User’s Manual VMware ESX Server ™ Version 1.
VMware, Inc. Please note that you will always find the most up-to-date technical documentation on our Web site at http://www.vmware.com/support/. The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. 3145 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com © 2002 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. VMware, the VMware boxes logo, MultipleWorlds, GSX Server and ESX Server are trademarks of VMware, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Table of Contents Introduction and System Requirements __________________________ 11 Introduction and System Requirements ______________________________12 Welcome to VMware ESX Server ____________________________________13 How VMware ESX Server Works __________________________________13 What’s New in Version 1.
Accepting the Security Certificate from ESX Server _____________________83 Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 ___________________________________83 Netscape Navigator 4.
Configuring the ESX Server SNMP Agent __________________________ 129 Configuring SNMP Management Software ________________________131 Configuring SNMP Security ____________________________________ 132 Using SNMP with Guest Operating Systems _______________________132 VMware ESX Server SNMP Variables ______________________________ 132 Backing Up Virtual Machines _____________________________________ 140 Using Tape Drives with VMware ESX Server ________________________140 Backing Up from within a Virtual Mach
Configuring Your Server to Use VMkernel Device Modules ______________174 Loading VMkernel Device Modules ______________________________ 174 VMkernel Module Loader ______________________________________ 174 Other Information about VMkernel Modules _______________________177 Configuring and Running Virtual Machines ______________________ 179 Configuring and Running Virtual Machines __________________________ 180 Configuring Virtual Machines _____________________________________ 181 Using VMkernel Devices ____
The VMkernel Network Card Locator _______________________________220 Forcing the Network Driver to Use a Specific Speed ____________________ 221 Forcing a Virtual Adapter to Use Promiscuous Mode ___________________ 222 Sharing Network Adapters and Virtual Networks ______________________224 Allowing the Console Operating System to Use the Virtual Machines’ Devices ___________________________________________________ 224 Starting Shared VMkernel Network Adapters and Virtual Networks when the Console Operating
More Information ____________________________________________ 252 Network Bandwidth Management _________________________________ 253 Using Network Filters _________________________________________ 253 Managing Network Bandwidth from the Management Interface _______253 Managing Network Bandwidth from the Console Operating System ____254 Traffic Shaping with nfshaper __________________________________254 Disk Bandwidth Management ____________________________________ 257 Allocation Policy _____________________
Original SSLeay License _______________________________________ 281 Index ______________________________________________________ 283 www.vmware.
1 Introduction and System Requirements
Introduction and System Requirements Introduction and System Requirements The following sections introduce VMware ESX Server and list the requirements for running it on a server: • Welcome to VMware ESX Server on page 13 • System Requirements on page 17 • Server Hardware Requirements on page 17 • Supported Guest Operating Systems on page 20 • Remote Management Workstation Requirements on page 19 • Technical Support Resources on page 22 • The VMware Web Site on page 22 • VMware Newsgroups on page 22 •
Introduction and System Requirements Welcome to VMware ESX Server Thank you for choosing VMware™ ESX Server™, the virtual machine software for consolidating and partitioning servers in high-performance environments. It is a costeffective, highly scalable virtual machine platform with advanced resource management capabilities.
Introduction and System Requirements ESX Server lets you transform physical computers into a pool of logical computing resources. You can partition physical servers into secure virtual machine servers. You isolate your operating systems and applications in these multiple virtual machine servers that reside on a single piece of hardware. You can then distribute these resources to any operating system or application as needed, when needed, giving you mainframe-class control of your server infrastructure.
Introduction and System Requirements What’s New in Version 1.5 Scale to the Largest Server Platforms VMware ESX Server now supports up to 64 concurrent virtual machines with adequate memory and storage resources. ESX Server now supports the PAE (physical address extension) standard for larger memory on the physical computer. This version supports system memory up to 64GB of RAM. This release also has support for additional Gigabit Ethernet network cards.
Introduction and System Requirements gives you the option of running a secure terminal application to carry out command line tasks remotely. Control Access to Virtual Disk Files Access controls enable you to determine which users have access to virtual disk files stored on VMFS partitions. 16 www.vmware.
Introduction and System Requirements System Requirements Server Hardware Requirements Minimum • Processor: Intel® Pentium® II 500MHz and above • 512MB RAM minimum • Two or more Ethernet adapters. Supported adapters include: • 3Com® adapters • Alteon AceNIC-based adapters • Broadcom® BCM5700-based adapters • Intel Pro/100 adapter • Intel PRO/1000 server adapters Note: For best performance and security, separate Ethernet adapters should be used for the console operating system and the virtual machines.
Introduction and System Requirements Similarly, you should provide enough RAM for all of the virtual machines plus the console operating system. For background on the console operating system, see Characteristics of the VMware Console Operating System on page 171. For details on how to calculate the amount of RAM you need, see Sizing Memory on the Server on page 249. Note: To ensure the best possible I/O performance and workload management, VMware ESX Server provides its own drivers for supported devices.
Introduction and System Requirements Remote Management Workstation Requirements The remote workstation is a Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Linux system from which you launch a remote console and access the VMware Management Interface. The remote console runs as a standalone application. The VMware Management Interface uses a Web browser.
Introduction and System Requirements Supported Guest Operating Systems • Windows® 2000 (any server version) • Windows NT® 4.0 — Service Pack 4 or higher • Red Hat™ Linux® 6.2, 7.0, 7.1 or 7.2 • SuSE™ Linux 7.3 • FreeBSD 4.5 Note: The standard Linux kernels in Red Hat Linux 6.2 have a bug reported at www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHBA-2000013-01.html that can cause data corruption under heavy memory load. Therefore, the standard Red Hat 6.
Introduction and System Requirements Legacy Devices Virtual machines may also make use of the following legacy devices. However, for performance reasons, use of these devices is not recommended. IDE Devices • Up to 4 IDE devices per virtual machine (virtual or physical drives) • Up to 128GB per virtual disk Serial (COM) Ports • Up to 4 serial ports per virtual machine Parallel (LPT) Ports • Up to 4 LPT Ports per virtual machine www.vmware.
Introduction and System Requirements Technical Support Resources The VMware Web Site The latest technical support and troubleshooting notes are available on the VMware Web site at http://www.vmware.com/support/. VMware Newsgroups The VMware newsgroups are primarily forums for users to help each other. You are encouraged to read and post issues, work-arounds and fixes. While VMware personnel may read and post to the newsgroups, they are not a channel for official support.
Introduction and System Requirements generates a core dump and error log. More serious problems in the VMkernel can freeze the machine without an error screen or core dump. In either of these cases, describe the steps you took in the period before this failure (including any information listed in point 1 above, if applicable). Include this information in your support request, along with the contents of /var/log/messages from the console operating system. Also include the core dump and error log, if any.
2 Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server The following sections describe how to install and configure ESX Server: • Installing the Software on the Server on page 28 • Before You Begin on page 28 • Installing VMware ESX Server on page 28 • Using the Setup Wizard to Configure Your Server on page 33 • Configuring Storage for Virtual Machine Files on page 45 • Creating a New Virtual Machine on page 59 • Installing a Guest Operating System and VMwa
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server • Setting File Permissions on Existing Virtual Disk Files on page 89 • Updating Virtual Machine Configurations on page 90 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing the Software on the Server This installation guide steps you through the process of installing and configuring the VMware ESX Server software on your server. Later sections explain how to create and provision virtual machines, how to manage your virtual machines from a remote workstation and how to work with the advanced features of VMware ESX Server.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server • The host name for the server, including the full domain name for the server, if applicable • The netmask for the server’s subnet • The IP address of the gateway • The IP address of the name server and, optionally, the addresses of one or two alternate name servers Installing the VMware ESX Server Software 1.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server • As root, mount the CD. mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom • Put a floppy disk in the floppy drive. • Copy the boot image from the CD to the floppy. dd if=/mnt/cdrom/boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1474560 \ count=1 Note: The command should all be typed on one line. Do not type the backslash. Then insert the floppy disk in the floppy drive, reboot and, if necessary, make the floppy drive the first boot device. You should leave the CD in the CD-ROM drive. 5.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server If you prefer, and if you are installing the console operating system on a hard drive with at least 1.8GB of space, you may choose Autopartition. The automatic partitioning creates a swap partition of 250MB, a /boot partition of 50MB and a / partition of 1,500MB. Note: If you have disks connected via an Emulex Fibre Channel adapter or a QLogic QLA-2300 Fibre Channel adapter, they may not appear in Disk Druid or fdisk and are not used by Autopartition.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server • The third partition should have a mount point of /, a size of about 1800MB and a type of ext3. The third partition holds your root file system, and most of the Linux and console operating system files are installed there. Respond OK when you have created these three partitions, and respond Yes to the Save Changes prompt. Note: Do not create partitions on any other disks besides the main boot disk. 13.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Using the Setup Wizard to Configure Your Server A Web-based Setup Wizard guides you through the steps to configure your server. You may return to the wizard at any time to edit your configuration. You may run the Setup Wizard from any computer with network access to your server. Running X on your server’s console operating system is not recommended. The steps that follow assume you are using a separate computer as your workstation.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 4. Start the wizard by clicking the VMware ESX Server Setup Wizard link at the top of the page. 34 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 5. Confirm that the defaults in the Basic Information section are appropriate for your server. If you change the name of the configuration, use a name no longer than 15 characters. Note: If you have more than 895MB of RAM installed on your server, the available memory is not reported accurately at this stage. The correct amount of memory is reported after you reboot the server.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Increase this to 192MB for eight virtual machines, 272MB for 16 virtual machines, 384MB for 32 virtual machines or 512MB for more than 32 virtual machines. For background, see Sizing Memory on the Server on page 249. Note: Certain storage controllers are sensitive to the memory size setting. If your server uses a PercRAID or MegaRAID controller, do not use a memory size in the range 241–271. 6.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server machines. If you assign the first adapter to be used by virtual machines, the console operating system may try to use an inappropriate driver for its network adapter. Ethernet adapters cannot be shared between the console operating system and virtual machines at this stage. To configure a shared adapter later, see Sharing Network Adapters and Virtual Networks on page 224. As with SCSI and RAID controllers, the unit of device allocation is a PCI card.