Setting Up Xen , VMare On Linux Host And Adding Guest OS

SETTING UP Xen , Vmare ON LINUX HOST AND ADDING GUEST OS

What Is VMware Player?

ü VMware Player is a free desktop application that lets you run virtual machines on a Windows or Linux PC.

ü VMware Player is the only product on the market that lets you run virtual machines without investing in virtualization software, making it easier than ever to take advantage of the security, flexibility, and portability of virtual machines. VMware Player lets you use host machine devices, such as CD and DVD drives, from the virtual machine.

ü VMware Player provides an intuitive user interface for running preconfigured virtual machines created with VMware Workstation, ESX Server, VMware Server, and GSX Server. On Windows host machines, VMware Player also opens and runs Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server virtual machines and Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (formerly LiveState Recovery) system images. VMware Player makes VMware virtual machines accessible to colleagues, partners, customers, and clients, whether or not they have purchased VMware products. Anyone who downloads VMware Player can open and run compatible virtual machines.

What You Can Do with VMware Player

With VMware Player, you can:

§  Use and evaluate prebuilt applications-Download and safely run prebuilt application environments in virtual machines that are available from the Virtual Appliance Marketplace at  http://vam.vmware.com.The Virtual Appliance Marketplace includes virtual machines from leading software vendors, including Oracle, Red Hat, Novell, BEA, SpikeSource, IBM, and MySQL, as well as virtual machines that are preconfigured with popular open source software.

§  Transform software distribution-Simplify software distribution by shipping preconfigured software in virtual machines. End users can experience the benefits of your products immediately, without setup hassles. VMware Player is ideal for shipping evaluation copies or beta software. You can package complex, sophisticated applications, complete with a full working environment, in a virtual machine that can be used by anyone who downloads VMware Player.

§  Collaborate with colleagues-VMware Player makes it easy for support, development, and QA to share customer scenarios in virtual machines.

Features in VMware Player

§  VMware Player is a free desktop application for running virtual machines. VMware Player does not include features found in other VMware products, such as the ability to create virtual machines.

§  VMware Player provides the following features:

§     You can connect, disconnect, and use configured host devices, including USB devices, in the virtualmachine.

§     You can set preferences, such as how devices are displayed in VMware Player.

§     You can change the amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine.

§     You can drag and drop files between a Linux or Windows host and a Linux, Windows, or Solaris guest.(Linux hosts and Linux and Solaris guests must be running X Windows.) You can use this feature if theperson who created the virtual machine you are running also installed VMware Tools in it.

§     You can copy and paste text between a Windows or Linux host and a Windows, Linux, or Solaris guest.

§     You can use this feature if the person who created the virtual machine you are running also installed VMware Tools in it.

§     You can copy and paste files between a Windows or Linux host and a Windows, Linux, or Solaris guest.

§     You can use this feature if the person who created the virtual machine you are running also installed VMware Tools in it.

To install VMware Player on a Linux host

1 Log on to your Linux host with the user name you plan to use when running VMware Player.

2 In a terminal window, become root so you can perform the initial installation steps:

su -                          _‐

3 Mount the VMware Player CD ROM.

4 Change to the Linux directory on the CD.

5 To use the RPM installer, skip to Step 6. To use the tar installer, follow these steps:

a. If you have a previous tar installation, delete the VMware Player distribution directory before installing from a tar file again. The default location of this directory is:

/tmp/vmware-player-distrib

b Copy the tar archive to a temporary directory on your hard drive, for example,

/tmp:

cp VMware-<xxxx>.tar.gz /tmp

VMware-<xxxx>.tar.gz is the installation file. (In the filename, <xxxx-xxxx> is a series of numbers representing the version and build numbers.)

c Change to the directory to which you copied the file:

cd /tmp

d Unpack the archive:

tar zxpf VMware-<xxxx>.tar.gz

e Change to the installation directory:

cd vmware-player-distrib

f Run the installation program:

./vmware-install.pl

g Press return to accept the default values at the prompts.

h Press return (Yes) when prompted to run vmware-config.pl.

i Skip to Step 7.

Adding Guest OS

To install the OS from an ISO image in a virtual machine:

1. Save the ISO image file in any location accessible to your host. For example:

Windows: C:\Temp or %TEMP%

Linux: /tmp or /usr/tmp

Note: For best performance, place this image on the host computer's hard drive. However, to make the ISO image accessible to multiple users, you can also place the ISO image on a network share drive (Windows) or exported filesystem (Linux). If your OS install spans multiple discs, you need to use an ISO image of each disc and place them all of them in a location accessible to the host.

2. Create a new virtual machine. Go to File > New > Virtual Machine.

3.    Select Typical to accept Workstation's recommendations for various settings (such as processors, RAM, and disk controller type). Select Custom if you want to select these options yourself.

4.  On the Guest Operating System Installation screen, when prompted where to install from, select Installer disc image file (iso).

5. Click Browse, and navigate to the location where you saved the ISO image file.

6. Click next, and proceed through the new virtual machine wizard.

7. Before you click Finish, to create the virtual machine, deselect Power on this virtual machine after creation.

8. Edit the virtual machine settings so that its virtual CD/DVD device is configured to use the ISO image rather than the physical CD/DVD drive:

a.Select the tab for the virtual machine you just created.

b.Click Edit virtual machine settings.

c.On the Hardware tab, select the CD/DVD drive.

d.On the right side:

i.Select Connect at power on.

ii.Use ISO image file.

iii.Click Browse and navigate to where you saved the ISO image file.

e.Click OK.

9. Power on the virtual machine.

When you are finished installing the guest OS, you can edit the virtual machine settings so that it is once more set to use the host computer's physical drive. You do not need to leave the drive set to connect at power on.