Want to do test installs nodes in a VMWare ESXi guest. Expect that more things can be made to work similarly to an install on a physical host, but expect that there will be some differences. To this end, have created a new appliance type called vmware-dc2. Having a separate appliance type will be needed for things like partitioning and also it allows for a simple test to see if the install is on the test appliance.

VMWare ESXi Notes

• Poor man's template / clone http://drewsrambling.blogspot.com/2008/10/esxi-copy-vm-poor-mans-template.html

Test client for ROCKS cc installs

On msu-vm01, create client with these settings:

• 2 CPUs
• 4 GB RAM
• 200 GB disk
• NIC1 connects to Guest Private
• NIC2 connects to Guest Public

Power it on. Tries to PXE boot NIC1, fails. Tries to PXE boot NIC2, fails. Stops with "Operating System no found".

In log on msurox, see dhcp discover from the NIC1, and not from NIC2. So far so good.

Will use rack 100 for all vmware clients in ROCKS. Guess rank will just be made up. Ranks should be kept unique however (at least DNS will be a problem if they are not). Can use IP numbers .30 to .39 for now.

Run insert-ethers and restart node (note the Dell appliance has some non-ideal config items for a VMWare install, but the point is being able to test...).

insert-ethers --appliance "Dell x950 Compute 1hdd Big Tmp" --rack 100 --rank 0 --basename cc --ipaddr 10.10.2.30

PXE Seems that the VMWare client PXE boots the first time it is started, but not on reboots? Looking in the BIOS, order is Removable Devices, Hard Drive, CD-ROM, NIC1, NIC2. Fix order to have NIC1, Hard Drive first.

Remote Management

As a free product, VMWare restricts the remote management access for ESXi, the (free) tool that VMWare intends you to use is the Windows-only VMWare Infrastructure Client, which provides a remote GUI interface to all the ESXi functionality. The VMWare Remote Command Line Interface tool (RCLI) has read-only access to ESXi configuration (though there is a bug in ESXi 3.5 U3 that allows it RW access). The vmware-cmd program from RCLI will do things like start and stop the clients.

• http://vmetc.com/2008/08/10/whats-the-difference-between-free-esxi-and-licensed-esxi/

InstallVMwareRCLI

VMWare Client Tools

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/340

Need to have a CD-ROM set for the client system. Then initiate the install from the VMIC GUI. Then on the client, mount the CD and copy contents off.

[root@cc-100-0 ~]# mkdir /mnt/cdrom

[root@cc-100-0 ~]# mount /dev/hda /mnt/cdrom/
mount: block device /dev/hda is write-protected, mounting read-only

[root@cc-100-0 ~]# ls /mnt/cdrom/
VMwareTools-3.5.0-110271.i386.rpm  VMwareTools-3.5.0-110271.tar.gz

To install, put the RPM on the system and then run the script vmware-config-tools.pl

It isn't clear how needed this package is, at least for 64 bit clients, the e1000 Ethernet driver is already used (doesn't require the tools package). If the client is going to be used in X11, the tool package will help.

-- TomRockwell - 09 Sep 2008