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 9. After the server has rebooted, click Next to NIC Configuration to configure speed and duplex settings for the network adapters assigned for use by virtual machines. 38 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 10. The default setting for the network adapters is 100Mbps, full duplex. Accept the default or choose a different setting from the drop-down list. If your virtual machines have heavy network loads composed of many connections, you may be able to improve performance by enabling interrupt clustering. For details, see Performance Tuning for Heavy Network Loads on page 228. Click Update Network Configuration. 11. Click Next to System Setup. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 12. Read the ESX Server license agreement, then click Accept to accept it. 13. Enter your serial number, then click Update. 14. A registration screen provides information on registering ESX Server. When you have finished with this screen, click Continue. 40 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 15. If necessary, change the server start-up setting. In most cases, the defaults are appropriate. Click Save Options. 16. A confirmation screen notifies you that you have completed the basic configuration of the kernel. Click Next to Security Configuration. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 17. Select the security level for the VMware ESX Server machine and the network traffic generated by VMware ESX Server. When you configure a more secure machine, you have fewer options for connecting to it, as less secure methods for connecting to the computer (such as Telnet or FTP) are disabled. High Security is selected by default. If this is appropriate, click Next to Edit Partitions.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server The Custom Security Configuration page lets you customize your settings for encrypting remote console and VMware Management Interface connections using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol. VMware ESX Server uses OpenSSL. See Appendix B: The OpenSSL Toolkit License on page 279 for more information. You may also enable SSH, Telnet, FTP and portmap (needed for NFS) on the console operating system. After you make your selections, click Save Changes.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Enter the information you want to include in your security certificate, then click Save Changes. You are finished with the basic configuration of your server. Next, you need to edit the partitions on the drive or drives used to store virtual machines. 44 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Configuring Storage for Virtual Machine Files Details of the next steps in configuring your server depend on whether the storage device you use to store virtual machines is used only for storing virtual machines or is shared between virtual machines and the console operating system. Jump to the appropriate section for your configuration.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Using an Entire SCSI Disk or RAID Array for Virtual Machines If you have a SCSI disk or RAID array in addition to the disk or array that holds the console operating system, you see the following screen. If you have only one SCSI disk or RAID array, skip this section and see Sharing a SCSI Drive or RAID Array with the Console Operating System on page 51. For background on how SCSI devices are identified, see Determining SCSI Target IDs on page 208. 1.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server The VMFS partition provides high-performance access to the virtual machine’s files — essentially the same performance you would get if the virtual machine were installed on a raw SCSI partition. The core dump partition stores information generated if the VMkernel crashes. The core dump information is important in debugging any problems with the VMkernel. 2. You see a screen that reports the sizes of the two partitions you have just created.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server the device to a different machine. Enter the logical name in the field under VMFS Name and click Save. In the VMFS Accessibility field, choose Private, Public or Shared, then click Save. By default, VMFS accessibility is set to Private. If the VMFS partition is available to multiple physical servers (because it is on a storage area network that can be accessed by multiple servers), you should change this setting — typically to Public.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 3. Accept the defaults or make any needed changes to the swap file configuration. The default configuration creates a swap file equal to the total amount of memory on the server. Click Update Swap Configuration. Note: If you make changes to the amount of swap space after this initial configuration, you must restart the server before they will take effect. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 4. The page refreshes, showing the new configuration settings. Click Next to VM Wizard to begin creating a virtual machine. The Setup Wizard logs you out and suggests that you log in as an ordinary user before creating a virtual machine. See Creating a New Virtual Machine on page 59 for instructions on creating and configuring a virtual machine. 50 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Sharing a SCSI Drive or RAID Array with the Console Operating System In this example, the disk vmhba0:0:0 already contains the partitions used by the console operating system. You should not make changes to these partitions. For background on how SCSI devices are identified, see Determining SCSI Target IDs on page 208. 1. Click Use Expert Mode Fdisk. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 2. First add a small core dump partition. The core dump partition stores information generated if the VMkernel crashes. The core dump information is important in debugging any problems with the VMkernel. Select Add, use the default of logical and choose VMware Core Dump from the list of file system types. In this scenario, an extended partition, to contain this logical partition, should already exist.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Change the number in the Last cylinder field to +50M (be sure to include the + sign) to set aside about 50MB for the core dump partition. The partition is at least 50MB, but is likely to be somewhat larger because partitions must begin and end on cylinder boundaries. 3. Click Perform Action. Note: No changes are actually written to disk until you select Save Partition Info, then click Perform Action. 4.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 6. Select Save partition table. 7. Click Perform Action. Note: At this point, your changes are committed to the disk or array. 54 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 8. Locate the table row with information about the VMware partition you just created. Click the Format VMFS button in that row. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 9. You should assign a logical name to the VMFS partition. Choose a name that makes it easy to identify this particular disk even if you later decide to move the device to a different machine. Enter the logical name in the field under VMFS Name and click Save. In the VMFS Accessibility field, choose Private, Public or Shared, then click Save. By default, VMFS accessibility is set to Private.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server time. Choose Shared to make the VMFS partition available to virtual machines on multiple physical servers at the same time. The Shared option is useful for failover-based clustering among virtual machines on multiple servers. For background, see Using Storage Area Networks with ESX Server on page 212. Click Next to Swap File Configuration to set up the swap space that ESX Server uses as part of its memory management features.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 11. The page refreshes, showing the new configuration settings. Click Next to VM Wizard to begin creating a virtual machine. The Setup Wizard logs you out and suggests that you log in as an ordinary user before creating a virtual machine. See Creating a New Virtual Machine on page 59 for instructions on creating and configuring a virtual machine. 58 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Creating a New Virtual Machine The Virtual Machine Wizard guides you through the basic steps needed to create a virtual machine on your server. Any user who has an account on the server’s console operating system may log in to the wizard and create a virtual machine. If you are logged in as root, you may wish to log out at this point, then log in again as a user authorized to manage the new virtual machine.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 2. Choose the guest operating system for your virtual machine. Corresponding default entries appear for other configuration settings. 3. Make any changes you wish to the default settings. Basic settings: The name you enter in the Display Name field is the name that is listed in the VMware Management Interface. Be sure to enter a name that 60 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server allows you to distinguish this virtual machine from others you have created or plan to create. Be sure that the entry in the Virtual Machine Filename field is unique. The default path and filename are based on the guest operating system you have chosen. If other virtual machines have been created on this server, you must change the path to create a new, unique directory for the new virtual machine.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server • Nonpersistent: All changes to a disk in nonpersistent mode are discarded when a virtual machine session is powered down. • Undoable: When you use undoable mode, you have the option later of keeping or discarding changes you have made during a working session. Until you decide, the changes are saved in a redo-log file. • Append: Append mode also stores changes in a redo log.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server If you need help determining which network adapter is associated with a particular device name, you can use the console operating system’s findnic command (see The VMkernel Network Card Locator on page 220). CD-ROM drive and floppy drive: If your server contains a CD-ROM drive or floppy drive, specify the path to the drive in the /dev directory and whether you want the virtual machine to connect to this device when the virtual machine powers on.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 5. The confirmation page includes information on some basic configuration settings for your new virtual machine. 6. To create an additional virtual machine, click Create another VM. To go to the main page of the management interface, click Return to Overview. 64 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 7. To see additional details about a virtual machine, click the virtual machine’s name. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 8. To change settings for your virtual machine, be sure the virtual machine is powered off, then click Edit VM Configuration. The Configure VM page appears. 66 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Top section of page for editing a virtual machine configuration The Registered check box at the top of the page controls whether the virtual machine is listed on the overview page of the management interface. Check the box to include the virtual machine in the list. Remove the check to remove the virtual machine from the list. Note: Virtual machines appear in the list only if their configuration files are stored locally on the ESX Server computer.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Bottom section of page for editing a virtual machine configuration When you are finished, click Apply Changes. You can edit the virtual machine configuration file itself remotely. On the Configure VM page, click Use Text Editor. 68 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server For more information, see Editing a Virtual Machine’s Configuration Remotely on page 99. Your new virtual machine is like a new computer with a blank hard disk. You must install a guest operating system before you can use the virtual machine. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing a Guest Operating System and VMware Tools This section describes the following: • Installing a Guest Operating System in a Virtual Machine on page 70 • Migrating VMware Workstation and VMware GSX Server Virtual Machines on page 71 • Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in the Guest Operating System on page 73 In most cases, you configure your virtual machine with a blank (unformatted) SCSI virtual disk.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Note: When you are installing a guest operating system on a new virtual disk, you may see a message warning you that the disk is corrupted and asking if you want to place a partition table on the disk. This does not mean there is any problem with your physical hard disk. It simply means some data needs to be written to the file that holds your virtual hard disk. All you need to do is respond Yes.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server information. On a Linux host, expand the SCSI Drives tree and click the name of the drive you want to migrate. Click Choose… to see the location information. 2. Using a Web browser, log in to the ESX Server machine as root and click Manage Files. Use the file manager in the VMware Management Interface to perform all the file copy steps described below. 3. In the file manager, navigate to the location of the source disk files. Select the main disk (.vmdk or .
