26 Apr 2012 Manual download and install of VMware Tools in linux
This post describes how you can download and install the latest version of VMware Tools to a linux guest from a ESXi 5.0 host. You need SSH access rights to a VMware host to follow this guide.
- Allow SSH access to the VMware host you are about to access.
- This can be done in the vSphere Client: Choose the VMware host you would like to access.
- Go to the Configuration tab and select Security Profile under Software. Edit Services Properties and start the SSH daemon.
- Verify that the firewall allows SSH traffic
- All the VMware Tools are located in the /vmimages/tools-isoimages/ folder on the host. Download the ISO-image with the tools you need
- Issue this command from a machine that has access to the VMware host.
sftp username@vmhost.tld:/vmimages/tools-isoimages/linux.iso
Type in your password and the download will start
- Issue this command from a machine that has access to the VMware host.
- Mount the ISO-file and copy the VMware Tools installer file to the desired VMware linux guest using SSH
-
# mount linux.iso /media/cdrom/ -t iso9660 -o loop # scp /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-8.6.5-652272.tar.gz username@vmguest.tld:
-
- Manual install of VMware Tools on a vmguest as a privileged user
-
# tar xfz VMwareTools-8.6.5-652272.tar.gz # cd vmware-tools-distrib # ./vmware-install.pl
Follow the instructions and finish the installer. A reboot may be required to load the necessary kernel modules.
-
Your VMware Tools are now installed and should work as it would on a normal VMware Tools installation.
This procedure can also be used on other operating systems. This is a list of all the VMware Tools ISO-images available in the /vmimages/tools-isoimages/ folder on a ESXi 5.0 host
sftp> ls -l -rwx------ 1 root root 12576768 Apr 13 09:17 darwin.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:17 darwin.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 16021504 Apr 13 09:16 freebsd.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:18 freebsd.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 65200128 Apr 13 09:15 linux.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:17 linux.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 1738 Apr 13 09:17 linux_avr_manifest.txt -rwx------ 1 root root 540672 Apr 13 09:17 netware.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:16 netware.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 13006848 Apr 13 09:17 solaris.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:16 solaris.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 451 Apr 13 09:17 tools-key.pub -rwx------ 1 root root 13664256 Apr 13 09:18 winPre2k.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:17 winPre2k.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 49 Apr 13 09:18 winPre2k_avr_manifest.txt -rwx------ 1 root root 62128128 Apr 13 09:17 windows.iso -rwx------ 1 root root 256 Apr 13 09:18 windows.iso.sig -rwx------ 1 root root 1069 Apr 13 09:17 windows_avr_manifest.txt
Tags: esxi5, firewall, sftp, VMware, VMware Tools, vSphere Client
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
25 Apr 2012 Change how the swap memory behave in Ubuntu
This post is just a cut and paste job from the Ubuntu SwapFaq for my future reference Ubuntu installation.
The swappiness parameter controls the tendency of the kernel to move processes out of physical memory and onto the swap disk. Because disks are much slower than RAM, this can lead to slower response times for system and applications if processes are too aggressively moved out of memory.
- swappiness can have a value of between 0 and 100
- swappiness=0 tells the kernel to avoid swapping processes out of physical memory for as long as possible
- swappiness=100 tells the kernel to aggressively swap processes out of physical memory and move them to swap cache
The default setting in Ubuntu is swappiness=60. Reducing the default value of swappiness will probably improve overall performance for a typical Ubuntu desktop installation. A value of swappiness=10 is recommended, but feel free to experiment. Note: Ubuntu server installations have different performance requirements to desktop systems, and the default value of 60 is likely more suitable.
To check the swappiness value
# cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
To change the swappiness value A temporary change (lost on reboot) with a swappiness value of 10 can be made with
# sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10
To make a change permanent, edit the configuration file with your favorite editor:
# gksudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
Search for vm.swappiness and change its value as desired. If vm.swappiness does not exist, add it to the end of the file like so:
vm.swappiness=10
Save the file and reboot.
Tags: swappiness, sysctl, Ubuntu
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
29 Mar 2012 Import a VHD disk image file from XenApp 6 to VMware vSphere 5
This post describes how you can import a VHD disk image file from XenApp 6 to your VMware vSphere 5 environment in a few simple steps. I am writing this because VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client version 4.3 does not support conversion of VHD image files, even though it has done so in previous versions. I guess this procedure can be used on VHD files in general, but I have not tried it.
- Download and install StarWind V2V Image Convertor to convert the VHD image to a VMDK. V2V Image Convertor is free Windows software, but requires you to register before download
- Start the program and choose the virtual disk you would like to convert, in my case a VHD-file
- Next you need to decide the destination image format you would like to convert to, I choosed VMware ESX server image
- Select the destination for your new VMDK image file and start the conversion. This can take a while depending on the disk size
- When the conversien has finished createing two .vmdk files, copy them to your VMware storage.
- Open vSphere Client and create a new Virtual Machine with the configuration you desire in your VMware environment. Create it with a Hard disk. Do not power on this machine
- On the VMware file storage locate the new virtual machine folder and replace the converted-vhd-image-file-flat.vmdk file with the one already in there
- Netxt we need to edit the hard disk meta fila and copy the
# Extent description RW 102400000 VMFS "converted-vhd-image-file.vmdk"
value from the converted meta file converted-vhd-image-file.vmdk to the one VMware created to the new virtual machine
- You are now ready to power up your converted VHD to VMDK image file in a VMware virtual machine with hardware version 8
The full listing of my working converted-vhd-image-file.vmdk file is like this
# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 encoding="UTF-8" CID=fffffffe parentCID=ffffffff isNativeSnapshot="no" createType="vmfs" # Extent description RW 102400000 VMFS "converted-vhd-image-file-flat.vmdk" # The Disk Data Base #DDB ddb.virtualHWVersion = "8" ddb.longContentID = "660f859cd36ce88e4fd6e0bcfffffffe" ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9a c0 a3 63 b1-1f 85 fe 55 e8 1e 30 a5" ddb.geometry.cylinders = "5221" ddb.geometry.heads = "255" ddb.geometry.sectors = "63" ddb.thinProvisioned = "1" ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
Tags: esxi5, VMware, vsphere, xenapp
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
02 Feb 2012 Recursively symlinking files
This is a short script I use to symlink all my JPG image files on my file server to a flat folder accessible to my DLNA enabled devices.
My files are organized in year folders and under each year there are month folders:
-2011 --2011-01 --2011-02 --2011-03 ... -2012 --2012-01
I avoid duplicate symlinks by using file names like 20110102-1234_DSC…JPG or YYYYMMDD-HHMM_OriginalFileName.JPG
The script looks like this
#!/bin/bash
SRC="/media/Images"
DEST="/media/SymlinkTarget"
# Create a symlink under $DEST for each JPG file under $SRC
find $SRC -type f | grep -i jpg | while read PATHNAME; do
NEW="$DEST";
echo "$NEW";
ln -s "$PATHNAME" "$NEW";
done
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
26 Jan 2012 Disable DLNA in Windows 7
If you are using your Windows 7 and have a active wireless network, then the chances are that you are sharing your media files with DLNA enabled devices like smartphones, TVs with wireless access and media centers.
This HOWTO describes how you can disable DLNA in Windows 7.
- Type “Manage advanced sharing settings” in the Start Menu
- Go to “Home and Work”
- Under “Media Streaming” you click the “Choose media streaming options” link
- Click the “Block all” button followed by the “OK” button
You have now disabled DLNA sharing on your computer.
Posted by Hans-Henry Jakobsen
