Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Administration Guide
158 VMware, Inc.
! Upgrade!to!a!2.4.x!series!kernel!that!allows!for!more!physical!memory.
! Recompile!your!kernel!as!a!2GB!kernel!using!the!CONFIG_2GB!option.
! Enable!the!CONFIG_BIGMEM!option!to!map!more!physical!memory.!(This!
approach!requires!special!steps,!described!in!detail!in!the!Workarounds!section!
below,!to!work!with!VMware!products.)
Recompiling!your!kernel!with!CONFIG_2GB!enabled!allows!Linux!to!support!nearly!
2GB!of!physical!memory!by!dividing!the!address!space!into!a!2GB!user!
section!and!2GB!
kernel!section!(as!opposed!to!the!normal!division!of!3GB!for!user!and!1GB!for!kernel).!
The!third!approach!uses!the!CONFIG_BIGMEM!option!in!Linux.!With!the!
CONFIG_BIGMEM!option!enabled,!the!kernel!does!not!directly!address!all!of!physical!
memory!and!it!can!then!map!1GB!(or!2GB)
!of!physical!memory!into!the!address!space!
at!a!time.!This!allows!the!use!of!all!of!physical!memory!at!the!cost!of!changing!the!
semantics!the!kernel!uses!to!map!virtual!to!physical!addresses.!However,!VMware!
products!expect!physical!memory!to!be!mapped!directly!in!the!kernel’s!address!space!
and!thus!do!not!work!properly!with!the!CONFIG_BIGMEM!option!enabled.!
Workarounds
If!you!are!using!a!1GB!kernel!with!CONFIG_BIGMEM!enabled!and!have!960MB!to!
1983MB!of!memory,!VMware!Server!does!not!run.!To!work!around!this!issue,!you!can:!
! Recompile!the!kernel!as!a!2GB!kernel!by!enabling!the!CONFIG_2GB!option.! This!
allows!for!100!percent!use!of!physical!memory.!
! Pass!the!boottime!switch!mem=959M!at!the!LILO!prompt,!or!add!it!to!lilo.conf,!to!
disable!CONFIG_BIGMEM!and!thus!allow!you!to!run!VMware!Server.!To!do!this:!
To!pass!the!switch!at!the!LILO!prompt,!type!
linux-2.2.16xxx mem=959M
To!edit!lilo.conf,!open!the!file!in!a!text!editor.!In!
the!kernel!section,!add!this!line:!
append mem="959M"
If!you!have!a!1GB!kernel!with!CONFIG_BIGMEM!enabled!and!have!more!than!1983MB!
of!memory,!you!can!do!one!of!the!following:!
! Recompile!the!kernel!as!a!2GB!kernel!by!enabling!the!CONFIG_2GB!option!and!
either!pass!the!boottime!switch!mem=1983M!at!the!LILO!prompt!or!add!it!to!
lilo.conf.!To!use!the!switch:!
To!pass!the!switch!at!the!LILO!prompt,!type!
linux-2.2.16xxx mem=1983M