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in the Guest Operating System This section describes how to install VMware Tools and the network driver in the guest operating system. • Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in a Windows 2000 Guest on page 73 • Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in a Windows NT 4.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server • If you configured this virtual machine to use the vmxnet network driver, open the Windows Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel) and double-click Add/Remove Hardware. 3. In the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard, select Add/Troubleshoot a Device. Windows searches for Plug and Play devices. 4. From the long list of hardware devices, select Ethernet Controller and click Next. You should get a message that the drivers for this device are not installed.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Virtual Ethernet Adapter is displayed in the Select OEM Option dialog. The VMware network driver is installed. 4. Click Close in the Adapters dialog box to complete the installation. Windows lets you configure the Internet address for the card.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in a Linux Guest 1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install. This step connects the virtual machine’s CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine. 2. In your Linux guest, become root, mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM, copy the installer file from the virtual CD-ROM to /tmp, then unmount the CDROM. su cd / mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt cp /mnt/vmware-linux-tools.tar.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 7. If you wish, start X and your graphical environment and launch the VMware Tools background application. vmware-toolbox & Note: If you created this virtual machine using only the vmxnet driver, you now need to run netconfig or another network configuration utility in the virtual machine to set up the virtual network adapter.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Guest 1. Choose Settings > VMware Tools Install. This step connects the virtual machine’s CD-ROM drive to an ISO image file on the ESX Server machine. 2. In your Linux guest, become root, mount the VMware Tools floppy, copy the contents of the virtual floppy disk to /tmp, then unmount the floppy. su cd / mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt cp /mnt/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz /tmp umount /dev/fd0 3.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Preparing to Use the Remote Management Software You can manage VMware ESX Server from a remote workstation using the VMware remote console and the VMware Management Interface. Remote console software is available for Windows and Linux workstations. The remote console lets you attach directly to a virtual machine.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server To remove a virtual machine from the list, use this command: vmware-control -s unregister \ //.cfg Note: Type the whole command on one line. Do not type the backslash. 80 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing the Remote Console Software Use the package that corresponds to the operating system running on your management workstation and follow the installation steps below. Installer files are available on the distribution CD-ROM. You may also download the appropriate installer from the Overview page of the VMware Management Interface. Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 1. Find the installer file — VMware-console-1.v.v-xxxx.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server For information on running virtual machines from the remote console, see Using the Remote Console on page 114. 82 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Accepting the Security Certificate from ESX Server The first time you use a Web browser to make a secure connection to an ESX Server machine, a dialog box asks whether you want to accept the security certificate presented by the server. To do so, follow the steps below or take the equivalent steps for your browser version. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 1. A security Alert dialog box appears. To see details of the certificate, click View Certificate.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Netscape Navigator 4.7x on a Windows Management Workstation 1. A New Site Certificate dialog box appears. Click Next to begin the process of accepting the certificate. 2. View the information about the certificate. Click Next to continue. 3. Select Accept this certificate forever (until it expires). Click Next. 84 www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 4. View the fraud warning, then click Next. 5. Click Finish to complete the process and begin using the security certificate. www.vmware.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Installing Additional Hardware on the Server Installing Hardware for Use by Virtual Machines After you install the new hardware on your system, use the VMware Management Interface to assign the hardware to the virtual machines. 1. Log in to the management interface as root. 2. Go to the Update Configuration page for the vmnix kernel (Configure System > Allocate Devices > Edit). 3.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Upgrading from a Previous Version of ESX Server Before You Install ESX Server 1.5 There are a few steps you should take before you install ESX Server 1.5 to ensure the best possible upgrade experience. Resume and Shut Down Suspended Virtual Machines If you plan to use virtual machines created under a previous version of ESX Server, be sure they have been shut down completely before you upgrade.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Upgrading from ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.5 To upgrade from ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.5, use the installation CD-ROM. 1. Insert the installation CD into the server’s CD-ROM drive. 2. Reboot the computer and log in as root. 3. At the first installer screen, choose Upgrade from ESX Server 1.0/1.1. 4. You are asked if you have a driver disk provided by VMware for a device that is not handled by drivers in this release of ESX Server.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server 2. Reboot the computer and log in as root. 3. At the first installer screen, choose Upgrade from ESX Server 1.0/1.1. 4. You are asked if you have a driver disk provided by VMware for a device that is not handled by drivers in this release of ESX Server. If you do not have a driver disk, choose No and continue with the installation. If you have a driver disk from VMware, put the driver disk into the floppy drive and choose Yes. 5.
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading ESX Server Alternatively, on the console operating system, you can use the vmkfstools command, or you can change the permissions and owner directly on the files in /vmfs using the Linux chmod and chown commands. Updating Virtual Machine Configurations After you upgrade from ESX Server 1.0 or ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.
3 Running VMware ESX Server
Running VMware ESX Server Running VMware ESX Server The following sections describe various aspects of running ESX Server: • Using the VMware Management Interface on page 94 • Editing a Virtual Machine’s Configuration Remotely on page 99 • Managing the VMware ESX Server File System from the Management Interface on page 99 • Viewing and Changing VMkernel Settings on page 104 • Deleting a Virtual Machine from the Management Interface on page 106 • Using Disk Modes on page 108 • Monitoring System Status on p
Running VMware ESX Server • Synchronizing the Time Between the Guest and Console Operating Systems on page 144 • Shutting Down and Restarting a Virtual Machine on page 145 • Executing Commands When ESX Server Requests the Guest Service to Halt or Reboot a Virtual Machine on page 146 • Passing a String from the Console Operating System to the Guest Operating System on page 147 www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server Using the VMware Management Interface The following sections describe how to use the management interface: To use the VMware Management Interface, you must run Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher, Netscape Navigator 4.5 or higher, Netscape 6, or Mozilla 0.9.4 or higher. If you are using Netscape Navigator, Netscape or Mozilla, check the advanced preferences (Edit > Preferences > Advanced) to be sure JavaScript and style sheets are both enabled.
Running VMware ESX Server The information and controls in the VMware Management Interface are arranged in columns containing symbols, some of which are similar to those on a CD player, and text. These symbols and icons appear on the Overview, Details and Event Log pages. www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server Item Description Hold the mouse over the icon to display a menu of options for the virtual machine, or click to launch a remote console. Netscape users must define a MIME type for the console first; Internet Explorer is automatically configured when the remote console is installed. The menu includes the following commands. Depending on your permissions and the state of the virtual machine, some options may not be available. Launch Remote Console – launches the remote console.
Running VMware ESX Server Item Description Virtual Machine The path to the configuration file for the virtual machine; if a display name for the virtual machine is specified in the configuration file, then that name appears here instead. Click the link for more details about the virtual machine. Rights Rights represent the permissions you have for each configuration file on the physical machine. The available permissions are read, write and execute.
Running VMware ESX Server Help – This button connects you to the main page for ESX Server online documentation. Create VM – This button appears on the Overview page. It opens the New VM page, where you create new virtual machines. See Creating a New Virtual Machine on page 59. Configure System – This button appears on the Overview page. It opens the VMware ESX Server Configuration page, where you can change the settings for your VMware ESX Server computer.
Running VMware ESX Server Editing a Virtual Machine’s Configuration Remotely You can edit a virtual machine’s configuration file remotely from the VMware Management Interface. This lets you change more elements of a virtual machine’s configuration than you could on the Configure VM page and it saves you from having to use a text editor. Modifying a configuration file this way is recommended for advanced users only. The virtual machine must be powered off.
Running VMware ESX Server machine or cut, copy, paste and delete files as you would if you were working directly on the file system itself. To use the file manager, click Manage Files on the overview page of the management interface. To go directly to the file system browser, point your Web browser to http:///showdir. Note: For best results, open the file manager in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, Netscape 6, or Mozilla 0.9.4 or higher.
Running VMware ESX Server Some file and folder icons have special meanings. Item Description This icon identifies a virtual machine configuration file. If you click the filename or icon for a configuration file, the Edit Configuration page for the corresponding virtual machine opens in a browser window. This icon identifies a virtual disk file on a VMFS file system.
Running VMware ESX Server When you copy and paste or cut and paste a virtual disk file from the VMFS file system to the console operating system’s file system, or vice versa, the file manager uses vmkfstools to import or export the file, translating the format appropriately. Among other things, this means a virtual disk larger than 2GB will be split into multiple files when it is moved from a VMFS disk or array to the console operating system’s file system.
Running VMware ESX Server If you select more than one file or folder, you can change permissions for all the files at once. Any changes you make, using the drop-down lists in the file manager, apply to all the files you have selected. • A letter, corresponding to the letter at the top of the column (read, write or execute), indicates that the setting is the same for all files and it does grant the permission indicated by the letter.
Running VMware ESX Server Use the top pane of the file manager to navigate the directory structure and create new directories. To create a new directory, click New…, enter the name for the new directory, then click OK. Viewing and Changing VMkernel Settings When you configure the VMware ESX Server computer (see page 33), various system parameters are assigned predetermined values.
Running VMware ESX Server To change the setting for a VMkernel configuration parameter, click the link for the value. The Update VMkernel Parameter window opens on top of the VMware Management Interface window. www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server In the New Value entry field, type the value for the parameter and click Update. The window closes and the updated parameter appears on the VMkernel Configuration page. Deleting a Virtual Machine from the Management Interface You can delete a virtual machine only if you are an administrator, if you are the owner of the configuration file or if you have permissions that allow you to modify or change the configuration file or the directory where the configuration file is located.
Running VMware ESX Server 4. You see a list of all the files that are to be deleted. For each disk file not associated with another registered virtual machine on this computer, choose one of the following: • To save a virtual disk file, select Save. • To delete a virtual disk file, select Delete. Note: Virtual disk files associated with another registered virtual machine do not appear in this window. 5. When you are ready to delete the virtual machine, click Delete Selected Files.
Running VMware ESX Server Using Disk Modes You can use the Configure VM page of the VMware Management Interface to change the disk mode for the disks used by your virtual machine. 1. Connect to the server that hosts the virtual machine as a user who has rights to administer the virtual machine. The virtual machine should be powered off. 2. Move your mouse pointer over the terminal icon beside the name of the virtual machine you want to modify. 3. Choose Edit VM Configuration. 4.
Running VMware ESX Server Monitoring System Status All users can get an overview of system status on the overview page of the management interface. The root user can monitor system status in more detail. The Host Status page provides summary information on multiple topics. To view this information, from the overview page click Configure System then click Machine Status. Click a link at the top of the page to go directly to a specific section.
Running VMware ESX Server numerical form. To view this information, from the overview page click Configure System, then click Memory Utilization. The Server Summary section at the top shows systemwide information. The Virtual Machine Summary section below it shows information for particular virtual machines. A detailed explanation of the information is at the bottom of the page. To update the display, click Refresh. 110 www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server Setting the MIME Type in Netscape Navigator 4.x If you are using Netscape Navigator 4.x and want to launch a remote console from the VMware Management Interface, as described above, you must first set a MIME type for the remote console program. Windows In Netscape Navigator on Windows, follow these steps to set the MIME type. 1. Use the browser to connect to the server you want to manage. 2. Click the terminal icon for the virtual machine you want to view in a remote console. 3.
Running VMware ESX Server Setting the MIME Type in Netscape 6 and Mozilla If you are using Netscape 6 or Mozilla and want to launch a remote console from the VMware Management Interface, as described above, you must first set a MIME type for the remote console program. Windows In Netscape or Mozilla on Windows, follow these steps to set the MIME type. 1.
Running VMware ESX Server 5. Highlight Helper Applications. 6. Click New Type…. An input dialog is displayed. 7. Fill in the Description of type field with VMware remote console. 8. Fill in MIME Type with application/x-vmware-console. 9. Leave File extension blank. 10. Select Application. 11. Fill in Application with the path to vmware-console-helper.sh or click Choose to navigate to the shell script on your computer. 12. Click OK to close the input dialog. 13. Click OK to close the preferences dialog.
Running VMware ESX Server Using the Remote Console The remote console gives you a direct window into an individual virtual machine running under VMware ESX Server. Remote console software is available for Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT and Linux management workstations. For instructions on installing the software, see Installing the Remote Console Software on page 81. Starting the Remote Console on Windows 1. Start the remote console program. Start > Programs > VMware > VMware Remote Console 2.
Running VMware ESX Server Running a Virtual Machine Using the Remote Console When you view your virtual machine through a remote console, it behaves much like a separate computer that runs in a window on your computer’s desktop. Instead of using physical buttons to turn this computer on and off, you use buttons at the top of the VMware console window. You can also reset the virtual machine, suspend a virtual machine and resume a suspended virtual machine.
