Ubuntu Desktop as ESX Image

Ubuntu Desktop as ESX Image

Pre-installation Steps

1. Download Ubuntu Desktop file ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso to your local machine, use WinSCP to copy this to the ESX server directory /home/admin, and via SSH console move that file to its ultimate destination, e.g. /vmimages/tools-isoimages/myimages.
   Warning: 32 bit ISO is preferable. The 64 bit file gives an error message: 'This kernel requires an x86-64 CPU, but only detected an i686 CPU. Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.'
2. Via VI Client create a new virtual machine, pick "Linux - Ubuntu (32 bit)", pick the default RAM size (512MB) and the defautlt disk (8GB).
3. Add two NIC cards to it, configure them both to use vmxnet rather than flexible interfaces. (Try "flexible")
4. Pick the ISO image for your CD-ROM device and mark Connect at Startup.
5. Run the virtual machine:
   1. Pick English installation interface
   2. Select "Install Ubuntu"
   3. In the installation welcome screen select English, click Forward
   4. Pick your city and time zone
   5. Pick keyboard layout for the country you are in, e.g. Latvia > Apostrophe variant
   6. Pick Specify partitions manually (Advanced)
   7. In partitioner click New partition table, create the ext3 partition - its size is all the free disk space minus about 1000MB for swap (i.e. around 7500MB). It is primary partition with mount point "/". Also create a "swap" as primary partition - all remaining disk space.
   8. Create use "bcadmin" with password from the datasheet; name computer as usrv6 (or another short name).
   9. After installation is finished, remove the CD-ROM (in VI Client edit settings for CD/DVD - pick Client Device) and restart by pressing Enter in the Ubuntu screen.

Network Connectivity

1. Open Applications > Accessories > Terminal, type sudo passwd and set the password for the root.
2. Pick System > Preferences > Network Connections
3. Edit eth0 IP4 settings - pick method Manual and write in a fixed IP address, mask and gateway from the data sheet.
4. Verify eth1 IP4 settings - it should be a DHCP connection.
5. In a terminal window run the following command:

   /etc/init.d/networking restart

Run the Ubuntu updates

1. Edit the file and remove comments (hash signs) in four places:

   sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Run these three commands:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

   Restart, when the machine suggests it.

Post-installation steps

1. If you have upgraded distribution, some packages are no longer needed and may be auto-removed. Also install some basic development tools:

   sudo apt-get autoremove 
   sudo apt-get install gcc make binutils
   apt-get install xinetd build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

2. Install VMWare Tools - in VI Client right-click the Ubuntu virtual machine and select Install/Upgrade VMWare tools. It shold mount a virtual DVD with two installation files. Copy the VMwareTools-3.5.0-153875.tar.gz file to your desktop.
3. In a terminal window run these commands:

   cd ~/Desktop
   tar xzvf VMwareTools-3.5.0-153875.tar.gz
   cd vmware-tools-distrib
   sudo ./vmware-install.pl

4. Module vmhgfs (for shared folders feature) should cause compilation error (could rerun vmware-config-tools.pl), everything else should compile and install successfully.
5. To restart networking:

   /etc/init.d/networking stop
   rmmod pcnet32
   rmmod vmxnet
   depmod -a
   modprobe vmxnet
   /etc/init.d/networking start

6. To ran VMWare Tools, during X server session run: "/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox".

Tags: esx