtualbox*gutsy_i386.deb
$ sudo apt-get install -f

C4) Add your user name to vboxusers group. (if you like, replace $USER with your user name)
$ sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER

C5) Note: The current session does not know about the new group or change unless you logout / in.
Log out by pressing the CNTR + ALT + BACKSPACE keys. Then login.

Note: You can easily check which groups you belong to. Type
$ groups

C6) Start the VirtualBox
$ VirtualBox

C7) Study the manuals
$ evince /usr/share/doc/virtualbox*/UserManual.pdf
Note. The VirtualBox v1.5.2 and prior put the files to /opt/VirtualBox*/ directory.

$ firefox http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/User_FAQ

Installing a new operating system from a iso-file:
Create a new Virtual Machine and attach the iso-file to the CD/DVD ROM device. See the menu selection Machine -> Settings, CD/DVD ROM.
Study this picture.
Detach the iso-file from the CD/DVD ROM after successful installation.

Ungrab the keyboard:
To escape from the VirtualBox, press the CNTR key at the RIGHT side of the keyboard. Ok?

D) Install and run KVM virtualization on your Ubuntu box

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a virtualization solution for Linux on x86 / X86_64 hardware.
It requires a virtualization harnessed CPU type; Intel VT or AMD-V.

EDIT: Ubuntu has already an execellent KVM-guide. Check it first !
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM

If you are still here, continue reading…

D1) First, check if your processor supports KVM.
http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/FAQ#head-a78f5f083749cb9c2e57d7d4efaf2ecf25b9db60

Run this command and If something shows up, you have a VT capable CPU. 
$ egrep '^flags.*(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

D2) Install KVM and QEMU
$ sudo apt-get install kvm qemu

D3) Add  your name to the kvm group. Run command 
$ sudo adduser $USER kvm

Note: The current session does not know about the new group or change unless you logout / in.
Log out by pressing the CNTR + ALT + BACKSPACE keys. Then login.

D4) Load the KVM and CPU specific kernel modules
$ sudo modprobe kvm

If you have Intel’s VT processor (the /proc/cpuinfo flags show ‘vmx’ ), load
$ sudo modprobe kvm-intel

If you have AMD-V processor (the /proc/cpuinfo flags show ‘svm’), load
$ sudo modprobe kvm-amd

D5) Create a virtual hard disc. I create a file kvm.img of size 5GB. You can change the name and size.
$ qemu-img create kvm.img -f qcow 5G

D6) Download a guest operating system.
You can also install from a CD/DVD.

I want to run the latest Ubuntu 8.04 alpha2 as a guest operating system.
I have downloaded and saved it to $HOME/download/hardy-desktop-i386.iso

D7) Start the KVM virtual machine and install (here Ubuntu Hardy) to the kvm.img file.

$ ISO=/home/moma/download/hardy-desktop-i386.iso

$ sudo kvm -m 750 -cdrom “$ISO” -boot d -soundhw all -net nic -net user kvm.img

In case you install from a real CD/DVD (eg /dev/cdrom ), write
$ kvm -m 750 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -boot d -soundhw all -net nic -net user kvm.img

The parameters are

-m 750	Gives the guest 750MB memory
-cdrom	The cdrom device or an ISO image file
-boot d	Boot from the cdrom device (d means cdrom)
-soundhw all	Activate sound driver(s)
-net nic -net user	Network connection. The easiest way to give guest OS net access. (study https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM
kvm.img	Our image (we treat it as a hard disc)

For other parameters, study
$ kvm –help

The arguments you feed in goes to QEMU engine. KVM uses QEMU to emulate peripherals such as network, audio and video cards.

D8) Complete the installation but hold your horses a second…

Note: The recent versions of KVM/QEMU has some problems starting from a graphical GRUB menu.
So you should edit the installation’s /boot/grub/menu.lst and comment out the graphical GRUB line.

Edit your guest’s /boot/grub/menu.lst and comment out hiddenmenu, splashimage and color lines.

Do NOT edit the liveCD’s /boot/menu.lst. It’s not the right file. Mount your way to the installation’s /dev/xxx (partition) and look in the /boot directory.
You may need to run the “sudo mount /dev/xxx /media/xxx” command to get to the correct partition. Replace xxx with correct device and folder name.

Here is an example of a correct /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

I have commented out hiddenmenu, color… lines and especially the splashimage… line.

default 0
timeout 10
# hiddenmenu
# color cyan/blue white/blue
# splashimage /boot/grub/arch.xpm.gz
…

Ok, save the file and quit the virtual machine gracefully.

D9) After installation,
start the guest os in KVM virtual machine

Let’s start the guest
$ kvm -m 750 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -soundhw all -net nic -net user kvm.img

As you can see, I’ve removed the -boot d thing from the command.

Enjoy the ride.
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A tip:
Qemu-laucher (GUI) is a very nice way to learn the various command line arguments to QEMU.
Install packages qemu-launcher and qemuctl
$ sudo apt-get install qemu-launcher qemuctl

I have these configuration files in my $HOME/.qemu-launcher directory.
http://www.futuredesktop.org/vmware/qemu/
$ ls -l $HOME/.qemu-launcher

Start qemu-launcher from the command line, set your options, press the [Launch] button and you can see the actual command syntax.
$ qemu-launcher
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Virtual Machine Manager
The upcoming Ubuntu 8.04 will include the RedHat’s Virt-Manager tool. It is a GUI for administration of Xen, QEMU and KVM guests.

Study http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/

https://edge.launchpad.net/~marceloshima

Phoronix’ article about VirtualManager…

Literature
http://virt.kernelnewbies.org/KVM
http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki
http://www.techthrob.com/tech/linux_virtualization.php

E) Benchmarking virtualization solutions