Running VMware ESX Server When VMware Tools for Windows is running, the VMware Tools icon appears in the system tray 116 www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server VMware Tools Settings The following description of the settings for VMware Tools is based on a Windows 2000 guest operating system. Similar configuration options are available in VMware Tools for other guest operating systems. 1. To open the VMware Tools control panel, double-click the VMware Tools icon in the virtual machine’s system tray. The VMware Tools Properties dialog appears. 2.
Running VMware ESX Server 4. The Shrink tab lets you prepare to export a virtual disk to VMware GSX Server using the smallest possible disk files. This step is an optional part of the export process. Virtual disks on ESX Server take up the full amount of disk space indicated by the virtual disk’s size. In other words, the .dsk file for a 4GB virtual disk occupies 4GB of disk space. GSX Server works differently.
Running VMware ESX Server Installing New Software Inside the Virtual Machine Installing new software in an ESX Server virtual machine is just like installing it on a regular computer. If you are using physical media, you need to have access to the ESX Server computer to insert installation CD-ROM discs or floppy disks into the server’s drives. You may use image files in place of physical floppy disks and CD-ROM discs.
Running VMware ESX Server Suspending and Resuming Virtual Machines You can save the current state of your virtual machine. Then the resume feature lets you quickly pick up work right where you stopped — with all running applications in the same state they were at the time you suspended the virtual machine. Note: You cannot suspend a virtual machine configured to use more than 2GB of RAM.
Running VMware ESX Server Shutting Down a Virtual Machine The following steps are based on using a Windows 2000 or Windows NT guest operating system. If you are using a Linux guest operating system, follow the usual steps to shut down the guest operating system inside your virtual machine. 1. Select Shut Down from the Start menu of the guest operating system (inside the virtual machine). 2. Select Shut Down, then click OK. www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server Rebooting or Shutting Down the Server To reboot or shut down the computer where ESX Server is running, take the following steps: 1. Log in to the management interface as root. The URL to connect to the server is http:///overview/. 2. At the overview page, be sure all virtual machines are shut down or suspended. Then click Configure System. 122 www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server 3. Click the Reboot/Halt System link. www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server 4. Click the appropriate link to reboot or halt the system. 5. Enter the reason for the reboot or halt. This information is logged for reliability monitoring. 6. A confirmation page reports the results of your action. 124 www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server Using SNMP with ESX Server This section contains the following information about using SNMP with ESX Server: • Using SNMP to Monitor the Computer Running ESX Server on page 125 • Information about the Physical Computer on page 126 • Information about the Virtual Machines on page 126 • Traps Sent by the Agent on page 127 • Installing and Running the ESX Server SNMP Agent on page 127 • Configuring the ESX Server SNMP Agent on page 129 • System Information on page 129 • Access C
Running VMware ESX Server Information about the Physical Computer SNMP get variables allow you to monitor a wide variety of items about the physical computer and how virtual machines are using its resources.
Running VMware ESX Server • The state of the CD-ROM drive — connected or disconnected Note: SNMP information is provided for virtual machines if their configuration files are stored locally on the ESX Server computer. If the configuration files are stored on an NFS-mounted drive, information for the virtual machines does not appear in the SNMP tables. Traps Sent by the Agent Four SNMP traps notify you of critical events in particular virtual machines.
Running VMware ESX Server 2. Select Enable SNMP agent and SNMP trap generation. 3. Use the text editor on the page to make any needed changes in the SNMP configuration file. For details, see Configuring the ESX Server SNMP Agent on page 129. 4. Click Save Changes. If you need to start the agent manually, you can do so from the console operating system with this command: snmpd 128 www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server By default, the agent starts and runs as a background process. For details on command line options, see the man page snmpd(1). Configuring the ESX Server SNMP Agent You may configure the SNMP agent from the management interface or from the console operating system in the following ways: • Use the SNMP configuration page in the management interface to set the agent to start automatically.
Running VMware ESX Server SNMP uses community names somewhat like passwords. They are exchanged in clear text in communications between the agent and its clients. All requests to the agent must contain a community name, which the agent compares against the one set up in the configuration file to determine what permissions and capabilities the request has. The VMware SNMP agent sets up a single default read-only community named public.
Running VMware ESX Server dlmod dlmod dlmod dlmod dlmod SNMPVMFloppyCD /usr/lib/vmware/SNMPVMFloppyCD.so SNMPResCPU /usr/lib/vmware/SNMPResCPU.so SNMPResMem /usr/lib/vmware/SNMPResMem.so SNMPResDisk /usr/lib/vmware/SNMPResDisk.so SNMPResNet /usr/lib/vmware/SNMPResNet.so These parameters, set up by the VMware SNMP package, indicate VMware-specific modules to be loaded. Do not modify the contents of this section.
Running VMware ESX Server that are assigned exclusively to virtual machines or shared between virtual machines and the console operating system. Configuring SNMP Security The ESX Server SNMP package takes the simplest approach to SNMP security. It sets up a single community with read-only access. This is denoted by the rocommunity configuration parameter in snmpd.conf. By design, SNMP is not a very secure protocol, and the community-based security model is a retrofit to the protocol.
Running VMware ESX Server vmware.vmwSystem This group consists of three simple variables providing basic information about the system. Name Data type Description vmwProdName Display string Product name. vmwProdVersion Display string Product version. vmwProdOID ObjectID A unique identifier for this product in the VMware MIB. This ID is unique with respect to versions of the same product also. vmware.vmwVirtMachines This group consists of virtual machine configuration information in six tables.
Running VMware ESX Server hbaTable — index = , a table of disk adapters seen by this virtual machine. Name Data type Description vmIdx Integer This number corresponds to the index of the virtual machine in vmTable. hbaIdx Integer There is a correspondence to the order of the SCSI device module loaded into the VMkernel. hbaNum Display string Device number ( format: scsi*). hbaVirtDev Display string Virtual device name for this adapter.
Running VMware ESX Server floppyTable — index = , a table of floppy drives seen by this virtual machine. Name Data type Description vmIdx Integer This number corresponds to the index of the virtual machine in vmTable. fdIdx Integer Index into floppy table. Order of the floppy device on this virtual machine. fdName Display string Device number/name (/dev/fd0, etc. NULL if not present).
Running VMware ESX Server cpuTable — index = , CPU usage by virtual machine. Name Data type Description vmID Integer ID allocated to running virtual machine by the VMkernel. cpuShares Integer Share of CPU allocated to virtual machine by VMkernel. cpuUtil Integer Amount of time the virtual machine has been running on the CPU (seconds). vmware.vmwResources.vmwMemory This group contains RAM information in three simple variables and one table.
Running VMware ESX Server vmwHBATable — index = , the disk adapter and target information table. Name Data type Description hbaIdx Integer Index into table for HBA (corresponds to the order of the adapter on the physical computer). hbaName Display string String describing the disk. (format: ::) vmID Integer ID assigned to running virtual machine by the VMkernel. diskShares Integer Share of disk bandwidth allocated to this virtual machine.
Running VMware ESX Server Name Data type Description pktsRx Integer Number of packets received on this network adapter since network module was loaded. kbRx Integer KB received on this network adapter since system start. vmware.vmwProductSpecific This group contains variables categorized into product-specific subgroups. vmware.vmwProductSpecific.vmwESX This group contains variables specific to VMware ESX Server. vmware.vmwProductSpecific.vmwESX.
Running VMware ESX Server Name Data type Description vmConfigFile Display string This is the configuration file of the affected virtual machine in the preceding traps. vmware.vmwOID There are no variables in this group. This group is used to allocate a unique identifier for the product denoted by the vmwSystem.vmwOID variable. vmware.vmwExperimental There are currently no variables in this group. This group is reserved for VMware ephemeral, experimental variables. www.vmware.
Running VMware ESX Server Backing Up Virtual Machines Your backup strategy depends on how you want to protect your data and recover from problems. There are two main goals. • Recover individual files on the virtual machine (for example, if a user accidentally removes a file) • Recover from catastrophic failures in which your entire virtual machine is damaged VMware ESX Server provides several possible approaches for backing up your data, whether to tape or to another system over the network.
Running VMware ESX Server Note: You can also use a virtual machine to run the server component of a clientserver backup product, provided you give it access to one or more tape drives. Note: Backing up from within a virtual machine has the benefit of allowing finegrained recovery of your data. • You can restore file data by the individual file. • You can restore database data via the normal database-specific method.
Running VMware ESX Server machines in the event of a full system loss or data loss due to failure of unprotected disks. However, these full-image backups do not permit you to restore individual files. You must restore the entire disk image and any associated logs, then power on a virtual machine with these drives connected to retrieve specific data. The next section describes how to ensure data integrity when backing up virtual machines from the physical computer or the console operating system.
Running VMware ESX Server You can combine these approaches with the ESX Server redo log API (described in Providing Optimum Data Integrity In Virtual Machine Backups Without Downtime on page 142) to keep the interval during which an extra log is used to a minimum. To do this, take the following general steps: • Add the new redo log. • Take a snapshot of the mirror using your disk subsystem’s or volume manager’s interfaces. • Commit the changes to the live log.
Running VMware ESX Server The VMware Guest Operating System Service When you install VMware Tools in a virtual machine, the VMware guest operating system service is one of the primary components installed. The guest service can do the following: • Execute commands in the virtual machine when it is requested to halt or reboot the guest operating system. • Gracefully power off and reset a virtual machine. • Send a heartbeat to VMware ESX Server so that it knows the guest operating system is running.
Running VMware ESX Server In addition, the guest service can synchronize the date and time between the guest and console operating systems in response to various system events — for example, when you resume from disk. You can disable this in the configuration file by setting time.synchronize.resume.disk = FALSE Shutting Down and Restarting a Virtual Machine ESX Server can signal the guest service to shut down or restart a virtual machine.
Running VMware ESX Server If you receive an event log message saying, “You will need to power off or reset the virtual machine at this point,” you must connect to the virtual machine with a remote console and click Power Off or Reset to complete the operation. The power off and reset commands are not available while these operations are in progress. You can also force power off or force reset from the menu.
Running VMware ESX Server Passing a String from the Console Operating System to the Guest Operating System With ESX Server and knowledge of a scripting language like Perl or NetShell (in a Windows 2000 guest operating system), you can pass a string from your virtual machine’s configuration file to the guest operating system when you use the configuration file to launch a virtual machine. This string is known as machine.id. The content of the string you pass to the guest operating system is up to you.
Running VMware ESX Server Then launch a virtual machine using this configuration file. 2. Retrieve the machine.id string in the virtual machine. In your system startup script, before the network startup section, add the following command: /etc/vmware/vmware-guestd --cmd 'machine.id.get' Note: in a Windows guest, the command to retrieve the string is VMwareService --cmd machine.id.
4 Guest Operating Systems
Guest Operating Systems Guest Operating Systems This section provides information on the following: 150 www.vmware.
Guest Operating Systems Installing Guest Operating Systems Guest operating system installation instructions assume you are using a remote console on a management workstation with a network connection to the server that hosts your virtual machine. If you are installing the guest operating system from CDROM discs or floppy disks, you need access to the server so you can insert the media into the appropriate drives.
Guest Operating Systems Windows 2000 Installation Guidelines Windows 2000 server versions can be installed in a virtual machine using the corresponding Windows 2000 distribution CD. Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created a new virtual machine and configured it using the ESX Server Virtual Machine Wizard.
Guest Operating Systems Windows NT Installation Guidelines Windows NT 4.0 can be installed in a virtual machine using the standard Windows NT CD. Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created a new virtual machine and configured it using the ESX Server Virtual Machine Wizard. Note: Windows NT 4.0 virtual machines must have Service Pack 4 or higher installed.
Guest Operating Systems Red Hat Linux 7.3 Installation Guidelines The easiest method of installing Red Hat Linux 7.3 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Red Hat distribution CD. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Red Hat Linux 7.3 via the boot floppy/ network method is supported as well.
Guest Operating Systems 6. In the Package Group Selection screen, select Software Development. If you select Select individual packages, be sure to include the gcc compiler. You will need it during installation of VMware Tools. 7. You may see a warning that says: Bad partition table. The partition table on device sda is corrupted. To create new partitions, it must be initialized, causing the loss of ALL DATA on the drive.
Guest Operating Systems Red Hat Linux 7.1 and 7.2 Installation Guidelines The easiest method of installing Red Hat Linux 7.1 or 7.2 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Red Hat distribution CD. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Red Hat Linux 7.1 or 7.2 via the boot floppy/network method is supported as well.
Guest Operating Systems 3. Follow the installation steps as you would for a physical machine. Be sure to make the choices outlined in the following steps. 4. In Video Card Selection choose Generic VGA compatible, then click OK. 5. Near the end of the installation, after files have been copied, you reach the Monitor Setup screen. Choose Generic Standard VGA, 640x480 @ 60 Hz, then click OK. 6. At the Video Memory screen, choose 256KB, then click OK. 7.
Guest Operating Systems Red Hat Linux 7.0 Installation Guidelines The easiest method of installing Red Hat Linux 7.0 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Red Hat distribution CD. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Red Hat Linux 7.0 via the boot floppy/ network method is supported as well.
Guest Operating Systems 5. Near the end of the installation, after files have been copied, you reach the Monitor Setup screen. Choose Generic Standard VGA, 640x480 @ 60 Hz, then click OK. 6. At the Video Memory screen, choose 256Kb, then click OK. 7. At the Clockchip Configuration screen, choose No Clockchip Setting (recommended), which is the default, then click OK. 8. At the Probe for Clocks screen, click Skip. 9. At the Select Video Modes screen, don’t choose anything. Just click OK. 10.
Guest Operating Systems Red Hat Linux 6.2 Installation Guidelines The easiest method of installing Red Hat Linux 6.2 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Red Hat distribution CD. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Red Hat Linux 6.2 via the boot floppy/ network method is supported as well.
Guest Operating Systems Note: If the virtual machine’s Ethernet adapter has been enabled, the installation program automatically detects and loads the AMD PC/Net 32 driver (no command line parameter is necessary to load the driver). 4. During the Linux installation, select the standard VGA16 X server. Select the Generic VGA compatible/Generic VGA card from the list in the Choose a Card screen. Select the Generic Monitor entry from the list in the Monitor Setup screen.
Guest Operating Systems SuSE Linux 7.3 Installation Guidelines The easiest method of installing SuSE Linux 7.3 in a virtual machine is to use the standard SuSE distribution CDs. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing SuSE Linux 7.3 via the boot floppy/ network method is supported as well. Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have created a new virtual machine and configured it using the ESX Server Virtual Machine Wizard.
Guest Operating Systems 10. Run YaST to configure networking in the guest. yast 11. Run SaX2 and configure X to set the screen resolution and color depth you prefer. sax2 Note: You must run SaX2 on the Linux console, not on X, to make these settings. 12. Reboot your SuSE Linux 7.3 virtual machine. Networking and X should function correctly. www.vmware.
Guest Operating Systems FreeBSD 4.5 Installation Guidelines Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created a directory for the new virtual machine and configured it using the ESX Server Virtual Machine Wizard. When selecting installation options, be sure to install the kernel source code. It is needed during installation of VMware Tools.
Guest Operating Systems To use FreeBSD 4.5 in your virtual machine, you can set the disk geometry by hand when installing FreeBSD. To set the disk geometry manually, complete these steps. 1. FreeBSD calculates an incorrect disk geometry before you arrive at the FDISK Partition Editor, as illustrated here. 2. To set the disk geometry, press G to select the Set Drive Geometry option.
Guest Operating Systems In the above illustration, the virtual disk is a 2055MB disk with 2055 cylinders, 64 heads and 32 sectors per head (these numbers represent the incorrect geometry). The product of these three numbers (2055 x 64 x 32) equals 4,208,640 sectors.
Guest Operating Systems The VMware Guest Operating System Service When you install VMware Tools in a virtual machine, the VMware guest operating system service is one of the primary components installed. The guest service can do the following: • Execute commands in the virtual machine when it is requested to halt or reboot the guest operating system. • Gracefully power off and reset a virtual machine. • Send a heartbeat to ESX Server so that it knows the guest operating system is running.
5 Console Operating System and VMkernel
Console Operating System and VMkernel Console Operating System and VMkernel The following sections provide reference information about the console operating system and VMkernel: • Characteristics of the VMware Console Operating System on page 171 • Using DHCP for the Console Operating System on page 171 • Loading and Unloading the VMkernel on page 173 • The VMkernel Loader on page 173 • Example Uses of vmkloader on page 173 • Configuring Your Server to Use VMkernel Device Modules on page 174 • Loading
Console Operating System and VMkernel Characteristics of the VMware Console Operating System The purpose of the VMware Console Operating System is to start up and administer your virtual machines. It is a customized version of Linux based on the Red Hat 7.2 distribution. It has been modified so it can be managed by the VMkernel. The console operating system has been customized to disable unneeded services. In particular, most network services have been disabled, except for auth.
Console Operating System and VMkernel the console operating system unless your DNS server can handle the host name translation. 172 www.vmware.
Console Operating System and VMkernel Loading and Unloading the VMkernel The VMkernel Loader The program vmkloader loads or unloads the VMkernel. With no flags, it loads the VMkernel specified by . If the VMkernel is already loaded, the load fails. If the unload option (-u) is specified, the argument is ignored and the VMkernel is unloaded as long as no virtual machines are currently running on the VMkernel. If there are virtual machines running, then the unload fails.
Console Operating System and VMkernel Configuring Your Server to Use VMkernel Device Modules Loading VMkernel Device Modules The installation process should detect the devices that are assigned to the VMkernel and automatically load appropriate modules into the VMkernel to make use of these devices. However, there may be situations in which you wish to load VMkernel device modules explicitly. Modules supported in this release are located in /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod.
Console Operating System and VMkernel Options -l --list List out the current modules loaded. If the -l option is given, other arguments on the command line are ignored. -u --unload Unload the module named . -v --verbose Be verbose during the module loading. -d --device The module being loaded is for a SCSI adapter that is currently being used by the console operating system.
Console Operating System and VMkernel Examples vmkload_mod ~/modules/e100.o vmnic debug=5 loads the module ~/modules/e100.o into the VMkernel. The tag for this module is vmnic. Each EEPro card that was assigned to the VMkernel is given the name vmnic<#>, where <#> starts at 0. For example, if there are two EEPro cards assigned to the VMkernel, they have VMkernel names of vmnic0 and vmnic1. The module parameter debug is set to the value 5. vmkload_mod --device 0:12 ~/modules/aic7xxx.
Console Operating System and VMkernel Ethernet card assigned to the VMkernel is given the name vmnic0 and the two SCSI cards assigned to the VMkernel are given the names vmhba0 and vmhba1. Note: You only need to load the Adaptec VMkernel module once, even though two Adaptec SCSI cards are assigned to the VMkernel. The VMkernel can also share SCSI adapters with the console operating system, rather than exclusively controlling them.
Console Operating System and VMkernel contains a comment line containing the keyword MANUAL-CONFIG. Otherwise, the configuration is obtained automatically from the database of the management interface. Each line that is not blank and does not begin with # should contain the name of a module file, the tag to be associated with the module in the VMkernel and possibly a sharing specification (the argument specified with the -d flag above).
6 Configuring and Running Virtual Machines
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines Configuring and Running Virtual Machines This section contains the following: • Configuring Virtual Machines on page 181 • Using VMkernel Devices on page 182 • Modifying the SMBIOS UUID on page 187 • Recommended Configuration Options on page 186 • Suspending and Resuming Virtual Machines on page 190 • Setting the Suspend Directory on page 190 • Enabling Repeatable Resumes on page 191 • Authentication and Security Features on page 193 • Authenticating Users on p
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines Configuring Virtual Machines This section contains the following: • Using VMkernel Devices on page 182 • Ethernet on page 182 • VMFS Virtual SCSI Disks on page 182 • Access Modes on page 183 • Virtual SCSI Disks on the Console Operating System on page 184 • Naming VMFS File Systems on page 185 • Recommended Configuration Options on page 186 • SleepWhenIdle on page 186 • Modifying the SMBIOS UUID on page 187 The simplest way to set up a new virtual machine is t
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines There may also be situations when you want to create virtual machines that are more complex than you can create using the VMware Management Interface. In these cases, start with the configuration file template, /usr/share/doc/vmware/sample.cfg. Copy it to a new file and manually edit the copy as described in this section.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines scsi0.present = TRUE scsi0.virtualDev = vmxbuslogic scsi0:2.present = TRUE scsi0:2.name = vmhba1:3:0:2:data.dsk In this configuration, scsi0.present = TRUE specifies that the virtual machine has a SCSI adapter called scsi0 and scsi0.virtualDev = vmxbuslogic specifies that the virtual machine’s first SCSI adapter accesses data from the VMkernel SCSI device. Finally, scsi0:2.name = vmhba1:3:0:2:data.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines append modes. You can change the disk mode setting on the Edit VM Configuration page of the VMware Management Interface. The virtual machine must be powered down before you change the disk mode. You can also make the changes directly in the configuration file by including lines in the following format: scsi0:2.mode = nonpersistent or scsi0:2.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines scsi0.present = TRUE scsi0.virtualDev = buslogic scsi0:1.present = TRUE scsi0:1.fileName = virt-scsi.dsk scsi0:1.mode = nonpersistent Note: Using virtual disks stored on the console operating system’s file system does not take advantage of ESX Server’s new high-performance SCSI disk architecture and therefore the performance of the virtual machine may suffer.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines Recommended Configuration Options This section details options that can influence the performance of your virtual machines. These settings are not required to run VMware ESX Server correctly. SleepWhenIdle The configuration file option monitor.SleepWhenIdle determines whether the VMkernel deschedules an idle virtual machine. By default, this option is enabled, a setting that ensures much better performance when running multiple virtual machines.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines Modifying the SMBIOS UUID Each ESX Server virtual machine is automatically assigned a universally unique identifier (UUID), which is stored in the SMBIOS system information descriptor. It can be accessed by standard SMBIOS scanning software — for example SiSoftware Sandra or the IBM utility smbios2 — and used for systems management in the same ways you use the UUID of a physical computer. The UUID is a 128-bit integer.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines If the automatically generated UUID matches the value of uuid.location, ESX Server checks for uuid.bios. If uuid.bios exists, its value is used as the virtual machine’s UUID. If uuid.bios does not exist, the automatically generated value is used. If the automatically generated UUID does not match the value of uuid.location, the newly generated value is used as the virtual machine’s UUID and is saved to the configuration file, replacing the previous value of uuid.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines 3. Use the VMware Management Interface to create a new virtual machine configuration and set it to use the virtual disk file you moved in the previous step. 4. Start the virtual machine, then shut it down. 5. Edit the virtual machine’s configuration file to add a uuid.bios line, as described in Setting the UUID for a Virtual Machine that Is Not Being Moved on page 188. Set the value of uuid.bios to the value you recorded in step 1. 6. Start the virtual machine.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines Suspending and Resuming Virtual Machines This section contains the following: • Setting the Suspend Directory on page 190 • Enabling Repeatable Resumes on page 191 Suspending a virtual machine, then later resuming its operation, can speed provisioning tasks — for example, deployment of standby servers. VMware ESX Server supports two configurations for resuming a suspended virtual machine.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines When you change the directory where the suspended state file for a virtual machine is stored, the virtual machine must be powered off. Then follow these steps: 1. Log in to the VMware Management Interface, point to the terminal icon for the virtual machine you want to change, then click Edit Configuration. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Misc. section and select the desired suspend location.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines 3. Next to Repeatable Resume, click On to enable the repeatable resume feature. 4. Power on the virtual machine. 5. Using the remote console, take the steps necessary to reach the state in which you want to suspend the virtual machine. 6. Click Suspend to activate repeatable resume. 7. After you do this, each time you resume the virtual machine, it will resume from the suspend point you have set.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines Authentication and Security Features This section contains the following: • Authenticating Users on page 193 • Default Permissions on page 194 • TCP/IP Ports for Management Access on page 194 There are three key aspects to security with VMware ESX Server. • VMware ESX Server authenticates all remote users who connect to a server using the VMware Management Interface or the remote console.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines • The user must have read access to the configuration file to use the local console on the console operating system or to connect to the virtual machine with the VMware Perl API. • The user must have read and execute access to the configuration file to connect to and control (start, stop, reset or suspend) a virtual machine in a remote console, with the VMware Perl API or with the management interface.
Configuring and Running Virtual Machines to allow access on the appropriate ports. The lists below show which ports are available when you use each of the standard security settings. The key ports for use of the VMware Management Interface and the remote console are the HTTP or HTTPS port and the port used by vmware-authd. Use of other ports is optional.
7 Disks
Disks Disks This section provides the following information: • File System Management on SCSI Disks and RAID on page 199 • Using vmkfstools on page 199 • Naming VMFS File Systems on page 205 • Mounting VMFS File Systems on the Console Operating System on page 205 198 www.vmware.
Disks File System Management on SCSI Disks and RAID The VMFS file system is a simple, high-performance file system on physical SCSI disks and partitions, used for storing large files such as the disk images for ESX Server virtual machines and, optionally, the memory images of suspended virtual machines. A server’s VMFS file systems are mounted automatically by the console operating system and appear in the /vmfs directory.
Disks number specifies the partition. If the partition number is zero, the whole disk is implied; otherwise, the indicated partition is specified. may also be a VMFS file system name, as set in the management interface or with the vmkfstools --setfsname command. is the name of a file stored in the file system on the specified device. Options The long and short forms of options, shown together in this list, are equivalent.
Disks -R --recover Recover a VMFS file system (that is accessible by multiple ESX servers) when other vmkfstools commands indicate that the file system is locked by another ESX server, but no other server is currently accessing. This situation may happen if the VMFS file system was being accessed by a server (e.g. running a virtual machine or mounting the VMFS via mount-vmfs) and that server crashed.
Disks virtual disk. Since the console operating system has a maximum file size of 2GB, this command is not useful for large disk images; use exportfile instead. However, exportraw is useful for distributing incremental updates to a disk image. If the disk image is used in undoable or append mode, then a redo log file is created. The name of that file is derived by appending .REDO to the name of the associated disk image file. The redo log contains the incremental changes to the disk image.
Disks swap file. If the specified length is different from the length of the existing swap file, the length of the swap file is changed. -S --setfsname Set the name of the VMFS file system on the specified SCSI device to . This name can then be used to specify a VMFS file in subsequent vmkfstools commands or in a virtual machine configuration file. The name also appears in a listing produced by vmkfstools -l. -X --extendfile #[mMkK] Extend the specified VMFS file to the specified length.
Disks vmkfstools -l vmhba0:2:0:0 List the contents of the file system on target 2 of SCSI adapter 0. vmkfstools -X 8000M vms:win2000.dsk Expand the virtual disk file named win2000.dsk that is stored on a VMFS partition named vms to a size of 8GB. The virtual machine that uses this disk file must be powered off before you enter this command.
Disks Naming VMFS File Systems If you create a VMFS file system on a SCSI disk or partition, you can give a name to that file system and use that name when specifying VMFS files on that file system. For instance, suppose you have a VMFS file system on the SCSI partition vmhba0:3:0:1 and have created a VMFS file nt4.dsk. You can name that file system via a vmkfstools commands such as: vmkfstools -S mydisk vmhba0:3:0:1 You can then refer to the nt4.dsk file as mydisk:nt4.dsk (instead of vmhba0:3:0:1:nt4.
Disks Utility to Mount VMFS File Systems mount-vmfs is a program that mounts VMFS (VMware ESX Server File System) file systems. It is useful for automatically mounting partitions with valid VMFS file systems on the console operating system. In its simplest usage, mount-vmfs does not take any arguments. It checks every SCSI device available to virtual machines for valid file systems.
Disks The reported file length of all VMFS files (disk images) is 512 bytes longer than the disk image. The additional 512 bytes contain certain file attributes such as the size of the disk image represented by the file. VMFS files that are not disk images do not incur this 512-byte overhead. Limitations Disk images tend to be large. Unfortunately, the console operating system does not support files greater than 4GB and there is only limited functionality for files between 2GB and 4GB.
Disks Determining SCSI Target IDs In order to assign SCSI drives to a virtual machine, you need to know which controller the drive is on and what the SCSI target ID of the controller is. This section can help you determine these values without opening your computer and physically looking at the SCSI target ID settings on the drives.
Disks num: Start Size Type 4: 1 17526914 fb Partition 0: VM 11 Commands 2 Kbytes read 0 Kbytes written 0 Commands aborted 0 Bus resets 0 Partition 4: Commands 336 Kbytes read 857 Kbytes written 488 Commands aborted 0 Bus resets 0 This information should help you determine the SCSI target ID to use in the virtual machine configuration file, as detailed in Configuring Virtual Machines on page 181. www.vmware.
Disks Sharing the SCSI Bus Normally, VMware ESX Server enforces locking and does not allow two virtual machines to access the same virtual disk (VMFS file) at the same time. If a second virtual machine tries to access a VMFS file, it gets an error and does not power on. However, it is often useful to have more than one virtual machine share a disk in order to provide high availability.
Disks When a shared disk is used for high availability purposes, the current machine that is running the application and using the shared data often reserves the disk using a SCSI command. If the bus sharing is physical, commands that reserve, reset or release a shared virtual disk are transmitted through to the physical disk, so other machines sharing the disk can properly detect when a virtual disk has been reserved or reset.
Disks Using Storage Area Networks with ESX Server VMware ESX Server can be used effectively with storage area networks (SANs). ESX Server supports Qlogic and Emulex host bus adapters, which allow an ESX Server computer to be connected to a SAN and to see the disk arrays on the SAN. Detecting All LUNs In order to use all storage devices on your SAN, you may need to change some VMkernel configuration options as described below.
Disks only to a single server at a time. Choose shared to make the VMFS partition available to virtual machines on multiple physical servers at the same time. The shared option is useful for failover-based clustering among virtual machines on multiple servers. To change the accessibility setting, log in to the management interface as root, click Configure System, then click Edit Disk Partitions. Choose the VMFS accessibility setting you want, then click Save.
Disks you prepare to suspend or resume the virtual machine, you must ensure that the appropriate VMFS file system is mounted on /vmfs. This requirement does not typically cause problems for private file systems, since private VMFS file systems are always mounted at startup on /vmfs.
8 Networking
Networking Networking This section contains the following: • Setting the MAC Address Manually for a Virtual Machine on page 217 • How VMware ESX Server Generates MAC Addresses on page 217 • Setting MAC Addresses Manually on page 218 • The VMkernel Network Card Locator on page 220 • Forcing the Network Driver to Use a Specific Speed on page 221 • Sharing Network Adapters and Virtual Networks on page 224 • Allowing the Console Operating System to Use the Virtual Machines’ Devices on page 224 • Startin
Networking Setting the MAC Address Manually for a Virtual Machine VMware ESX Server automatically generates MAC addresses for the virtual network adapters in each virtual machine. In most cases, these MAC addresses are appropriate. However, there may be times when you need to set a virtual network adapter’s MAC address manually — for example: • You have more than 256 virtual network adapters on a single physical server.
Networking When the algorithm generates the last 24 bits of the MAC address, the first 16 bits are set to the same values as the last 16 bits of the console operating system’s primary IP address. The final eight bits of the MAC address are set to a hash value based on the name of the virtual machine’s configuration file. ESX Server keeps track of all MAC addresses that have been assigned to network adapters of running and suspended virtual machines on a given physical machine.
Networking avoid conflict with MAC addresses that are generated by the VMware Workstation and VMware GSX Server products. Thus the maximum value for a manually generated MAC address is ethernet0.address = 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF VMware ESX Server virtual machines do not support arbitrary MAC addresses, hence the above format must be used.
Networking The VMkernel Network Card Locator When network interface cards are assigned to the VMkernel, sometimes it is difficult to map from the name of the VMkernel device to the physical network adapter on the machine. For example, if there are four Intel EEPro cards in a machine and all are dedicated to the VMkernel, these four cards are called vmnic0, vmnic1, vmnic2 and vmnic3.
Networking Forcing the Network Driver to Use a Specific Speed The VMkernel network device drivers start with a default setting of 100Mbps, full duplex. This setting should work correctly with network switches set for 100Mbps, full duplex and with switches set to autonegotiate. If you encounter problems — in particular, very low receive speeds — it is likely that your switch is set for 100Mbps, half duplex.
Networking Forcing a Virtual Adapter to Use Promiscuous Mode For security reasons, guest operating systems are not normally allowed to set their virtual Ethernet adapters to use promiscuous mode. In some circumstances, you may need to use the virtual Ethernet adapters in promiscuous mode. To enable this use, you must set the PromiscuousAllowed configuration variable to yes. To do so, follow these steps. 1.
Networking a different network, such as vmnet_0, make the appropriate substitution in the command. www.vmware.
Networking Sharing Network Adapters and Virtual Networks In many ESX Server configurations, there is a clear distinction between networking resources used by the virtual machines and those used by the console operating system. This may be important for security reasons, for example — isolating the management network from the network used by applications in the virtual machines. However, there may be times when you want to share resources, including physical network adapters and virtual networks.
Networking provide access to them from the console operating system, you would use the following command to install the vmxnet_console module. insmod vmxnet_console devName=vmnic1,vmnet_0 The devName parameter is a comma-separated list of names of VMkernel network adapters and virtual networks.
Networking Continuing with the example from the previous section, you can append the following lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local: insmod vmxnet_console devName=vmnic1,vmnet_0 ifconfig eth1 up 10.2.0.4 ifconfig eth2 up 63.93.12.47 Another method is to set up the files /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ ifcfg-eth1 and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth2 with the appropriate network information. And be sure the ONBOOT= line is ONBOOT=yes.
Networking If the original line is alias eth0 e100 edit it to be # alias eth0 e100 This disables eth0 on the console operating system when it boots. 2. Use the VMware Management Interface to reconfigure the server. Log in as root and go to http:///pcidivy, then click the Edit link for the configuration you want to change. Find the table row that lists the Ethernet controller assigned to the console and click the radio button in the Virtual Machine column to reassign it.
Networking Performance Tuning for Heavy Network Loads If your virtual machines have heavy network loads composed of many connections, you may be able to improve performance by using the interrupt clustering feature of ESX Server. Interrupt clustering allows ESX Server to consume less CPU time for inbound packets by handling many of them at once. You will need to experiment with the values for these parameters to determine the best settings for your configuration.
Networking Recommended range: 1000–10000 NetRXClusterDelayOn This parameter specifies how sensitive to changes in traffic rate the VMkernel is when it is in interrupt mode. Lowering the value of this parameter causes the VMkernel to switch to polling mode faster in response to sudden increases in traffic rate. Raising the value of this parameter causes the VMkernel to be more tolerant of erratic traffic rates.
Networking Lowering the value of this parameter decreases the CPU overhead of the traffic rate sampling when the network adapter is in interrupt mode. Raising the value of this parameter allows the VMkernel to react more quickly to sudden increases in traffic rate. Recommended range: 4–6 NetRXClusterDelayTInc The value of this parameter specifies how quickly the VMkernel increases the sampling rate to NetRXClusterTMaxFreq when the network adapter is switched into polling mode.
9 Resource Management
Resource Management Resource Management This section contains the following: • CPU Resource Management on page 234 • Proportional-share Scheduling on page 234 • Multiprocessor Systems on page 235 • Managing CPU Resources from the Management Interface on page 236 • Managing CPU Resources from the Console Operating System on page 236 • Memory Resource Management on page 239 • Allocation Parameters on page 239 • Admission Control on page 240 • Dynamic Allocation on page 240 • Memory Reclamation on page 241
Resource Management • Disk Bandwidth Management on page 257 • Managing Disk Bandwidth from the Management Interface on page 258 • Managing Disk Bandwidth from the Console Operating System on page 259 www.vmware.
Resource Management CPU Resource Management VMware ESX Server provides dynamic control over both the execution rate and the processor assignment of each scheduled virtual machine. The scheduler performs automatic load balancing on multiprocessor systems. You can manage the CPU resources on a server from the VMware Management Interface or from the console operating system’s command line. Proportional-share Scheduling Proportional-share processor scheduling gives you intuitive control over execution rates.
Resource Management running on the server so the console operating system’s 1,000 shares represent a greater or smaller proportion of the total. Shares are not hard partitions or reservations, so underutilized allocations are not wasted. Instead, inactive shares are effectively removed from consideration, allowing active virtual machines to benefit when extra resources are available.
Resource Management Managing CPU Resources from the Management Interface You may also change settings from the Resource Editor page of the VMware Management Interface. On the server’s Overview page, click Manage Resources. The Resource Monitor page appears. Click Edit Resources under the name of the virtual machine for which you want to change settings. Enter the desired settings, then click Save Changes.
Resource Management /proc/vmware/vm//cpu/shares Reading from this file reports the number of shares allocated to the virtual machine identified by . Writing a number to this file changes the number of shares allocated to the virtual machine identified by to . The valid range of values for is 1 to 100000. /proc/vmware/vm//cpu/affinity Reading from this file reports the number of each CPU in the current affinity set for the virtual machine identified by .
Resource Management This indicates that virtual machine 103 is currently allocated 1,000 shares. To change the number of shares allocated to virtual machine 103, simply write to the file. Note that you need root privileges in order to change share allocations. echo 2000 > /proc/vmware/vm/103/cpu/shares The change can be confirmed by reading the file again. cat /proc/vmware/vm/103/cpu/shares The number of shares is displayed.
Resource Management Memory Resource Management VMware ESX Server provides dynamic control over the amount of physical memory allocated to each virtual machine. You may overcommit memory, if you wish, so the total size configured for all running virtual machines exceeds the total amount of available physical memory. The system manages the allocation of memory to virtual machines automatically based on allocation parameters and system load.
Resource Management and maximum constraints, provided they are both actively using the memory they have been allocated. Admission Control VMware ESX Server uses an admission control policy to ensure that sufficient unreserved memory and swap space are available before powering on a virtual machine. Memory must be reserved for the virtual machine’s guaranteed minimum size; additional overhead memory is required for virtualization.
Resource Management example, a virtual machine that has twice as many shares as another is entitled to consume twice as much memory, subject to their respective minimum and maximum constraints, provided that they are both actively using the memory they have been allocated. In general, a virtual machine with S memory shares in a system with an overall total of T shares is entitled to receive at least a fraction S/T of physical memory.
Resource Management reclaim and, if necessary, swaps them to its own virtual disk. The guest operating system must be configured with sufficient swap space. Some guest operating systems have additional limitations. See the notes in Managing Memory Resources with Configuration File Settings on page 243 for details. If necessary, you can limit the amount of memory reclaimed using vmmemctl by setting the sched.mem.maxmemctl option in the configuration file.
Resource Management Managing Memory Resources from the Management Interface On the server’s Overview page, click Manage Resources. The Resource Monitor page appears. Click Edit Resources under the name of the virtual machine for which you want to change settings. Enter the desired settings, then click Save Changes. You must log in as root in order to change resource management settings using either the management interface or procfs.
Resource Management depends on the amount of available swap space. The default minimum size is 50 percent of the specified maximum virtual machine size. sched.mem.shares = This configuration file option specifies the initial memory share allocation for a virtual machine to be shares. The valid range of values for is 0 to 100000, enabling a large range of allocation ratios. The default allocation is 10 times the maximum virtual machine size in megabytes. sched.mem.
Resource Management Writing the string realloc to this file causes an immediate memory reallocation. Memory is normally reallocated periodically every MemBalancePeriod seconds. (See /proc/vmware/config/MemBalancePeriod below for more information.) Reallocations are also triggered by significant changes in the amount of free memory.
Resource Management /proc/vmware/config/MemCtlMaxPercent This ESX Server option limits the maximum amount of memory that may be reclaimed from any virtual machine using vmmemctl, based on a percentage of its maximum size. Specifying 0 effectively disables reclamation via vmmemctl for all virtual machines. Defaults to 50.
Resource Management The Server Summary section at the top shows systemwide information. The Virtual Machine Summary section below it shows information for particular virtual machines. A detailed explanation of the information is at the bottom of the page. You can also read the current memory statistics for a virtual machine from its status file on the console operating system.
Resource Management mctl? wait shares min max size sizetgt memctl mctltgt swapped swaptgt shared active overhd ovhdmax vmmemctl driver active? blocked in a memory wait state? memory shares associated with the virtual machine minimum size maximum size current size target size currently reclaimed using vmmemctl target to reclaim using vmmemctl currently swapped to VMFS swap file target to swap to VMFS swap file memory shared via transparent page sharing current working set estimate current overhead memory s
Resource Management Sizing Memory on the Server These guidelines are intended to help system administrators determine an appropriate amount of hardware memory for running a virtual machine workload on ESX Server 1.5. Since the characteristics of your particular workload also influence memory needs, you should follow up with testing to confirm that memory sizes computed according to these guidelines achieve the desired results.
Resource Management Virtual Machine Memory Each virtual machine consumes memory based on its configured size, plus additional overhead memory for virtualization. The dynamic memory allocation for a virtual machine is bounded by its minimum and maximum size parameters. The maximum size is the amount of memory configured for use by the guest operating system running in the virtual machine. By default, virtual machines operate at their maximum allocation, unless memory is overcommitted.
Resource Management Memory Utilization page (Overview > Configure System > Memory Utilization; you must be logged in as root to see this page). ESX Server memory sharing runs as a background activity that scans for sharing opportunities over time. The amount of memory saved may vary over time; for a fairly constant workload, the amount generally increases slowly until all sharing opportunities are exploited.
Resource Management 512MB of memory. The native memory requirement with eight physical servers is 8 * 512MB = 4GB. To consolidate these servers as virtual machines, 24MB is needed for the server virtualization layer and 192MB is recommended for the console operating system. Each virtual machine also requires an additional 32MB of overhead memory. An additional 6 percent should be added to account for the minimum free memory level.
Resource Management Network Bandwidth Management VMware ESX Server supports network traffic shaping with the nfshaper loadable module. A loadable packet filter module defines a filter class; multiple filter instances may be active for each loaded class. The current release supports only one filter class — nfshaper, which is a transmit filter for outbound bandwidth management that can be attached to virtual machines using either a procfs interface or the VMware Management Interface.
Resource Management Managing Network Bandwidth from the Console Operating System /proc/vmware/filters/status This file contains network filtering status information, including a list of all available filter classes and, for each virtual machine with attached filters, its list of attached filter instances. Read the file with cat to see a quick report on network filtering status. /proc/vmware/filters/xmitpush Command file used to add a new transmit filter instance to a virtual machine.
Resource Management bucket controls peak bandwidth during bursts. Each nfshaper instance can accept parameters to control average bps, peak bps and burst size. The procfs interface described in Using Network Filters is used to attach an nfshaper instance to a virtual machine, detach an nfshaper instance from a virtual machine, query the status of an nfshaper instance or issue a dynamic command to an active nfshaper instance.
Resource Management The same procfs node can also be used to issue commands supported by the nfshaper class. For example, you can dynamically adjust the bandwidth limits by issuing a config command: echo "config 128k 256k 20k"> \ /proc/vmware/filters/xmit/nfshaper.2.104 Note: This command should be entered on a single line. Do not type the backslash. When a virtual machine is terminated, all attached network filters are automatically removed and destroyed.
Resource Management Disk Bandwidth Management ESX Server provides dynamic control over the relative amount of disk bandwidth allocated to each virtual machine. You can control disk bandwidth separately for each disk. The system manages the allocation of disk bandwidth to virtual machines automatically based on allocation parameters and system load. This is done in a way that maintains fairness and tries to maximize throughput.
Resource Management Managing Disk Bandwidth from the Management Interface To change disk bandwidth settings from the management interface, you must be logged in as root and the virtual machine must be running. Click Monitor Resources on the Overview page, then click Edit Resources under the name of the virtual machine you want to change. You can edit both the number of shares for the virtual machine you are changing and the total number of shares used on the ESX Server computer.
Resource Management shares. The valid range of values for is 0 to 100000, enabling a large range of allocation ratios. If the number of shares for a disk is not specified, the default allocation is 1000. Note: It is important to use the same name when you specify the virtual disk name and the shares for that disk. If is used to specify the name of a virtual disk, the same must be used to specify the shares.
Resource Management Writing a number to this file changes the number of disk bandwidth shares allocated to the virtual machine identified by to . The valid range of values for is 0 to 100000. 260 www.vmware.
10 Glossary
Glossary Glossary Append mode — When software running in the virtual machine writes to a disk used in append mode, the changes appear to be written to the disk. In fact, however, they are stored in a temporary file (.REDO). If a system administrator deletes this redo-log file, the virtual machine returns to the state it was in the last time it was used in persistent mode. Configuration — See Virtual machine configuration file.
Glossary the disk; 2) discard the changes, thus restoring the disk to its previous state; or 3) keep the changes, so that further changes from future sessions can be added to the log. Virtual disk — A virtual disk is a file on a file system accessible from the server. To a guest operating system, it appears to be a physical disk drive. This file can be on the server where the virtual machine is running or on a remote file system.
A Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide VMware ESX Server has an architecture that delivers high performance I/O for PCIbased SCSI, Fibre Channel, Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet adapters, as well as internal RAID controllers. These high performance devices are accessed directly through device drivers in the ESX Server and not through a host operating system as with VMware Workstation and GSX Server products.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide VMware may add support for drivers and devices between releases of the product; check the VMware Web site for current information. The ESX Server device drivers deliver high performance device I/O. Disk and Ethernet devices that are not supported by ESX Server drivers may work using console operating system based device I/O. Console operating system I/O performance is significantly slower than that of ESX Server device drivers.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide Adaptec SCSI Adapters The ESX Server Adaptec driver is based on the Linux aic7xxx version 5.1.28 driver. The following PCI Adaptec SCSI adapters and motherboard chip set devices should work as ESX Server adapters.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide • AAA-113xRAID Port Card • AIC-7810(motherboard chip set) • AHA-174x • AHA-1542 • AHA-152x • AIC-6260 • AIC-6360 Mylex (Buslogic) SCSI Adapters ESX Server's Mylex (Buslogic) driver is based on the Linux BusLogic version 2.1.15 driver. The following PCI Mylex (Buslogic) MultiMaster and Flashpoint SCSI adapters and motherboard chip set devices should work as ESX Server adapters. Buslogic was acquired by Mylex, which was then acquired by IBM.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide LSI Logic (Symbios, NCR) Based SCSI Adapters Most SCSI adapters based on the LSI Logic Symbios (formerly NCR) 53c8xx family of chip sets are supported as ESX Server devices. The ESX Server uses two different drivers to support the device family, one based on the Linux ncr53c8xx version 3.4.3b driver and the other on the sym53c8xx version 1.7.3 driver. LSI Logic's Symbios product division was formerly NCR Microelectronics Products Division.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide • SYM22902 Ultra2 MiniHAB — SYM53C895A/SYM53C895 • SYM22910 PCI-to-Dual Ultra2 SCSI — SYM53C896 • 815XS — SYM53C815 • 8100S — SYM53C810 • SYM8150 — SYM53C815 • SYM8251 — SYM53C825 • SYM8600SP — SYM53C860 • SYM8750SP — SYM53C875 • SYM8751D — SYM53C875 • SYM8751SPE — SYM53C875 • SYM8951U — SYM53C895 • SYM8952U — SYM53C895A/SYM53C895 • SYM8953U — SYM53C895A • SYM53C1010 — Ultra160 • SYM53C1010_66 — Ultra160 Third-party SCSI adapters fro
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide Emulex Fibre Channel Adapters The ESX Server driver is based on the Linux port of the Emulex version lpfcdd version 4.12c driver. This adapter has been tested with ESX Server adapter only in point-topoint configurations. Most fabric capabilities such as fabric login, as well as loop or switched configurations with multiple hosts, skipped LUNs or high-number targets, have not been tested.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide Dell PercRAID RAID Controllers VMware ESX Server supports two classes of PercRAID branded controllers. Some are based on Adaptec RAID chipsets and some on American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI) MegaRAID chipsets. The ESX Server driver for Adaptec-based PercRAID controllers is based on the Linux aacraid version 2.1.5 driver.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide listing of Intel and OEM models which have been based on these chip sets. You should check the specific chip set used in your card for compatibility. 274 www.vmware.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide • Intel(R) PRO/100 S Combo Mobile Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100 SR Combo Mobile Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100 P Mobile Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100 SP Mobile Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100 P Mobile Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100 Network Connection • Intel(R) PRO/100 P Mobile Combo Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100 SP Mobile Combo Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100+ Mini PCI • Intel(R) PRO/100 P Mobile Combo Adapter • Intel(R) PRO/100+ Mini PCI • Intel(R) 82559 Fast Ether
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide 3Com EtherLink PCI III/XL Series Ethernet NICs ESX Server supports many 3Com Ethernet NICs. The ESX Server driver includes two drivers, one based on the Linux 3c90x version 1.0.0c driver. and the other based on the Linux 3C990-x version 1.0.0b. The following 3Com NICs should work as ESX Server devices.
Appendix A: I/O Adapter Compatibility Guide • Farallon — PN9000sx • Netgear — GA620 Gigabit Ethernet Card • Netgear — GA620T Copper Gigabit Ethernet Card • Digital (Compaq) — PCI-to-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter DEGPA-SA The ESX Server driver does not currently support the jumbo frames and checksum offloading capabilities of these NICs. Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet NICs The ESX Server driver for Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet cards is based on the Broadcom 5700 driver for Linux version 1.4.5 driver.
B Appendix B: The OpenSSL Toolkit License
Appendix B: The OpenSSL Toolkit License The OpenSSL Toolkit License The licence agreement for the usage of the OpenSSL utility included with VMware ESX Server is as follows: License Issues The OpenSSL toolkit stays under a dual license, i.e. both the conditions of the OpenSSL License and the original SSLeay license apply to the toolkit. See below for the actual license texts. Actually both licenses are BSD-style Open Source licenses.
Appendix B: The OpenSSL Toolkit License THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE OpenSSL PROJECT “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
Appendix B: The OpenSSL Toolkit License 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: "This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com)" The word “cryptographic” can be left out if the routines from the library being used are not cryptographic related :-). 4.
Index Access SNMP controls 129 to configuration file 193 Accessibility of virtual disks 210 VMFS 48, 56 size limits on console operating system 207 size reported on VMFS file systems 207 scheduling virtual machine use of 234 A Cut in file manager 101 text 119 D Filters network 253 Debug monitor 63 findnic 220 Affinity set 235 DHCP 171 Floppy disk image file 63 API Perl 142, 147 Directories managing remotely 99 Folder creating 104 Append disk mode 62, 262 Directory creating 104 Format VMFS pa
Index Linux reboot commands 146 shutting down and restarting a virtual machine 145 guestd 167 H Hardware installing on server 86 Heartbeat monitoring with SNMP 127 HTTP TCP/IP port 195 HTTPS TCP/IP port 195 I ID virtual machine 98 Import virtual machine 201 Installation of guest operating system 70, 150 of hardware on server 86 of server software 28 of software in a virtual machine 119 of the SNMP agent 127 Interrupt clustering and network performance 228 parameters 228 ISO disc image file 63 K Kerberos 19
Index Red Hat Linux 6.2 installing as guest operating system 160 Red Hat Linux 7.0 installing as guest operating system 158 Red Hat Linux 7.1 installing as guest operating system 156 Red Hat Linux 7.2 installing as guest operating system 156 target IDs 208 SCSI disk or RAID 46, 51 Security 42, 193 SNMP 132 Security certificate installing 83 Serial number 40 Server shutting down 122 Setup Wizard 33 Shaping network traffic 254 Red Hat Linux 7.
Index starting automatically in Linux guest 77 VMware guest operating system service 144 exporting 118 on console operating system 184 sharing 210 Virtual machine configuring 181 creating 59 deleting from VMware Management Interface 106 display name 60 exporting 201 ID number 98 importing 201 monitoring with SNMP 126 registering 67, 79 shutting down 121 suspending and resuming 190 Virtual Machine Wizard 59 Virtual network 224 vlance network driver 62 VMFS 47, 182, 199 formatting partition 55 mounting 205,
